Learning - Thinking - Playing

Crayon physics - bring it on

For a while I have been watching, playing and sharing with as many people as I can about a number of different tools that work on physics engines and the like. I have blogged previously about Armadillo Run and Magic Paper - but today I have come across the closest thing to a great educational application and one that would be sensational on a large screen with many students involved. I will not waste words - watch the clip:

I need to download and have a play and explore - download the first release here - you will love it. Windows only but works on Intel Macs running VM Ware or Parallels.

Official Site: http://www.kloonigames.com/crayon/

Developers blog: http://www.kloonigames.com/blog/

Unofficial game blog: http://crayon-physics.blogspot.com/

Images - IWB, LST and data projectors

One of the simplest things that teachers and students can do with IWB's, LST's (large screen technologies) and data projectors in the classroom is to use them to prepare visually the environment for an activity, for the day or just to change things to help facilitate a change in thinking, attitude or perspective.

To do this all you need to do is to find and locate images that fit with the theme or activity - images can be found all over the web and can be set as a task for students to do. Tip - searching for images can expose students to potentially inappropriate material so ensure that your students (and parents) are aware of the school and classes rules and what actions need to be taken if this material is inadvertently accessed (this means having a meaningful conversation around appropriate and inappropriate material and avoiding that material).

One site that could be used is Aquabumbs, it was sent to me by a very good friend and each day I get my newsletter with the latest photos. It has made all the difference to my approach to work and even though I can't always get out to surf at least my memory of the surfing feeling and sensations are stimulated.

image link...

In the classroom add some suitable copyright free music and see what happens - would love to hear of anyone's experiences and other great image sites.

Thanks Damo...

Boomerang's in Space

Sounds like a Muppet's skit with the swedish chef - I forget his name but remember his accent (funny that). But seriously a Japanese scientist tested out the flight of the Boomerang in space see news report: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/21/2196406.htm

What I would like to know is how big is the International Space station to enable anyone to test the flight of a boomerang and please do not get this confused with the Boomerang Nebula. I hope they captured some video to share with us all!

Other Articles:

Boomerang works in space
Physorg.com

Holiday Activity - Marshmallow Shooter :: Part 1

I was doing a little online searching with my son and we came across the following site - http://www.howtoons.com/toon/the-infamous-marshmallow-shooter/

We need a holiday activity and this looks like the ticket. We have completed our conversions from inches to centimetres and are ready to collect our raw materials to start construction. We hope to post videos of our work and eventual testing online.

5 Photo Story

Last week I was in Alice Springs, Norther Territory working with teachers and students in a range of situations. One was working with digital camera's and providing example activities to engage and challenge students and teachers in a short period of time to complete an activity. The following example was from a group that had to put together a simple story using only 5 photo's without text or audio. In the short time available they were abale to work as a group to produce this final product.

| View | Upload your own

During all these tasks I was not surprised with the maturity and focus of the students - not one accident, not one student in trouble but lots of productive work, discussion and reflection. Our students can be amazing.

Some feedback included the following:

"I did a follow on to your session with another class on Thursday of last week and then some more with the original group on Tuesday.  Their motivation and mine are high so we are all happy.  The conversations in the staff room are good and people are asking for more ideas and sharing."

iBand, WorldWide Telescope and Vyew

It has been a while since my last post and I have been working on a number of projects that have been keeping me busy - sad to say these projects have tended to be more infrastructure and connections rather then exploring, developing and working with students and teachers. All that is about to change, I am back in my home town to do a bit of work and in preparation I have been exploring a whole range of tools available online and to download that offer a world of collaboration and creativity (more on these later).

I have also been very excited about the developments around the iPod Touch and iPhone, with the developments by Apple to allow third party developers to build apps for these devices. In the lead up to this recent news there have been a lot of people working on jailbroken devices to enable them to offer an amazing range applications - one I really liked was the iBand development. This is where a group of people have used their iPhones/Touch to create a band using the touch interface to create music. It is simply easier for you to watch the following video:

As a big fan of Ted I recently came across an announcement about a new development that is soon to be available to us all. To celebrate the up coming Astronomical anniversary Roy Gould from the Harvard Center for Astrophysics and Microsoft Research are launching a tool called the WorldWide Telescope that will enable computer users the world over to explore, tour and experience the amazing place called space. The clips shown at the Ted event look amazing. I have always loved the idea of exploring space and if I had the money I would want to take a trip on the Virgin Galactic - it would only be a taste but what a taste.

In the mean time lets just explore the WWT, imagine where our students will be able to go.

Finally I have been playing with a tool called Vyew - a collaborative real time sharing and communication tool. Apart from the push to talk option and the not so crash hot video (could not get mine working) - it has some very nice sharing and drawing features that would work well in school environments where real time collaboration is required. If you wanted you could use Skype to carry the voice/video components and then use Vyew to chat and collaborate. It is worth having a look.

If you are from Australia you will get a kick out of registration process, especially when you get to check your time zone - the only options Australians have is to select Sidney thats right good old 'Sidney'.