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Scooped from Digital technology supporting Year 8 Science Curriculum Curation (padlet.com). Using Minecraft is an engaging means to teach the fundamentals of atomic structure

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This page offers an extensive selection of simple graphic organiser ICT templates that are able to be embedded within Office 365, Google Suite or Apple.

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External resources

Disclaimer
Links to third-party websites:
If you use the links provided on this website to access a third party's website, you acknowledge that the terms of use, including licence terms set out on the third party's website apply to the use which may be made of the materials on that third party's website or where permitted by the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth).

The department accepts no responsibility for content on third-party websites.

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State of New South Wales, Department of Education, Australia

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Simple graphic organisers help students to organise their thoughts and ideas in a way that is easy for them to comprehend.

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Scooped from KT’s Tech in Maths Digital Curation (padlet.com) An excellent resource to consider when planning a Geometry Unit.

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Side-Side-Side (SSS) Congruence: The side-side-side (SSS) congruence states that if the three sides of one triangle have the same lengths as the three sides of another triangle, then the two triangles are congruent.

Triangle Inequality: The triangle inequality says that for three lengths to make a triangle, the sum of the lengths of any two sides must be greater than the third length.

New in This Session

Angle-Angle-Angle (AAA) Similarity: The angle-angle-angle (AAA) similarity test says that if two triangles have corresponding angles that are congruent, then the triangles are similar. Because the sum of the angles in a triangle must be 180°, we really only need to know that two pairs of corresponding angles are congruent to know the triangles are similar.

Cosine: If angle A is an acute angle in a right triangle, the cosine of A is the length of the side adjacent to angle A, divided by the length of the hypotenuse of the triangle. We often abbreviate this as cos A = (adjacent)/(hypotenuse).

Side-Angle-Side (SAS) Similarity: The side-angle-side (SAS) similarity test says that if two triangles have two pairs of sides that are proportional and the included angles are congruent, then the triangles are similar.

Side-Side-Side (SSS) Similarity: The side-side-side (SSS) similarity test says that if two triangles have all three pairs of sides in proportion, the triangles must be similar.

Similar: Two polygons are similar polygons if corresponding angles have the same measure and corresponding sides are in proportion.

Sine: If angle A is an acute angle in a right triangle, the sine of A is the length of the side opposite to angle A divided by the length of the hypotenuse of the triangle. We often abbreviate this as sin A = (opposite)/(hypotenuse).

Tangent: If angle A is an acute angle in a right triangle, the tangent of A is the length of the side opposite to angle A divided by the length of the side adjacent to angle A. We often abbreviate this as tan A = (opposite)/(adjacent).

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Side-Side-Side (SSS) Congruence: The side-side-side (SSS) congruence states that if the three sides of one triangle have the same lengths as the three sides of another triangle, then the two triangles are congruent. Triangle Inequality: The triangle inequality says that for three lengths to make a triangle, the sum of the lengths of any two sides must be greater than the third length.

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Scooped from KT’s Tech in Maths Digital Curation (padlet.com) Offering free teacher accounts, Mathigon offers a large range of interactive content useful in the Maths classroom.

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Mathigon's innovative courses cover everything from fractions and trigonometry to graph theory, cryptography, prime numbers and fractals.

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A comprehensive selection of thinking scaffolds to support student thinking.

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Scooped from Digital technology and Year 8 Science Curriculum (padlet.com) A succinct collation of Hatties strategies, with a concise 'in action' description.

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Scooped from Digital technology and Year 8 Science Curriculum (padlet.com)
This resource offers a great selection of student activities that link with the Year 8 Geological Science Unit. The resources draw relevant application for teens, through the identification of natural materials that are used to develop mobile phone development.

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Explore the formation of rocks and minerals in this teacher resource

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Scooped from Digital technology and Year 8 Science Curriculum (padlet.com). I have used these YouTube clips with great success in the classroom. The videos are short, engaging and promote understanding.

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We are two sisters on a mission to demystify science with humor and relevance by creating videos, GIFs, comics, and resources. Our content is focused on high school biology (Pinky is a former high school biology teacher), though we do receive comments that some of our content is useful for intro bio…

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Scooped from Digital technology and Year 8 Science Curriculum (padlet.com). I have come back to this site, time and time again, to find high quality free images.

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4.5 million+ Stunning Free Images to Use Anywhere - Pixabay - Pixabay

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Find your perfect royalty-free image or video to download and use. ✓ Royalty-free ✓ No attribution required ✓ High quality images.

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Google Docs offer similar functionality to Google slides including the option to chat, comment and real time edit. The option to video call, and continue progress on student collaboration tasks opens opportunities for collaboration via distance (a significant way to overcome gaps in student learning, in this season of public health measures). Consider also the use of video conferencing to incorporate collaboration with experts, and international peers.

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Create and collaborate on online documents in real-time and from any device.

Seamless collaboration, from anywhere

Edit together in real-time with easy sharing, and use comments, suggestions, and action items to keep things moving. Or use @-mentions to pull relevant people, files, and events into your online Docs for rich collaboration.

Write faster with built-in intelligence

Assistive features like Smart Compose help you write faster with fewer errors, so you can focus on ideas. And save time with spelling and grammar suggestions, voice typing, and quick document translation.

Seamlessly connect to your other Google apps

Docs is thoughtfully connected to other Google apps you love, saving you time. Reply to comments directly from Gmail, embed charts from Google Sheets, and easily share via Google Meet. You can even search the web and Google Drive for relevant content and images, directly from Docs.

Bring collaboration and intelligence to other file types

Easily edit Microsoft Word files online without converting them, and layer on Docs' enhanced collaborative and assistive features like action items and Smart Compose. You can also import PDFs, making them instantly editable.

Do more with add-ons

Access a variety of third-party applications, right from Docs. Whether it's an e-signature app or project management tool, open it from Docs to work faster.

Work on fresh content

With Docs, everyone's working on the latest version of a document. And with edits automatically saved in version history, it's easy to track or undo changes.

Stay productive, even offline

You can access, create, and edit Docs even without an internet connection, helping you stay productive from anywhere.

Security, compliance, and privacy

Secure by default

We use industry-leading security measures to keep your data safe, including advanced malware protections. Docs is also cloud-native, eliminating the need for local files and minimizing risk to your devices.

Encryption in transit and at rest

All files uploaded to Google Drive or created in Docs are encrypted in transit and at rest.

Compliance to support regulatory requirements

Our products, including Docs, regularly undergo independent verification of their security, privacy, and compliance controls.

Private by design

Docs adheres to the same robust privacy commitments and data protections as the rest of Google Cloud's enterprise services.

You control your data.

We never use your Docs content for ad purposes.

We never sell your personal information to third parties.

Find the plan that's right for you

Google Docs is a part of Google Workspace

Try Docs for Work

For Personal (Free)

Business Standard

$12 USD
/user/month

done

done

15 GB per user

2 TB per user

done

done

100 participants

150 participants

remove

done

Self-service online and community forums

24/7 online support and community forums

Collaborate from anywhere, on any device

Access, create, and edit your documents wherever you are - from any mobile device, tablet, or computer - even when offline.

Get a head start with templates

Choose from a variety of dashboards, project trackers, and other professionally-designed templates to kick things off quickly.

Projects

Sales

Recipes

Reports

Projects

Sales

Recipes

Reports

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Google Docs: Free Online Document Editor | Google Workspace

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Create and collaborate on online documents in real-time and from any device. Edit together in real-time with easy sharing, and use comments, suggestions, and action items to keep things moving. Or use @-mentions to pull relevant people, files, and events into your online Docs for rich collaboration.

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Implement collaborative presentation creations through Google Slides functionality to comment, chat and real time edit. Key features to consider in the classroom include the permission control, deciding who is able to edit, view, or add comments.

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Beautiful presentations created together

Create and edit polished presentations in your browser - no software required. Several people can work at the same time so that everyone always has the latest version.

Works across PCs, Macs, mobiles and tablets

View or even present your slides from your phone or tablet, so you always have the option to practice your presentation until the last minute.

Unlimited revision history

Presentations get saved automatically online and versions are kept indefinitely without counting towards your Drive storage, so you can always track and undo revisions.

Simple sharing controls

Sharing is simple. You can assign permissions to control who views and edits your slides. You can also convert your Slides easily to the desired format to share with others.

What kind of features does Google Slides offer?

You can draw charts and diagrams, insert objects and shapes, format text and images, enable animations and much more.

Can I convert other presentations into Slides?

Yes. You can convert many different file types into Google Slides format. The original file will remain intact.

How does co-editing work?

Co-editing means that sever people can work on the same slide at the same time. Sharing settings allows you to control who can view and edit a slide, and revision history enables you to revert to earlier versions. Also available in Google Docs and Sheets.

Start today - it's easy.

If you need help, there's 24/7 email, chat and phone support from a real person.

Start Free Trial

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Google Slides: Online presentations for business | Google Workspace

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Beautiful presentations created together Create and edit polished presentations in your browser - no software required. Several people can work at the same time so that everyone always has the latest version. Works across PCs, Macs, mobiles and tablets View or even present your slides from your phone or tablet, so you always have the option to practice your presentation until the last minute.

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This resource presents such an engaging and exciting way for students to get 'hands on' with system energy transfer and transformation. When integrated with ICT such as collaborative Google Docs/ Slides, there presents many opportunities to support collaboration, creativity and critical thinking skills.

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Amusement Park Ride: Ups and Downs in Design - Activity

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Students design, build and test model roller coasters using foam tubing, toothpicks and masking tape. As if they are engineers, teams compete to create the winning design based on costs and aesthetics. Guided by three worksheets, students prototype, test, evaluate and finalize their ideas, all while…

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There's heaps to be found.  This is my favourite. This is only for 5 minutes but there's plenty of others to discover.

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Free HD 5 Minute Countdown - Windy - (20+ Free In Channel)

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Slideshare is for PP presentations, what YouTube is for video. There's a PP on almost every topic imaginable.

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Discover, Share, and Present presentations and infographics with the world’s largest professional content sharing community.

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Working within Google Slides, I have discovered there to be amazing collaborative functionalities such as simultaneous editing by a number of users, as well as assistive features such as the comments box. My mind spins at the collaborative learning possibilities in my future science classroom.

