TeacherLINK Blog!

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Slidely - Create beautiful instant videos from the photos and music you love

http://slide.ly/

Slidely is a free, easy-to-use creative suite of cloud-based web and mobile apps, empowering artistic
expression with images, video and music. Start with your favorite personal images and video, mix in media from friends’ social accounts and the broader web, and add music from YouTube and SoundCloud to unlock the emotional essence of any story – then, share it with friends or the whole world. Projects move seamlessly from one Slidely app to the next and are forever editable, allowing your artistic voice to come through loud and clear. For more information, visit www.slide.ly.

Social media savvy readers will want to know about a new, free tool from Slidely (http://slide.ly) that turbocharges their online slideshows – allowing them not just to use their own images from Facebook, Instagram, FLICKR, Picasa or their PC, but also surprise friends & family with images from Facebook friends’ albums, public Instagrams (via hashtag search), and shots from Google Images.

Unlike other services, Slidely lets you import images from your friends FB accounts or the broader web directly to your slideshows in one simple step, keeping you in the creative flow. There’s no need to download them to your PC first, then do a 2nd step of importing them. Music can be added in one-step via YouTube, SoundCloud or by PC upload. Here are some examples how Slidely can help capture the moment this season:

· Elementary school teachers could make moving end-of-the-term recap video slideshows to show on the last day of class, capping the year with emotional affection – like this: http://slides.ly/14N6kMg; Middle school teachers could make a “restless student lesson plan” for the last week of classes – putting a twist on the What I Did Last Summer report by having kids make & present What I’m Gonna Do This Summer slideshows.

· Groups of best friends could immortalize their Besties in slideshows before going their separate ways for the summer – like this: http://slides.ly/10Mb2Kg. Or, if you’re graduating after having gone to school together with someone since kindergarten, a touching keepsake video idea for a friend would be to use all their yearbook photos from Kà12 in a slideshow.

· BONUS: we made a fun “Top Celebrity Yearbook Photos” Slidely (http://slides.ly/10LLlte) – in case you’re looking for some sidebar multimedia content for graduation themed stories.

Introducing Slidely from Slidely Videos on Vimeo.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

The Siemens Competition - STEM - This year's program will offer scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $100,000

http://siemens.collegeboard.org/?affiliateId=rdr&bannerId=siemens

The Siemens Foundation, in partnership with the College Board, established the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology and the Siemens Awards for Advanced Placement. The Siemens Foundation is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to providing scholarships and increasing access to higher education for talented mathematics, science, engineering and technology students in the United States.

The Siemens Competition seeks to promote excellence by encouraging students to undertake individual or team research projects. It fosters intensive research that improves students' understanding of the value of scientific study and informs their consideration of future careers in these disciplines.

You can compete as an individual or as a member of a team. Individual projects promote independent research. Team projects foster collaborative research efforts, as well as individual contributions to the cooperative endeavor.

Scholarships for winning projects range from $1,000 to $100,000.

The application period for the awards is open now. Applications are due Sept. 30.

Monday, May 20, 2013

LG to demo 5-inch unbreakable and flexible plastic OLED panel at SID

http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/19/lg-5-inch-flexible-oled/

Knowing Where to Find High Quality #OER (Open Education Resources) so You Don’t Need to Reinvent The Wheel

Source:

http://classroom-aid.com/2013/05/07/knowing-where-to-find-high-quality-oer-so-you-dont-need-to-reinvent-the-wheel/

To jump directly to what you are searching for, use these links: (from open4us.org)

General Search

Photo/Image Search

Video Search

Audio/Music Search

General Education Search

Recorded Lectures & Video Tutorials Search

Open Textbook Search

Simulation and Animation Search

Modular Course Components Search

Complete Courses Search

Gooru (for K-12, Common Core State Standards Aligned)

OER Commons (Common Core State Standards Aligned)

OER Repositories World Map - (Open Education Resources)

http://www.zeemaps.com/view?group=562530&x=-21.256812&y=61.362236&z=14#

Net Texts: The App for Replacing or Supplementing Textbooks

http://www.net-texts.com/index.shtml

Net Texts helps schools replace or supplement textbooks with customized multimedia courses delivered to students' iPads, Android tablets, and laptops!

