COD - 7/31/2012 - Science Books Online [Science]

Science Books Online is a simple directory of free science texts, ebooks, monographs, lecture notes, and other science-related documents.

 

Science Books Online lists free science e-books, textbooks, lecture notes, monographs, and other documents. Browse from several science categories:  astronomy, biology, chemistry, computer science, earth sciences, engineering, mathematics, medicine, and physics. You can also look through the list of recently added books.

All texts at Science Books Online are available for free reading online, or for downloading in a number of formats. All texts are authorized by their respective authors or publishers.

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COD - 7/30/2012 - LawForKids [Social Studies]

LawForKids is a web site intended to teach children about the law, created by the Arizona Foundation for Legal Services and Education.

The goals of LawForKids are to educate youth, parents, communities, and schools about youth laws and to encourage law-abiding behavior.

In the Interative section, students can ask or browse questions regarding the law on numerous topics such as bullying, curfew, drinking, driving, school, family, sexual assault, and many more. Law-related videos and cartoons, personal stories, news, and documents can be found at LawForKids.

The Arizona Supreme Court's Juvenile Crime Reduction Fund makes LawForKids possible using surcharges on fines paid by those convicted of breaking the law.

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A Guide To Critical Thinking Skills

This nice graphical guide to critical thinking skills has been created by a Canadian junior high school library technician named Enokson.

[Source: Enokson]

The Rearview Mirror 7/28/2012

For those of you who may have missed a Catch of the Day or who didn't have the opportunity to look at some of them during this past week, here's a second chance.

 

Monday

Phrazzleme is a game of making logical English phrases or questions for points so that players learn the English language while having fun at the same time. The name of the game, Phrazzleme, is a portmanteau of two words: 'phrase' and 'puzzle'.

Tuesday

Vidinotes is an online tool that can be used to create descriptive summaries of videos that can be readily printed or shared.

Wednesday

With Meetings.io you can meet face to face with anyone from around the world within your web browser, without the need to install complex software, join a social network, or add contacts.

Thursday

iDevBooks math apps is a collection of more than fifteen math applications that are easy to use with intuitive interfaces that have been designed for iPad and iPhone.

COD - 7/26/2012 - iDevBooks [iOS]

iDevBooks math apps is a collection of more than fifteen math applications that are easy to use with intuitive interfaces that have been designed for iPad and iPhone.

iDevBooks math apps, designed and made in Finland, are used by schools, parents, and students worldwide. They are also very popular for use with special needs students.

All of the math apps provide a lightweight, simple experience. They are optimized more around how they can help students learn and less around bells and whistles.

Features of iDevBooks math apps:

• No ads or in-app purchases
• Wrong answers are not penalized
• There are no timers, counters, or a sense of rush
• Distractions are kept to a minimum
• No user tracking of any kind

There are apps for traditional algorithms such as long division, long multiplication, column addition, and column subtraction. Several of the iDevBooks apps use the algorithms in the Everyday Math Curriculum.

Go to the iDevBooksYouTube channel

iDevBooks values user feedback and the apps are frequently updated with new features requested by teachers and parents.

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COD - 7/25/2012 - Meetings.io [Videoconferencing]

With Meetings.io you can meet face to face with anyone from around the world within your web browser, without the need to install complex software, join a social network, or add contacts. 

Use Meetings.io to meet with a student, parents, or your colleagues in person without ever leaving your desk by simply creating a meeting room link and sharing it with anyone you want to meet with.

Meetings.io feaures:

• Meet face to face online.
• Hangout with your team, co-workers or project groups
• Share your screen
• Multi-party video conferencing
• Take personal notes
• Live group chat

Your meeting room can be re-used as many times as you want. People can drop in and out of the your room anytime. There are no signups or user registration needed to drop into a meeting room. 

Meetings.io can be an online hangout for real-time in-person get togethers of up to 6 people as well as a telepresence system to attend meetings remotely.

Your computer's entire screen or a selected application can be shared with the rest of your meeting or hangout peers.

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COD - 7/24/2012 - Vidinotes [Tools]

Vidinotes is an online tool that can be used to create descriptive summaries of videos that can be readily printed or shared.

To use Vidinotes, first upload a video that is in FLV format. You can then capture up to 30 still images, adding titles and descriptive text. Title your Vidinote project. Print it or create a PDF document.