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Create, present, and collaborate on online presentations in real-time and from any device.

Make beautiful presentations, together

Stay in sync in your slides, with easy sharing and real-time editing. Use comments and assign action items to build your ideas together.

Present slideshows with confidence

With easy-to-use presenter view, speaker notes, and live captions, Slides makes presenting your ideas a breeze. You can even present to Google Meet video calls directly from Slides.

Seamlessly connect to your other Google apps

Slides is thoughtfully connected to other Google apps you love, saving you time. Embed charts from Google Sheets or reply to comments directly from Gmail. You can even search the web and Google Drive for relevant content and images directly from Slides.

Extend collaboration and intelligence to PowerPoint files

Easily edit Microsoft PowerPoint presentations online without converting them, and layer on Slides' enhanced collaborative and assistive features like comments, action items, and Smart Compose.

Work on fresh content

With Slides, everyone's working on the latest version of a presentation. And with edits automatically saved in version history, it's easy to track or undo changes.

Make slides faster, with built-in intelligence

Assistive features like Smart Compose and autocorrect help you build slides faster with fewer errors.

Stay productive, even offline

You can access, create, and edit Slides even without an internet connection, helping you stay productive from anywhere.

Security, compliance, and privacy

Secure by default

We use industry-leading security measures to keep your data safe, including advanced malware protections. Slides is also cloud-native, eliminating the need for local files and minimizing risk to your devices.

Encryption in transit and at rest

All files uploaded to Google Drive or created in Slides are encrypted in transit and at rest.

Compliance to support regulatory requirements

Our products, including Slides, regularly undergo independent verification of their security, privacy, and compliance controls.

Private by design

Slides adheres to the same robust privacy commitments and data protections as the rest of Google Cloud's enterprise services.

You control your data.

We never use your Slides content for ad purposes.

We never sell your personal information to third parties.

Find the plan that's right for you

Google Slides is a part of Google Workspace

Try Slides for Work

For Personal (Free)

Business Standard

$12 USD
/user/month

done

done

15 GB per user

2 TB per user

done

done

100 participants

150 participants

remove

done

Self-service online and community forums

24/7 online support and community forums

Collaborate from anywhere, on any device

Access, create, and edit your presentations wherever you are - from any mobile device, tablet, or computer - even when offline.

Get a head start with templates

Choose from a variety of presentations, reports, and other professionally-designed templates to kick things off quickly.

Proposal

Case Study

Photo Album

Book Report

Proposal

Case Study

Photo Album

Book Report

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Google Slides: Free Online Slideshow Maker | Google Workspace

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Create, present, and collaborate on online presentations in real-time and from any device. Stay in sync in your slides, with easy sharing and real-time editing. Use comments and assign action items to build your ideas together. With easy-to-use presenter view, speaker notes, and live captions, Slides makes presenting your ideas a breeze.

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Highly engaging task for students to demonstrate physics knowledge.

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Students build their own small-scale model roller coasters using pipe insulation and marbles, and then analyze them using physics principles learned in the associated lesson. They examine conversions between kinetic and potential energy and frictional effects to design roller coasters that are compl…

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Introduction to PBL in the science classroom.

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able to model good strategies for learning and thinking, rather than an ex-pert in the content itself. The facilitator scaffolds student learning throughmodeling and coaching, primarily through the use of questioning strategiesble both for moving the students through the various stages of PBL andfor monitoring the group process. This monitoring assures that all students are involved and encourages them both to externalize their own thinking and to comment on each others thinking.

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able to model good strategies for learning and thinking, rather than an ex-pert in the content itself. The facilitator scaffolds student learning throughmodeling and coaching, primarily through the use of questioning strategiesble both for moving the students through the various stages of PBL andfor monitoring the group process.

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An interesting way to allocate team roles and responsibilities during creative and critical thinking tasks.

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This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Quite often we'll ask children to "Put your thinking cap on". Empowering learners with the skills to think creatively and critically is a gift which we can facilitate as teachers. The Developing Thinking and Reading Between the Lines PowerPoints in the Literacy Toolkit provide professional learning resources for staff to engage with materials that promote thinking.

Many of our posts have referred to the work of Bloom; however, when I was at an Active Literacy CPD session in Falkirk recently, the Six Hat materials were mentioned during a round table discussion.

Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats is a tool which can be used by practitioners to promote thinking. Each hat colour represents a different aspect of thinking.

Some of the resources, tailored to middle/upper Primary and Secondary, suggest physically wearing coloured representations of the hats when beginning to engage with the materials. This way, learners are physically moving between the hats; therefore they are moving between the different modes of thinking.

There are banks of free resources that are available to support the teaching of thinking skills using the De Bono's Six Hats materials. The Six Hats materials can be used in conjunction with other Higher Order Thinking materials. Check out the resources below:

CLICK HERE - Using Six Hats as a reflection tool
CLICK HERE - Using the Six Hats to Respond to Literature
CLICK HERE - Six Hats Display
CLICK HERE - Thinking Display
CLICK HERE - FREE De Bono Thinking Resources

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Quite often we'll ask children to "Put your thinking cap on". Empowering learners with the skills to think creatively and critically is a gift which we can facilitate as teachers. The Developing Thinking and Reading Between the Lines PowerPoints in the Literacy Toolkit provide professional learning resources for staff to engage with materials that promote thinking.

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Introduction to PBL and benefits.

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Authentic learning is real life learning. It is a style of learning that encourages students to create a tangible, useful, quality product/outcome to be shared with their world. Once an educator provides a motivational challenge, or student selects their initiative, it is imperative to nurture and support the necessary criteria, planning, timelines, resources and support to accommodate student success. The teacher becomes a guide on the side or an event manager, a facilitator that co-creates with their students. Processes become the predominant forces while skills, knowledge and behaviours are activated in real-world, relevant contexts.

Authentic learning is actualized learning. It is only when student initiatives are directed towards a genuine audience, beyond the classroom, that learning becomes truly activated. When learning initiatives are designed for initiatives that permeate the classroom walls, then lasting, transferrable learning begins to take hold. It can be achieved by going out to the community, by inviting a community audience into the school setting, or directing it towards an audience in the global, digital or electronic domain.

When relevant and meaningful learning initiatives are skilfully designed and implemented for a genuine audience, in a realistic context, then innate neurological receptors to learn are heightened. The closer learning is to real-life scenarios, the more optimal the learning experience will be.

Authentic learning engages all the senses allowing students to create a meaningful, useful, shared outcome. They are real life tasks, or simulated tasks, that provide the learner with opportunities to connect directly with a relevant world.

Instead of vicariously discussing topics and regurgitating information in a traditional industrial age modality, authentic learning provides a learner with support to achieve a tangible, useful, quality product worth sharing with an audience in their world. Instead of prioritizing the curriculum expectations and its contents over experience rich processes, authentic learning chooses fertile, student driven, community connected audiences to create experience rich products for and then strategically align relevant curricula connections to them. with our environment that creates experience

As Albert Einstein stated, "The only source of knowledge is the experience." Yes we are complex, intricately wired beings with a vast network of neuro-receptors that serve us on our unique journeys through life. Regardless of our analytical talents, physical prowess, perceptual abilities or health status, we all come with plethora of innate skills and deficits. It's only when we're exposed to opportunities to explore, engage, create, reflect, interact socially, emotionally and cognitively

exposure to Authentic learning emphasizes 'experience nurturing' that provides longer lasting, transferable skills to an individual. It is more relevant, motivational and personal.

Our greatest short coming in education these past years has been to ignore the brain research that is richly available to us that affirms that implementing multi-sensory activities, pursuing meaningful tasks, exploring a variety of skills with real world applications is optimal learning and that it needs to be practiced regularly.

A student sitting at a desk, taking notes and regurgitating curriculum content uses a minute amount of their potential. In general, students learn to sit quietly, respond in turn, follow instructions and complete tests for a control teacher. Without relevance, personal connection, multi-sensory engagement and purpose, content driven curricula begins to evaporate once the test has been taken. You remember studying for exams, cramming, finding memory cues and rote to consolidate information? Do you also remember how fast you started to forget those brain bytes once you left the exam room? If it's not relevant to you, it not lasting, transferrable learning. If learning is not based in the rich processes that only experiences can provide, it's static learning.

This classic, industrial age approach has been used since the mid 1870's to produce a work force to facilitate mass production lines that were to become prevalent in the next hundred years. That era ended in the 1980's if not before. If all we do is sit at a square table, with a square piece of paper, in a square room with departmentalized lessons and timetables, then what are our education systems really producing? Brain-based research shows that by using all senses it maximizes the learning experience. The key being - the experience!

Interacting, manipulating, exploring, collaborating, discussing openly and sharing for meaningful reasons while having ample time to nurture a greater depth of reasoning and creativity is optimal learning. It's learning that sticks. It's learning with roots!

In an authentic learning model the emphasis is to prioritize the processes over the content. It's about allowing students to pursue individual learning opportunities that are unique to their interests, through relevant, real life journeys. The emphasis isn't just about regurgitating content for a unit test, it's about developing a set of culminating skills sets, within a realistic timeline, using self-motivated, natural inquiry methods to create a useful product to be shared with a specific, meaningful audience. It's about engaging students into full fledged, multi-sensory contexts that nurture their learning experiences in significant, lasting ways.

More importantly, the learning journey that ensues is life altering as students are aligned to meaningful processes that nurture non-perishable skills rather than the short term memory exercises that a content driven curriculum demands. Don't get me wrong, content is important but when using an authentic learning approach content is recognized as it is properly intended to be - a portfolio of records, research, plans, lists, notes, reading, contacts, drafts and support information that will become the artifacts of the authentic journey.

With the advent of the internet, content is readily available to everyone. We can reference, cross reference, research any topic at rapid speeds and do it at any time when it's relevant for us. We can access it through mobiles, tablets or computers as we access information as it is needed and when it is needed. Is it still relevant for a teacher to predominately dispense content to students, then evaluate the regurgitation of that content given as the main assessment of a person's learning ability?

