Make Create Educate

Picture books are a wonderful way to engage children of all ages.  With younger children they provide an opportunity to engage in literacy with storylines they may not have experienced or thought about. With older students they are a wonderful hook to stimulate discussion or debate.  Is it true? Is it relevant to us? What can we do to protect? prevent? or follow up? Once upon a time Online by David Bedford Using fairytale characters this book illustrates some of the hazards of being online. The Fairy Godmother teachers them how to use screen time to be productive and creators rather than users of technology. The Fabulous Friend Machine by Nick Bland Popcorn the chicken finds a friend machine (phone) and makes some wonderful new friends, who turn out be not telling the full truth. Her old (true) friends step in to save her. The internet is like a puddle by Shona Innes This book gently talks about the dangers of being online and how adults can help us navigate those dangers. The...

What is Binary? Binary is a base 2 numbering system. It uses 2 numbers 0 and 1 to count and is used by computers to transmit information. 1 digit is a bit. 8 digits is a byte. More information about Binary How does binary work? This video shows how Binary works. Need another explanation? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD6lcIIOeic Curriculum links There is a requirement for all Australian schools to teach Binary from year 5-8. States not using the Australian Curriculum will have modified versions of what is required but binary is mentioned in both year 5-6 and year 7-8. If you are using a document that is based on the Australian Curriculum try searching your document for the AC codes below. In primary years primary often makes sense when taught following a base 10 lesson. Discuss the structure of the base 10 system and then introduce the binary system. Below there are resources both online and offline that can be used to teach this concept. Year...

What is social learning? This week I attended the Learn@Work conference, Learning and Development conference. The major theme was social learning. Social Learning is using the natural desire to socialise to enable learning in the work place.  Social learning is when learning occurs in a social situation. Social learning is often unstructured and an informal learning process where you receive just in time training from a colleague or you learn together how to solve a problem. Social Media may form a useful tool for social learning however it can not be forced onto learners. It is up the learner to make effective use of social media as a tool for learning. Forcing a learner to use a tool they are familiar with is not helpful in the learning process. Many people have now started to develop virtual connections using social media. Professional Learning Networks (PLNs) can enhance learning. They provide an opportunity to learn from people with different experience...

AIS Integrators Conference 2014 Part 2 Time is slipping away since the AIS conference on September 16. I am trying to work through my notes and resources and post. Unfortunately I have no images for this one sorry. :-( This is the second post on the AIS conference held in September. You can read my first post here . Setting up a media team +Chris Woldhuis (@cwoldhuis) This year was asked to oversee the student council media team we have a digital display. It started off well but has not been embraced the way I would have liked.  I attended Chris' session to see what Northern Beaches Christian School has done with their media team. Chris is passionate about his media and has been making videos since he was a kid. He has found a team of like minded and very knowledgable students to be on his team.  The school has two teams, Media Team (video, photography) Production Team (sound, light and visuals) The media team has set roles for students. Head of video ...

Background For those of you new to my blog. I am documenting my latest project "To increase the number of girls coding in my school". This is the second post in the series. I am not sure how long it will go. Here is a link to my first post in the series Exciting news! I have been invited to speak on implementing coding in a primary school at the NSW Association for Independent Schools ICT integrators conference in September, 2014. To be held at Loreto Normanhurst. See you there! First Meeting Last Friday was the first meeting for my new girls code club, I had about 20 students. I invited girls from two year 3 classes and one year 4 class. Each class has about 12 girls, I also mentioned it to some girls who have shown interest in my Tuesday club that is dominated by boys and only attended a few times. Coincidently there were four year 10 girls sitting near us in the library so I invited them to attend also.  So....a fantastic turn out for the initial meeting with...