Constructing Modern Knowledge 2009 would like to thank iStockphoto for sponsoring Lesa Snider’s participation in the institute.

Click here to receive 10 free high-resolution images from the best web site for royalty-free graphics.

The goal of Constructing Modern Knowledge is to provide a space in which learning is the consequence of experience and where you don’t hear a series of speakers, but work with leading experts and enjoy intimate conversations with them while collaborating on personally meaningful projects. Therefore, the program listed below is a guide detailing appointments, rather than a rigid schedule of events allowing no flexibility.

Please familiarize yourself the amazing faculty for this year’s event. I am so proud and grateful that these folks will join us! You will not find such talent or expertise at any other event.

CMK 2009 tentative schedule
Constructing Modern Knowledge is all about flexibility. Mini-tutorials, more formal conversations and social events will be arranged throughout the institute, but I realize that people like to have a sense of the daily routine. Here it is, subject to change.

July 12 - 8:45 AM Meet in the Radisson Lobby for preconference Science and History Tour of Boston (space still available)
July 12 - 7:00 PM Informal get together in JD’s Tavern at the Radisson Hotel

July 13 - 8:15 AM Registration at Radisson Hotel
July 13 - 9 AM Welcome and opening keynote by Dr. Gary Stager
July 13 - late morning Guest Speaker: Brian Silverman (the nature of science, mathematics and how computing brings these ideas to life)
July 13 - noon Lunch (on your own)
July 13 - 1 PM Project development time
July 13 - 4:30 PM End of day reflection
July 13 - 7 PM Conference dinner

July 14 - 9 AM Start of day & project development time
July 14 - 10 AM Guest Speaker: Deborah Meier (a conversation with one of the leading visionaries of school reform)
July 14 - noon Lunch (on your own)
July 14 - 1 PM Project development time
July 14 - 1 PM Learning Adventures with Lesa Snider (she literally wrote the book on Photoshop CS4 and is an expert on digital photography)
July 14 - 4:30 PM End of day reflection

July 15 - 9 AM Start of day & project development time
July 15 - 10 AM Guest Speaker: Dr. Lella Gandini (a visual tour of educational Reggio Emilia, perhaps the world’s richest example of constructivism in practice)
July 15 - noon Lunch (on your own)
July 15 - 1 PM Project development time
July 15 - 3:30 PM Leave on bus for Big Night Out in Boston
July 15 - 5:00 - 7:30 PM Reception, tour and special treats at FableVision Studios
Guest Speaker: Peter Reynolds
Optional roundtable discussion with legendary MIT scientist, inventor and raconteur, Dr. Marvin Minsky
July 15 - 11 PM (precise) Board bus back to Manchester
July 15 - midnight Arrive back at the Radisson Hotel

July 16 - 9 AM Project development time
July 16 - 10 AM Discussion of student leadership and empowerment with Sylvia Martinez, President of Generation YES
July 16 - Noon Lunch
July 16 - 1 PM Culminating project development
July 16 - 2 PM Project sharing
Reflection
Clean-up
July 16 - 4 PM Constructing Modern Knowledge 2009 comes to a close
Space is still available for Constructing Modern Knowledge! Don’t miss out!

No person is more responsible for bringing the revolutionary learner-centered principles and techniques of Reggio Emilia, Italy to American educators than Lella Gandini. Dr. Gandini is the United States Liaison for the Dissemination of the Reggio Emilia approach, Lesley University Visiting Scholar and an early childhood education consultant.

Although rooted in the municipal preschools of Reggio Emilia, Italy, the powerful ideas are applicable to learners of all ages and offer 45+ years worth of lessons for creative educators concerned with authentic sustainable school reform. This approach to education built upon “the defense & promotion of the rights and potential of children,” the use of authentic materials, an emphasis on creativity, the environment as a teacher and teachers as learners is wholly consistent with the goals of Constructing Modern Knowledge.

More about Dr. Gandini…
Lella Gandini was instrumental in bringing the groundbreaking museum exhibit, The Hundred Languages of Children, to the United States and in introducing Howard Gardner to Loris Malaguzzi, the guiding inspiration behind the Reggio Emilia approach.

Lella serves as Associate Editor of Innovations in Early Education: the International Reggio Exchange and helps translate the powerful ideas of “Reggio” via lectures, books and articles.