Authentic learning allows for students to demonstrate their skills through a series of unfolding learning processes with a definitive, quality product that they can actually demonstrate. At no time in history has information (content) been so readily available to the masses, but it's the synergy and processes of engagement that defines our human experience. That's where the real value in education lies. Students need purpose. They need to feel useful and be a valued part of a community. They need to feel connected and real-world contexts allow for these elements to be activated and groomed. By nurturing 'purpose' we are providing the channels for students to recognize their unique talents and see their inherent value in society. Thus, individual and community self-esteem becomes a priceless byproduct of a successful authentic learning initiative.

I believe that education systems must reevaluate the weighting of its' curricula as it must reflect a working balance between learning processes and properly aligned content? Remember, processes take time to learn but once they're consolidated they're impact lasts for a long time. Processes require skill sets that are developmentally prioritized and require skilled instructors to transfer these skills. If you want students to engage in deeper thinking opportunities, then time is one of the most valued commodities. Are education systems willing to forgo the number of content expectations in their curricula in favour of embracing processes that require more time commitment? Good teachers are quick to point out that their curricula covers so many topics and expectations that there isn't enough time to cover everything appropriately. The more topics, the more content and the more time it takes to cover everything in the curriculum, and mathematically it just doesn't work. The rules dictate how the game is played, so to cover every expectation educational systems rely on the "here's the information" and "here's the test" mode of education. It's an efficient way to deliver content quickly so that all expectations are lawfully covered. It's an over used exercise in short term memory skills and cognitive cueing tricks, but its not a fulfilling, meaningful way to learn. Unless students are immersed in relevant, multi-sensory activities with specific, audience directed outcomes and culminating skills sets, then what students are learning is not sticking.

With the recognition of STEM, STEAM, Maker education platforms in the past decade, it demonstrates a deeper appreciation and commitment to relevant processes. This is very promising!

The quality of research, subject knowledge, skill development, expert consultation, dedication and resourcefulness that goes into making a product is directly related to the quality outcome of that product.

Is It Authentic Learning or Not?

Remember, in true authentic learning an outcome designed to interact successfully with a community is the goal. When this happens a whole new layer of emotional, academic and skill set developments take place. There's a big difference between preparing a skit for some classmates verses a dramatic production for the public. There's a much larger personal investment required when a student becomes an ancient Egyptian tradesperson producing tools and wares, while working at a market stall to an interacting audience than holding up a Bristol board display and explaining ancient Egyptian information on it. Best of all, the student retains information from this type of multi-sensory, authentic learning experience longer because it's real, it's connected.

Authentic learning is not project-based learning nor is it constructivism. These models of education were designed within the classroom context. Although at times they stepped successfully into the world of authentic, and are extremely useful tools in moving closer to an authentic learning approach they are not authentic learning models. Authentic learning is intended to successfully interact with a community; by going out to interact with a community or the community coming into the student community to interact. That's why it's authentic! It's a quality outcome or product of significance that is intended for community consumption or betterment.

Kudos to those teachers who provide project-based, simulation, game-based learning opportunities, Maker, STEM and STEAM. These are significant, engaging initiatives that provide the best kind of classroom learning and education systems need more of you. They are fantastic opportunities in providing working instruction and to model inquiry method, team work and sound skill development. What I'm encouraging is to take the next step. Consider a project to be developed for real world applications beyond the school walls, for a viable audience. Not every time, but perhaps once in a school year attempt an authentic event. For those who have stepped into the realm of authentic you'll understand how this impacts everything. It will impact the initial discussions, the consultation, the refined skill sets, networking and the professional development a student and teacher requires.

Think about it. Every important, relevant thing a person requires to achieve a goal in life has a quality outcome or product attached to it with an intended audience. Pitching a business proposal requires an in depth presentation that reflects relevance, meaning and purpose. If it's backed by tangible proof, even better. A prototype of a new invention requires a quality, tested, working device or apparatus to gain support in the marketing world. An environmental assessment requires extensive research and impact studies of connected, like-situations from around the ecological world.

A grade five teacher once shared a wonderful collection of student written and recorded persuasive "Saving Energy" stories with me. They even designed CD covers in art lessons for their project. The work, learning and planning by teacher and student was tremendous. Upon being asked however, "What did you do with all that great work" she replied she'd listened to the CD in class and put the CD covers up on the bulletin board. This is a great example of integrated learning but it's not authentic learning.

By planning beyond the classroom, a whole new level of understanding and relevant learning takes place. What if the CDs were intended for sale at the nearest mall? Now, an in depth degree of consultation needs to be pursued. Mall managers, local radio stations, graphic designers, bar codes for selling, copyrights local recording studios and marketing experts will need to be considered. That's the major leap an educator needs to take to enter the realm of authentic learning. What if the recordings were uploaded onto a website and promoted to leaders of energy conservation intended to be used to educate the surrounding community on "Energy Saving"? What about an "Energy Saving in Our Homes" campaign within your community? These are only suggestions but with a little brainstorming and with the right people, it wouldn't be long until a list of exciting possibilities could be created. Why are they exciting possibilities? Because they're real, relevant and worthy!

One of the reasons I started to use the term "authentic learning" was that I recognized that the term "outcomes-based" education, William Spady's model which shared a number of characteristics, was being recognized mainly for it's outcome statements. His strategy of reforming an education system, built on students performing a hierarchy of skills was diluted down to the content-based, outcome statements. Again, it became more about the content than pursuing the meaningful journey of authentic education. It isn't hard to understand why this happened because that's how it would be perceived by policy makers who's successes were affirmed in a content driven system.

Authentic learning is not another edu-trend or buzz word. It is real life - real world education and when appropriately implemented it can provide optimal learning opportunities to all students. I have noticed that some educators are misrepresenting the term "authentic" to qualify their student's inferred learning. If learning is engaged solely in classroom settings, referencing real world examples only, it's vicarious learning, - it's not authentic learning. Authentic learning is relevant learning, activated in a real world context to a real world audience.

​If you've ever initiated a business or an organization, you'll have a far better understanding of the enormous work and planning an authentic learning event requires. As in real life - these initiatives take an enormous amount of time, dedication, consulting, flexibility, networking, research and communication to launch. Yes, to launch! Once the launch has been initiated, then the real work starts. As guide on the side, or project manager you're now having to coordinate, educate, coach, consult and communicate with your students and parents in shaping their successful roles while pursuing the larger goal of your signature event. As well, you're going to require some additional professional development directly connected to the skills required in your authentic initiative.

Creating a Signature Event

A signature event is when tangible product is shared with a genuine, relevant audience. For example; if your high school senior class planned to design, construct and test their solar cars, organizing a Solar Car Derby with a spectator audience at a nearby racetrack would be a worthwhile signature event.

To fully immerse the students in an authentic learning experience they would be expected to prepare for the event with community experts, consultants, parents, teacher colleagues and community leaders. The more the students participate in the organization of the event, the more ownership and pride the students will have towards the event.

By providing students with the opportunity to have input at all levels allows for the distribution of learning at all levels. If there are rules involved, then student representatives need to be part of the derby rules development, refinement and approval. Students will possess a better grasp of all aspects of the authentic event when they are personally connected to the complete journey.

While the signature event is being planned, the students are honing their knowledge and skills to create their own quality product to share. It all depends on the type of product being created that will dictate how much class time can be used to design and create their products.

This style of learning is labour intensive and time consuming but it is the most worthwhile education you can provide students. Once you've implemented an authentic event, or simulation, the impact on student development is remarkable. The great thing about authentic learning is, it's a context that allows for student's uniqueness to be highlighted. Whether it's a specific skill, academic or a social/behaviour issue, an authentic setting, appropriately implemented, provides a very rich personal growth setting.

This new, authentic learning approach, however, requires another breed of educator. An academic as well as a life skilled, co-creator. A real, "life" long learner with skill sets and experiences that can facilitate a creative, diverse, well structured, team-based, open-ended, criteria based and globally directed education program. Ask yourself if you're on the way down the enlightened authentic learning road? Are you working towards sharing a tangible product beyond the class or bringing the world into your schools either electronically or for real? The authentic experiences you provide your students is also the beginning of an unforgettable learning journey in your life.

The Tale of Two Lyres

Pictures of Quality Products (below)

I had just completed an authentic event, a Medieval Market Living Museum one April evening. It was the culmination of one and half months of preparation as the students demonstrated their personas (roles) as medieval trades people in medieval Coventry, UK. The students worked diligently away at their trades during this open house, all academic levels to their potential. Their goal was to create an authentic medieval trade persona, an authentic costume that reflected their trade role, an authentic working trade tool or product and a market stall to share their wares. The room was decorated with beautiful tapestries, murals, personalized heraldry banners and a large book display of the student's collective work/activity sheets carefully spiral bound.

In authentic learning paper collections are referred to as portfolios. These portfolios were carefully done and included an extensive variety of curriculum content and authentic learning preparation sheets. Spelling, creative writing, math, art, drama, technology, problem solving and reading comprehension work sheets were all included. Nearly five hundred visitors came through our themed room and only about ten people even looked through the spiraled bound unit booklets. They were clearly displayed, beautifully presented and featured eye pleasing, colorful covers.

Visitors were far more interested in interacting with the trades people, hearing their stories, watching them work, than reading the notes that helped them attain their goal. Really, it is this kind of instance that affirms the reality that content and paper curriculum isn't as important as we believe them to be. It's important, and it certainly has its place, but the applied knowledge is far more important. The doing consolidates all the learning that went into the event.

​Somewhere along the continuum of learning development the jot notes became more important than the tangible, meaningful applications of the education purpose itself. In the end, it's the applied demonstration that counts. "It's all in the doing".

Student Behaviours When Immersed in Authentic Learning

Is it realistic to think that authentic learning of this nature can be done, ongoing, throughout the school year? Of course it can and there are school's that engage in authentic approaches already. Maybe one day authentic learning may be the motis operandum of the majority of schools, but realistically not yet. With the current school classroom structures, resources, timetabling, standardized test demands, physical classroom limitations, administration directives and the plethora of curriculum expectations as they are, it's difficult to do.

If, however, an educator can attempt one or two authentic learning events in a school year then that's a fantastic start. At year's end you and your students won't regret it and it won't be long until you're looking forward to starting your next. There are different degrees of authentic learning events from simulations shared with your community to complete, real world integrations. Start small, then develop your authentic learning undertakings over the years to come. Let other educators, parents and community members observe your authentic learning events. Remember, a well implemented authentic unit/event is the best kind of promotion for this rich style of learning.

