The Whiteboard Blog

FluidMath – Maths Handwriting Recognition for the IWB

Danny — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:47:42 +0000

FluidMath is maths-based handwriting recognition software. It enables teachers and students to easily create, solve, graph and animate math and physics problems all in their own handwriting on any brand of interactive whiteboard or on a tablet PC. I also had it working very well with a Wacom graphics tablet when I tested the software this morning.

The software enables math teachers and students to easily create graphs and tables using their own handwriting. FluidMath graphs and makes tables for implicitly defined functions (like x=y²), relations, discrete functions (like the Fibonacci Sequence), parametric functions, and more!

The handwriting recognition software is pretty powerful, and deals with maths equations better than the built in ones for Smart and Promethean boards. I’d love to see it tweaked slightly to be able to cope with science formulae too.

It was very quick and easy to write a maths function, and convert it into a graph.

If you want to use equations in other software such as Microsoft Word you can simply write the expression in your own handwriting and paste it into a Word document. Equations are copied as MathML, Latex or as an image. You could combine Fluid Math with your regular IWB software such as Smart Notebook or ActivInspire – switch out to Fluid Maths to generate graphs and equations, and then copy/paste back into the IWB software later.

See more on the Fluid Maths YouTube channel.

The software is not free, licences start from around $100 per year per computer. You can download a free trial of Fluid Math here, and see if it’s something you want to spend money on. I can see it being a very useful piece of software in many maths departments.

If you’ve tried it, let me know what you think of it in the comments below!

FluidMath – Maths Handwriting Recognition for the IWB The Whiteboard Blog - Supporting the use of technology in the classroom

Education Week Article : Whiteboard Battle for Supremacy

Danny — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 09:22:47 +0000

This is an interesting article in Education Week this month about the current state of the IWB market. I get a quoted a few times. Take a look: http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2012/02/08/02whiteboard.h05.html

The battle for supremacy in the K-12 whiteboard market is heating up. Companies are scrambling for new sources of revenue, making strategic moves to reinvent their products in the age of tablet computing, and sizing up their competitors to see what they can do to differentiate themselves from the pack.

It’s interesting to see other people’s take on the IWB market. And I still stand by my comments in the past that Microsoft really should add an “interactive” mode into PowerPoint and they could set themselves up as the default IWB software.

What do you think?

Education Week Article : Whiteboard Battle for Supremacy The Whiteboard Blog - Supporting the use of technology in the classroom

The TTS Bee-Bot app for iPad/iPod

Danny — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 11:29:19 +0000

The new Bee-Bot App from TTS Group has been developed based on thier much-loved, Bee-Bot floor robot. The app makes use of Bee-Bot’s keypad functionality and enables children to improve their skills in directional language and programming through sequences of forwards, backwards, left and right 90 degree turns. The app is for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch and is totally free.

The app has been developed with 12 levels encouraging progression. Each level is timed and the faster it is completed the more stars you get! The levels are set in a cute little garden scenario and will appeal from age 4 upwards. I’d recommend it for KS1

It’s a fun little game, and mimics the process of giving simple instructions to move the bee-bot around the floor and turns it into a fun puzzle game. Only changes I’d suggest would be a way to see/review the set of instructions before you set the bee-bot off on its journey.

It’s an excellent free app, and I highly recommend it! Download it from iTunes here.

The TTS Bee-Bot app for iPad/iPod The Whiteboard Blog - Supporting the use of technology in the classroom

Using BrainPop with Promethean ActivExpression Quizzes

Danny — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 07:04:09 +0000

If you are a BrainPop user, did you know that you can use the quizzes on their excellent website with your Promethean ActivExpression or ActiVote handsets?

In order to run the quizzes, you will need to download and install a Flash Bridge which acts as the medium between your voting device and your BrainPOP UK quiz, enabling the two to interact together. When this is done, you should see an additional button when using a quiz which says ActiVote or ActivExpression.

To find out how to do it, just click on the following link for either BrainPop or BrainPop UK then click on the Quiz Integration tab for more instructions. You’ll find links to download the Flash Bridge there too.

You can also get more help, and watch a short video, via the BrainPopUK blog here.

You can also download a BrainPop resource pack which offers a set of cross-curricular resources for that you can use to create your own flipcharts and enhance your web-based lessons. It includes images of Tim & Moby, other fun visuals, graphic organisers and more. You’d need to be a Promethean Planet member to download, but it’s free to join.