Dr. Gandini is co-editor and co-author of The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Approach to Early Childhood Education; Beautiful Stuff: Learning with Found Materials; Bambini: The Italian Approach to Infant/toddler Care; In the Spirit of the Studio: Learning from the Atelier of Reggio Emilia; and the recently published, Insights and Inspirations from Reggio Emilia: Stories of Teachers and Children from North America.

Lella has also carried out research on parenting, children’s fears, the use and text of traditional nursery rhymes in Italy, and comparing rituals at bedtime in Tuscany and New England. She has published several books for children, as well as books about parenting and early education in Italy. Lella is a correspondent for the Italian magazine for teachers, Bambini. For the City of Pistoia, she served as a consultant and was the curator for two exhibits: Bedtime and 100 years of Children: An Open Family Album.

Read Gary Stager’s 2002 article about the Reggio Emila approach, The Best Idea this Side of Italy.

If you or your students ever used Apple Logo, LogoWriter, MicroWorlds, programable LEGO, Scratch or dozens of other programming environments for children, there is a good chance Brian had a hand in their creation. After working with Seymour Papert while an undergraduate at MIT, Brian went on to be a founder of LCSI where he held most leadership positions, and for 20+ years led was responsible for research & development. His work resulted in countless learning environments used around the world. For more than a decade, Brian Silverman has been a consulting scientist at the prestigious MIT Media Lab.

Brian spoke at six of the seven New Jersey Educational Computing Conferences I chaired, plus a bunch of other conferences I organized in the US and Australia. Teachers looked forward to spending an hour or two with Brian each year because his presentations were so stimulating. There is no greater fun than making your brain go to places you never imagined before and Brian is a fantastic navigator. He is witty, profound and remarkably down-to-earth.

Brian Silverman’s love of math and science is infectious. He inspires me to think in new ways and explore problems on the frontiers of our imagination. Brian is remarkable in his ability to make complex concepts accessible to laypeople - most importantly, children. The universe is his playground and powerful ideas are his toys. Here are just a few examples:

Brian once built two different tic-tac-toe playing computers out of TinkerToys! Read a Scientific American article about it.
Brian and some friends, including the inventor of Tetris, are fascinated by preserving not only old computers, but the software that made them special. Here is their faithful recreation of the world’s first videogame from 1961, SpaceWar! Play the game online. Read the history of SpaceWar!
Brian and Mitchel Resnick founded The Playful Invention Company to create a powerful whimsical robotic construction kit for kids. You’ll get a chance to build with the Pico Crickets at Constructing Modern Knowledge.
Brian’s recent hobby is the creation of a software microworld in which art and mathematics are mutually supportive and beautiful, TurtleArt.

The computer is Brian’s laboratory and canvas. His spirit, wisdom and talents are a most welcome addition to Constructing Modern Knowledge 2009.

I’m thrilled that Lesa Snider is part of the CMK 2009 faculty.

I often tell people that I am “Photoshop disabled.” I know how to use about 1% of what Photoshop can do and am often confused by the software. Lesa Snider is such an amazing teacher that her clever examples and clear presentation helps me understand the complexities of this critical software. Her expertise in digital photography and image manipulation allows her to tailor instruction for any learner.

Lesa is on a mission to teach the world to create and use better graphics. She’s a stock photographer and Chief Evangelist for iStockphoto and founder of the creative tutorial site GraphicReporter.com. Lesa is the recent author of Photoshop CS4: The Missing Manual along with many video training titles, including: Graphic Secrets for Business Professionals, From Photo to Graphic Art, and Practical Photoshop Elements. She writes regularly for Macworld Magazine, the National Association of Photoshop Professionals, Elements Techniques, and Layers Magazine. Lesa is also a corporate trainer and teaches at many industry conferences including Photoshop World, Macworld Expo, Mac Mania Geek Cruises, and the esteemed Santa Fe Workshops.

Since 2003, she has assisted New York Times technology columnist David Pogue’s with many projects, including his Missing Manual book series and NYT videos. You can catch her Graphics Tip of the Week live each Wednesday night on the Your Mac Life internet radio show, which she also co-hosts.

