5 Great Tools to Perk up Your Classroom and Engage Your Students
by Maureen Brown Yoder
Want to add some great new technology additions to your classroom? Maureen Yoder has done her research by asking 5 questions. They are:
1. Does this tool have the potential to enhance teaching in a powerful way?
2. Is this tool easy to learn and well supported?
3. Is this an innovative new tool or a substantial improvement on an earlier version?
The following tech products all received an enthusiastic "yes" by Ms. Yoder.
1. Lego Education's We Do Robotics Construction Set
This was designed by both Lego and a group from MIT. It is designed for kids ages 7 - 11 but Ms. Yoder states it can be used with high school students for certain purposes as well. It includes legos, motors etc. It also has a software component used to create on screen animations and more. This is highly educational and interactive. The cost is about $130 for the manipulatives and $39 for the software. An activity kit is available for $130.
2. Smart Table
This has the idea of a white board yet is able to have up to 8 users interacting at a time.It is a whole learning center with many applications such as putting together tangrams. It is pricey--$8000 but supposedly amazing.
3. AVer Pen
This is an interactive pen that does not need any type of whiteboard. It can capture images, video recordings and many more activities. It costs $799.
4. New Multi User Virtual Environment (MUVE'S)
This technology is part of Teen Second Life software. There are many types and topics available. In this program, students can create their own virtual worlds. An example was a solar system project students worked on interactively. Some real estate and building blocks must be purchased but membership is free.
5. Google Apps Educational Community
This is a site for Educators with all kinds of resources. Included is internet searching, collaboration and classroom activities designed specifically for teachers. It also contains tutorials for apps to help teachers and forums. It is a free resource and available online.
I liked reading about these great new resources for the class. I would like to order one of each please! In reality, the Smart Table and AVer Pen sound amazing but are too costly. The Lego kit and software sound attainable and I love the idea of the Teen Second Life software. The author listed several other programs that sounded very intriguing. I will definitely be visiting the Google Apps page for free ideas to enhance and add technology to my classroom.
http://edu.googleapps.com
It's not coolness factor that counts, by Don Hall
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In this article, Don Hall talks about the emphasis on what is "cool," in
particular with technology. He says that there is too much focus on what's
cool, w...
14 years ago
Erin,
ReplyDeleteWow so many programs and interactive toys to chose from!! All of these sound great and amazing to use in a classroom setting. I have to agree that that Smart Table and AVer pen are a little expensive, but I think that if you involve other teachers that sound interested in the idea then you can maybe split the cost and share the technology between the classrooms. Google Apps always have good ideas for teachers to use technology in the classroom as well! Just reading this made me want to be in elementary and middle school again just to see all this new technology in action! Nice job!!