Watch a demo video of Vidinotes

Vidinotes can serve as the bridge from video to learning, allowing viewers to create their own notes of a video, including images taken directly from the video, then print or save their new document.

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COD - 7/23/2012 - Phrazzleme [ESL]

Phrazzleme is a game of making logical English phrases or questions for points so that players learn the English language while having fun at the same time. The name of the game, Phrazzleme, is a portmanteau of two words: 'phrase' and 'puzzle'.

The idea of Phrazzleme is to make an English phrase and put it on the board for points. The next player creates another English phrase using an existing word from the last phrase, not unlike Scrabble. The longer the English phrase, the more points the player gets. Immediate rewards encourage the student to want to learn English. 

The rules of Phrazzleme can be modified or simplified by the teacher by simply taking out the harder-to-use words or giving extra points for making questions, for example.

Watch a video introduction to Phrazzleme

Up to seven people of any age can play Phrazzleme, and you can play at a beginners, intermediate, or advanced level. Two hundred pieces with 800 words allow for thousands of possible phrases. Phrazzleme can be purchased for $79.95 (USD).

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The Rearview Mirror 7/21/2012

For those of you who may have missed a Catch of the Day or who didn't have the opportunity to look at some of them during this past week, here's a second chance.

 

Monday

Wowzers combines adaptive math instruction with engaging, game-based collaboration for students in grades 3-5 (age 8-10).

Tuesday

StudyEggstrives to make learning simpler with a tool that lets users watch short video clips and answer questions leading to mastery.

Wednesday

Neeyaa is an educational platform offering two complementary core products, Neeyaa Classes and Neeyaa Tutoring. These beta products allow tutors and students to connect either on a one-time basis or for a more extensive tutoring program. Neeyaa provides the tools to help students reach their academic goals.

Thursday

Easy Portfolio is an iOS app that enables students and teachers to easily create e-portfolios to demonstrate learning.

COD - 7/19/2012 - Easy Portfolio [iOS]

Easy Portfolio is an iOS app that enables students and teachers to easily create e-portfolios to demonstrate learning.

Easy Portfolio is an uncomplicated way to capture evidence of skills and knowledge in a portfolio-style format. A variety of kinds of records can be added, including:

• Photo and videos
• Audio recordings or Music files
• Web links to online work
• Text entries/Observations
• Digital documents direct from Dropbox or email

Share a portfolio via email or sync directly to a Dropbox account.

Watch an Easy Portfoliotutorial 

Easy Portfolio is available from the iTunes App Store for $1.99 (USD). It is compatible with iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad with iOS 5.1 or higher.

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COD - 7/18/2012 - Neeyaa [Tutoring]

Neeyaa is an educational platform offering two complementary core products, Neeyaa Classes and Neeyaa Tutoring. These beta products allow tutors and students to connect either on a one-time basis or for a more extensive tutoring program. Neeyaa provides the tools to help students reach their academic goals.

Neeyaa Classes

Experienced professional tutors teach small, interactive one-hour classes where students are able to get the information they need, anywhere, at any time. The classes utilize a feature-rich two-way whiteboard with desktop sharing capabilities, chat functionality, and video.

Neeyaa Tutoring

In this one-on-one tutoring platform, tutors, students, and parents can find one another, work online, track their progress, and accomplish their learning objectives. Tutors have live online sessions with their students, create, store, and assign documents, set and track goals, and create full profiles which students and parents can view.

Students can find a tutor who best meets their needs, keep up-to-date with their assignments, and set goals for themselves. Students can rate their tutors and comment on the experience.

Explore Neeyaa in this video

Getting started with Neeyaa is free and easy. Register with an email address or Facebook login.

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Science of the Summer Olympics

Engineers, athletes, and TV have teamed up for a 10-part video series that explores "Olympic-size subjects" ranging from biomechanics to split-second timers.

"Science of the Summer Olympics" is the latest collaboration of the National Science Foundation, NBC Learn, and NBC Olympics. The series continues from earlier educational videos that focused on the sports of the Winter Olympics as well as football and hockey.

In this series, engineering is the focal point, illustrating how engineers can influence both sports and society.

Lesson plans tied to the videos will be made available via the NBC Learn website in August. 