During free time, you’ll find her carving the twisties on her sportbike or hanging with fellow Mac geeks. Lesa is a proud member of the BMWMOA, F800 Riders Club, DACS, NCMUG, Washington Appe Pi, and LiMac.

Constructing Modern Knowledge provides a rich learning environment in which educators have the time, resources and inspiration to learn via the creation of personally meaningful technology projects while interacting with some of the wisest educators of our time. Social events include an opening institute dinner plus a reception at the legendary FableVision Studios before a big night out in Boston.

Constructing Modern Knowledge respects the budgets of schools and educators by keeping registration costs affordable and by offering team discounts. The institute is appropriate for all K-12 educators, administrators and teacher educators.

Then spend the rest of the evening exploring fabulous Beantown before heading back to Manchester by bus.

This is yet another reason to attend Constructing Model Knowledge 2009!

Register today!

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A Look at Technology’s Role in Professional Development of Mathematics Teachers at the Middle School Level” (School Science & Mathematics November, 2000)

Link: http://mathforum.org/clime/ssm.html

The Dynamic Classroom: What is it?
Link: http://web.mac.com/ihor12/home/Articles/dmc.pdf

The NEW Dynamic Classroom activities website
Link: http://web.mac.com/ihor12/home/NewDMC09

See my blog entry:http://dynamicmathclassroom.blogspot.com/

-Ihor

Constructing Modern Math/Science Knowledge is less than three weeks away (January 22), but there is still time to register for the most innovative S.T.E.M. learning event of the year.

Constructing Modern Math/Science Knowledge is a pre-conference event at Educon 2.1 at the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on January 23-25, 2009. Come learn from some of the most dynamic practitioners in the world of math, science and technology in an intimate minds-on setting.

The following is a tentative program for the January 22nd institute (subject to change):

Constructing Modern Math/Science Knowledge
January 22, 2009
Program

9:00 AM Welcome - Christopher Lehmann – Principal of Science Leadership Academy

9:10 AM Keynote Address: Constructing Modern Math/Science Knowledge - Gary Stager

9:30 AM Plenary Session: Playful Invention - Brian Silverman

10:00 AM Plenary Session: Using Modeling Technology in Education: A Revolution in the Making - Carolyn Staudt

10:30 AM Workshop Session #1 (Choose one of the following)

Inquiry-driven Projects and the Development of S.T.E.M. Skills (David Thornburg)
This workshop will give a brief overview of why STEM subjects should be integrated, how inquiry and PBL fits into the equation, and then we move to groups that will address a serious current real-world problem with a view toward developing insights and deeper skills than could ever come from a textbook.

The New Dynamic Classroom: Teaching & Learning Math with Technology and Web 2.0 (Ihor Charischak)
Come and experience a series of unique & compelling activities that incorporate significant software environments (Spreadsheets, MicroWorlds, and Sketchpad) that will help a teacher to engage their students in gaining a deeper understanding of powerful mathematical ideas. For more information see http://DMCpress.org

Turtle Art: The Art of Exploration, the Exploration of Art (Brian Silverman)
One of the great benefits of computers in education is they are for exploration and experimentation. This workshop will be about exploring with computers, examples taken from math and art.

Using Modeling Technology in Education: A Revolution in the Making (Carolyn Staudt)
This workshop will use the Concord Consortium’s Molecular Toolbench to explore how free and open-source modeling software may be used by students and teachers in creating simulations of powerful scientific phenomena.

12:00 PM Lunch & conversation (provided)

1:00 PM Workshop Session #2 (Choose one of the workshops offered in the morning)

2:30 PM End of Workshop Session #2

2:45 PM Closing panel discussion, sharing & reflection – Where do we go from here?

3:30 PM Day complete

Speaker bios may be read here.

Register for CMK M/S today!

Registration is now open for the professional learning event of 2009!

Constructing Modern Knowledge 2009 offers a world-class faculty and supportive environment for educators interested in exploring the intersection of creativity, collaboration, computing and powerful ideas.

Where else can you spend four days tinkering, collaborating, talking and learning with educators from around the world, plus legendary educators, including the first public school educator to be named a Macarthur Genius, Deborah Meier and Herb Kohl, author of dozens of classic books about education

Learn more about CMK ‘09 at this site.