VFlocks

Why collaboration is vital to creating effective schools

evlolo — Thu, 02 May 2013 20:36:01 -0500

Why collaboration is vital to creating effective schools:

Recent research examining efforts to enhance collaboration in districts and schools strongly indicates that purposefully building trust works. Studies by the Consortium on Chicago School Research and the National Center for Educational Achievement (a division of the firm that develops the ACT college admission tests) bear this out, as do the examples of the Cincinnati, Union City, New Jersey, and Springfield, Massachusetts public school districts. The weight of this accumulating evidence suggests that it is time to reverse course from the ineffective reliance on the coercive “sticks” that have dominated education policymaking to a new set of approaches that would promote effective teamwork and intensively collaborative practices.

world-shaker: 7 Good Virtual Tours for Students So many great...

evlolo — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 14:48:47 -0500

world-shaker:

7 Good Virtual Tours for Students

So many great resources in here. This is one I’m toying around with now:

The Google Art Project uses Street View technology to take you inside dozens of famous museums. An extension of this is Hangout Quest on Google+. Hangout Quest is a game that allows you to go on a virtual scavenger hunt inside the Palace of Versailles. The object of the scavenger hunt is to find artwork and other objects in the palace. If you invite others to your Hangout you can compete against them in a race to find the objects first. Hangout Quest uses the Street View imagery of Google Maps to bring you inside the Palace of Versailles. Another cool piece of technology added to Hangout Quest is facial tracking. The facial tracking technology allows you to move around in the Palace of Versailles by just moving your head instead of clicking around with your mouse.

fastcompany: GE Offering Thousands Of Its Patents In Exchange...

evlolo — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 10:22:43 -0500

fastcompany:

GE Offering Thousands Of Its Patents In Exchange For Innovation

General Electric, the inventor of inventing, is reinventing inventing.

The company is teaming up with a crowdsourced social platform Quirky to release thousands of its patents to the public, starting next month with a few hundred searchable patents.

“People will be able to use GE’s technology in the creation of their own consumer product ideas,” the companies explained.

The move by GE follows in the footsteps of companies like Google, who recently contributed 10 patents to allow developers use. The Open Patent Non-Assertion (OPN) Pledge not only offers open source software, but also cuts down on the chances of lawsuits.

Here’s the story.

"In our complex and problem-ridden mass society, we need to develop radically new understandings..."

evlolo — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 10:12:18 -0500

“

In our complex and problem-ridden mass society, we need to develop radically new understandings about collective action. What seems clear is that the problems of our collective world are such that no leader or system could ever resolve them. In fact, attempts to find solutions in that tried and untrue direction will undoubtedly lead to further complications.

The sad fact is that our organizations isolate and keep each of us apart. As much as they hold us together. We have assumed that because individuals are essentially separate particles, collective action must be coordinated through these imposed external structures. But what if we dropped that assumption and allowed self-organization to create our communities? What if we intentionally forged our social solutions in the fires of creative chaos?

”

- John Briggs and David Peat, Seven Life Lessons of Chaos
(via stoweboyd)

Stowe Boyd: The Rules Of Walking In Crowds

evlolo — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 20:30:48 -0500

Stowe Boyd: The Rules Of Walking In Crowds:

stoweboyd:

In order to complain about the tourists clogging New York’s streets during the holidays, Alexandra Horowitz recounts the research findings of William Whyte, who deciphered the rules of walking in crowds. Tourists simply screw it all up.

Alexandra Horowitz, Walk Like A Fish

The study of…

helloyoucreatives: Using Chrome as a second...

evlolo — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 11:22:54 -0600

helloyoucreatives:

Using Chrome as a second controller?

Smartphones and tablets are great for all sorts of games, and lately we’ve been thinking about new ways to play. Chrome Super Sync Sports is a new Chrome Experiment that uses the unique features of mobile devices to create a new gaming experience on big and small screens. In this game up to four friends can compete in running, swimming and cycling on a shared computer screen, using their smartphones or tablets as game controllers.

To get started, you’ll need a computer and a smartphone or tablet that run a modern browser, likeChrome. Visit chrome.com/supersyncsports on your computer, pick a game and decide if you’re playing solo or with friends. Next, visit g.co/super in Chrome on your smartphone or tablet and type in the unique code shown on your computer screen. You’ve now “super sync”ed your mobile device with your computer, and you’re ready to race!

Obama Announces Plan To Make Education More Focused On Tech Skills

evlolo — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 08:45:00 -0600

Obama Announces Plan To Make Education More Focused On Tech Skills :

evolar:

“To grow our middle class, our citizens must have access to the education and training that today’s jobs require.” —President Obama #JobsNow

Cloud computing

evlolo — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 11:00:37 -0600

Cloud computing :

evlolo:

Participating in collaborative technology networking @ itexpo.com

"The tables should be long, so workers who don’t know each other are forced to chat. And, after..."

evlolo — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 09:08:40 -0600

“The tables should be long, so workers who don’t know each other are forced to chat. And, after running an experiment, Google found that stocking cafeterias with 8-inch plates alongside 12-inch plates encouraged people to eat smaller, healthier portions.”

- Google People Operations: The secrets of the world’s most scientific human resources department. - Slate Magazine (via thisistheverge)

Understanding Prejudice/Discrimination Classroom Activities

evlolo — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 21:39:25 -0600

Understanding Prejudice/Discrimination Classroom Activities:

revolutionizeed:

I just found all these awesome activities for teaching about discrimination and prejudice in our world today and in the past. They say college classroom activities but I could see using almost all of these in a high school setting as well. Check it out!