Here’s How It Works:

Teachers use our Content Management Website to select existing courses or to create new courses by mixing and matching items from our library with their own educational material.
Students use our iPad or Android, or web app to download and view these courses, filled with videos, slideshows, e-books, PDFs, text, audiobooks, and Web links. Whether reading the latest e-book that has been assigned or watching a video for the next homework assignment, students will feel more engaged and in charge of their learning.

See It in Action:

Net Texts Consulting Services:

Our consulting services help your school get the most out of Net Texts! We will train your teachers on how to use our content management site and mobile apps, how to find Open Educational Resources, and how to create high quality content.
Net Texts researchers will build customized OER courses based on teachers' recommendations, syllabi, and state standards. We make it easy for a school or district to replace textbooks with a multimedia curriculum based on OER. Schools will save money on textbooks for years to come, as they can update their Net Texts courses with new material at any time.
We offer a fixed rate of $50 per student per year for the first year and $30 per student per year in subsequent years. We also offer per-course pricing for schools looking to build just a portion of their curriculum.

A system which organizes and delivers the wealth of Open Educational Resources available on the Internet

Net Texts was founded in 2010 with a mission to improve education for both teachers and students. Mike Messner, along with business partner Paul Shiverick, believed the current education system called for some much needed innovation and looked to replace expensive, printed textbooks with engaging, easy to use tablets. The idea was to develop an iPad app and a content-rich Website that organizes and delivers the wealth of Open Educational Resources available on the Internet.

For the 2011-12 school year, the company tested out this concept with 6 schools in Atlanta. The 8th grade classes put aside their textbooks and relied on Net texts courses, delivered 1:1 on iPads for each teacher and student.

As the year progressed, Net Texts took many visits to Atlanta and spent a lot of time with the teachers and students. They offered invaluable feedback that was used to improve the system for a broad release in 2012. We are happy to say that the Atlanta pilot program was a huge success and there will be nearly 40 schools throughout the country using the Net texts system during the 2012-13 school year!

Click here to learn more about the Net Texts system.

You can Download our iPad app from the Apple App Store and use our sample courses and our Atlanta pilot courses. To join our community or get more info, please e-mail us at: info@net-texts.com

What's New at NASA's Space Place Website

More and more of our readers are using mobile devices. For that reason, we have recently optimized the design of The Space Place to work well on mobile phone screens. You will see only what fits comfortably (at a readable size) on even the smallest screen, with the rest of the page accessible at your touch. Here's what else we've been doing . . .

What's New?
Why would a pigeon racer phone the Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colo., for a report before entering a prized pigeon into a big race?

It's surprising how many ways the sun affects Earth and its living things. Solar storms can cause "bad space weather" on Earth. Bad space weather can damage communication and navigation satellites, power grids and hurt astronauts on the space station. But that's not all. Read this new article on The Space Place to find out why homing pigeons and their human handlers might care about space weather. Go to http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/pigeons.

Un Rescate en Español
We have all heard stories in which it took many days and a lot of trouble and expense to rescue or find people who were lost in the wilderness or at sea. Sometimes, the rescue comes too late. Here's a story with a much happier ending, thanks to advance planning and the help of a well-designed and -managed system involving weather satellites and a ground-support system. This new feature on Space Place is in both English and Spanish, with Spanish being the story’s original form. Go to http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/sarsat/sp.

Spotlight on a Dream Career
A Mars mission is good example to show how different scientists and engineers can be. The engineers build and operate the spacecraft, and the scientists determine what information it will gather once it is on the ground or in orbit. Engineers and scientists have different priorities. So there is a special kind of engineer who designs and sets up tools that allow these two types of people to work smoothly together. That's the job of our latest Mission Chronicles blogger. Sarah Milkovich gives a unique view of how a diverse mission operations and science team can work together even though they are located around the country. Check it out at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/mission-chronicles/#milkovich.

For the Classroom
No matter what kind of science lesson or activity you are doing with your class, the most important lesson is how to think like a scientist. Science isn't just a bunch of facts. And although there is a formal process known as the scientific method, it is not always necessary to follow it in order to “do science.” So what is science? That is the weighty topic dealt with lightly at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/science. Along with this discussion is an introduction to doing a science fair project, which can be found at spaceplace.nasa.gov/science-fair. Although it may be a bit late in the year to think about science fairs, such projects can also be encouraged just to satisfy students' curiosity -- or, if that isn’t enough -- for extra credit!