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Josie's Poems [English}

The following is a reprint of an email I received from Josie Whitehead, a retired teacher and poet, that I'd like to share with you.

---

Dear Thomas

JOSIE'S POEMS

Thanks for linking to me via Linked-In.

I’m a “retired” teacher, and am sad to see a big decline in poets writing with rhyme and with rhythm/metre. So I’ve recently – in the last five years – and encouraged greatly by children in my local primary school, written getting towards 1000 new poems for children in this way – a little something to leave to the education world when I’m no longer here.

These poems are important for all age groups, but particularly for younger children for they help foster phonological awareness, a key literacy tool, as you will know. They are also great as performance poems too.

The above site is the first of five websites I’ve built myself – so you will see that even we oldies (for I’m 71) are moving into the world of new technology too – and the other four websites are linked to my books. These sites contain beautifully illustrated poems, many illustrated by children’s artists, and voice recordings which are good for both students for whom English is a first language, but particularly for those for whom English is a second language.

I’d be grateful if you could pass on this email to teachers of English, and ask them to pass it on too, as I’d like them to use the poems I’ve written in their classrooms. In fact many are doing so already for last year the poems went into 188 countries (602,000 page views) and many hundreds were chosen by teachers across my region of West Yorkshire for publication.

Thank you so much.

Josie Whitehead

Retired Teacher/Poet

COD - 7/17/2012 - StudyEgg [Video]

StudyEgg strives to make learning simpler with a tool that lets users watch short video clips and answer questions leading to mastery.

StudyEgg believes "that by combining the latest research on how our brains learn, leveraging hundreds of personal data points collected while you study, and providing simple, intuitive feedback mechanisms, [they] can make the whole learning process easier and more effective for both students and educators."

StudyEgg adds an assessment layer on top of the content you may be already using, such as Khan Academy videos, MIT OpenCourseWare, TED Ed videos, and more. StudyEgg quizzes learners throughout the video rather than just at the end, providing instant feedback as they watch.

Students can use StudyEgg's continuous assessment method to track their progress and identify strengths and weaknesses with personalized analytics. StudyEgg puts together optimized lessons that target topics that need more attention. 

StudyEgg can also help teachers or schools create their own "flipped" courses.

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COD - 7/16/2012 - Wowsers [Math]

Wowzers combines adaptive math instruction with engaging, game-based collaboration for students in grades 3-5 (age 8-10).

Students experience math through interactions with their Wowsers avatar making learning mathematics more personally meaningful.

Wowsers' powerful dashboards and adaptive algorithms allow teachers to provide more differentiated attention for students who are struggling while still challenging students at or above grade level.

Wowsers provides a cost effective solution, hosted in the cloud, that has been proven to improve student performance. Wowsers can replace textbooks, assessments, gradebooks, and manipulatives. No special software is needed, just a current browser that supports Flash.

Thirty-three weeks of Wowsers hosted content and learning management including assignments and unlimited access for students and teachers costs about $25 (USD) per student.

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Publishing with iBooks Author-Free eBook from O'Reilly

Publishing with iBooks Author: An Introduction to Creating Ebooks for the iPad is intended to get you up and writing in iBooks Author. In this free 108 page book, you’ll learn what to expect from iBooks Author and what its strengths and limitations are. You’ll learn how to create beautifully designed pages and how you can bring those pages to life with interactive content. You’ll also find out how to navigate Apple’s ecosystem so that you can get your book published to the iBookstore.

Publishing with iBooks Author: An Introduction to Creating Ebooks for the iPad by Nellie McKesson and Adam Witwer is published by O'Reilly Media / Tools of Change. It can be downloaded free as an ePub, Mobi, or PDF ebook or read online via Safari Books Online.

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The Rearview Mirror 7/14/2012

For those of you who may have missed a Catch of the Day or who didn't have the opportunity to look at some of them during this past week, here's a second chance.

Monday

BuzzMath is a website that focuses on practicing middle school mathematics skills using high-quality problems with immediate detailed feedback, allowing students to progress at their own pace.

 

Tuesday

Using the standards and resources of PBS's NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, NewsHour Extra provides students and teachers with quality educational resources based on current issues and events.

Wednesday

Present.Me lets you add video and audio to your presentations in an easy and intuitive way, allowing your audience to see and hear your message in the way you intended. 

