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Showing posts from March, 2015

Why not try Blender? 3D design and animation

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A few years ago in Moscow I had the pleasure of working with Lori Waters, a 3D medical animationist, who worked with teachers and students to help us make a simple 3D animation and make objects to print on our 3D printer. After the experience a few of us continued working with Blender, the program we used to make our designs. We made rings, chess pieces, Minecraft movies, and learned how to add physics to objects we imported into Blender. One student even loaded a 2D image and gave it the physical properties of cloth so that he could lay it on a square block and let it blow in the wind! Here are some rings I designed for our school mission, and a recorder we printed that my son played in the school recorder concert! Why not get started yourself! You can download Blender for FREE here , and check out tutorials here . You can even set up a time to work with me and I can help you get started. You can print your 3D designs at Arc Hub down by the riverside in Phnom Penh. ...

What can Google+ do for learning?

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At ISPP, we are using Google+ with Grades 8-12, and here's why: Social networking is now so embedded in the personal lives of many of our students that it is integral to the fabric of their relationships. The complexity of their communications goes far beyond the secret notes older generations wrote in friends' textbooks and on scraps of paper. Our children have online friends, followers, and subscribers. They 'like' and re-share. There are politics to what they post and how often they post, and subtle intricacies to making connections. They connect with what we would consider strangers. There are more people involved in their conversations. They have a broader audience. They are building peer support networks and learning from one another and running a diverse subculture in which teachers and parents have little or no presence. There are three aspects of this reality that we want to address. The first is that we want our students to be participating in an online ...

Previously inconceivable: what can technology do for learning?

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In the SAMR model  for technology integration, the highest order of technology integration involves transformation of teaching and learning by allowing students to do tasks that were previously inconceivable . How can we design learning so that students begin doing things we had not even conceived of? Having the IB inquiry based curriculum helps. We allow students to show their learning in a variety of ways, and we encourage student-driven learning. Some aspects of technology integration that have the power to transform learning are: Peer assessment: when students only get feedback from their teacher, they are only getting one perspective. While it is true that teachers are professionals and highly trained in assessment, we can also recognize that there is value in hearing different opinions on a piece of work. This is why competitions have panels of judges. Additionally, students are developing their ability to evaluate their own work. This is an important aspect o...