For Out of School Time
A menu full of games will entertain kids all summer, while sneaking in a few informal science and technology lessons -- but don't let them know about this latter advantage! See them all in one place at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/menu/play.

Also, don't forget about our iPhone and iPad mobile apps over the summer. Space Place Prime updates daily with new images, videos and articles from The Space Place. Games "Satellite Insight" and "Comet Quest" are also fun challenges. Find out more at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/ios.

Special Days

June 8: World Oceans Day
Pick from a diverse set of ocean-related pages and activities at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/search/ocean.

June 16:Father's Day
Any dad would love a cloud mobile or a galactic mobile. Check out the mobiles at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/cloud-mobile or http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/galactic-mobile.

June 21: Summer Solstice, First Day of Summer
There's a simple explanation of why we have seasons at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/seasons.

We Love Feedback
Thanks to the many of you who have written to info@spaceplace.nasa.gov to tell us how you use our website in your teaching and informal work with kids. We are happy to be able to bring you this valuable resource to enhance and supplement your curriculum.

Have a restorative, relaxing summer. Meanwhile, we will continue working to bring you more new materials for next school year.

iPhone and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc.

Teacher Learning Journeys Project

NASA's Aerospace Education Services Project has teamed up with the National Science Teachers Association to launch the new Teacher Learning Journeys project. This new approach to individualized professional development is designed to help teachers meet personal learning goals and increase student learning and motivation.

Educators can select, prioritize and complete professional development paths that allow them to find and make use of specific resources, teaching strategies and content they need for their students. Participants may apply for digital badges, a form of recognition that explains the activity, required effort and skills acquired.

For more information and to register for the free project, visit http://aesp.psu.edu/programs/teacher-learning-journey/.

Questions about the Teacher Learning Journeys project should be directed to Chris Gamrat at gamrat@psu.edu.

DIY Podcast -- Tutorial Videos

Are you tired of struggling to find new ways to integrate technology into your curriculum? NASA's Do-It-Yourself Podcast website is the place to begin: It offers free public-domain resources to help you and your students build your own podcasts. With DIY Podcast, you and your students can start creating podcast files immediately.

Building podcasts supports national education standards in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, disciplines. The process also supports different learning styles. The auditory and visual learners can listen to and watch their podcasts to review the content and learn even more. The kinesthetic learner can perform demonstrations to add to the video. And because they are in the starring roles, students will watch/listen to the podcast repeatedly. The repetition reinforces the content.

NASA offers six video tutorials to show educators and students how easy it is to make podcasts and vodcasts. In just minutes, we show you how to create audio and video podcast files with the free video clips, audio tracks and images on the DIY Podcast site. The six-video series comprises:

-- What Is a Podcast?
-- DIY Podcast Tour
-- Viewing and Downloading Video Clips
-- Listening to and Downloading Audio Clips
-- Building an Audio Podcast
-- Building a Video Podcast

The series provides time-saving tips for helping students create podcasts and explains the benefits of using podcasts as an educational tool. You can find additional techniques and tips on the DIY Podcast Blog. Visit today to learn how you and your students can make podcasts -- all it takes is a few minutes!

NASA's DIY Podcast Tutorial Videos
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/diypodcast/tutorials-index-diy.html

NASA’s DIY Podcast Blog http://blogs.nasa.gov/cm/newui/blog/viewpostlist.jsp?blogname=diyPodcastBlog

Airborne Research Experience for Educators Academy

In support of our nation's commitment to training and retaining 100,000 science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, teachers over the next decade through the 100Kin10 initiative, NASA's Earth Science Project Office and NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center Office of Education are recruiting 12 STEM teachers to participate in the Airborne Research Experience for Educators Academy, a 10-day research experience July 15-25, 2013, at the Aerospace Education Research Operations, or AERO, Institute in Palmdale, Calif. Applicants can be formal (traditional classrooms, public or private) or informal (museum, science center, etc.) educators of grades 4-12.

Through interactions with NASA's unique content, facilities and personnel, the academy will focus on three education goals through a variety of interfaces (virtual, in-person, self-directed learning):
1. Engage in NASA's unique, airborne research-based missions.
2. Increase core scientific and research knowledge base.
3. Generate NASA mission-based STEM resources and teaching materials.

