Show your Students How Google Works

This tool is a bit like when you grab a glass of milk from the fridge and one of your kids asks where does milk come from?  And you then realise that we often overlook the process behind some of the most common things to discover there is actually an interesting and detailed procedure that needs explaining.

How Google works is the best explanation for students and teachers about how the webs number one tool actually works.  It uses animated diagrams and breaks each step down into a very simple information that anyone will understand and really highlights to students the amount of effort and 'nerdiness' that goes into locating your nearest take-away food store in 0.34342 seconds.

So take a look at it here with your students before you use it next time.



Two great sites to teach students about cybersafety

I have written quite a bit about cybersafety in regards to parents, teachers and students taking ownership of the issue and not just burying our heads in the sand and hope that it goes away and in attempt to find out more about it today I came across two great resources that teach students about about cybersafety, protocol and correct use of the internet.

Hector’s World is a valuable educational resource for use in the classroom. Its cybersafety messages are relevant to younger primary school age groups, particularly 5 – 7 year olds.

Age-based lesson plans and activity sheets for each of the episodes have been designed for use in the classroom. The learning objectives are consistent with the principles set out in the national Statements of Learning for Information Communications and Technology and Statements of Learning for Civics and Citizenship.

At a teacher’s or parent’s discretion the Hector’s World stories may also be used for children under 5 years of age and for older primary students aged above 8 years.

Suggestions for the classroom:

• view the Hector’s World episodes with the class
• use the lesson plans as a guide to enforce key learning objectives
• install the Hector’s World Safety Button™ on classroom computers
• encourage parents to install the Hector’s World Safety Button at home
• use the downloadable Hector’s World learning activities to enhance the learning experience

Cyberquoll is aimed at older kids and looks at the issues of cyber bullying and the undesirable elements of the web and how to deal with them from the perspective of a teacher, parent and student.

Hope you enjoy them and would love to hear of any others you might know.



ICT / Computer Lesson ideas for every year level

These are a great collection of complete computer lesssons for every year level covering a masss of ICT activities.  Really Great stuff for Primary school here.  Check it out here.

How to use your ipod and iPhone in the classroom

here is a link to a good article about using iPod touch in the classroom.  Short and Sweet one today.  Have a good weekend

Excellent range of free software tutorials

If you want to learn how to use a new Web 2.0 tool or a new software program, sometimes there’s just no substitute for being shown what to do. However, while instructional videos can be great, it can be hard to know which one to choose. Who wants to wade through 10 minutes of poor quality video only to find it’s not what you wanted anyway! A search on popular video sharing sites won’t necessarily find what you’re looking for either … and certainly won’t tell you what’s good and what’s not. Enter Lookah.tv.

Lookah have done the hard work for you by collecting the best instructional videos about using popular software programs and Web 2.0 tools, and brought them together in one place. Every video has been watched and vetted by the site’s reviewers to ensure the quality and content make it one worth watching.

How can I use this in the classroom?  Lookah is a great tool for teachers who are not the worlds greatest experts on a particular piece of software.  It has specific tasks for each application on the site and each video is short sharp and to the point.  I would also recommend this for professional development for teachers also.