Saturday, April 14, 2007

quick list of great tech uses for schools

At PALY I saw some great uses of technology in the classroom.
1. 1st grade - $90 digital microscope hooked to the classroom computer takes pictures of kids' treasures and magnifies them.
2. 3rd grade- using imovie or vidster to make and edit movies. The classroom project required two groups of kids to argue for or against the building of a new mall. The rest of the third grade would vote on which team made a better film. The kids also did interviews and podcasted them.
3. 3rd grade- computers on wheels lab. Eight year old iboook clamshells still in use. The kids do a simple research project, use the keyboard and learn to file and save.
4. My favorite integration was by a middle school Spanish teacher who uses ichat or skype to set up real time interviews with students in Spain or wherever. I loved this idea for its power, simplicity, and its almost free.
5. High school journalism teacher is using Google Docs with all her kids. All kids must submit papers to her with Google Docs. She can track alll her kids, see their revisions, see how much time they are spending on the project, view collaborations between students...etc.. Google Docs and Spreadsheets is free. Kids can access from any web browser.
6. Nice examples of multimedia effort in Art, Social Studies, Music etc. Projects are posted on the LMS to allow parents to view their kids work.