Participants will be anchored in a community of scientific practice through an end-to-end airborne experience that will focus on two NASA Earth science missions: (1) Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel, or HS3, an investigation of how tropical storms form and develop into hurricanes, and (2) Airborne Tropical TRopopause Experiment, or ATTREX, a study of atmospheric compound concentrations and their impact on the Earth's climate and energy budget.

Experiences will include technical content instruction from mission scientists and engineers, utilization of technology via an online tool to monitor missions in real-time, pedagogical content instruction in 21st century skills, inquiry-based teaching and learning, engineering design and project-based learning. Experiences will be translated into teaching practice through the development of a thematic STEM module and action plan.

This opportunity will remain open until all seats are filled. Applicants must be U.S. citizens and may apply as individuals or as an interdisciplinary team of two - three persons.

For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/education/arees or http://aeroi.org/node/13.

Questions about this opportunity should be directed to Shaun Smith at shaun.smith@nasa.gov.

MAVEN Workshop -- Red Planet: Read, Write, Explore!

The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN, or MAVEN, mission will explore the planet’s upper atmosphere, ionosphere and interactions with the solar wind. Set to launch in November 2013, the mission will provide invaluable insights into the history of Mars’ atmosphere and climate, liquid water and planetary habitability.

Join the MAVEN education team for a one-day workshop on the MAVEN mission and the accompanying program for grades 3-5, Red Planet: Read, Write Explore! This program features six standards-based lessons that combine science, literacy and art to help students understand planetary habitability and the MAVEN mission. The workshop will introduce participants to these lessons and concepts. The workshop also will have a session devoted to Spanish speaking English Language Learner and English as a Second Language students. Attendees will receive free classroom materials.

The workshop will take place Aug. 24, 2013, in Los Angeles, Calif. Applications are due July 24, 2013, but space is limited so interested educators are encouraged to apply early.

For more information about the workshop and to apply online, visit http://lasp.colorado.edu/home/maven/education-outreach/for-educators/red-planet/los-angeles-workshop/.

Please email any questions about this opportunity to epomail@lasp.colorado.edu.

Free Education Webinar Series from the Aerospace Education Services Project

The Aerospace Education Services Project is presenting a series of free webinars throughout May 2013. All webinars can be accessed online. Join aerospace education specialists to learn about activities, lesson plans, educator guides and resources to bring NASA into your classroom.

Modeling the Solar System: What Is a Planet? (Grades 3-8)
May 21, 2013, at 4 - 5 p.m. EDT and 6 - 7 p.m. EDT
Aerospace education specialist Angelo Casaburri will discuss the challenges of teaching students about the scale of our solar system. Using a simple cash register tape activity, participants will learn how to model the vast distances between the sun and planets. Mathematical scale, astronomical units and differences between planets and a dwarf planets will also be discussed.

For more information about these webinars, and to see a full list of webinars taking place through May 2013, visit http://aesp.psu.edu/programs/webinars/.

Questions about this series of webinars should be directed to Chris Gamrat at gamrat@psu.edu.

2013 GLOBE Virtual Student Conference

The Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment, or GLOBE, Virtual Student Conference is a place for GLOBE students to showcase their research projects for peer and scientific review. These projects will be available online for the public to view and to post comments and questions. Projects will be available for viewing through May 31, 2013.

To learn more about the GLOBE Virtual Student Conference, visit http://www.globe.gov/web/scrc/virtual-conference/2013-virtual-student-conference.

Questions about this event should be directed to http://www.globe.gov/contact-globe.

National Geographic FOUND - Resource of previously unpublished National Geographic photos...

http://natgeofound.tumblr.com/

FOUND is a curated collection of photography from the National Geographic archives. In honor of our 125th anniversary, we are showcasing photographs that reveal cultures and moments of the past. Many of these photos have never been published and are rarely seen by the public.

We hope to bring new life to these images by sharing them with audiences far and wide. Their beauty has been lost to the outside world for years and many of the images are missing their original date or location.

If you have insights to share about an image, please let us know.

This is just the beginning of a great adventure. We will be adding new voices, stories, and artifacts as we go. We look forward to sharing this experience with everyone, and hope you make FOUND your home for inspiration and wonder.