Author: grabe

I have noticed something. Other bloggers use cool names for their blogs. I did not know this when I started blogging years ago. I thought EdTech was descriptive. I like Andy Carvin’s Waste of Bandwidth – a little self-deprecation is a good thing. Mathemagenic is cool too. A little mystery draws attention. I have not encountered that word since I read Rothkopf back in the 60s and 70s. Final example – One Trick Pony (remember what I said about self-deprecation).

After a couple of minutes of careful thought (a minute more than I devoted to the original name for this blog), I have come up with Learning Aloud. In my strange way of viewing the world, this is a derivation of Think Aloud (see Kucan & Beck if this phrase is foreign). Learning aloud is what I think some bloggers do. They use a blog as an externalization of what they are learning. They externalize as a way to think through ideas and evaluate their own understanding. If others happen to find such musing of value, so much the better.

The colon?? I read somewhere that a study of research journals determined that a high proportion of the titles of published research articles contain a colon. I am a man of science and I want to do the right thing. 😉

Kucan, L. & Beck, I. (1997). Thinking aloud and reading comprehension: Inquiry, Instruction, and Social Interaction. Review of Educational Research, 67(3), 271-299

Andy Carvin’s blog (Waste of Bandwidth) provides a series of blog entries, podcasts, and video segments from the We Media conference. We Media is a new phrase for me and it blends in with Web 2.0, the read/write web. and other phrases/concepts that appear to be advocating for the more participatory opportunities of the web. Andy provides access to some very interesting content. Try Al Gore’s presentation as a starting point and then explore other blog entries associated with this conference.

Within this collection, I would also recommend Andy’s presentation (podcast and PP available) on the digital divide.

Several past posts have contained concepts advanced in Thomas Friedman’s book – The World Is Flat. Friedman’s analysis positioned the Internet among the key factors that have brought both positive change and challenges to our world. Free access to the Internet allows oppressed people to gain a broader perspective. The Internet allows the work of U.S. workers to be outsourced to those willing to do this work more cheaply. Open access serves as a challenge to the productivity of the U.S. education system. In head to head competition, if one cannot do the same job for less, one better be capable of solving more significant problems or providing more creative solutions. etc.

The flaw in Friedman’s analysis may be the greed of U.S. based multinationals. Friedman’s idea that you cannot hide behind walls assumes a lack of collaboration from those on the other side of the wall. It appears Google, Yahoo, and other technology companies are willing to help countries that compete with the U.S. economically and subject the unfortunate to mistreatment keep the walls up by censoring the information that gets over the walls. (Human Rights Watch) I thought this issue had been resolved a couple of years ago. Now, it seems the big tech players have gone soft again perhaps in fear that a competitor will take advantage of any show of resolve.

National Geographic has a great webcam feature titled Pete’s Pond. Great live imagery from a watering hole in Botswana.

Webcams need not be located in such exotic locations to be interesting. Cornell University runs a feeder watch program for the purpose of collecting data and involving the public in a little field biology. Search for “webcam bird feeder” online and you will find several others.

New Kids On The Blog. Not my cute title this time – this is the heading for an NEA piece on K-12 blogging. This is an introductory level description of blogging, but the examples are worth a look.

Months ago, I commented on the plans of Nicholas Negroponte (MIT) to develop a $100 laptop (link).

CNET is now carrying an update on that story.

It’s an education project, not a laptop project. If we can make education better–particularly primary and secondary schools–it will be a better world.

By the way, if you visit the CNET site to read this story, make sure you explore the graphic organizer tool “The Big Picture” showing interconnections of the story on the $100 computer and other news stories.

Andy Carvin makes available the audio for Negroponte’s presentation.

This is really a continuation of yesterday’s post regarding “real” experiences for children. The “contra” example addressed in that post concerned the position that children need more opportunities to explore their own environment (outdoor environment in Dr. Monke’s example) and the damage that would be done by substituting virtual for real experiences.

Rather than promoting technology as an alternative to “real” experiences, we promote technology as a way to increase the probability that physical experiences are real learning opportunities. Again, experiences without thinking are ineffective learning opportunities. It is our contention, shared by many other scholars I believe, that when used properly technology can involve students in thinking about virtual or physical experiences.

Cindy provided the following images from her experiences of the past week. All middle school students in Grand Forks have an opportunity to attend an Eco-ed Camp at Turtle River State Park. This has been going on for several years. The tech group goes along and works on the “invertebrate study” which involves issues of water quality and presence of invertebrate species.

Students collect specimens – sometimes taking them back to the classroom in physical form and sometimes in digital form.

Once back at school, students continue to work with the images by creating multimedia projects based on their experiences in the field. The projects continue student involvement with experiences from the field.

Aquatic worm

Riffle Beetle Larva

Podcast from South Middle School.