Weekly News Roundup August 26

Check out these interesting articles on kids and technology!





E-readers: technology that works for developing countries (readwriteweb.com)



What do today's tech-savvy kids need to be taught about computers? (theatlantic.com)



Missouri teachers protest 'Facebook Law' meant to protect students from sexual predators (abcnews.go.com)



Comcast to offer $10 internet service to disadvantaged students (mashable.com)



Open University research says there's no such thing as a 'digital native' (agent4change.net)



5 ways to use Twitter in the classroom (hp.com)



"20th Century Students" video highlights the changing face of education (schooltube.com)

 

For the latest updates on kids and technology, check out the Spark blog!

The 4C’s Help Children Go Above and Beyond

We've all heard of the the 3R's-- Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic. The 3R's are easy to name because they're traditionally thought of as the fundamental areas of elementary learning. Try to name the 4C's, and you might have more trouble. Yet incorporating these skills: Communication, Collaboration, Critical thinking and Creativity, into elementary education might just be the key to creating students who can flourish in the 21st Century.



 



Head over to the Spark blog, to watch the short animated film Above and Beyond. Produced through a partnership with P21 and FableVision, Above and Beyond tells the story of what can happen with the 3R's and 4C's are integrated into one holistic approach to education.



 

Why Congress Can’t Get Anything Done

And What You Can Do About It

America needs serious adults, working together, to solve our problems. Most members of Congress care more about pleasing their big bucks corporate campaign donors than in doing the job that we hired them to do. Corporations don’t vote. Real people vote.

Read More … http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/8314961/why_congress_cant_get_anything_done.html?cat=9

Who Should Provide Social Services?

Who would gut social services just when we need them the most? During the debt “negotiations”, republithugs demanded social service cuts. President Neville Chamberlain appeased them AGAIN. Should government or private agencies provide those services?

Read More …  http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/8300253/who_should_provide_social_services.html?cat=48

Weekly News Roundup August 5th

Check out these interesting articles on kids and technology!



7 obscure children’s books by authors of grown-up literature (brainpickings.org)



McDonalds recruits Mom bloggers to smooth over healthy Happy Meal rollout (cnn.com)



Toys R Us to carry Kindle (reuters.com)



16 Must-have apps for a healthy pregnancy (parents.com)



Cell phone use doesn't alter kids' cancer risk: study (reuters.com)



Nintendo says 3DS is not for kids (mnn.com)



Social media game aims to end extremism (bbc.co.uk)

 

 

For more news on kids and technology, visit the Spark blog!

PEACE

yes-it's ME

i'm still around. anyway, just wanted you all to know that. i've been writing my regular blog and working on my poems plus been doing a weekly opinion column at  worldwidehippies.com 

still crazy after all these years!


oh, and i had my very 1st. bison burger for lunch today-nothing ventured-nothing gained and i am a brave little burgh woman- it rocked- terrific! went to burgatory at the water works. 1st. time there too!

celebrating the steelers getting ready to PLAY!

YEP!

‎"Corporations making lots of profit does not equal 'jobs', it turns out. It just equals...'lots of corporate profit'."

~Rachel Maddow
http://on.msnbc.com/obeWcM

Skype game gets kids excited about geography

For teachers looking to inject some excitement into their geography lesson, Skype might be the answer. Silvia Tolisano recently created a game she calls "Mystery Skype Call" that uses the video conferencing tool and some critical thinking to teach students geography in a new and exciting way. The game is like a high-tech version of 20 questions that pits two classrooms from across the country against each other in a race to pin-point each other's destinations.

continue reading on the Spark blog...

.

Children’s Book for iPad Teaches Acceptance

At first glance, Pop It seems no different from the many other interactive children's books "popping up" on the market for the iPad. But give the screen a shake and you'll begin to see the bigger picture.

The book features a child going through normal daily activities with his parents. By shaking the iPad, these parents can be changed from a homosexual couple, to a lesbian couple, to a heterosexual couple.

“It’s a metaphor for shaking from one perspective to another,” said artist and author Raghava KK in an interview with Mashable. “The relationship between parent and child does not change if they have two moms, two dads. I’m challenging the concept of family.”

Raghava hopes to use the concept to teach children to be open-minded about a variety of issues, including racial and ethnic biases. Eventually, he would like the project to be open-source and to allow users to create interpretations that address different biases that they deal with in their everyday lives.

Continue reading this story on the Spark blog...




.