Gwen Mueller is an IT Professional, #dnd Gamer-girl, #coffee drinker, geek in Secondary Education, editor on tumblr #education, curating #science, and #tech resources to inspire lifelong learning with 1/4 cup of #fun.
Showing 45 posts tagged audio
What helps children succeed? The question has long puzzled parents and educators alike. IQ and test scores have garnered a lot of attention, but a new school of thought introduces a different concept: grit. In other words, dedication, the ability to stick things out, to cope with setbacks.
A Philadelphia program aims to instill these qualities in young people — through regular mentoring and adventurous trips.
Tech Stuff podcast: Was Ada Lovelace the first computer programmer?
Happy birthday to Ada Lovelace (aka Augusta Ada Byron) — born this day, December 10th, in 1815. A gifted mathematician and daughter of the infamous Lord Byron, Ada met one Charles Babbage at a party when she was 17 and became fascinated by the mathematician’s Analytical Engine — a kind of mechanical computer that could make complex calculations, including multiplication and division. From that chance meeting grew a strong, dynamic relationship. Ada discussed Babbage’s ideas with him and offered her own insights. In 1843, she published an influential set of notes describing Babbage’s Analytical Engine. Ada also added in some sage predictions, speculating that Babbage’s mechanical computers might one day “act upon other things besides numbers” and “compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity …”
Listen in on Tech Stuff’s classic podcast to learn lots more.
[Image by Colin Adams, based on the original A. E. Chaton portrait, for the Ada Initiative.]
wilife stirs up:
Thanksgiving Cobbler:
A lot of people will be in the kitchen today, getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner. In Madison, Carlotta Calmese is baking one of her family’s traditional desserts — peach cobbler. Producer Cynthia Woodland brought us her story.
Photo by hthrd.
![Beyond Texts and Tweets, Young People Still Love to Read Books
In what may come as a pleasant surprise to people who fear the Facebook generation has given up on reading — or, at least, reading anything longer than 140 characters — a new report from the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project reveals the prominent role of books, libraries and technology in the lives of young readers, ages 16 to 29.
“We found that about 8 in 10 Americans under the age of 30 have read a book in the past year. And that’s compared to about 7 in 10 adults in general, American adults.”
“We heard from e-book readers in general [that] they don’t want e-books to replace print books.”
“We found that [younger people are] very interested in the idea of preloaded e-readers — being able to check out an e-reader at a library that already has some popular titles on it.”
photo via flickr:CC | North Shore Country Day School](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mcekhuxvC21qc17oko1_500.jpg)
Beyond Texts and Tweets, Young People Still Love to Read Books
In what may come as a pleasant surprise to people who fear the Facebook generation has given up on reading — or, at least, reading anything longer than 140 characters — a new report from the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project reveals the prominent role of books, libraries and technology in the lives of young readers, ages 16 to 29.
- “We found that about 8 in 10 Americans under the age of 30 have read a book in the past year. And that’s compared to about 7 in 10 adults in general, American adults.”
- “We heard from e-book readers in general [that] they don’t want e-books to replace print books.”
- “We found that [younger people are] very interested in the idea of preloaded e-readers — being able to check out an e-reader at a library that already has some popular titles on it.”
photo via flickr:CC | North Shore Country Day School
HEADLEE: But for the teachers who were there, new teachers or not, who are experiencing what you call the disillusionment phase as we speak, who are listening to your voice now, what do you say to the teacher crying in his or her car after school today?
ELDEN: First of all, you have to hang in there because you have to know that it’s that time of year. And also, it helps to know I think, the great teachers of the future know they’re not great yet. They want so badly to be everything that these students need them to be, but at the same time they are very hard on themselves when they fall short. So if you have those moments where you’re wondering - like what I wondered was, you know, how did these teachers get - these kids get stuck with a teacher like me, that can actually be a sign of kind of a point in your growth. It’s a low point that it still points in becoming a teacher that you hope to be.
What Wearable Computers Could Mean for Campuses
“If you thought getting updates on Facebook that said what someone was eating for dessert was more than you wanted to know, just wait.”
photo via flickr:CC | zugaldia
More people are going to college than ever before, but a lot of them aren’t finishing. Low-income students, in particular, struggle to get to graduation. Only 9 percent complete a bachelor’s degree by age 24. Why are so many students quitting, and what leads a few to beat the odds and make it through?
In this documentary, American RadioWorks correspondent Emily Hanford introduces us to young people trying to break into the middle class, teachers trying to increase their chances and researchers investigating the nature of persistence.
For they marched up to Bastille Day
La guillotine claimed her bloody prize
Hear the echoes of the centuries
Power isn’t all that money buys.
The data set which revealed the existence of the Higgs Boson may be represented as musical notation.
When Rachel Smith’s older sister was a second-semester high school senior, she and her classmates started to “senior slide.” They had been going to school for 13 years, graduation was on its way, and heck, it was warm outside. So when one of her teachers found her students unprepared for class, and announced: “I know everyone has been giving up on you for your entire life, but I’m not going to give up on you,” the students in the class were offended.
They were being lazy; not hopeless.
According to Rachel, who is the chief poet at Kenwood Academy’s Epic Sound slam poetry team, that kind of thing happens a lot when privileged young people come to teach in what she calls “inner city” schools. So Rachel decided to write a poem about it.
Pshhhkkkkkkrrrrkakingkakingkakingtshchchchchchchchcch*ding*ding*ding”
That’s how Alexis Madrigal describes the distinctive sound of a dial-up modem connection sequence (which you can listen to up top). You really must read his write-up of what the sound means, a unique look at “endangered sounds”.It’s a wonderful essay, both a piece of technology education (just what are those bleeps and squawks for, anyway?), and a journey of nostalgia for a certain generation (including me). When the Internet at Home™ was a new and novel thing, when you spent two hours installing that awful AOL or CompuServe portal to the tinyweb from a glossy CD-ROM included with your new computer, when you told your whole family that you were getting online so they wouldn’t pick up the phone (multiple phone lines were a luxury unto themselves), when you spent days devising the perfect instant messager screen-name only to find that it was taken (Solution: add “x_x” or “99”), or when you crawled USENET boards looking for the perfect cheats to beat that level of Duke Nukem that was just out of reach … this sound was our universal passageway to that world.
It’s meaning to us was a complete mystery, while at the same time being as familiar as any voice.
Anyway, go read it. The young will learn something new, the slightly less young will smile with remembrances infinite.
gjmueller: memmmmorrrrrrriiiieeeeeeeees light the corners of my miiiiiiind. The old rule was a watched modem never connected. #truth
Third Grade A Pivotal Time In Students’ Lives
In a growing number of states a single reading test determines which third-grade students advance to fourth grade. Proponents of the rule say that kids learn to read until third grade, and then read to learn. But critics argue that holding students back does more harm than good in the long run.
“If we are making it easier for someone to become a teacher than to play college sports, I think there is something wrong with that equation.”
Making Online PowerPoint Content Engaging: Writing a Narration Script
Giving your students PowerPoint slides with only text or graphics is a problem because slides, even with text and graphics on them, really do not stand alone. It’s hard to add enough context without adding tons of text to explain what’s on the slide. And, well, PowerPoint isn’t really the right media for tons of text. If you want students to do a lot of reading, you really should provide students with printed or downloadable print materials.
The purpose for using PowerPoint in a presentation is to support you and your message. In an online presentation, you are still the presenter and you should be there. Narration lets you connect with students and set the context for the presentation.
The British Library’s Early Spoken Word Project presents Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, speaking on the inspiration behind his Sherlock Holmes stories.