If you haven’t seen BrainPop before, it’s an online subscription resource for ages 7–14 that delivers some excellent content for Science, Humanities, Maths, English, PSHE & Citizenship, Arts and Design & Technology.

If you want to get a taste for what BrainPop is, take a look at their free movies, or download the free Movie of the Day app for your iPod/iPad. (UK Link / US Link)

Using BrainPop with Promethean ActivExpression Quizzes The Whiteboard Blog - Supporting the use of technology in the classroom

Book : Innovation in Education : Charles Leadbeater

Danny — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 07:47:07 +0000

A slight departure for this blog as I don’t think I’ve featured a book before. I attended the launch of this book at the Learning Without Frontiers conference last month and recieved a review copy.

Innovation in Education: Lessons from Pioneers Around the World is a celebration of pioneering, sustainable and scalable innovation initiatives from the world of education written by Charles Leadbeater.

The book explores the work of 16 pioneering educators around the world, highlighting innovations which increase access to education for groups outside the mainstream. It considers the skills that make these projects possible, such as intercultural understanding, creative thinking and team working. By tracing the story of these innovations, this book aims to raise awareness of why innovation in education is needed, where it comes from and how it can be generated. It looks at some of the common features of innovation, how innovation happens, what it is focused on and when and how to scale up. Many of the educators featured are applicants for awards from the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE).

The book includes case studies and portraits of lives that have been changed by embracing new approaches to education, including fathers’ groups in Istanbul, the favelas of Bogotá, rural villages in India, inner city programmes in North America and farm schools in Paraguay.

It is extensively illustrated with some outstanding photographs from photographer Romain Staros Staropoli.

The book coveres some amazing projects and many inspirational stories of educators who are daring to be different, and making a difference to lives around the world. I found it an interesting and inspiring read.

For more information, visit Bloomsbury Publishing, or Amazon.

If you are interested, you can read the first chapter of the book via the WISE blog here.

Book : Innovation in Education : Charles Leadbeater The Whiteboard Blog - Supporting the use of technology in the classroom

Valentine’s Day Heart Resources for Science Lessons

Danny — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 06:49:03 +0000

It’s Valentine’s day, and as our thoughts turn to matters of the heart, here’s a stack of useful links to resources all about the heart to use in science lessons.

In The Zone : The Pulse

This resource from The Wellcome Trust provides some interactive activities, and lesson resources for teaching about the heart and the effect of exercise. Lots of other body resources there too.

HyperHeart

An excellent animation, and still one of my favourites, which shows what happens as the heart beats. HyperHeart shows bloodflow, aortic/ventricular volumes and pressures present in a normal cardiac cycle. Also included are an electrocardiogram and heart sounds graph. Tutorials are provided for each phase of the cycle.

Habits of the Heart

Habits of the Heart was developed as a resource for students and teachers interested in learning about the cardiovascular and circulatory systems. The site includes lesson plans, on-line interactive activities and videos about the heart along with other links and ideas for the classroom. Some great images of heart surgery!

BioDigital Human

This interactive resource lets you explore the human body, including the heart, in great detail. You do need a modern browser for this to work, older versions of Internet Explorer won’t work.

British Heart Foundation

The British Heart Foundation produces resources for schools covering the heart and heart disease. Visit their site to find out how to get hold of copies. Also check out their YHeart site for teenagers with resources for teaching about keeping fit and healthy.

FreezeRay Heart Labelling

The Freezeray website has a nice little activity for labelling the parts of the heart that would work well on an IWB

Hybrid Heart

The Hybrid Interactive Heart is an exploration into the various and novel ways a beating heart may be visually represented using the latest technology. In this case you have the the ability to blend and even replace the “normal” opaque tissue with refractory “glass,” allowing for a view of the valves and chambers. There is a link to a nice animation of a beating heart too.

Get Body Smart

This site has some good information about the heart, with diagrams and images. Also lots about the other body systems and organs too.

The Visible Heart

This animation focuses on the gross anatomy of the human heart. The model of the heart is semitransparent, allowing you to see through the thick cardiac muscle into the four heart chambers.

Other Valentine’s Day resources.

