SITES

This page is a handy repository for quick access to a few URLs.

Science/Technology/Engineering/Math

• Geocaching, and a blog post Learn More About Geocaching – A Great Outdoor Learning Activity
• 3DVinci – support of and projects for SketchUp
• Crayon Physics on your desktop or on your iPad
• BBC’s Interactive Science explorations for ages 5-11
• Fossweb’s interactive science activities grades K-2, grades 3-6, grades 6-8 (FOSS=Full Option Science System; this site accompanies  their “inquiry-based FOSS science curriculum”)
• results of a Google search for “make stuff” and “make magazine”
• MakerBot Industries and one educator’s approach to a skill badge for using a 3D printer
• Thingiverse – a MakerBot Industries website to craft “digital designs for real, physical objects”
• Tinkercad – 3D design, and a possible alternative to SketchUp
• PBS Invent It, Build It.
• National Engineers Week school activities
• Engineering is Elementary based upon original stories designed to introduce engineering problems to students
• Seeds of Science / Roots of Reading merges literacy and Science, produced by The Lawrence Hall of Science at US Berkeley
• Tinkatolli, an online and offline multiplayer game that combines science, math, physical activity and making “stuff”
• STEM Engineering Resources compiled in Livebinder
• ExploreLearning’s Gizmos – Math & Science interactive simulations
• Sylvia’s Super-Awesome Maker Show – DIY (Do It Yourself) for kids – and adults!, including this show on Squishy Circuits (for more on Squishy Circuits, here is a TED Talk by AnnMarie Thomas, the Squishy Circuits site, and an article in MAKE Magazine about Sylvia’s Circuit episode)
• University of Colorado PhET – Interactive Simulations (physics, chemistry, biology, earth science & math)
• MiT+K12 Making Video to Make a Difference – collection of videos made by MIT students for K12 teachers and kids; videos can be found by science category and grade level

STEM/STEAM Talks & Organizations

• Biomimicry (see the following Janine Benyus link for more info)
• Janine Benyus shares nature’s designs in her TED Talk
• Cathy Davidson repost of STEM or STEAM? Putting Creativity into STEM
• Institute For The Future’s A Multiverse of Exploration: The Future of Science 2021 - a pdf map of future possibilities
• Brian Greene’s (Columbia U physicist) What’s the Big Idea? talk at the Aspen Ideas Festival – “the largely untapped capacity of Science to give life context and meaning”
• Harpeth Hall’s Center for STEM Education for Girls
• The STEM School Blog list of #STEM and people who tweet about STEM
• Top Ten STEM resources webinar with Patti Duncan
• Sand Flea Jumping Robot video
• Project H Design
• Tinkering School
• Maker Faire
• Girls in STEM: A New Generation of Women in Science – inspiring video “featuring young women scientists and engineers who wowed the President and the nation at the White House Science Fair in February.”

STEM Workshops

• Siemens STEM Academy
• NSTA STEM Forum & Expo - May 17-19, 2012, Atlantic City, NJ
• Robotics Summer Institute for Early Childhood Educators – August 20-22, 2012, Tufts University, Medford, MA
• Engineering is Elementary at the Boston Museum of Science – ongoing workshops and institutes to introduce engineering concepts into an existing science curriculum, designed for elementary educators
• 6th Annual Biomimicry Education Summit – June 22-24, 2012, Portland, OR (see above section for talk on Biomimicry by Janine Benyus)

Manipulatives

• Little Bits
• TED Talk – Ayah Bdeir: Building blocks that blink, beep and teach
• Sifteo Cubes
• TED Talk – David Merrill demos Siftables
• Arduino – “open-source electronics prototyping platform” consisting of hardware and software
• Picoboard – “tiny computer that can make things spin, light up, and play music, and works with Scratch
• GoGo Board – alas, seems to only work with Windows…
• Bee-Bot – designed for younger kids, a programmable robot that looks like a bumble bee
• Lego WeDo (see below under Scratch)
• Raspberry Pi – “credit-card sized computer that plugs into your TV and a keyboard”
• SparkFun – hands-on electronics – innovate and create!
• HowToSmile.org – Science & Math activities
• Nebo Elementary School (Dallas, GA) Department of Fine Arts – Robotics Program
• Young Makers Program – Maker Faire for kids
• Scientific American Bring Science Home – a new activity every Thursday for ages 6-12
• Rice University’s CSI: The Experience – forensic adventures for middle and upper schoolers
• Arvind Gupta’s Toys from Trash and Toys From Trash one-minute films – recycling “while learning basic principles of science and design” to build toys – and his TED Talk Turning trash into toys for learning
• CellScope – microscopic images using a cell phone
• diy.org – online community of/for kids who make things

Maker Camps

• Beam Summer Camp

Computational Thinking/Programming

• computational thinking illustrated
• Computer Science Unplugged
• CAPE (Computing and Programming Experience) – created by Google incoming 9th graders
• <Hackasaurus> X-Ray Goggles – uncover the HTML on any web page