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Authentic learning is real life learning. It is a style of learning that encourages students to create a tangible, useful, quality product/outcome to be shared with their world. Once an educator provides a motivational challenge, or student selects their initiative, it is imperative to nurture and support the necessary criteria, planning, timelines, resources and support to accommodate student success.

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I have used Kahoot with great success in my classes. Quizizz has another significant range of pre-made interactive quizzes, or option to make one yourself.

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Free gamified quizzes on every subject that students play in class and at home. Pick an existing quiz or create your own for review, formative assessment, and more.

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Puentedura's five key benefits of Digital pedagogy
- Social (communication, collaboration, sharing)
- Mobility(Anytime, anyplace learning)
- Visualisation (Making abstract concepts tangible).
- Storytelling (Knowledge integration and transmission)
- Gaming (Feedback loops and formative assessment).

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A reminder to educators to ensure technology incorporation is purposeful, and constantly presses learning towards rich and authentic tasks.

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Good technology integration isn't about using the fanciest tool, it's about being aware of the range of options and picking the right strategy-or strategies-for the lesson at hand.

The biggest obstacle to teaching online probably isn't the technology. Teachers seek out educational technology, in fact, because it "can have considerable positive impacts on student performance," according to a 2016 study -improving test scores and allowing teachers to assess student achievement more efficiently. The big problem is how to integrate it: Beyond the sheer number of tech tools available, the same researchers identified "inadequate professional development and training" as the primary obstacle to using technology productively in classrooms.

Understandably, the emergence of the coronavirus has dramatically accelerated the process of integrating edtech, as educators around the country race to get online as fast as they can. But as many of our teachers have noted, the current state of K-12 online learning is more like triage-a form of crisis management-and not at all like skillfully managed distance education.

What's missing from the conversation right now, which makes sense given the immediacy of the need, is a focus on the bigger question of what the highest quality technology integration actually looks like. That's an important conversation to have, because in a post-coronavirus world there's likely to be a greater emphasis on digital learning, even as we return to physical schools and take advantage of face-to-face opportunities.

A Hierarchy of Tech Uses

A powerful conceptual tool to think about technology integration-and edtech's best uses-is the SAMR model, developed in 2010 by education researcher Ruben Puentedura, who was the 1991 recipient of a Phi Beta Kappa teaching award.

The SAMR model lays out four tiers of online learning, presented roughly in order of their sophistication and transformative power: substitution, augmentation, modification, and r edefinition. When switching to an online format, teachers often focus on the first two levels, which involve replacing traditional materials with digital ones: converting lessons and worksheets into PDFs and posting them online, or recording lectures on video and making them available for asynchronous learning, for example.
Creative Commons
Those are important steps, especially when teaching online for the first time, but in classrooms where tech integration has moved to the mastery level, the last two levels of the SAMR model-modification and redefinition-should also be in the mix. Students in classes where this kind of mastery is embedded find more novel and immersive uses for technology. They are creators and publishers of their own work across multiple forms of media, for example, or they are inviting professionals to provide feedback on their work products, or participating in digital forums with other peers around the world.

It's tempting to think of SAMR as a mountain to be summited. But good technology integration isn't about living at the top of the SAMR model; it's about being aware of the range of options and picking the right strategy-or strategies-for the lesson at hand.

Here's a closer look at good classroom practices at each level in the model:

Substitution

"Substitution" means replacing traditional activities and materials-like in-class lectures or paper worksheets-with digital versions. There is no substantial change to the content, just the way that it is delivered.

The goal here is to keep things simple: there's no need to reinvent the wheel. Scan your lessons and worksheets, convert them into PDFs, and post them online using Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive, or a similar file-sharing service. Think about the information you have on your walls, such as the classroom norms, the daily schedule, or vocabulary lists, and convert them into digital formats that students can easily reference.

It may also help to provide synchronous as well as asynchronous versions of your lectures. If you're holding class meetings over a videoconferencing service like Zoom or Skype, provide a recording for students who can't attend. You can also create your own instructional videos for students to view at their own pace.

Augmentation

This level involves incorporating interactive digital enhancements and elements like comments, hyperlinks, or multimedia. The content remains unchanged, but students can now take advantage of digital features to enhance the lesson.

For example, students can create digital portfolios to create multimedia presentations, giving them more options to demonstrate their understanding of a topic. And instead of handing out paper quizzes, you can gamify your quizzes with tools like Socrative and Kahoot.

Teachers can also create virtual bulletin boards-using an app like Padlet -where students can post questions, links, and pictures.

Modification

At this level, teachers can think about using a learning management system like Google Classroom, Moodle, Schoology, or Canvas to handle the logistical aspects of running a classroom, like tracking grades, messaging students, creating a calendar, and posting assignments.

Teaching online opens up new channels of communication, many of which can help students who have traditionally been marginalized. Research shows that girls may be less likely to speak up in class, for example, so they may benefit from backchannels -alternative conversations that can run alongside instruction-that encourage participation.

Zoom's text chat feature, meanwhile, gives students an opportunity to write their questions out, which can feel less intrusive if there are dozens of students participating in the call. Also, students who prefer to collect their thoughts may benefit from slower-paced, asynchronous discussions in an online forum or email threads.

Redefinition

Learning is fundamentally transformed at the "redefinition" level, enabling activities that were previously impossible in the classroom.

For example, virtual pen pals can connect students to other parts of the world, whether it's with other students or experts in a field. Virtual field trips enable students to visit locations like the Amazon rainforest, the Louvre, or the Egyptian pyramids. After reading a book in class, you can invite the author to chat about their work and answer questions.

Technology also provides an opportunity to bring authentic audiences into your virtual classroom, and can make publishers out of your students. Kids can write their own wikis or blogs for public consumption and feedback-and platforms like Quadblogging can connect distant classrooms together so students both write and respond. Students can tackle local problems-like investigating the water quality of a nearby river-and invite members of the community to assess their digital proposals.

Going Beyond SAMR

Finally, consider how technology can be used not just as a way to deliver content, but also to strengthen relationships with your students. For elementary school teacher John Thomas, Seesaw and Flipgrid allow him to share a daily greeting, which his students then respond to-or to each other-with a typed or voiced comment. It's a good way to provide some stability while they're isolated.

How can my lesson be improved using technology?

How can I engage and empower students through technology?

How can online learning more closely resemble authentic, real-world learning?

Remember, again, that SAMR is sometimes thought of as a mountain to summit, but it's really more like a toolbox. The goal isn't to use the most sophisticated tool, but to find the right one for the job. More importantly, however, it's a way to reflect on your technology integration by thinking about a few key questions:

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A Powerful Model for Understanding Good Tech Integration

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Good technology integration isn't about using the fanciest tool, it's about being aware of the range of options and picking the right strategy-or strategies-for the lesson at hand.

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Some excellent ideas using shared slide presentations

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Quality bell ringers are crucial - quick activities to get students going at the beginning of class, when the bell has just rung.

For these first five or ten minutes of class (OK, probably more the five than the ten), we have our students' most attention. It's the most focused they'll likely be for us all day.

If we squander that time, the rest of our time with them suffers.

But if we seize the opportunity that it is, we can spark interest and hook students into a lesson.

One of the hooks from the book Teach Like a PIRATE that's most memorable to me is the Board Message Hook.

In a book about engaging students, the idea of meeting students with something that's eye-catching and thought-provoking - a statement or a picture or whatever - really resonated with me.

Put a photo of something seemingly random on the board that eventually ties into the lesson of the day.

Write a controversial or surprising statement on the board.

Display a QR code on the board and see if students scan it.

The idea here is to meet students in the first moments of class with something that intrigues them and makes them want to dive deeper into the day's work.

The traditional model for bell ringer activities - the first activities students do before starting into the substance of the class - is to do some basic, quick questions:

Simple problems in math

Verb conjugations in foreign language

Comprehension questions in English/language arts

Review questions from the previous day's history lesson

So, so forgettable. So easy to do without any real thinking.
Let's come up with some bell ringer activities that inspire students, that trigger thinking and discussion. When we pull some of the incredible digital tools available to us, we can kick these bell ringer activities up to another level.

10 digital bell ringer activities you can use tomorrow! FREE ebook

20 ideas for great digital bell ringer activities

Whether you have digital devices for your students or not, these should stimulate some new ideas for kicking off class in an engaging way:

1. Add speech bubbles to a historic photo.

Add a new twist to a lesson by letting students speak - or think - for the characters. My favorite way to do this is with Google Drawings (for creating individual images) or Google Slides (for having each student create a slide in a shared presentation). Do an image search for a historic photo and add that photo to the drawing or slide. Then add speech bubbles. (If using Drawings/Slides, it's in the shapes under the "callouts" category.) This is higher-order thinking! Students must know their facts and understand the people involved very well to be able to think for them. Kick the Depth of Knowledge level up even higher by having students justify their thinking and explain why they wrote what they did.

Example: Washington crossing the Delaware. Find the historic painting and add a thought bubble for Washington. (Then, add a thought bubble for a soldier too!)
Resource: Caption This! A fun, deep-thinking Google Drawings activity
2. Ask a character/historic figure a question.

What if students could ask someone they're studying a question? What would they ask, and how would that person likely respond? This is another that can be done quickly and easily in Google Slides or Drawings. Let students take a photo of themselves using Insert > Image > Take a snapshot. Then, use the image search to find a photo of the person to whom they'll ask the question. Add speech bubbles to ask questions. Students could ask one question with one answer from the character/historic figure, or they could do a back-and-forth with several photos.

Example: Asking Sir Isaac Newton a question about how he concluded that gravity was due to the pull from the earth.

3. Create a flowchart.

Sticking with the Google Slides/Drawings idea, have students express their understanding of a concept with a flowchart. This can easily be done with shapes and arrows (found under the line tool) in Slides and Drawings. A single line throughout a flowchart makes for more of a timeline and less of a flowchart, so any time it can branch off, the flowchart is made more interesting! (Pro tip: copy (Ctrl+C) and paste (Ctrl+V) the shapes and arrows to save time.)

