A Quiz Bowl Arena in Your Classroom

GeoSafari Quiz Bowl, a wireless quiz system from Educational Insights, gives you the equipment you need to create your own classroom (Grades 3 up) quiz bowls. The product includes authoring software that lets you put in your own questions or add already prepared questions (up to 5000), assign points, keep score, and display ongoing results. Flashing lights, sound effects, and a scoreboard that can display team member names are all part of the Quiz Bowl. Ten player remotes come with the basic package, but more can be purchased. It comes with everything you need to challenge your students and get them fired up for learning. Be on the lookout for this product to be out in August 2007. It's not on the Educational Insights site yet, but it will be soon. What fun for classrooms!

Grants & Funding Alert

Looking for funding for one of your project ideas? eSchool News is offering 24 issues of its publication Grants & Funding Alert for $35. The offer expires on 8/03/07, after which the price will return to $65. Here's a sample page of Grants & Funding Alert. Opportunities include everything from having your students write slogans, to providing tech equipment to low income school, to scholarships to NASA camps.

Video Games - the Bad News Maybe

There's been lots of news recently about how video games can be a tool for learning, but a University of Texas study showed that prolonged use of video games at home results in less time for reading for boys and homework for girls. The boys in the study used games over an hour on weekdays and over an hour and a half on weekend days. The girls spent about 44 minutes on games on weekdays and over an hour on weekend days. Even though gamers spent less time on reading and homework, grades in school didn't seem to be affected. The researchers suggest that perhaps the gamers were high academic achievers who didn't need to spend so much time reading and doing homework or maybe the gaming practice made them more efficient students.

The Rumor Mill

Chip and Dan Heath's book, Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Don't, claims that explaining something like an expert isn't exactly a good idea-unless you are talking with other experts. People are intrigued with ideas that they can understand and catch their attention, even if these ideas are just rumors. You can know too much when you are trying to get an idea across. Simplifying it may be best along with couching it in an interesting way. The Heath brothers mention rumors that continue because they contain a "a simple, concrete, surprising but plausible story that arouses emotion." How might we apply this knowledge to teaching? How might we use it to thwart the rumors about schools, teachers, administrators, and students?

Spending Too Much Time at the Computer?

While it's awfully tempting to sit at the computer browsing the Internet or working on projects without taking a break, it's not exactly good for us. Mac users can download a free program called Time Out that times you on the computer and tells you when to take breaks. It can even be scheduled to play music to get you motivated for break time. There are options for skipping breaks or postponing them, which are tempting. PC users might want to look at Break Reminder software that's available for less than $90 a year or Break Time or Albion StopNow! shareware.

A New Kind of Literacy

New research, some of it funded by the MacArthur Foundation, is just beginning to fathom how deeply our children have absorbed the new technologies including the role it plays in their lives and how it affects their learning, play and socialization. What this research suggests is that today's digital youth are in the process of creating a new kind of literacy that involves a skill set that extends beyond the traditions of reading and writing into a community of expression and problem-solving that not only is changing their world but that of adults, with broad implications for educators too. To learn more see "New generations, new media challenges" on the St Louis Dispatch site.

Kid Pix PodCasts

With Kid Pix Deluxe 3X (2007 Universal Edition) from MacKiev, you and your students can not only use all the creative options available in the program, but you can also experiment with imports from GarageBand and export to iPod video format. Just let your students design their own slideshows and export. Voila! Their podcasts are ready. This looks like a wonderful product for the classroom. The program works with Mas OS 10.1.5 or higher.

Traveling with Beautiful Music

Travels with Music is an online and DVD program that treats users to a variety of cultures and their music. Called an interactive audiovisual adventure, the program can be used with just about any age level. You and your students will be treated to music from master musicians from throughout the world through video, games, maps, artist links, quizzes, and blog connections. The musicians themselves will take you on a fabulous tour of their cultures through music. To enjoy a bit a music and information about the program, try out the Travels with Music Preview.

Real Reels in Education

The company Scope Seven, long known for its innovative video productions and work with Hollywood filming, is stepping into education with its powerful media resources.  Two of its first offerings are: TV Junkie: Faces of Addiction and Super Size Me. TV Junkie, for Grades 9-12, is called a riveting documentary about addiction to drugs, and Super Size Me, for middle and high school students, is an Academy Award nominated film about obesity. The films feature menus so that you can select parts to use, lesson plans, guides, screen prompts, flash facts, and programming that allows for "teachable moments" during the films. A great idea-making use of outstanding films and adapting them for classroom use!

Pay Attention! Becoming a Better Teacher

Take a look at Pay Attention, a unique video packed with facts, ideas, and motivation for teachers. The video comes from the Jordan School District in Utah, where there is an abundance of useful tech resources designed to help teachers use technologies effectively. Topics tackled include using iPods and cell phones in classrooms instead of outlawing them. Think of the numbers of kids who have iPods and cell phones. Then think of how these wonderful little gadgets can be put to use in your classroom. Got any suggestions to share with the rest of us?