Ready, Set, Scratch!

I've posted some information about an upcoming conference related to this innovative web program... http://scratch.mit.edu/ Both the conference and the website look like they have a lot of possibilities.

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SCRATCH@MIT conference
July 24-26, 2008
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Please join us for Scratch@MIT, the first conference focused on the
ideas, applications, and joys of Scratch.

With Scratch (http://scratch.mit.edu), people can create their own
interactive stories, games, and animations -- and share their creations
on the Web. In the process, they learn to think creatively, analyze
systematically, and work collaboratively.

Since the launch of Scratch in May 2007, more than 1 million people have
visited the Scratch community website. A new Scratch project is uploaded
to the website every three minutes. Scratch has been called "the YouTube
of interactive media."

The Scratch@MIT conference will provide an opportunity for educators,
researchers, developers, and other members of the worldwide Scratch
community to gather together to share experiences and discuss future
possibilities for Scratch.

The conference will take place on the MIT campus on July 24-26, 2008.
Proposals for presentations, panel discussions, and workshops are due
February 15, 2008.

For more information, see http://scratch.mit.edu/conference

We hope to see you at MIT in July!

Mitch Resnick and the rest of the Lifelong Kindergarten group
http://scratch.mit.edu
http://llk.media.mit.edu

Virtual Field Trips Return

My friend Nancy shared the following info with me:

"Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing and Ball State University have entered into a three-year exclusive partnership to provide students in schools nationwide with the opportunity to interact with S&S authors and illustrators via live, interactive web broadcasts called "Electronic Author Visits" (EAV). The EAVs employ BSU's MyVisit virtual classroom's Electronic Field Trips program, which allow for live video, discussion forums, and downloadable teacher information and in-class activities. Under the deal, S&S plans to host three EAVs per year, with author Andrew Clements (Frindle and No Talking) kicking off the program on March 18. Also signing on to participate in EAV are D.J. MacHale (the Pendragon series) and Margaret Peterson Haddix (Shadow Children). Booksource has signed on as the sponsoring book supplier."

It sounds remarkably like the Turner Adventure Learning virtual field trips that we worked on in the mid-90s - though I suspect that the lower costs of video/audio conferencing due to more prevalent, classroom-based technology might enable them to be more profitable/successful than TAL ultimately was.

Thinking Big!

http:www.bigthink.com

An interesting online public debate/discussion about a wide range of topics (that all participants can contribute to). I signed up as jenbINblmgtn...need more time to play around with it before posting more there but I like the fact they have gotten input and comments from several notable experts and leaders. Definitely worth looking into further.

From a Chronicle for Higher Ed article: Thanks to YouTube, Professors Are Finding New Audiences:
"One Web site that opened this week, Big Think, hopes to be "a YouTube for ideas." The site offers interviews with academics, authors, politicians, and other thinkers. Most of the subjects are filmed in front of a plain white background, and the interviews are chopped into bite-sized pieces of just a few minutes each. The short clips could have been served up as text quotes, but Victoria R. M. Brown, co-founder of Big Think, says video is more engaging. "People like to learn and be informed of things by looking and watching and learning," she says."

Move over toys! Tech gadgets top tot's must-have lists

from eSchool News: High-tech gadgets top kids' holiday lists

According to this article, requests for iPhones and advanced gaming systems were edging out more traditional types of holiday gifts for children.

"The competition reflects the toy industry’s, and educators’, ongoing struggle against “age compression,” the phenomenon of young children reaching for items used by older kids or even adults. These days, children are grabbing for more adult experiences at ever-younger ages, making it ever harder for traditional toys—and, by extension, traditional classroom techniques—to capture kids’ imagination."

This certainly rings true with what I've seen recently - e.g. my nice spending hours clicking away on what she fondly refers to as "My own computer" a hand-me-down PC that her parents put in her play area, or my fiance's nieces who seemed to be spending a disproportionately large chunk of time playing with two toy laptop computers with very basic math and language games (as compared to more traditional games, puzzles and dolls).

I'd recently heard about the popularity of webkinz (Chris' nieces each had multiples) and had bought my niece a shining star (similar to webkinz) for her birthday. ...now I'm trying out the new Barbiegirls.com site (at least trying to try it...but it is temporarily full - so I guess that's a sign of its popularity and/or the fact that lots of girls that just got the BarbieGirls toys (that double as a doll and mp3 player) for Christmas are still home on break from school ;)

Girls like words - boys prefer video

Quoted From eSchool News: Report: Girls blog, boys post video

Thu, Dec 20, 2007

Full report at C|Net News: Girls blog, boys post video

"Just like with diaries, teen girls tend to blog more than their male counterparts, but boys post more video, a new study find

About 35 percent of all online teen girls blog, compared with only 20 percent of boys, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project "Teens and Social Media."

"Girls continue to dominate most elements of content creations," the study finds.

About 54 percent of the girls online post photos compared with 40 percent for boys, but boys are nearly twice as likely as girls to have posted video online (19 percent vs. 10 percent).

Overall, 28 percent of online teens have their own blog, up from 19 percent in 2004, while 27 percent of the teens maintain their own Web page."

New twists use of video in science

From eSchool News: Video sites make science more accessible

According to the article: "Fans of the niche sites say they help the lay public—and students—understand the scientific process, allow researchers to duplicate one another’s results, and might help discourage fraud."

Included among the sites are: SciVee - kind of like a YouTube for scientists and students and fans of science, funded by NSF. Also included:
The Journal of Visualized Experiments, Lab Action, DNATube, and one commenter suggested the addition of WGBH's Teacher Domain.

Positive initial reviews for OLPC project in Peru

From eSchool News: Laptop project enlivens Peruvian hamlet

Distribution of the first sets of XO laptops (part of what was formerly, but still popularly known as the $100 laptop despite the $100+ price tag) has been underway in Peru, and researchers and reporters are finding positive results thus far. Obviously it is far too early to tell what the end result will be - but children and their parents seem to be putting the computers to good use, and there seems to be an indication that they will have some power to improve the educational system in this educationally challenged country.

My favorite quote in the article comes from Oscar Becerra, Peru's head of educational technology: “If we make education pertinent, something the student enjoys, then it won’t matter if the classroom’s walls are straw or the students are sitting on fruit boxes.”