Example: Go through the process of deciding what to have for lunch and all of the decisions made in that process.
Resource: Deeper thinking with timeline projects
4. Make comic strips out of webcam photos.

Those webcams don't have to be just for selfie-style photos (especially those with peace fingers and duck lips ...). Have students back away from the camera and pose to recreate scenes of what you're studying. Or, have them sit side by side and have a discussion. This makes the students the stars of their own comic strips!

Example: Recreating a scene from a story or having a discussion about something they're learning in class.
Resource: Crash! Bang! Boom! How to add Google Drawings comic strips to your class
5. Create a quick animation.

Google Slides (or PowerPoint or any presentation slide tool) can be turned into a simple stop-motion animation tool. Create the first slide in your animation, then duplicate it, then move something slightly in the second slide. Duplicate the second slide and move something slightly in the third. Continue duplicating and moving until your animation is complete. Once your students have the hang of this, they can make animations pretty quickly.

Example: Recreating historic battles with moving maps ( here's a brief, incomplete example of the Battle of Little Big Horn) or showing how a math problem is completed.
Resource: Learning in motion: EASY stop-motion animation with Google Slides Resource: 11 tips for creating stop motion in Google Slides
6. Create BookSnaps of what you're reading.

In BookSnaps, students find a passage from a book they're reading that resonates with them. They snap a picture of it and annotate on it, underlining and adding text reflections and including fun things like emojis and Bitmojis (optional). There are variations of these, like MathSnaps, ScienceSnaps and even GratitudeSnaps. Snapchat is one tool many teachers and students use to create these annotations. (If you use Snapchat to do them, you don't even have to follow each other or post it to Snapchat ... just use the app to create the image!) If you don't want to use Snapchat, a take a snapshot (Insert > Image > Take a snapshot) using Google Slides or Drawings and add the annotations. See more about BookSnaps on the Twitter hashtag (#BookSnaps).

Example: Reflect on a reading in a book with a BookSnap. Explain parts of a math problem with a MathSnap. Show what's happening in a science lab with a ScienceSnap.
Resource: #Booksnaps- How-To Videos
7. Shared slide presentations.

Google Slides doesn't have to be used just to do presentations in front of the class! Create a slide presentation with enough slides for each student in the class. Then share that slide presentation with the class using the blue "Share" button. (Be sure to use the "Get shareable link" button and choose "Anyone with the link can edit" or "Anyone from <your school district> can edit" from the dropdown menu.) Each student gets a slide where he/she can do his/her own work. But you're also creating a whole class file. Students love to see what each other has put on the other slides, and it's a great place to interact through comments. Here's a shared slide presentation I did in a workshop where participants wrote about their ideal vacation destination.

Example: Finding quick facts/photos online about a topic you'll discuss in class that day.
Resource: Student collaboration in shared Google Slides
8. Ask students "What if ..." using a Flipgrid video grid.

It's always fascinating to see what students imagine when their minds are allowed to wander. An educator from Australia, Bronwyn Joyce, has gotten in the habit of asking her students - and students around the world - "What if?". Her prompts have elicited more than 1,000 videos and have prompted interesting discussions about the world's problems. On a smaller scale (in the classroom with just your students), this can be an interesting way to kick off a class.

Example: Letting students speculate what would happen if history was different, or if a character did something differently in a story, or what they would do if ...
Resource: Catch the Flipgrid fever! 30+ ways to use Flipgrid in your class
9. Create Icon boards.

I created icon boards as a way to simplify the infographic process. Think of icon boards as "infographics LITE" or "infographics when you're in a hurry."

The "Great Big Icon Board." Click here for the template in Google Slides.

You can use Google Slides to create your own icon boards - or just use the templates included in this post to copy and distribute mine.

Icon boards include an open space for students to organize what they're learning visually, combining text and images. They include plenty of icons that students would likely use from sources like The Noun Project or Flat Icon.

The icons - as well as shapes, text boxes and other elements - are placed in the workspace around the board. They're not actually on the board until students move them there. Think of it like things sitting around your paper on a desk.

Whether you create your own icon boards or use my pre-created templates, there are a few simple steps to using them.

(If you're using one of my templates, you'll need to make a copy of your own using the links above first.)

1. Distribute the icon boards to students. The easiest way is creating an assignment in Google Classroom and attaching the file to the assignment (choose "Make a copy for each student"). Other options include using the blue "Share" button and getting a clickable link, then changing the word "edit" and anything after it to say "copy" in the URL ... OR ... creating a short URL students can type in with a service like TinyURL.com or bitly.com.

2. Students open their boards (through Google Classroom or the method you choose).

3. Students organize their ideas using the items you've placed in the space around the board.

4. Students add additional items, like icons, shapes, text boxes, etc. that they might need.

Resource: Google Slides icon boards for low-prep, visual thinking
10. Do a shared mind map brainstorm with AWWApp.

Students can interact in a shared whiteboard in AWWApp (awwapp.com). They can draw with their finger (or a mouse or a laptop/Chromebook touchpad). If you have a touchscreen available, this is a really easy, collaborative way for students to sketch out and share their ideas. Because the whiteboards are collaborative, they can share whiteboards with others - students in other classes or anyone around the world - so they can collaborate together.

Example: Jot down all of the words that best describe a character. Write out all of the questions they have about solving a certain kind of math problem.
Resource: 10 ways to collaborate digitally + visually in class
11. Tweet for someone.

What would happen if a character in a story you're reading tweeted about an event in the story? Or about an event in current events ... or in another story? What if a scientist or mathematician or notable character in history tweeted? Now, you can let students create those tweets as bell-ringer activities. Use this Google Slides template. (Make sure you make your own copy.) Create a slide for each student. Then share the slide presentation with your students (through Google Classroom, through a learning management system, with a link using the blue Share button). Make it "Anyone with the link can edit". Students jump on their own slides and add the following: a photo, the name of the person tweeting, the Twitter username (start it with @), and the tweet. Ninja tip: To turn the photo to a circle, click on the photo and use the dropdown button next to the crop tool to select a circle as the crop shape!
Resource: 10 social media-inspired learning activities: no accounts necessary
12. Draw with your finger (or a computer touchpad).

I doubt that the simplicity of a simple drawing will ever lose its relevance in a classroom. Images are powerful; they're how our brain thinks anyhow. Having students draw what's in their brains - or how they understand a concept - can be a quick and easy way to get them on track for the day. Formative (goformative.com) makes this easy AND digital with its "Show Your Work" questions. Create a new assignment in Formative and just add a "Show Your Work" drawing question with a prompt. Share the assignment with students. Then see what they come up with. Now, we don't want to go digital for the sake of going digital, right? The tech should elevate the activity. Here, all of those simple drawings can be displayed quickly and easily from the teacher's computer on a projector. Speed and simplicity.
Resource: Draw, choose, write or say: Fantastic formative assessments
13. Create a "What do you know about ..." Padlet.

Padlet (padlet.com) is like a digital bulletin board. Use it to tack digital notes to it with push pins. Those notes, though, can have links, files, images and other multimedia attached to them - much cooler than a regular bulletin board. Kick off class for the day by creating a collaborative "What do you know about ..." Padlet. Pose a question: "What do you know about dolphins?" and encourage students to add whatever they can - personal experiences, facts, images, videos, whatever. This is a great way to activate prior knowledge.
Resource: 20 useful ways to use Padlet in class now
14. Discuss an article digitally with Hypothes.is.

Popular culture, the news and blogs are great sources of relevant, up-to-date content we can connect to our classes. Hypothes.is ( hypothes.is) lets us share an article with students and start a digital discussion there. Imagine that the article is clipped out of a newspaper. (I know, old school stuff ...) Hypothes.is lets students digitally highlight and add sticky notes all over that article - but with enough room to have unlimited annotations. Discuss an article with your class - or even share the discussion with others outside of your classroom. (Example: The author of the article you're discussing!)
Resource:Try Edji, another text annotation tool. See how with 20 ways to analyze text, images with Edji.
15. Dig into fascinating writing prompts.

Need some new ideas to get students thinking - and then writing? Write About (writeabout.com) has a treasure trove of creative, thought-provoking writing prompts at www.writeabout.com/ideas. Choose one and then get the writing juices flowing, either on student blogs (Write About / blogger.com / kidblog.org) OR by giving students their own individual slides in a shared Google Slides presentation.

16. Record a short explainer video.

Sometimes, it's just easier to show someone what you're talking about than to write it. Students can fire up a screen recording video with Screencastify (screencastify.com) in moments using the tool's extension for the Google Chrome browser. Students can quickly record their screen, record with their webcam and/or record audio with their microphone to kick off class. It's easy for them to share those videos with others after uploading them to Google Drive - or to turn them in with Google Classroom or another learning management system.
Resource: 24 ways to create great classroom video with Screencastify
17. Play a quick Quizizz game.

Want to review some material? Go over content from a previous lesson? Even give students a fun way to look up new material? Play a quick Quizizz game to start class. (Ever played Kahoot!? Quizizz has many similarities.) When setting the game up, click the "homework" button instead of the "play live" button and set the completion time five or ten minutes into class. The game will display a join code and the Quizizz join site. Just display those to students and have them get started. They can start whenever they get in their seats ready to go, and it's not synchronous (i.e. their progress doesn't depend on the progress of other students).
Resource: Game show classroom: Comparing Kahoot!, Quizizz, Quizlet Live and Gimkit
18. Analyze books or articles with Flipgrid.

Flipgrid lets students talk about big world issues they'd like to tackle. Another way to use this platform is to let students talk about and analyze what they've just read. Give them a chapter from a novel, a short story or an article, a math problem they've solved - even something a fellow classmate has written! Flipgrid lets students record short videos (up to 90 seconds) about a topic. In this case, the topic can be what they've just read or worked on. When they're finished, they can view each other's videos. (The more interesting the prompt, the more likely they'll naturally want to look at each other's videos!)

19. Write emoji poetry or an emoji response.

Brevity is an important skill in writing. Instead of encouraging students to write to a minimum number of words, let's try constraining them to fewer words - and turn them into emojis! Have students summarize what they've been learning using emojis (maybe a maximum of 10?). The Google Chrome web browser has several emoji extensions (a favorite of mine is Emoji for Google Chrome). Mobile devices often have them built in. This encourages reflection on what they've learned and creativity in expressing themselves.

