Journal 10

Journal 10
Video Studio 11 Plus
By: J.V. Bolkan

Video Studio 11 Plus gives you all the tools you need to produce great-looking home or in class movies. By following an easy, step-by-step program, Video Studio 11 Plus lets you spend your time being creative rather than learning by technical editing.

Video Studio 11 Plus allows you to edit and authorize powerful features including full HD DVD authoring, Digital 5.1 surround sound, and a full set of easy corrective and creative filters. Video Studio 11 has hundreds of customizable effects, filters, transitions, creative video filters like bubbles.

Video Studio 11 Plus also has a number of automatic features such as correction for poor color or brightness, hand shake, and noise reduction.

1. How would Video Studio 11 Plus be beneficial in the classroom?

Video Studio 11 Plus would be great for a media class starting in middle school, going up to High School or College. With Video Studio Plus’ technology students could have the opportunity to make short films in High Definition, and have quality films for class assignments. It would also be beneficial for a technology class for students’ middle school to High School or College to experience Video Studio Plus to experience the quality that is in the technology.


2. What is the cost efficiency of Video Studio 11 Plus?

Video Studio Plus is less that $100 and is targeted at a consumer market. This would be a very good low cost piece of technology to bring into a classroom without going to far out of the school budget. One class fundraiser could easily raise enough money to purchase Video Studio 11 Plus for their classroom.

Journal 9

Journal 9
Sowing the Seeds for a More Creative Society
By: Mitchel Resnick

A PicoCricket is a tiny computer that can make things spin, light up, and play music. You can plug lights, motors, sensors, and other devices into a PicoCricket, then program them to react, interact, and communicate. For example, you can make a cat and program it to purr when someone pets it. Or you can make a birthday cake and program it to play a song when someone blows out the candles.

The Playful Invention Company (PICO) develops new technologies and activities that engage children in creative learning experiences, providing children with new opportunities to explore, experiment, and express themselves.

PicoCrickets expand the creative possibilities of your home computer. Because PicoCricket’s can be used in many different types of projects, PicoCrickets appeal to children of all interests, ages, and abilities. While one child might use a PicoCricket to build an interactive dream house, another might use it to create a new musical instrument.

1. What is an appropriate age for a PicoCricket?

PicoCricket activities are appropriate for students of all ages, from elementary school through college. PicoCrickets are designed especially for ages 9 and up, but with help from a parent, younger kids can enjoy Cricket activities too.

2. How could a PicoCricket be used in a classroom?

PicoCrickets can fit into many different classes, science, technology, art, computer science. As students work on PicoCricket projects, they improve their problem-solving abilities and gain a better understanding of the process of design and invention. At the same time, students can learn important concepts in mathematics such as variables and functions, in science resistance and circuits, and engineering programming and sensing.

Journal 8

Journal 8
Dynamic Visualizations
By: Margaret Niess

Microsoft Math is a mathematics tool teachers can use to guide students in developing spatial visualization skills as they investigate systems of three dimensional equations. Microsoft Math looks like a calculator with a scratchpad called a worksheet, and a graphing space. Teachers can use Microsoft Math as a tool for depicting visual images of many mathematical ideas, like linear relationships. By using Microsoft Math teachers can facilitate a class discussion using the Math technology as a demonstration tool to present visual graphs. Microsoft Math also provides many other capabilities in addition, to visualization and dynamic capabilities that can be used in a variety of ways. Students can check their own solutions to math problems whey they find solution to the equations given.

1. As students use Microsoft Math as an in class tool can their information be saved?
Yes, Microsoft Math provides additional saving benefits for students and teachers. As teachers and student work through the various lessons, the worksheet portion maintains a record of all input, output, and graphs created during class, all activities can be saved.

2. At what grade level is Microsoft Math appropriate for students?

Microsoft Math works for many grade levels, studying subjects from basic math to calculus.
Microsoft Math’s large collection of tools, tutorials, and instructions helps students learn mathematical concepts, while quickly solving math and science problems. Students see how to solve problems step by step.

Software Review Journal 7

Software Review
Kidspiration / iMovie
Journal 7

Kidspiration

I really enjoyed using Kidspiration. It was so much fun going through the different learning areas and being able to “listen while I learned”.

I really think my K-3 graders will really enjoy using this program. Not only will this be good for my English learners, but it will be excellent for my visual and auditory learners as far as keeping their attention as they learn their beginning computer skills. Kidspiration would be a great program to use for many class projects. I could have my class do a “Favorites Map” mapping out what their favorite fruits, colors, places, characters, shapes, vegetables, and treats as a “getting to know” project.

I could have my students make holiday decorations through Kidspiration for their families, or I could have my students study marine life, or farm animals, and have them make a map of the different types of animals that go along with each area of study.

iMovie

iMovie was so much fun! As I am just starting to learn the exciting tools through MAC I am having the greatest time creating projects I never thought I would be able to be apart of.

Our class took movie clips from sites on campus and created a movie adding music, rain, shooting stars, and earthquakes to produce a movie of our own. When I look back on our Saturday class as my classmates and I were editing our movie’s, a smile comes to my face as I think about how much fun we were having laughing, making faces with the MAC camera and experiencing new technology we have never experienced before :o)

iMovie would be such a great tool to use in my future classroom. I would love to take a video of my class throughout the entire year of different field trips, class parties, and class projects, and then put together an iMove at the end of our entire year together as a class. It would be amazing to see the growth of my students throughout the school year, and it would be a something they could take from “Miss Black’s” class to have for the rest of their lives….

Journal 6

Journal 6

Web 2.0 Tool

Google Earth

Google Earth combines the power of Google Search with satellite imagery, maps, and 3D buildings to put the world's geographic information at your fingertips. Fly to your house by just typing in your address, press search, and you’ll zoom right in. Cool huh :o)

You can search for schools, parks, restaurants, and hotels. Tilt and rotate the view to see 3D terrain and buildings, or look up to explore the sky. With Google Earth you have the opportunity to save and share your searches and favorites. You can even view driving directions and even fly along your route.

Google Earth is like your own personal globe that sits inside your PC, as you can point and zoom to anyplace on the planet that you want to explore as satellite images and local facts zoom into view. Google Earth combines satellite imagery, maps and the power of Google Search to put the world's geographic information at your fingertips.

Google Earth would be a great tool to use for intermediate grades 4th, 5th, & 6th.

Students can use Google Earth to research when doing a science project or studding geography. I think students could really benefit by having the opportunity to zoom into a place they have never visited to study.

With there being so many visual learners who like to see where they are studding they have the opportunity through Google Earth to view their area of study through the eyes of their computer as if they were there in person. Neat! :o)