Recycling Electronics

Now that the dust has settled from the holidays you may be thinking about reorganizing your electronics and getting rid of old computers, televisions and other equipment. But where to go? For recycling tips and locations try http://www.MyGreenElectronics.org

ReQall Recalls for You

If you have a cell phone, an iPhone or a Blackberry, you may want to check out reQall. It’s a memory aid that’s voice-enabled and acts like your personal assistant for phones, the Web, Outlook, Google Calendar, email, Evernote, text messaging, instant messaging, Firefox, iCal and News Feed.  Using reQall is as simple as placing a call and telling reQall what you want to remember—like shopping lists, reminders about meetings and doctors’ appointments, notes about lesson plans, calendar items, etc. Your words are translated into text, which can be used in a variety of ways. There’s even a Memory Jogger that “ can also predict when you'll forget and send you periodic "’memory refreshers’ to prevent forgetting.” Think of telling your kids about this memory aid, for it would be excellent for reminders about long term projects, papers, reports, and homework. The standard version is free; the Pro version is $24.99 a year or $2.99 a month. If you are interested in this memory aid, watch this  YouTube video about reQall.

Homework As An Excuse

Most kids like to spend time online, and many parents and teachers worry about the time students spend at the keyboard. As teachers move to assigning homework that may require use of the Internet to access and complete assignments, kids have a perfect excuse for staying online. All they have to do is to tell you is, “I’m doing my homework,” when perhaps they’ve finished what was required an hour or so ago. This is just another way kids are finding to circumvent what we want them to do. The answer is parent and teacher communication so parents will be aware of assignments and teachers will be aware of how long students are taking to “do assignments” at home. Parents need to learn how to monitor their children’s online activities and how to find out what’s actually assigned.

Claymation Fun Movies: Lights, Action, Video!

If you are looking for a fun way to bring creativity into the curriculum, you'll want to take a look at Honestech's Claymation Studio 2.0. You've probably heard of Claymation, and if you haven't (think Wallace and Grommit), your techie students have. The product, which retails for less than $50, is an easy-to-use stop-motion authoring studio. Your students can create their own video using photographs, images, and music, along with a camcorder, webcam or digital camera. They plan their project, capture frames and effects, add sound to the frames, preview their work and save and export their movie. Academic License Packs will be available for schools by October 2008. Check the site for a trial offer to be provided in Fall 2008.

Origami Space Messengers

Considering all our complicated technology that keeps space shuttles going and NASA's missions on track, you'd think that new ideas about space missions would continue to be even more complicated. Instead, Japanese scientists are looking into launching a paper airplane from space to see if it will return safely to earth. The plane, made of sugar cane fiber paper, which can stand high temperatures, strong winds and water, also includes a coating. This paper is folded into a shuttle about 8" by 4". A smaller plane has been tested in a hypersonic wind tunnel at temperatures over 400 degrees, so it looks like the paper plane could survive a flight from space to earth. The scientists have received funding for a three-year study, and perhaps in 2011, everyone on earth will be looking for an incoming paper plane space visitor? It's an interesting topic to discuss with your kids. Maybe they'll come up with other ideas for space vehicles.

Our Overscheduled Lives/Our Childrens' Overscheduled Lives

We worry about how many projects we have going and how we are going to keep up. We worry about our kids and how many activities they have both in school and after school. For the kids there's basketball on Monday, gymnastics on Tuesday, piano on Wednesday, three major tests on Wednesday, a quiz on Monday, a project due on Tuesday.... Sound familiar? Is there ever time for all of us-parents and kids-to relax and think? Probably not, for we are running from activity to activity and project to project, aren't we? MIT's Dan Ariely in his book Predictably Irrational tells us that we simply have difficulty giving up our options. Maybe it's like being hesitant to get rid of clothing we think we might possibly someday, some time wear again? Maybe it's like over-scheduling our kids so that they'll be able to get scholarships for sports or dance or playing a musical instrument? Maybe we just don't know how to let go? We want to keep all our options open. To check into this problem, Ariety had students at MIT play a game in which they could get higher scores if they gave up options. The students didn't want to give them up even for better scores. You and your family can try the game to see if you can fight the urge to keep all your options open. What's the answer to our over-scheduled lives? Perhaps Professor Ariety's book can help.

What Parents Think & Do When It Comes to Their Children & the Net

Parenting Moves Online: Parents' Internet Actions and Attitudes 2007 features the results of a poll taken by Cable in the Classroom and Common Sense Media. It features information about what parents are doing at home to keep their children safe online in addition to parent attitudes about how the Internet can help their children. Find out if parents are facing the same problems with their children's Internet use as you are with your students' Internet use. You might also be interested in the 2006 poll, Parenting the MySpace Generation.

Girls Gotta Have IT

The K-12 NCWIT (National Center for Women & Information Technology) Alliance (College Board, ISTE, American School Counselor Association, Girl Scouts, and other organizations) offers a free kit packed with materials for encouraging girls to consider careers in information technology (IT). The kit includes the following publications: Totally Amazing Careers in Engineering, Science Can Take Her Places!, Girls and Information Technology, Computing Degrees and Careers, IT is all about Me, and more. You can download the materials in pdf format from the site.