Oh, gee, we’re running late: The National History Day competition live webcast is this morning. Go here: http://www.history.com/classroom/nhd/
National History Day live webcast – June 18, 2009
June 18, 2009
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Posted by Ed Darrell
HippoCampus: Technology’s promise shows
May 28, 2009Teachers, are you using HippoCampus? (Tell us about it in comments if you are.)
Topics with lesson plans and great support material:
Algebra
HippoCampus is a product of the Monterey Institute, a part of the University of California system.
1 Comment | Advanced Placement, Curricula, DBQ sources, Education, History, Lesson plans, Teaching, Technology, Technology in the classroom | Tagged: Course Planning Material, Education, HippoCampus, Lesson plans, Teachers' Resources, Teaching, Technology, Technology in the classroom | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Vintage film on Japanese internment during World War II
May 20, 2009[Google Video version is not showing or playing for reasons I don’t know; fortunately the National Archives (NARA) has uploaded a version to YouTube]
“A Challenge to Democracy,” by the War Relocation Board. This film defends the relocation of 100,000 Japanese Americans during World War II.
Japanese-descended American citizens harvesting crops they grew during internment during World War II. Screen capture from “Challege to Democracy.”
“These people are not under suspicion,” the narrator says. “They are not prisoners, they are not internees. They are merely dislocated people, the unwounded casualties of war.”
According to the Internet Archive, the film is a 1944 production. That site has the film available for download in several formats. The film is collected in the Prelinger Archives. On my computer, some of the Internet Archive versions offer better quality than the Google Video version above.
I originally found the film at a school site in Washington, Mr. Talmadge’s Wikispace site, apparently for his classes in the history of the State of Washington. That site has a very useful series of links to good sites on the internet for information about the Japanese internment. There are several other topics noted there, too, including the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Whitman Massacre in Oregon, and the Nez Perce Retreat. I’d love to see Mr. Talmadge’s plan for the year.
What do your students do to display their work on the internet?
5 Comments | Citizenship, History, History images, History video sources, Japanese American internment, Justice, Propaganda, Public education, Social Studies, Teaching, Technology in the classroom, World War II | Tagged: Citizenship, Education, History, History Films, history video, Japanese American internment, Justice, Korematsu, Propaganda, World War II | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Climate Denial Crock of the Week: Ocean levels
May 10, 2009Blue Ollie carried a YouTube video that got me to look at Peter Sinclair’s marvelous series of amateur videos, “Climate Denial Crock of the Week.” Sinclair posts under the handle GreenMan at YouTube.
Here’s the Climate Denial Crock of the Week video on ocean levels, and the denial that they are rising — in line with my post a few hours ago about peoples in the South Pacific and in Alaska losing their homes to climate change:
Pat Frank’s work keeps reminding us that, in science, it’s often difficult to establish a clear, indisputable proximate cause. Something is going on in Newtok, Alaska, and in the Carteret Islands, Papua New Guinea. Those things should not be ignored, and cannot be ignored safely for long.
(Teachers: Note most of these videos are around 5 minutes in length — more than suitable for classroom use, perhaps even as a bell ringer. Notice also that, if you don’t know how to make these videos, as I don’t, you’re behind the curve.)
25 Comments | Climate change, denialism, Geography - Economic, Geography - Physical, Global warming, History, Science, Technology in the classroom, Video and film | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
A vision of students, today (thanks, Bug Girl!)
April 30, 2009Bug Girl put this up, and you can watch it there and comment on it there in a lively and informative discussion, but it’s just too good not to show here:
Teachers, show it to your colleagues, and especially to your librarians and your administrators.
Students, show it to your teachers.
And, go thou and do likewise.
.
.
.
Oh, and note that Bug Girl’s post was a year ago.
Other stuff to see:
- Blogsite of the Digital Ethnography class at KSU (mentioned in the film)
- While we’re on the topic, look at “Web 2.0,” especially if you’re confused by things like Wikipedia
4 Comments | Education, Learning, Pedagogy, Teaching, Technology, Technology in the classroom | Tagged: Classroom technology, Classrooms, Education, Learning, Teaching, Technology, video | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
California unemployment map, for economics classrooms
March 20, 2009The Sacramento Bee, one of America’s great newspapers which we hope can stay in business through these tough times, today put up a map of California unemployment, county by county. The map shows unemployment changes over the past year with an interactive slide that makes it great for classroom use in economics, but makes it impossible for me to embed here (it’s in Adobe Flash).
California’s unemployment is at about 11% statewide. Colusa County’s unemployment is 26.6%. Two counties away, in Marin County, it’s only 6.8%
California economics classes can use their knowledge of agriculture and industry in the state to make educated guesses about what is going on in each county. Surely there are uses the rest of us can find. Colusa and Imperial Counties are two of the hardest hit — with the internet, can your students tell what that is going to mean for prices on fresh produce and processed foods?
This is where computers and the internet step out ahead in the education tilts, with tools like this interactive map. Thank you, SacBee. Can you give teachers a download?