For less scientifict, and more romantic resources you can also find a Valentine’s Day resource pack on Promethean Planet which includes 36 resources to develop flipcharts with a Valentine’s Day theme. You will find images, backgrounds and page templates including two voting templates. Note: Cupids are anatomically correct! No fig leaf provided.

Also don’t forget that word cloud generators such as Tagxedo can make heart shaped word clouds, which could make for a fun visual piece. The one below was made from the words on the wikipedia page about the heart.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Valentine’s Day Heart Resources for Science Lessons The Whiteboard Blog - Supporting the use of technology in the classroom

Lend Me Your Literacy – collaborative projects

Danny — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 07:01:28 +0000

Lendmeyourliteracy.org is a very interesting online resource base for teachers and students of Literacy. It’s billed as a one stop website for examples of good pieces of literacy work written by children and not just models written in a text book.

Teachers can use these pieces of work for moderation purposes and an aid to good teaching, inspiring children to believe…

Teachers can pick the very best examples of literacy work in their class and upload them to the lendmeyourliteracy website. This work can then be seen by schools nationwide as part of the lendmeyourliteracy network. Teachers can also upload examples of everyday literacy such as application forms, personal statements and letters to support Skills for Employment for Adults.

It’s a really interesting idea, and if you’re looking for some new ideas for teaching literacy (or want to share some of your own)it’s well worth taking some time to look at their resources.

Take a look at : http://lendmeyourliteracy.org/

Thanks to Lara Savory (@reallara) for the link via twitter.

Lend Me Your Literacy – collaborative projects The Whiteboard Blog - Supporting the use of technology in the classroom

Promethean Science and Technology User Group

Danny — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:33:31 +0000

Thanks to Promethean for making me a “SuperUser” of their Promethean Planet website. What this means is that I’ll hopefully be putting up a few blog posts on their website once or twice a month, making and sharing some whiteboard resources and generally hanging about a bit more on the Promethean Planet forums.

What this also means is that I’ve set up a special User Group on the Promethean Planet website which will discuss the use of technology in science education. I’m hoping that some of you will join!

The purpose of this group is to enhance the teaching and learning of Science through the use of digital technologies such as whiteboards, but also datalogging, visualisers, Learner Response devices, interactive websites, science videos, science software and more.

You don’t have to own a Promethean product to join Promethean Planet and take part in any of the user groups. To visit the Science user group, and also see some of the other user groups on the website, click here. There are user groups on lots of other topics.

Don’t forget that the Promethean Planet website is home to thousands of lesson resources – not just Promethean flipchart files, there are powerpoints, worksheets, lesson plans and more. It’s well worth a look, and it’s free to join!

Promethean Science and Technology User Group The Whiteboard Blog - Supporting the use of technology in the classroom

New and Updated Scale of the Universe Tool

Danny — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 09:36:26 +0000

There’s a great new Scale of the Universe tool from the people who brought you the original Scale of the Universe tool that I wrote about last year.

This one is clickable – and tells you a litle more about the different planets and objects you can see as you drag the slider to view bigger or smaller objects.

I loved the original version, but this one is even better. Will work really well on an IWB in a science lesson.

Take a look at http://www.htwins.net/scale2/

New and Updated Scale of the Universe Tool The Whiteboard Blog - Supporting the use of technology in the classroom

Selenia – Science Investigation Comics for KS3

Danny — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 07:41:53 +0000

Here’s a great little comic book resource for science that I’d blogged about ages ago and then completely forgotten about. Selenia is a school girl from another planet. Her adventures have been turned into a comic book, and can be used to teach about Science Investigations and Materials.

There are now 10 comics on the site which can be viewed on an IWB, or printed off for individual use.

There are also games such as word searches and quizzes. Throughout the comics are questions posed by the characters which would be useful as discussion starters.

The teachers section provides guidance on how to use the cartoons as a way of introducing practical science investigations such as dissolving and air resistance. PDF worksheets are available which are ready to use with your class.

Maybe students could then use a comic creation tool to explain their results?

Produced by The University of the West of England, these resources are suitable for KS3 Science (11 – 14 year olds)

Visit Selenia here, and see what you think!

Thanks to Ian (@teachingofsci) for reminding me of this resource via Twitter.

Selenia – Science Investigation Comics for KS3 The Whiteboard Blog - Supporting the use of technology in the classroom