New Horizons for Learning Journal: July/August, 1997

New Horizons for
Learning's Electronic Journal

Vol. III No. 1 * July/August, 1997

(links were vaild through October 1997)

Contents

Learn and Live
produced by the George Lucas Educational Foundation: Our review of an eagerly anticipated new video and book from the George Lucas Educational Foundation that shows teachers and students engaged in exciting new ways of teaching and learning. The video looks at students and teachers using technology creatively in ways that tap the power of both the technology and the human mind. The book offers concrete real world examples and resources.
The kit (book and video) are being distributed at cost. The book can also be accessed at the GLEF website, where you can sign up for live interactive tours and discussions about the materials during July and August. Several dates are already full so don't delay signing up for the experience.
Understanding Why Education Must Change
by Renate Nummela Caine and Geoffrey Caine: Why do people continue to say that education has to change? And just exactly does "change" mean? Researchers Renate and Geoffrey Caine offer their perspective based on current brain research and analysis of pervasive assumptions that interfere with the development of schools and learning organizations that work for all.
The Caines have also written a fascinating new book which is reviewed in this issue, Education on the Edge of Possibility. The book describes the process of change -- including the struggles, the successes, and also the failures experienced in two schools attempting to implement the Caines' theory of brain-based learning.

Assessing Learning III Conference: Tools for Essential Learning

Seattle Pacific University hosts the third annual conference on assessment strategies and methods. Join Art Costa, Marian Diamond, Reuven Feuerstein, Marlene Holayter, Yvette Jackson, Bena Kallick, Shirley McCune, and a host of expert practitioners for a fascinating and informative conference. You'll bring back a "tool kit" of practical ideas and methods to use and share with colleagues.

Not Lemons, But Apples
by Darlene Hughs Axtell

Retiring middle school principal Darlene Hughs Axtell contributes an inspirational new addition to the Reinventing Living collection in the Observation Deck.

Making the Most of "Teachable Moments"
by Steven Carr Reuben, Ph.D

Parents and teachers can find many ways to teach ethical behavior to children by recognizing the "teachable moments" that crop up every day. An excerpt from the new book Children of Character - Leading Your Children to Ethical Choices in Everyday Life gives parents some guidelines for recognizing opportunities that arise in their busy lives.

Multiple Intelligences Power Up Math Teaching
by Mark Wahl

Current mathematics teaching should include many intelligences in the quest for a "felt sense" of values in mathematics. The "Aha!" experienced by students with whom Mark Wahl has worked comes from a sense of total involvement with a problem. Their experiences convey the relationships and number sense that have been identified as lacking in recent studies focused on teaching and learning math in today's schools.

Read a review of his new book Math for Humans: Teaching Through 7 Intelligences in this issue.

Explore these links to websites that relate to this article:

TIMSS Resource Center at McREL: Links and articles about math and science standards, including the original report, several responses, links to listservs, several study centerss and organizations.

Eisenhower National Clearinghouse for Mathematics and Science Education: Links to resources and organizations for math teachers and learners.

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics: Site currently has lots of links to TIMSS Report related resources, other math teaching and learning resources.

Third International Math and Science Study: The TIMSS Report website.

Review: Interconnecting Pathways to Human Experience
Edited by Judith Kase-Polisini and Carol Scott-Kassner

The focus of this new book is on integrating the curriculum through the arts. It is an atlas for teachers who are seeking to explore new educational frontiers, offering methods for teaching thematically across all the disciplines, and suggesting numerous ways to create interdisciplinary units.

Review: Outdoor Leadership
by John Graham

We'll be adding Grounds and Gardens to the Building later this year -- as a preview, we've reviewed a new handbook on leadership that draws on author John Graham's extensive experience as a mountaineer and his former career as a diplomat. He is currently involved in the Giraffe Project, celebrating people who make a difference. We think the Building will benefit by having a Giraffe or two on the Grounds and in the Gardens.

Have You Seen . . .
Links to announcements, interesting reading and great resources.

This month, Have You Seen . . . focuses on some of the websites we gathered at NECC '97. We saw a lot of cool projects and heard some wonderful presentations. The things we learned will be turning up all over the Building. For a start, don't miss these interesting websites:

Athena: Earth and Space Science for K-12
Athena is a three year collaboration between Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) in the state of Washington, and the local school districts of Seattle, Bellevue, Northshore, and Lake Washington. NASA funds Athena as part of its Public Use Of Earth And Space Science Data Over The Internet project. Athena is developing curricular and resource material using geophysical and other data sets acquired via Internet and preparing this curricular and resource material to form part of the presently developing science, math, and technology curricula. Lessons are interesting, designed to be used by children, contain audio aids and help with configuring Internet software. The Teacher Talk feature provides support and collaboration opportunities.

Think Quest
A project of the Global SchoolNet Foundation http://www.gsn.org/index.html and partners Adobe, Educorp, Microsoft, Proxima, and VideoLabs, Think Quest challenges students and teachers to build knowledge on the net and win prizes that benefit their schools. Earlier Think Quest contests were set up for students aged 12-19, Think Quest Junior invites kids in 4th through 6th grades to join the fun.

$a fractal image$ Look for links to award winning pages created by students like the very cool Fractory, a place to learn about and make your own fractals. The thumbnail shown here is of an "Iterated Function System" created by the team. You'll want to look closely at the image in their Gallery -- it's not as simple as it looks. The page has information for the novice and for the math savvy, including suggested reading, an explanation of sets and how to make them, examples of calculations, and an area where you can create and share your own images.

Encarta Lesson Collection
A growing collection of teacher-generated lesson plans linked to Microsoft's encyclopedia Encarta. Lessons come with suggested subjects, reading lists, related websites including links to articles in an introductory online edition of Encarta.

GlobaLearn Expeditions
GlobaLearn, a nonprofit company, supports live expeditions all over the world. Five to six adult explorers are hosted by a school-age child who offers an introduction to his or her community. Explorers return their observations daily via satellite and their observations and photographs are posted on the web. The content generated by these explorers is of excellent quality and the presentation is low-key and accessible to an ordinary classroom computer with any type of web browser. During our tour of the GlobaLearn site we read all about Hong Kong, impressions of events surrounding the change of governance, information about typhoons, comments from expatriate residents, etc. Teachers can register for free to access curriculum materials and to allow their classes to post questions and comments for the explorers.

Four Directions: An Indigenous Model
Federally funded project contains an expanding searchable database of curriculum resources put together for rural Native American Bureau-funded schools in the United States. Audio introduction calls the project "a marriage between Indian culture and technology to create curriculum reformation."

DO-IT: Disabilities Opportunities Internetworking Technologies
We didn't miss the opportunity to visit with Sheryl Burgstahler and her intrepid DO-IT Scholars at NECC. DO-IT recruits individuals with disabilities into science, engineering, mathematics, and technology academic programs and careers, in partnership with NSF and an impressive host of organizations and corporations. The DO-IT program also produces materials that make people more aware of the difficulties faced by those with disabilities and the wonderful solutions they've uncovered in their work with talented young people. In response to our questions about making our website accessible, DO-IT Scholar Priscilla Wong pointed us to Bobby, an easy to use program that can help make web pages accessible to those with disabilities. Her computer reads to her and she'd like web designers to use the "ALT" tag so her software can tell her what's on the page. DO-IT has great information for everyone-- don't miss it!

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