20. Write blackout poetry.

Have you ever seen those poems written by marking out all of the words in a news article or book page except a few with a black marker? This is blackout poetry. This can be a fun - and creativity-provoking - way to kick off class. Have students take a photo of a page of text (or a screenshot of an article online). Paste that image into Google Drawings or Slides (or a mobile app that lets them draw with their finger, like Paper by FiftyThree). In Google Drawings, they can use lines or shapes (long skinny rectangles work great) to black out words. (Do a web search for "blackout poetry" for examples.) Students could create them on their own individual slides of a shared Google Slides presentation (see No. 7). If each student has his/her own slide, the whole slide show becomes a big gallery of blackout poetry!

Are you looking for quality, meaningful professional learning that both equips and inspires teachers?

Matt provides in-person and virtual keynotes, workshops and breakout sessions that equip, inspire and encourage teachers to create change in their classrooms. Teachers leave with loads of resources. They participate. They laugh. They see tech use and teaching in a new light. Click the link below to contact us and learn how you can bring Matt to your school or district!

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20 digital bell ringer activities to kickstart class

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Quality bell ringers are crucial - quick activities to get students going at the beginning of class, when the bell has just rung.For these first five or

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Kahoots are always a fantastic way to engage the students at the beginning of the lesson. Or equally as a quick 'exit ticket' at the lesson's end.

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Find games of Kahoot! | Free learning games | Kahoot!

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Check out the collection of engaging learning games and content from Verified educators and partners. All ready to play for free!

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Some excellent thinking strategies here.
Future use of 3-2-1 Graphic Organiser (three things learned, two interesting facts, one new word) as an exit ticket.

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Sara Bell, Tim Power and Sarah Rich · 27 March 2019

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This is a practical guide to using thinking routines in the classroom, with quality ready-to-use activities for each type of routine. This guide begins with a short summary of the research that underpins the use of thinking routines and the purpose of making thinking visible.

Thinking Routines and Activities

What are Thinking Routines?

Thinking routines teach students to make their ideas visible and accessible. This is done through a variety of graphic organisers which help structure ideation and reasoning. They are simple to use, yet powerful in impact.

The purpose of thinking routines is to promote a deeper understanding of content, and help students understand how they think and learn. As Margaret Mead writes:

"Children must be taught how to think, not what to think."
Margaret Mead

A substantial body of research (Hattie, Murdoch, Ritchhard and others) underpins the development of thinking routines in the classroom. One of the benefits for teachers in using visible thinking routines, is being able to see learning through the eyes of students.

Why make thinking visible?

For many students the thinking behind answers and how other students and teachers reach conclusions is ' invisible'. By making thinking ' visible' students are let into the 'secret' of learning by seeing teachers and peers explain their thinking and reasoning.

"Learning is a consequence of thinking, not something extra we tack on for good measure but something in which we must actively engage to promote our own and others' learning."
Ron Ritchhart, Creating Cultures of Thinking (2015)

For learners to thrive in the 21 st century, they must be able to share their thinking in the most accessible way for ' active engagement ' with others.

What are some good Thinking Routines?

This guide includes 22 thinking routines which you can use in your classroom and school. Each thinking routine is linked to a lesson within inquisitive.com, showing how they come alive as visible thinking activities.

See Think Wonder

The curiosity of students is ignited by using a simple object, picture, video, artwork or artefact (stimulus). This is a great introductory thinking routine.

Inquisitive uses an enticing video to introduce the unit Great Journeys (History, Years 3-4). Students are prompted with the question, 'What was the age of exploration?' They dive into a See Think Wonder routine, as their inquiry unfolds.

Lesson: What was the Age of Exploration?

Compass Points

This thinking routine is used to assist students in thinking deeply about a proposition or idea from four perspectives (Compass Points).

Students are presented with an idea and immediate responses can be recorded. They are then asked to look at this idea using the compass point routine. Students record what excites 'E' them about the idea presented, and also consider the negative side of the idea by recording what worries 'W' them. They are then asked to think about what else they would need 'N' to know before accepting or denying the idea. Lastly, students are asked to record their suggestions 'S' for moving forward with the idea. Once complete, students can be asked to reflect on how their thinking has changed throughout the process.

In the Inquisitive unit, A Diverse and Connected World (Geography, Years 5-6), students are asked to think about global connections in the context of tourism. Students watch a short video advertisement for the Best Job in the World, being caretaker of Hamilton Island on the Great Barrier Reef. They then use the Compass Point thinking routine to help them assist in the evaluation of this job opportunity.

Lesson: I've Been to Bali Too

Peel the Fruit

In Peel the Fruit, students are asked to 'peel' back the layers of the issue.

In the Inquisitive unit, Democracy and Citizenship (History, Years 5-6), students are asked to investigate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Rights throughout the 20 th Century. Students are posed the question 'How fairly do you think the Aboriginal people were treated in the early 20 th Century?' They are then asked to colour a square on an Opinion Meter demonstrating how important they believe this issue to be. A variety of statements, images and questions are then shared with the students throughout the unit. Students are consistently asked to return to the 'Peel the Fruit' image to assist them with showing their learning and understanding of this complex issue. Once complete, the students are then asked to graph their answer to the original question and reflect on any changes to their original opinion.

Lesson: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People Rights

Question Organiser

This is a graphic information organiserwith spaces for questions which begin: when, why, who, where and how. It is designed as a visual guide to help students progressively delve deeper into a question or topic to reach a stronger understanding of the chosen area.

Celebrations and Commemorations (History, Years 3-4) is a unit that focuses on cultural celebrations and commemorations around the world. Students are asked to organise themselves into a small group. Each group member selects a different celebration or commemoration to research. Students use the Question Organiser to develop their thinking and assist in breaking down the research question into manageable parts. Students then use this information to create a chapter in a book or film documenting different celebrations and commemorations from around the world.

Lesson: A Celebration of Cultures

3-2-1 Bridge Organiser

This organiser is used to record initial thoughts, ideas, questions and understandings about a given topic. After reading an article or watching a video, students are then asked to rethink their initial opinions after learning more about the topic. The idea is for bridges to be built between ideas when new information is obtained. Students should be focussing on the idea of understanding and connecting their thinking and ideas.

The 3-2-1 Bridge thinking routine is used in the unit The Australian Colonies (History, Years 5-6). In this unit, students are asked to watch a video about the spread of European settlement across Australia during the 1800s. They are then asked to write down three facts, two questions and an interesting observation, from which students research the answer to the two questions they posed.

Lesson: A Story of Australian Settlements

Six Thinking Hats

This thinking routine assists students by looking at things from a number of different points of view ( hats). The Six Thinking Hats technique was created by Edward De Bono. It is good for developing decision making and creativity in thinking. Students are able to put on a hat to view things from a different point of view. The six hats are:

White Hat: Information. What are the facts?

Yellow Hat: Positives and advantages.

Black Hat: Difficulties and dangers.

Red Hat: Emotions and feelings.

Green Hat: New ideas and creativity.

Blue Hat: Managing the thinking process.

In the unit, Different Environments (Geography, Years 3-4), students are introduced to the natural features of Australia. In a differentiated activity, students are asked to use the thinking hats routine to do some research into traditional musical instruments made by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples using natural materials from their surrounds. They are asked to use known information and apply white, yellow, black and green hat thinking.

Lesson: The Great Southern Land

Think Puzzle Explore

The Think Puzzle Explore routine can be a useful way to complete a formative assessment before starting a new learning journey.

Inquisitive uses the Think Puzzle Explore routine to introduce the topic of the United Nations in the unit, The World's Cultural Diversity (History, Years 5-6). Student curiosity is sparked with a stimulus video: Kid President visits the UN. Following the video, they are invited to write down their thoughts on what they know about the UN, what still puzzles them, and which aspects of the United Nations they should further explore.

Lesson: Human Migration

Plus Minus Interesting

In the unit, Features of Places, (Geography, Years 1-2), students are asked to think about the way features of places have changed over time. They select a feature of their local area and examine how it has changed. They brainstorm ways this feature could be improved in the future and as a group, vote on the idea they liked best. Students then use a PMI chart to consider the positive (plus), negative (minus) and interesting aspects of the improvement that most people voted for.

Lesson: Change http://www.inquisitive.com/lesson/238

Inquisitive uses this thinking routine in many of its lessons. In Past and Present Family Life (History, Years 1-2), students are asked to think about how families have changed over time. Photos from the past are displayed showing large families with numerous children. Two questions are presented for discussion which follow the think, pair, share routine: What would be the good things about living in a big family? What would be the bad things about living in a big family?

Lesson: Families Then and Now

Venn Diagram

Venn Diagrams are used to compare two or more things and to show both their similarities and differences. A Venn Diagram is usually made up of two or more circles that overlap. In the outer circles students are able to record how things differ and within the overlapping section they record the similarities. By using this routine, students are able to compare and contrast ideas for a greater understanding. Venn Diagrams can be used for a variety of purposes in all subjects.

Within First Contacts (History, Years 3-4), students are presented with differing ideas and opinions of what has taken place in modern Australian History. This lesson is entitled Terra Nullius? and asks students to research this term. The class is then asked to think about the decision of the British to declare Australia as 'Terra Nullius' and form an opinion on this. Students then create their own Venn Diagram to show the similarities and differences between the views of European and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples towards land ownership. Students are then asked to reflect on how these opposing views would have impacted on the early relations between the European and Aboriginal Peoples.

I Used to Think... Now I Think

This routine captures a change of opinion or perspective from what a student ' used to think' to what they ' now think.'

It enables students to reflect on their learning, be willing to consider different ideas and to be able to acknowledge when their opinion has changed. It can be a useful routine to use for topical or emotive issues. It also gives students the opportunity to reflect on why their thinking may have changed and enhances reasoning skills.

In First Contacts (History, Years 3-4), students are asked to identify who they think discovered Australia. They research a range of explorers who made a significant contribution to the 'discovery' of Australia. Students are asked to think deeply about this question and justify their reasoning and response. They are given opportunities to change their mind, reflecting and analysing along the way. Students are then asked to consider Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples' feelings about this question.

Lesson: Who Discovered Australia?