Here’s another set of maps, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics: map-of-unemployment-nationally-january-2009- Another unusual unemployment map, below. From The Swordpress
Another unemployment map, national, for December 2008, The Swordpress
Leave a Comment » | Classroom technology, Economics, Employment, Geography - Economic, Geography - Physical, Geography - Political, Internet, Maps, Newspapers, Technology, Technology in the classroom | Tagged: California, Economics, Employment, geography, Interactive Maps, Maps, Technology in the classroom, Unemployment | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
When on Earth, Google as the Earthlings do
March 7, 2009I’m probably way behind the curve, but this looks to me as if it could be developed into a classroom exercise of some sort.
At Geevor Tin Mine Museum’s Weblog, I stumbled onto Whenonge #7 — When on Google Earth #7 (archaeology edition).
These wacky archaeologists! They get a Google Earth image of some dig, post it, and challenge people to identify the dig and the time in history the site was actually occupied. The first to identify the site accurately gets to host the next round.
Hey, take a look at these things. They would make great slides for a presentation, but they’re also just cool.
Mystery image for When on Google Earth #7 (archaeology)
Like so much in archaeology, this game comes to us from our methodological cousins in geology. Shawn Graham adopted their game, and modified it for our use at whenonge #1. Chuck Jones had the first correct answer, and then hosted whenonge #2. The mysterious and elusive PDD got #2 right but never claimed his prize, so Chuck struck back with whenonge #2.1. Paul Zimmerman got the correct answer to #2.1 and hosted whenonge # 3. Heather Baker got the correct answer to #3 and hosted whenonge # 4, and Jason Ur won and hosted of whenonge # 5 . Dan Diffendale won that, #6 was hosted on whenonge #6 and i won this! so here we are… be the first to correctly identify the site above and its major period of occupation in the comments below and you can host your own!
What’s that? There’s a geology version, too? Good heavens! The geologists are past #150!
WoGE #124 - Where on Google Earth #124; I don't know where this is, but it looks cool.
It’s the sort of geeky game that airline real estate lawyers could play with airports, football geeks could play with collegiate football stadia, or baseball geeks with Major League Baseball parks. Hiking, camping and wilderness geeks could do a National Parks and National Monuments version, with real aficianadoes including trails in National Wilderness Areas from the National Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.
Why not a simple geography version? Cities with more than 2 million population; national capital cities, state capital cities; Civil War battlefields; famous battlefields; volcanoes; 7 Wonders of the World.
Maybe someone in the Irving, Texas, ISD can get their geography kids to use their computers and put up a website devoted to some of these issues.
Leave a Comment » | Geography - Physical, geology, Lesson plans, Science, Space exploration, Technology in the classroom | Tagged: geography, geology, Google Earth, History, Satellite Images, Student projects, Technology in the classroom | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Mapping Africa
February 25, 2009Here’s a great tool for geography study of Africa.
AfricaMap is based on the Harvard University Geospatial Infrastructure (HUG) platform, and was developed by the Center for Geographic Analysis to make spatial data on Africa easier for researchers to discover and explore.
Harvard's Africa Map, sample image, via Google Maps Mania
It’s an interactive tool. You can capture images (another add-on might be necessary) — but look at all the different layers you can use, live, on your computer.
Good source for student projects, no?
Leave a Comment » | Africa, Classroom technology, Economics, Geography - Economic, Geography - Physical, Geography - Political, History, History images, Student projects, Technology in the classroom | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Flash media, animation and movies for your classroom
January 28, 2009I’m struggling. I’m looking for software that will allow me to make animations and movies for classroom use. I know very little about it, though, and I’m not sure where to look.
I stumbled on this site, from the University of Houston, Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling.
Do me a favor: Social studies teachers, especially hop over there and look at the video/animation/presentations they offer — on the Dustbowl, on human rights and Nobel winner Aung San Suu Kyi, on Hiroshima, the race to the Moon, and other stuff. Look at the presentations: Can you use them? Do you have better stuff to use?
Other examples include mathematics, art (some of which might also be good for history), English as a Second Language (ESL), language arts, and other subjects.
Do you make movies or animations for your classroom? What do you use?
What does a teacher need to get started in digital story telling?
The UH site offers a free download of Microsoft Photo Story 3 — have you used it? Good stuff? What’s your experience?
3 Comments | Classroom management, Classroom technology, Education, Education quality, Technology, Technology in the classroom, Video and film | Tagged: Classroom management, Education, Education Automation, film, Technology in the classroom, video | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
World History Compass — R.I.P?
January 15, 2009Found a link to this site — it looked pretty good, and I was starting to get excited, when I noticed the last update appeared to have been in 2001.
That explains why I hadn’t seen that material before (some of the links work, still. good.).
Whatever happened to World History Compass? Anybody know?
Leave a Comment » | Classroom technology, History, Technology, Technology in the classroom, Weblogs | Tagged: Classroom Resources, Defunct sites, History, Websites, World history | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Missing the boat with iPods
January 8, 2009Does your school encourage the use of technology in your classroom?
My school says “no iPods, no exceptions.”
