A colleague at school told me about an Australian based mathematics website called "Smartkiddies". I team teach in a grade 3/4 class and have enrolled two classes into this site. It is well worth a look, not only can you find an amazing range of resources relating to all areas in the maths curriculum, but you can also assign different tasks to different children, leave messages, track students and their achievements as well as engaging children in games and activities. Here are some other useful maths based websites:
Tutpup: Great for practising time tables and number facts.
A website in the United Kingdom, Teaching Videos, has a great range of educational videos well orginised into useful categories. Here is an example from the ICT area on social networking:
The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives has a comprehensive collection of interactive mathematical activities for use in the classroom. They work extremely well with an Interactive Whiteboard. The place value activities are particularly useful.
This great free program is great for students in the area of measurement in mathematics. Students can design a floor plan of their classroom, home, etc and then wander through in 3D mode. There is also an option for a more detailed plan with plenty of options for them to choose from.
Pencil is a free software tool for creating hand drawn animations. It is free and very easy to use. Visit their website for download and examples of its potential.
Following on from the success of SuperClubs Plus, another social networking site for students aged 9 - 16 years is called Quest Atlantis.
"Quest Atlantis is a virtual reality software program created by Indiana University professor Dr. Sasha Barab. Virtual Reality Software is a software program that creates a three dimensional world with multi-user environment. This particular program, Quest Atlantis, includes games and a story line to assist children with both reading and decision making. This particular model places students in the role of junior scientists, political advisors, business managers, and national park rangers. Students tackle a variety of subjects trying to solve problems in this virtual world.
The greatest results have been seen in students who are the poorest performing readers and with disadvantaged students. These students are typically the hardest to reach, and the program has given them incentives and rewards for their work. These students often do not enjoy school but now have great interest due to this interactive world. The game style approach appeals to the students and keeps their interest." Courtesy Wired Educator
I remember a computer program on my Apple II in the eighties called ELIZA. She was an artificial intelligence simulator that you could converse with. Click here to revisit this old program.
Well, now you can create a version of yourself...
Busy, unavailable or just relaxing - then let your CyberTwin do the work for you! A CyberTwin is an artificial intelligence character that functions on your behalf. You can train your CyberTwin to be just like you and represent you online.
At the beginning of August, I wrote a post about signing my class up for SuperClubsPLUS. After the initial success with my own class, I now have all of our five 3/4 classes signed up and the response from the students has been overwhelming. This initiative has been an amazing success and I cannot recommend it enough! There is so much to offer to students, both in learning about web 2.0 technologies and general ICT skills. Here is an article I have written for the next ICTEV journal:
As a technology enthusiast I realise the need for electricity and access to it. I have many cables running under my desk and an array of power boards, just about any new gadget requires electricity either to run it or charge it - and a cable and powerpoint as well! As an educator, I see huge tangled messes of cables in all classrooms that have computers. I love having a wireless mouse and keyboard, but have often thought wouldn't it be great to have wireless electricity. I once told someone and they said it was impossible. Check this out...
