As part of the inquiry section of my yr 8 Home Chemistry unit, some of my students explored the Chemistry add in for MinecraftEDU. (You can find out more about the Chemistry Add in HERE at the MinecraftEDU site.) We have a subscription for MinecraftEDU at my school to use with the year 7 digitalContinue reading “Lighting fires with the Chemistry Add in for MinecraftEDU”
Category Archives: Teaching and Learning
Reflections from the PPTA ICT meeting April 2018
There was a pretty full on agenda for the April meeting of the PPTA ICT committee, and I got myself wonderfully wound up over several points. Much discussion was had of hard issues, and of course, hard issues have no easy answers and there is not always a clear pathway to follow. So if youContinue reading “Reflections from the PPTA ICT meeting April 2018”
Finishing off digital technologies… till we start again next week :)
It is almost a month (where does time go) since I posted about the start of our digital technologies module, and as it finished tomorrow I thought I should remind myself and share how it has gone. It certainly has been a bit of a wobbly path the last couple of weeks, not helped byContinue reading “Finishing off digital technologies… till we start again next week :)”
Powerpoint recording – the little tab that can
When I first heard that one of my most favouritist tools Office Mix (an add in for Microsoft Powerpoint) was not going to be available from mid 2018, I had a proper tanty. I LOVE mix, use it all the time, for handy little feedback videos, for relief lessons when I am away, for examContinue reading “Powerpoint recording – the little tab that can”
Getting started with Digital Technologies
Partly in response to the new New Zealand Digital Technologies curriculum, my school is offering a Year 7 module for Digital Technologies for the first time this year. It almost didn’t run as it fell prey to the beast that is secondary school timetabling, but I am super glad it did. We (Kevin and I)Continue reading “Getting started with Digital Technologies”
What if marking was like ‘teaching’
So, I am marking again this year (I’m not 100% I’m allowed to say which standard etc… so I won’t. I think/hope most of what I say here is stuff I’m allowed to say). Marking this year has been easier than last year somehow, although I did find one question in particular difficult to getContinue reading “What if marking was like ‘teaching’”
Making holograms – Molecular shapes
Watching Hack the Classroom on Sunday, I saw ‘a hack’ on how to make hologram videos. The hack was by Tomas Milicka, and he used a combination of office paint and powerpoint to make his own (or to get his students to make their own) hologram videos. I didn’t quite see the potential at first,Continue reading “Making holograms – Molecular shapes”
Science and Ethics
Every year as part of my Genetics topic I set aside a couple of hours to talk about morals, ethics and ethical frameworks. I am still using an awesome outline I got from a session at Biolive in 2009 that Fiona Anderson presented that uses some great resources from the Science learning hub Ethical analysis page.Continue reading “Science and Ethics”
Thoughts on Computational Thinking
I’m not super sure when I first heard the term Computational thinking, but the first time I took proper notice of it was in March this year when I was fortunate enough to hear Lisa Anne Floyd speaking at E2 this year. Even then, I thought, this is nice, this is a way to get peopleContinue reading “Thoughts on Computational Thinking”
On the importance of ‘lone nuts’…
I’ve read some ‘troubling’ things in the last week around education. I guess being election time socio economic issues and education are more in the news than usual. It has got me thinking again about change in schools, how to manage it, what is important… but also what change needs to happen in our societyContinue reading “On the importance of ‘lone nuts’…”
ibpossum takes on tech 