Scratch

• Scratch 2.0 Preview: webinar
• ScratchEd
• download Scratch from the Scratch home page
• Scratch FAQ and Documentation
• Getting Started pdf
• Lego WeDo sensors – Rube Goldberg contraptions; mini-guide; visual reference
• Picoboard – “tiny computer that can make things spin, light up, and play music, and works with Scratch
• Mitch Resnick: Google Science Fair interview
• Short Scratch Programming Challenges
• Scratch Cards
• Creative Computing Scratch Workshop
• Scratch Events: workshops, meetups, webinars, Scratch Day, Scratch@MIT
• Nebo Elementary School (Dallas, GA) Department of Fine Arts – Scratch Programming Projects
• A Case for Lifelong Kindergarten – KQED article about Scratch

3D

• SketchUp
• Tinkercad
• early demo of ZCorp 3D printer printing ball bearings; ZCorp overview of 3D printers & rapid prototyping
• Solidoodle – “a $499 3D printer”
• MakerBot 3D printers; video of the MakerBot Replicator  - scroll down for the vidoe (a bit more expensive than the Solidoodle!)
• The Printable House
• 3D food printer makes dessert
• ‘Printing’ human organs with 3D bio-printer
• TED Talks on 3D printing – Lisa Harouni: A primer on 3D printing; Klaus Stadlmann: The world’s smallest 3D printer; Anthony Atala: Printing a human kidney
• Makies – design your own action doll and have it made with a 3D printer
• 3D manufacturing and art – Neri Oxman at MIT

Latin

• eLatin eGreek eLearn
• tabney – lots of drill games
• Notre Dame’s online dictionary – Words by William Whitaker

Math

• When will I use math? is answered at WeUseMath.org
• Math Train– kids explain math to kids in short videos
• Geometry: The Supplement from Dan Meyers
• 101 questions developed by Dan Meyers
• Ten Design Principles For Engaging Math Tasks by Dan Meyers (I see a DM pattern emerging )
• Khan Academy
• Real World Math using Google Earth
• HowToSmile.org – Science & Math activities
• Desmos – “A Beautiful, Free Online Graphing Calculator” (launch the Calculator)
• SmallBluePrinter – design blueprints online (Floor Planner)

Social Studies

• Oxfam Mapping Our World
• All Roads, Air and Shipping Routes in the world, in a beautifully crafted animation
• On This Day (NY Times)
• SIRS Database
• Road Trip with Google Tools
• Rethinking Schools North Africa/Mediterranean/Asia drag and drop map
• Google Earth game-based Tour Challenge – flips the classroom, focuses on independent learning in the classroom, and can be adjusted to incorporate multiple facets of social studies and geography (as well as other disciplines)

Science

• A Private Universe – how students develop science misconceptions
• Periodic Videos – delightful and highly informative videos for the Periodic Table of Elements (also available on a non-youtube server)
• NASA Images
• JAVA applets “to help visualize various concepts in math, physics, and engineering”
• Java Applets on Physics
• Computer animations of physical processes (physics animations)
• HowToSmile.org – Science & Math activities
• Twig Science films (link goes to those which are free)

Language Arts

• Google Lit Trips
• We Tell Stories – The 21 Steps
• The Global Read Aloud
• QuadBlogging
• Bounce – an online game designed to promote conversations around shared experiences, ideally to “help structure intergenerational conversations”

Art and Drawing Applications

• MOMA’s Destination Modern Art
• Crayola Crayons
• Flockdraw.com
• Draw a Stickman

Visual and Oral Words

• Visuwords – “graphical dictionary and thesaurus”
• Wordle – visual word cloud generated from the entered words
• Free Rice – vocabulary with a conscience
• Read the Words – reads aloud whatever has been typed, initially created to “assist students with learning disabilities with their studies, by means of auditory learning and auditory processing”
• stixy.com – free collaborative bulletin board of sticky notes
• Webspiration – free collaborative visual thinking, outlining & brainstorming tool
• voki – create customized speaking avatars
• Cover It Live – live blogging • helpful explanatory article Live Blogging 2.0
• TodaysMeet – having a private back channel without Twitter

iPads

• iPads in Education
• Apps in Education + 7 Reasons You Need an iPad in Your Classroom and 10 Ways to Use Them
• The Essential iPad Guide for Principals by Justin Baeder
• Kathy Schrock’s iPads in the Classroom
• BASIC programming for the iPad
• Collegiate School’s iPad User Group
• a LS iPad pilot program
• CSH iPad User Wiki
• Greenwich Academy iPad Resources
• resource links for how schools are using iPads

Interesting Games

• Tinkatolli, an online and offline multiplayer game that combines science, math, physical activity and making “stuff”
• MindcraftEdu
• BBC Questionaut, “journey through strange worlds and test your knowledge of English, Maths and Science in this magical mission to recover your friend’s hat”; walkthrough/directions, overview
• Fantastic Contraption, a game of physics
• Crayon Physics