 

Thursday

Based on the popular Middle School Math HD, Elementary School Math HD, by Interactive Elementary, is an iPad application for grades 4 and 5 that emphasizes mathematics skill development through game-playing. 

COD - 7/12/2012 - Elementary School Math HD [Math]

Based on the popular Middle School Math HD, Elementary School Math HD, by Interactive Elementary, is an iPad application for grades 4 and 5 that emphasizes mathematics skill development through game-playing. 

Designed by classroom teachers, the eight modules in Elementary School Math HD have been created to provide a balance between fun and the practice of fundamental mathematics skills:

• Ordering Numbers
• Data Magnet
• Pinpoint Plotter
• Place Value
• The Patterning Cage
• Shape Board
• Operations
• Rounding Numbers

Elementary School Math HD is available for $2.99 (USD) from the iTunes App Store. Elementary School Math HD requires an iPad with iOS 4.2 or higher.

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COD - 7/11/2012 - Present.Me [Presenting]

Present.Me lets you add video and audio to your presentations in an easy and intuitive way, allowing your audience to see and hear your message in the way you intended. 

 

Educators can enhance learning with Present.me by providing great content as well as a friendly face to go with it. You can use Present.Me for the 'flipped classroom' model to give a recorded lesson which students can then watch at their convenience. 

 

 

Simply upload your presentation or document, wait a a short time for it to convert, then click ‘record’. Then present into your webcam, clicking your slides forward as you go. If you make a mistake, you can stop, rewind a bit, then resume recording. You can review what you’ve done when you project is completed. If you’re satisfied, press ‘publish’, if not, click ‘retry’ and have another go.  

 

A private presentation can't be seen or searched on the Present.me site. You can see your private presentations when you log in, and you can share them, using an encrypted URL, to individuals via email, to social networks, or embed them in your blog.  

 

Students have used Present.me for public speaking practice. They can learn a lot about themselves from watching a presentation that they've created, for example, they may realize that they talk very fast or have a nervous habit that is distracting to the audience. 

 

Present.Me has been built with ease of use in mind. No special software is needed – just your browser. Being online, you can instantly share your presentation with anyone you like, anywhere in the world, anytime.  

 

Watch a video into to Present.Me 

 

The Present.Me free plan allows three presentations per month (one private presentation) of up to 15 minutes each. The $9 (USD) Plus plan allows 30 monthly presentations (up to 30 private) of up to 60 minutes each, and additional features. You can upgrade, downgrade, or cancel any time. 

 

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COD - 7/10/2012 - NewsHour Extra [Current Events]

Using the standards and resources of PBS's NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, NewsHour Extra provides students and teachers with quality educational resources based on current issues and events.

NewsHour Extra provides unique current events resources for teachers such as news stories, pictures, maps, video, in-depth lesson plans, stories written by students, and more.

Lesson plans are organized by topic and can be found on these category pages: US, World, Science, Economics, Health, and Arts/Media. In addition, you can use the search function at the top of every page. 

Visit the NewsHour ExtraYouTube channel

NewsHour Extra also provides an outlet for young people to speak out on issues important to them by publishing essays and original audio and video. These student voices are often directly related to the news and give adults insight into how events affect young people.

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COD - 7/9/2012 - BuzzMath [Math]

BuzzMath is a website that focuses on practicing middle school mathematics skills using high-quality problems with immediate detailed feedback, allowing students to progress at their own pace.

Though BuzzMath is student centered,  it has the flexibility to be used by teachers for introduction or to review topics as a class. Students have access to the Table of Contents and can open any activity of interest, or complete specific activities assigned by their teacher.

Students work in an untimed setting. Completing a set number of activities within a topic unlocks special missions related to math history that challenge students to help mathematicians recover lost knowledge. Students also have access to a BuzzLab that connects the theme of the missions to the storyline and motivates the acquisition of gold stars.

Watch a video tour of BuzzMath

Multiple representations are used for the type of questions and for the systems students use to record their solutions. Students monitor their progress on their individual home page with a system of gold stars. Randomly generated values allow students to retry problems to obtain mastery. Teachers are assisted by detailed results that help them guide and monitor student progress and are able to view details of accuracy, time spent, and completion.

BuzzMath is based on the NCTM curriculum in the NCTM Middle School book and the Common Core State Standards.

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