Mind Map

Mind maps are diagrams to visually organise information branching out from a central concept. The branches unpack the central concept into smaller categories. They become a map of a student's thinking.

There are two forms of mind maps: unstructured or structured. An unstructured mind map can be used to assist the recording of free-flowing ideas related to a singular concept. A structured mind map is an excellent way to guide students in their research to help them identify key areas related to a topic or concept. It helps order thoughts and divide concepts into categories.

In the unit, The Earth's Environment (Geography, Years 3-4), students are guided through a study of Brazil. They are provided with a quality eBook about Brazil, and asked to summarise the information of interest to them, using a mind map.

Lesson: South American Country Study

Connect Extend Challenge

This Connect Extend Challenge routine helps students make connections between new and prior knowledge, with an implicit guide as to how to develop their interest further. Recording students' ideas and using them at a later time can also be useful for reflecting on their understanding.

Students are then invited to write their questions on sticky notes and display them in the classroom. The class works together to write their own intergalactic address, starting with their classroom and expanding out until they identify their planet.

KWHL Chart

This chart helps students to organise their thinking before, during and after conducting research.

K stands for what you alreadyKNOW about the subject.

W stands for what you WANT to learn.

H stands for figuring out HOW you can learn more about the topic.

L stands for what you LEARN as you read.

Students structure their research by stepping through each part of the process and also recording what they learn as they go.

Whilst working through the unit, The Earth's Environment (Geography, Years 3-4), students are asked to consider the concept of sustainability. They are given the option of researching one of the most sustainable cities in the world, provided with guided research links to websites and then use the KWHL chart to record their thinking.

Lesson: Who's Looking after this Home of Ours

Colour, Symbol, Image

In the unit, A Diverse and Connected World (Geography, Year 5-6), students learn about global connections through the study of the Olympic Games. In one particular lesson, they are shown a moving video of athlete Derek Redmond running in the Olympic semi-finals in Barcelona in 1992. Students are encouraged to record anything they find interesting, important or meaningful. They are then asked to use the Colour, Symbol, Image routine in relation to one of these observations.

Lesson: Faster, Higher, Stronger

Jigsaw Strategy

The Jigsaw Strategy is achieved by forming groups with 5 or 6 students. Each student in a group has to investigate and learn about a different piece of the overall topic ( jigsaw). They become the expert of that piece. If you have multiple groups, the experts from each group focussing on the same piece, can join together in researching and attaining key insights, before returning to their group to share.

Use of this strategy ensures that all students contribute equally in a group that is inclusive of all. It gives individuals autonomy and responsibility as well as the opportunity to become an 'expert' whilst being supported and guided by those around them.

This routine is completed using the following steps:

1. Students are placed into a group of 5 or 6.

2. Individuals are each given an inquiry question (all groups are given the same set of questions).

3. Students then find others from different jigsaw groups who have the same question. This is their expert group.

4. In their expert group, students discuss the inquiry question. They should record prior knowledge and work together to research and record the information required.

5. When time is up, students are to return to their jigsaw group with the information collected and present their puzzle piece to their group.

When all the puzzle pieces are put together students then have the complete research project.

Inquisitive uses this routine to assist students in locating and analysing information relating to the development of the Australian Colonies after 1800. This lesson, from the unit The Australian Colonies (History, Years 5-6), starts off with a 3D animated presentation introducing the changes made during this time. Students then use the Jigsaw Strategy to investigate inquiry questions in Expert Groups before reporting back to their original Jigsaw Group.

Lesson: A Colonial Puzzle

3-2-1 Graphic Organiser

In the unit, The Earth's Environment (Geography, Years 3-4), the focus is on how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples live sustainable lives. During this research, students are provided with a link to a website about Kakadu, which teaches them about Bininj and Mungguy peoples. Students select an area to research. To assist in summarising this research, a 3-2-1 Graphic Organiser is provided requiring the following information:

Record three things you have learned about protecting the environment, using resources and/or sustainability.

Record two interesting facts you discovered.

Record one new word for your vocabulary.

Lesson: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples Sustainability

Tug of War

The Tug of War routine uses students' familiarity with this game (two teams pulling against each other on a rope) to demonstrate ways in which arguments can be put across to ' pull ' an audience to one side of a debate. Teachers can easily bring this routine into their classroom with a variety of issues and topics in different subjects. This can be completed in pairs, small groups or as a whole class.

In the unit, Australia as a Nation (History, Years 5-6), students are taught about human rights, and learn that privacy is one of those fundamental rights under the UN Declaration of Human Rights. Notwithstanding this, children and adolescents often use the Internet in ways which put their privacy at risk.

Students are posed the question: Does a parent's concern for the right to a safe environment interfere with a child's right to privacy?

An image of a Tug of War rope, with people on opposing sides, is placed in the classroom. Students are asked to think of reasons for both sides of the argument and justify them, recording this on a sticky note to display on each side of the image. Students are then asked to discuss each side. After the discussion, each student is asked to write a recommendation about how rights of safety and privacy for children using the Internet, could be managed.

Concept Map

A concept map is used to show how ideas are connected. Starting with a main idea or topic, arrows fan out to circles and boxes for associated ideas. It allows students to unpack and organise their thinking, and is a powerful way to enrich and deepen student comprehension.

Inquisitive guides students through the creation of a concept map whilst teaching students about traditional land ownership in the unit, Factors that Shape Places (Geography, Years 5-6). Students spend time researching an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander land management technique, and are required to present their findings in a concept map.

Lesson: Traditional Land Management

Infographic

An infographic is a way to present information as a diagram, using pictures, graphs, symbols and images. Text is also important on an infographic but should only be in small sections and be short and to the point. Presenting information this way can assist visual learners in understanding the information presented, being easier to read, and designed to be more memorable than paragraphs of words. By using this strategy in the classroom, students are asked to clearly summarise information that they have learned and share it with others.

In the unit, Community and Commemorations (History, Years 3-4), students are asked to research either the International Day of Peace or International Mother Earth Day. They are provided with links to assist in their research. Once they have learned about the significance and origin of their chosen international day, students are asked to create an infographic to share their knowledge.

Lesson: International Celebrations and Commemorations

Step Inside: Perceive, Know, Care About

The Step Inside routine, asks students to consider ( step inside) events or topics from the perspective of different people, or even the perspective of animals, objects or other phenomena. From this unique perspective, what do they perceive, know and care about?

Asking children to look at things from another point of view helps them understand our world and gain empathy and understanding of others. This routine can be used in many different subject areas in a variety of ways. For example, students could be asked to write about a bushfire, however they could be asked to write from the fire's perspective. Students may be shown a picture of the moon landing. Students could discuss the point of view of Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, the moon, the people watching at home, the Russian astronauts. All of these would have different ideas, opinions and feelings about the same event. Even the youngest students can benefit from this routine.

Inquisitive provides opportunities for Foundation students to place themselves inside a picture. In the unit People Live in Places (Geography, Foundation or Kindergarten Year), students are asked to think about places they belong. They are then asked to think about what it would be like to be in another place. Students are shown visual images of a roller coaster, a waterfall, a birthday party and a dental surgery. They are then asked to step inside each picture and describe what they might see, hear or smell whilst there.

Lesson: Places I Belong To

10 x 2 Visual Thinking Strategy

In the 10 x 2 Visual Thinking Strategy, students are shown an image of an artwork for 30 seconds and then asked to write down ten words or phrases that come to mind regarding the picture. Once students have completed their 10 words/phrases, they repeat the activity, with another 30 seconds to relook at the artwork, and then recording another ten words or phrases, different from the first.

By using the 10 x 2 Visual Thinking Strategy, students have the opportunity to look more deeply into a piece of artwork. It helps students to slow down and make detailed observations beyond a first impression.

Paintings can be used as an historical source to provide insight into the past. In the unit, The Australian Colonies (History, Years 5-6), students learn about the History of Australia beyond 1800. Students are provided an eBook of paintings created by Joseph Lycett, a convict sent to Australia after being sentenced for money forgery. Lycett's talent was discovered by the settlement's commander and he was given the task of recording and painting scenes of the new settlement and its surrounding environment.

Students select a painting to focus on. They use the graphic organiser provided to structure their thinking. In the centre circle, students write the name of their chosen painting. They are given 30 seconds to do nothing but look at the image they have chosen. They then record ten words or phrases about the image. Students repeat the activity, recording their next ten words in another colour.

Lesson: Two Worlds

About Inquisitive

Inquisitive is the Australian education company with a mission to simplify access to quality lessons, so that teachers can enjoy teaching and students can learn with purpose and depth.

This research into thinking routines and visible thinking, informs the ongoing development of inquisitive.com. From this base of research, Inquisitive lessons are then trialled, workshopped and refined in classrooms.

Contact us if you would like to write for Inquisitive.

Head of Education: Sarah Rich

Telephone: +61 2 9969 1885
Email: support@inquisitive.com

Further Research and Acknowledgements
http://www.pz.harvard.edu/resources/visible-thinking-tools https://www.mindtools.com/pages/main/newMN_ISS.htm www.visiblethinkingpz.org/VisibleThinking_html_files/03_ThinkingRoutines/03a_ThinkingRoutines.html

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A Teacher's Guide to Visible Thinking Activities

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Sara Bell, Tim Power and Sarah Rich · 27 March 2019 Share this post This is a practical guide to using thinking routines in the classroom, with quality ready-to-use activities for each type of routine. This guide begins with a short summary of the research that underpins the use of thinking routines and the purpose of making thinking visible.

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-          Use of USB microscope with an integrated camera ‘plug and play’ with Chromebook. Students can collect data right to their own device for review and analysis later one.

-          Students no longer have to look through the microscope eyepiece, but can use the Chromebook screen to focus in on an specimen – process becomes a group effort, can allow the teacher to easily coach a student through the process without having to move the student off the microscope to find the object.

-          USB and Wireless data probes – compatible with Chromebooks. The probes send the data to the app for the acquisition of dat. Exported easily to a spreadsheet (GoogleSheets) for final analysis. Temp, pH, dissolved oxygen levels. – Consider IA2 Biology.