"When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don’t blame the lettuce. You look for reasons..."

evlolo — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 09:33:11 -0600

“When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don’t blame the lettuce. You look for reasons it is not doing well. It may need fertilizer, or more water, or less sun. You never blame the lettuce. Yet if we have problems with our friends or family, we blame the other person. But if we know how to take care of them, they will grow well, like the lettuce. Blaming has no positive effect at all, nor does trying to persuade using reason and arguments. That is my experience. No blame, no reasoning, no argument, just understanding.”

- Thich Nhat Hahn (via perdure)

Making Humans More Resilient Through Meaningful Innovation

evlolo — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 20:57:30 -0600

Making Humans More Resilient Through Meaningful Innovation:

Frans van Houten, huffingtonpost.com

What if just 20 buildings dedicated to urban farming could provide the entire city of New York with fruits and vegetables year round? It sounds like a fantasy of the future dreamed up on a Hollywood film set. But with breakthrough…

where technology and human needs intersect — we will find meaningful innovation.

thescienceofreality: The Aurora Borealis, Milky Way, and...

evlolo — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 20:45:41 -0600

thescienceofreality:

The Aurora Borealis, Milky Way, and endless stars by Ragnar TH

"The U.S. needs a critical mass of gigabit communities nationwide so that innovators can develop..."

evlolo — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 21:37:17 -0600

““The U.S. needs a critical mass of gigabit communities nationwide so that innovators can develop next-generation applications and services that will drive economic growth and global competitiveness.””

- FCC Chairman calls for gigabit internet in all 50 states by 2015 | The Verge (via infoneer-pulse)

scinerds: 3D Print a Fossil With Virtual Palaeontology Image:...

evlolo — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 23:08:19 -0600

scinerds:

3D Print a Fossil With Virtual Palaeontology

Image: The combination of CT scanning and 3D printing is taking the discovery and recreation of ancient fossils into the 21st century Credit: Dave Stock

Sergio Azevedo was prospecting at an old railroad site in São Paulo state, Brazil, when he discovered the fossilised bones of an unknown animal. “Many times when you find a fossil in the field it’s impossible to determine how much of the ancient animal you have,” he says. “Sometimes you have just part of a bone or a tooth.” Azevedo has a solution to this perennial problem, which also acts as a safety net in case a stray hammer blow destroys an ancient fossil during excavation. Just scan it and print it.

His team at the National Museum of Brazil in Rio used a portable CT scanner to determine the orientation of the specimen in the ground, then they cut out a large section of rock to take back to the lab. There the encased fossil was probed using a more powerful scanner - and a 3D replica printed out in resin.

“This gives us safe access to the inner structures usually not accessible to conventional palaeontology,” Azevedo says. Their efforts were rewarded - the animal turned out to be a new species, a 75-million-year-old extinct crocodile. As well as ancient crocs, Azevedo has also produced 3D-printed replicas of dinosaurs.

“3D printing will be a step change in the science of palaeontology once the costs come down,” says Louise Leakey, who runs a virtual fossil museum, AfricanFossils.org, in conjunction with the Turkana Basin Institute and the National Museum of Kenya in Nairobi.

The method relies on an updated version of a technique called photogrammetry, which calculates the geometry of an object from photographs. To capture a 2-million-year-old Homo habilis skull, for instance, some 160 photographs of the specimen are taken from all angles. Photogrammetry software converts the images into a 3D mesh model, which can then be printed. With a CT scanner, which uses X-rays, you don’t even need to see the object with your own eyes. Fossils can be scanned while still encased in rock. The image is subjected to “virtual preparation” - software processing that digitally removes the surrounding rock.

“You can now use laser scanners to capture surface detail of delicate fossils in the field in 3D before they are excavated to provide an in situ record of a fossil or a site before it is disturbed,” says Leakey. She is the daughter of the palaeontologist Richard Leakey, and granddaughter of Mary and Louis Leakey, famous for their discoveries of ancient hominids in Olduvai Gorge in northern Kenya. Scanning and excavation on a fossil of a snake skeleton in the ground at Lake Turkana will start in June.

3D printing will be a boon for classrooms too, as accurate digital replicas can be made of the rare and inaccessible specimens that make up the fossil collections in museums, without the expense of traditional casting techniques.

emergentfutures: 20 Game-Changing Technology Trends That Will...

evlolo — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 22:58:00 -0600

emergentfutures:

20 Game-Changing Technology Trends That Will Create Both Disruption and Opportunity on a Global Level

Over the next five short years the following game-changing technologies will transform how we sell, market, communicate, collaborate, educate, train, innovate, and much more.

Full Story: Big Think

Where the world’s running out of water, in one map

evlolo — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 09:59:47 -0500

Where the world’s running out of water, in one map:

By Dylan Matthews, washingtonpost.com

Many of the world’s most important food-producing regions depend on freshwater from massive underground aquifers that have built up over thousands of years. The Ogallala Aquifer in the midwestern United States. The Upper Ganges,…

revolutionizeed: teachdotcom: Check out our interview with...

evlolo — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 15:44:26 -0500

revolutionizeed:

teachdotcom:

Check out our interview with Josh Hoekstra, a 39-year-old U.S. history teacher from Rosemont High School in Minneapolis, who is revitalizing history education with his Teach with Tournaments method.

Interesting concept! Check out a great article on this idea here!

IV League

evlolo — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 01:20:52 -0500

ingridrichter:

An interscholastic league for athletic competition was formed about a century ago, comprising four schools: Harvard, Yale, Columbia and Princeton. This league was known officially as the Four League but, in the academic tradition of the day, the Roman numeral IV was used. This, then, was the origin of the IV league. When referred to vocally, it became the Ivy League.

Walter L. Minto. Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins by William and Mary Morris, 1977.

ingridrichter: Transformation: Frog into Prince by The Prints...

evlolo — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 20:45:47 -0500

ingridrichter:

Transformation: Frog into Prince by The Prints of Wells, 1978.