Google

• Guide to Going Google
• Ed Tech Crew 158 – Google Teacher Academy Sydney 2011 (chock full of resources)
• Google Channel on youtube
• Oh the things you can do with Google!
• Jim Lerman’s Google Applications workshop page
• Google for Educators – Earth, Sky, Maps & SketchUp
• Google Docs for Educators
• Using Google Docs in the Classroom
• Google Docs Help Center (Docs, Spreadsheets & Presentations)
• Google Docs Blog
• Google Earth Blog
• Google Earth Lessons
• Real World Math using Google Earth
• Google Earth game-based Tour Challenge – flips the classroom, focuses on independent learning in the classroom, and can be adjusted to incorporate multiple facets of social studies and geography (as well as other disciplines)
• Road Trip with Google Tools
• Post Cards from the Past
• Google Lit Trips
• We Tell Stories – The 21 Steps
• Google Maps Street View
• Google SketchUp Tutorials
• Design With SketchUp infowiki
• 3DVinci – support of and projects for SketchUp
• Top 10 Obscure Google Search Tricks
• Google Sites and a slide show about using Sites
• Google Sites Help
• Chris Clementi’s Google Site Tips resource – almost everything you need to get started making a website w/Sites
• Google Search Education
• Google LIFE photo archive
• Google Reader for Beginners
• Backing up your Google stuff (disclaimer: I have not used any of these)
• Google tools for Educators, a series of how-tos and ideas by Chris Clementi
• Google Art Project – blog post about GAP

Digital Footprint 

• Digital ID (I Do!) – helps students and teachers answer the questions: What does it mean to be a (digital) citizen? What are my rights are a citizen? What are my responsibilities as a citizen?
• Burlington High School’s (Burlington, MA) site about Digital Citizenship
• Creative Commons

How Tos and Online Books

• What Can We Do With Flickr?
• Color in Motion – “an animated and interactive experience of color communication and color symbolism”
• perform an Internet search
• Teacher’s Guide to International Collaboration on the Internet
• LogoWorks by Cynthia Solomon, Margaret Minsky and Brian Harvey
• CommonCraft

Words from/Discussions with other Educators

• Independent School Educators Network (NING)
• Teachers Love Smart Boards
• Box of Tricks/ICT and Education
• Free Technology for Teachers

Tools

• Download Helper for Firefox
• Miro
• Flip 4 Mac – WMV components for QuickTime
• Planbook
• Incompetech – create your own graph/grid paper; plain graph paper
• Amazing Incredible Handwriting Worksheet Maker – generates handwriting sheets for your text
• Atomic Learning
• Glogster – create online posters • Box of Tricks post about • Glogster page for educators
• When Is Good – online visual meeting scheduler
• screenr – incredibly easy and free tool to create screencasts, posts a link to twitter or can be uploaded to youtube
• Elluminate – web conferencing
• cosketch – quickly collaborate or share a sketch or image
• ArtPad – online painting with a brush • related article
• weblist – compile all your URLs in one place & view as thumbnails (maybe I should use this article
• sitemark – similar to weblist
• Wix – create a free Flash website
• Evernote – organize notes, clippings, etc in the cloud
• Noodletools – notecards,  bibliographies, outlines
• Celtx – screen writing software (free)
• WebTools4U2Use – library of Web 2.0 tools, maintained by  school library media specialists at the University of Central Florida

Keyboarding

• How to Sit While We Are Using A Computer – excellent video about ergonomics of computer use
• Sense-Lang – has tutorials, but the best part is you can practice using paragraph text from news organizations or add your own text
• TypingTest.com – besides testing your accuracy and speed, an added plus is being able to practice using paragraph text about a topic you choose from a provided list
• TypingClub – online and free of charge basic practice of typing, very similar to the style taught when I was in 9th grade!
• BBC Dance Mat Typing – more basic practice of typing, online and free of charge
• ABCya.com Keyboard Challenge – drag the keys back to their proper location on the keyboard

Smart Board & Promethean Whiteboard

• Atomic Learning SMART Notebook 10 for Macs
• Atomic Learning SMART Notebook 10 for PC
• Teachers Love Smart Boards
• Promethean Planet

Online Classes

• Digital Ethnography and the home page of Mediated Cultures
• Foundations of Design and Typography
• Unleash the Graphic Designer in You – Exploring the Seven Essentials of Graphic Design
• Radio Lingua Network: Language Learning
• lynda.com – online learning for digital/visual apps
• Atomic Learning – online training for 100+ apps
• Khan Academy

For sheer enjoyment, inspiration or motivation

• research and information on PLAY, compiled on Kinderchat
• Where the Hell is Matt – can’t help it, I love these videos! • in high def
• Love Language – A Short Film About How We Connect
• Introducing the Book – Medieval Help Desk
• TED Talk – Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity
• TED Talk – Larry Lessig on laws that choke creativity
• TED Talks
• Draw a Stickman