Frequently, I find myself going to Google to solve this or that. – maybe too frequently. Needless to say, I’ve got it down to an art. The question is whether or not spending a few minutes here or there to answer questions like “What was the name of GI Joe’s arch nemesis” and “Who played the dulcimer in Aerosmith’s Pump album” is worth it. You bet it is. Not only has it gained me the answers to some of life’s most troubling questions, but it has also given me a …

An interesting(yet amazingly long) article found on Wired about a program called Supermemo has some interesting ideas for harnessing the brains ability to remember facts. The idea behind the software rests in an algorithm based on the rate of memory decay. Let’s take a look at the impact of such an algorithm in the classroom.

Learning to use a computer efficiently can be a tough task if you weren’t born with one already at your finger tips. Solutions to simple problems typically aren’t obvious, and unless you have spent a great deal of time with one you won’t inherently know whether something needs to be clicked, double clicked, downloaded, uploaded, or just plain opened. J. McNulty understands your frustration and has developed a solution to alleviate these struggles over at  his site, 180techtips.com.

We’ve talked before about the incredible movies that Brainpop has to offer for a very wide selection of topics and content areas. But we have failed to mention one feature that places Brainpop above being just a place for good educational movies. Other than providing quizzes and the soon-to-be-added lesson plans, the site offers a way to view a list of all of their movies aligned to the State Standards for all fifty states. This feature takes all of the guess work out of selecting when and what to …

Consistency can be a good thing. People rarely like change, and students often find it calming when they walk into a classroom knowing what to expect. But sometimes this same consistency causes ruts that keep student brains from having the proper traction for learning. If you happen to find yourself in one of these ruts, then Teachley’s Amazing Talking Brain has some amazing tips to spice your teaching style. It’s a handy site that takes brain research and applies it to teaching strategies that improve student learning.
Their tips section have …

Today’s teens are constantly surrounded by visually stimulating, interactive content. Television, portable digital content, and websites all seem to reach out to their young audiences with eye-catching material. So it’s no surprise that today’s learners expect to be encountered the same way in the classroom, which is why Brainpop’s education strategy is a good one to mention.

Once a year…1000 remarkable people gather in Monterey, California to exchange something of incalcuable value, their ideas.
This opening line starts off every one of the 18 minute videos that appear on Ted.com. What are they? They are presentations from some of the greatest minds this world has to offer, covering a vast array of topics. They take place once a year in Monterey, California and are then shared via the web. The value in this is huge.

Often times teachers, frustrated with textbooks not aligning with their curriculum, create their own original lesson plans. These lessons often get filed away, year after year. Sometimes they get shared within the department, but hardly ever do they ever get any compensation for the labor they put into it. Teacherspayteachers.com is changing that. The site, covered on CNN, the LATimes, and many other publications offers an ebay-like approach for teachers wanting to get money for their good ideas.

Students are always trying to pull out their portable game systems and get a few last minutes of gaming in. With their portability it’s easy to just slip it out of their pocket and get right to it. For a lot of us it’s becoming a problem in our classes. Their eyes are glued to these machines. So why not use it to our advantage.