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Students gather around the lab table helping one of the group members focus in on a specimen on a flat panel screen from a USB camera connected to the microscope. Once focused, the students capture the image and insert it into Google Slides and label the image on the slide. Another group of students is using a remote sensor that is strapped to a matchbox car traveling through banked turns and loops. The sensor remotely sends data, such as acceleration, angular velocity, and altitude to a spreadsheet on the student Chromebook in real time. The students then work as a group to analyze the data and format it into visual graphs.

This is just a snapshot of what today's science classroom can look like with thoughtful integration of digital tools. Many classrooms have access to devices that would allow students to collect data just like a scientist would in a modern-day laboratory setting. If the tools are available and affordable, why do we still have students collect data manually with old-school analog and often inaccurate equipment?

That's a controversial question.

Whether you are just starting out in the classroom or have been teaching for decades, the question of when to use technology in the lab is often a debate. The purists feel that students are too deeply rooted in technology and do not know how to use or read results on a basic tool, such as a thermometer or pH paper. The belief is that students must learn how to master the basic tools before they can move on to the digital tools, which theoretically do most of the work for the user. The technology advocates argue that if we only teach the old school analog tools, then we are not preparing our students for science careers which use digital tools daily.

So who wins the argument?

We would like to offer a middle of the road perspective. Both arguments are valid. That's not fair you might say. However, we need to equip our students with basic skills for data acquisition, but also teach them how to apply those skills to current technology to see the real power of science in the lab. So, why can't we do both?

Why is this important educationally?

The most recent standards for science education in the United States have shifted towards inquiry-based learning and a deeper understanding of the content and student experimentation. The Next Generation Science Standards focus on 3-dimensional learning, which includes crosscutting concepts, science and engineering practices and disciplinary core ideas. As described in NGSS, "students engage in practices to build, deepen, and apply their knowledge of core ideas and crosscutting concepts." The heart of the standards are based on student design and experience actually "doing" science instead of just "learning" about science. There is less of a focus on students just learning concepts for rote memorization, but instead applying the concepts to real-world situations in a lab type setting. Students are engaged in designing the experience and analyzing the concepts involved in the experiments.

How do we accomplish this in our classrooms?

It is not as difficult as you would imagine. Many science classrooms are set up for students to work through lab activities in a group setting. So, it is easy enough to have students working as a group to collect both forms of data for an experiment. Part of the group works with the analog tools, while other group members collect data with the digital tools. At the end of the experiment, they share and compare their data. The most difficult part about incorporating both forms of data collection is to ensure that all students have the ability to experience gathering said data in both formats. In this scenario, the students learn to question and evaluate their data at a higher level than with only one collection method. If the analog group has results that are drastically different from the high tech group, then maybe they need to go back and reevaluate why it happened and what might have gone wrong. In a normal setting, the students would just take the results at face value and potentially lose out on a learning experience. The other beauty of using digital tools in a science classroom is that it is easier to share data as an entire class in order to gather a larger sample size for the experiment. This allows the students an even greater chance to identify trends, errors, and anomalous data.

What are some tools and examples I can use in my classroom?

There are a variety of tools that educators can easily integrate into their science classrooms. In our classes, we have instituted tools that we believe provide the greatest impact, while still maintaining an affordable solution for our schools.

USB Microscopes and Microscope Cameras

The simplest and easiest tool to incorporate into any science classroom, including the elementary level, is a USB microscope with an integrated camera. Many of the USB microscopes available now are "plug and play," which means that they do not require any software to be installed on your device in order to use the camera. This also means that many of them are compatible with Chromebooks that do not have the ability to install PC based software. Since many schools have implemented Chromebooks for students, this feature is a game changer for classroom teachers. It enables the students to collect data right to their own device for review and analysis later on! Students can hook up the USB microscope camera directly to their Chromebook and use the native camera app to view specimens and also capture the images digitally. Students can also install one of many chrome apps that can record video from the microscope camera, which can then be inserted into a google slide for sharing and viewing later on. Imagine the possibilities! The next best benefit that we have learned is that students no longer have to look through the microscope eyepiece, but can use the Chromebook screen (or a TV display) to focus in on a specimen. This enables the process to become a group effort or can allow a teacher to easily coach a student through the process without having to move the student off of the microscope to find the object. What a game changer!

USB and Wireless Digital Probes for Data Acquisition

Several companies, including Vernier and Pasco to name just a couple, have modified their probes to be compatible with Chromebooks as well. We currently use various Vernier probes that can either plug directly into the Chromebook or an interface that can enable multiple probes to connect to the Chromebook at once. The probes send the data to the app for the acquisition of the data, which can be exported easily to a spreadsheet for final analysis. It makes it so easy for an entire class to collect their data and share it in a Google Sheet which allows for a larger data set to analyze. Some of the probes we have used measure temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen levels, angular momentum, and more. What we like the most is that we can still have students measuring data in a traditional format while others record with the probes. It also teaches the students to critically analyze the data. If their probes are reading consistently different values than the traditional method, they might consider asking another group about their data, recalibrating the probes, or talk about human error with the traditional methods. In the end, the students can quickly and easily see trends with their digital tools that they often overlook when recording data by hand.

Remote Multi-Sensor Interfaces - PocketLab

Our newest favorite tool is called the Pocket Lab. There are several versions, including the original PocketLab One, Voyager, and Weather. The interface connects to a computer, Chromebook, iPad/iPhone and Android devices. If you use the Voyager, it also has an onboard memory that can record data when it is not connected to a device. The devices are small enough to attach them to moving objects such as physic crash cars, bicycle wheels, sailboats, and much more. The app also offers a unique feature if you have an integrated camera. You can record video of the experiment with an overlay of the data in real time. Possibly the best feature of the device is the community of teachers that share their lesson ideas and experiences so that you do not have to reinvent the wheel on your own. Teachers have designed labs that incorporate SCRATCH coding, robotics, and engineering design to create an experience that can be used by upper elementary students all the way through higher level engineering design or physics classes. The data easily exports to a spreadsheet for later analysis, in addition to allowing the user to save the video of the experiment which allows students to correlate actual events with changes recorded with the PocketLab. This tool could easily be a game changer for many science classrooms! The company offers kits for classes that are far cheaper than purchasing all of the individual probes that would record the same data.

What does the future hold?

We believe that the future of science in schools is exciting with the incorporation of some high-level tools that can enhance the learning experience for our students. Not only does it allow students to better visualize and interact with the data, but it allows the teachers to help the students to be creators of the experience. If we focus on the power of the tool for what it can do, everyone will win in the end.

Jen and Brian Cauthers

Jennifer Cauthers
Science Teacher
Google Certified Trainer
Mahopac, NY
Twitter:@cauthersj

See Jen and Brian at this weekend's EdTechTeam Capital Region Summit!
[themify_button bgcolor="blue" size="large" link="https://events.edtechteam.com/capitalregion2018/93085″]Register Now![/themify_button]

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Technology Integration in a 21st Century Science Classroom

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Students gather around the lab table helping one of the group members focus in on a specimen on a flat panel screen from a USB camera connected to the microscope. Once focused, the students capture the image and insert it into Google Slides and label the image on the slide.

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-          Provision of scientific images to illustrate scientific phenomena.

-          Use digital microscope to allow students to project images on a computer monitor and highlight features or phenomena of interest.

-          Use the time-lapse capabilities – images captured through time-lapse photography and stored in digital format can be played back to students in the form an a digital movie **use this idea to demonstrate plasmolysis**

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-          Music video animation of the kreb cycle, a podcast on chemical reactions presented as commentary on a boxing match, a wiki page on an entry in the periodic table of elements.

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Graphic Organiser Templates for use

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Help your students classify ideas and communicate more effectively with these free graphic organizer templates, available for download. They can be used to structure writing projects and help in problem solving, decision making, studying, planning research, and brainstorming.

Printable Graphic Organizers

Select a blank graphic organizer from the following categories depending on your curriculum needs.

Sequence of Events

Main Topic and Key Details

Compare/Contrast

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Free Downloadable Graphic Organizer Templates

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Use these free graphic organizer templates to help your students communicate more effectively by classifying ideas, structuring writing projects, and more.

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Interactive PowerPoint examples.
Create shared slide presentations within Google Slides or Microsoft teams to advance digital pedagogy to the Modification Phase.

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Microsoft EDU

At one point, creating a PowerPoint presentation to show to the class was cutting-edge classroom technology.

Those days are gone, and now, online presentations enable so much more for students.

PowerPoint opens this classroom staple up to vast possibilities. With real-time collaboration and the ability to embed presentations in websites, students can do so much more than "make a presentation."

Here are 20 interactive activities to harness the power of PowerPoint in your classroom.

Get the tools, the practical ideas, and the inspiration to transform the way you use technology in the classroom!

Lesson ideas and downloadable templates

A companion webpage full of FREE resources (click here to access NOW)

Brand new PIRATE engagement hooks

Encouragement and motivation to start

Select a picture that either introduces your current lesson focus or is key to your subject for the lesson and let students caption it.

Add a thought bubble or speech bubble. Give students a prompt for filling in the bubble, or give them freedom!

When they're done, have students turn the image in to you via Teams (or however you collect digital work).

Get the PowerPoint template here.

More interactive PowerPoint resources!

PowerPoint education templates create meaningful interactive activities for students. Find free templates and learn how to make your own.

For notifications of new Ditch That Textbook content and helpful links:

Are you looking for quality, meaningful professional learning that both equips and inspires teachers?

Matt provides in-person and virtual keynotes, workshops and breakout sessions that equip, inspire and encourage teachers to create change in their classrooms. Teachers leave with loads of resources. They participate. They laugh. They see tech use and teaching in a new light. Click the link below to contact us and learn how you can bring Matt to your school or district!

Ready to take your teaching skills -- and student learning -- to another level?

Check out our online courses. ALL under $50!

©2022 Ditch That Textbook by Matt Miller.

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20 interactive PowerPoint activities to add awesome to classes

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Microsoft EDU At one point, creating a PowerPoint presentation to show to the class was cutting-edge classroom technology. Those days are gone, and now, online presentations enable so much more for students. PowerPoint opens this classroom staple up to vast possibilities.

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Source of free images to use in science blogging.

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6 Sources of Free Images for Science Blogging

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If you blog, you probably know that most online images are copyrighted and off-limits for your site. Where is an enterprising science writer to turn for artwork that is free, beautiful, and legally bloggable?