I learn from P—ed Off Teacher that may not be a good idea:
I-Pods In Math
I was just about to tell Kevin to put away his I-pod, when I looked down and saw the graph of the function we were looking at on it. I did not know I-pods had this capability. He said that he downloaded a program with math applications and that is why he was able to do this.
Some days, I just love my job. I yelled at Kevin. “It’s kids like you that are keeping me from retiring.”
Who knew?
Of course, it takes a special teacher to be doing the job so well that the kids use their toys to learn the subject. Or does it? This is a special category of “discipline.”
How are things in your classroom today?
1 Comment | Classroom management, Classroom technology, Technology, Technology in the classroom | Tagged: Classroom management, Classroom technology, iPods, Technology | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Stu’s Double Jeopardy – classroom quiz tool
January 6, 2009A few teachers resist technology with everything they have. Several years ago I ran into a history teacher who had a “Jeopardy” style quiz on PowerPoint, for one chapter of Texas history. She loved it.
But that one quiz was all she had. I got a copy of it, did a quiz for the next chapter by simply replacing the questions and answers, and passed it back to her. She treated me as if I had done some magic incantation and filled the room with smoke. It had not occurred to her that she had it in her power to use the template to make her own quizzes.
Along comes Stu Hasic, with more computer moxie than I, to create Stu’s Double Jeopardy. He assumes you want to make your own quizzes, and he’s got a few add-on tools and instructions to make it easier.
Go explore his blog, download the quiz tools, and put them to use. Will you report back here how it works for you? Thank you.
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Posted by Ed Darrell
Ding Dong, VHS is dead: Is your school ready for DVD?
December 26, 2008VHS can now be considered dead, really most sincerely dead.* New tapes are not being produced for almost all programs, and the last, die-hard distributor who sold pre-recorded VHS tapes announced the company will stop those sales in the next few weeks.
For projecting programs in the classrooms in your school, is your school ready to switch to DVDs? I’ve never tried a poll here before, but I hope you will answer this one, especially if you’re a teacher.
Please express your opinion.
* You recognize the line from “Ding, Dong! The Witch is Dead,” from “The Wizard of Oz,” of course.
3 Comments | Classroom management, Classroom technology, Teaching, Technology, Technology in the classroom, Television, Video and film | Tagged: Classroom technology, DVD, Education, Teaching, Technology, VHS | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
On life support since 2006: R.I.P., VHS
December 24, 2008The last U.S. source of pre-recorded VHS videos has pulled the plug.
VHS is dead, but for the twitches of life carrying on in schools and homes where people cling to the format Hollywood has not supported for the past two years.
Stories in ArsTechnica and The Los Angeles Times say Distribution Video Audio, the last U.S. supplier, will toss its inventory in early 2009.
After three decades of steady if unspectacular service, the spinning wheels of the home-entertainment stalwart are slowing to a halt at retail outlets. On a crisp Friday morning in October, the final truckload of VHS tapes rolled out of a Palm Harbor, Fla., warehouse run by Ryan J. Kugler, the last major supplier of the tapes.
“It’s dead, this is it, this is the last Christmas, without a doubt,” said Kugler, 34, a Burbank businessman. “I was the last one buying VHS and the last one selling it, and I’m done. Anything left in warehouse we’ll just give away or throw away.”
How much longer can DVD hold on?
Asked how the death of VHS might affect U.S. education, Mrs. Americanteacher said, “Hold on, I need to stoke the wood in the stove here, and clean the chalkboard. Just a minute. I’ll get back to you.”
VHS was about 30 years old.
Interment will be in thousands of landfills across North America, though some relics will be sent to small shrines in bars and bodegas around the world, mostly in second- and third-world countries.
1 Comment | Blu-ray, Education, Invention, Technology, Technology in the classroom, Television, Video and film | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Fishy education software bill out of Utah
October 28, 2008Remember about a year ago when Utah was all atwitter over a voucher proposal that was on a ballot? Remember all the talk about saving money in education?
Utah Education Issues explains odd features in an omnibus funding bill recently passed by the Utah Legislature (The Economist praised Utah’s efficiency*). Among other things, it gives away $1 million to an educational software company that will provide families with reading software — at a fantastic pricetag of $3,400 per installation (computer included, but still . . .).
Describing the smell of this bill doesn’t come close to the total repugnance — go read the report. Fewer than 300 families can be served at that price, statewide. One might suspect the true beneficiaries of this bill are not Utah voters, not Utah educators, nor even the Utah families who get the freebies. Did I mention this involves a major publisher of public school textbooks?
It’s a commendable job of reporting for a blog, no?
Footnote:
* The “cultural thing”, as businessmen from out of state delicately refer to Mormonism, helps in other ways. Utah’s almost universal conservatism makes for stable, consensual politics. It took the state legislature just two days last month to plug a $272m hole in the budget. By contrast, California’s budget was 85 days late. Nevada’s politicians are preparing for a nasty fiscal fight next year.
1 Comment | Education, Education blogs, Education spending, Scams, Scandals, Technology, Technology in the classroom, Textbooks | Tagged: Education spending, Scams, scandal, Software Disaster, Technology, Textbook Publishers, Utah | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 