National Educational Technology Standards (NETS•S) and Performance Indicators for Students

1.  Creativity and Innovation
Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. Students:
a.  apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes.
b.  create original works as a means of personal or group expression.
c.  use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues.
d.  identifytrendsandforecastpossibilities.

2.  Communication and Collaboration
Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students:
a.  interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media.
b.  communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats.
c.  develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures.
d.  contributetoprojectteamstoproduceoriginalworksorsolveproblems.

3.  Research and Information Fluency
Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. Students:
a.  plan strategies to guide inquiry.
b.  locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and
media.
c.  evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks.
d.  processdataandreportresults.

4.  Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making
Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources. Students:
a.  identify and define authentic problems and significant questions for investigation.
b.  plan and manage activities to develop a solution or complete a project.
c.  collect and analyze data to identify solutions and/or make informed decisions.
d.  usemultipleprocessesanddiverseperspectivestoexplorealternativesolutions.

5.  Digital Citizenship
Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior. Students:
a.  advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology.
b.  exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity.
c.  demonstrate personal responsibility for lifelong learning.
d.  exhibitleadershipfordigitalcitizenship.

6.  Technology Operations and Concepts
Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations. Students:
a.  understand and use technology systems.
b.  select and use applications effectively and productively.
c.  troubleshoot systems and applications.
d.  transfercurrentknowledgetolearningofnewtechnologies.

© 2007 International Society for Technology in Education. ISTE® is a registered trademark of the International Society for Technology in Education.

Here are some great short clip examples compliments of High Tech High…

HTH Structures: Structures for Conversation

Teachers at HTH facilitate structured conversations in their classrooms through such formats as Socratic Seminars, policy debates, literature circles, trials, and simulations. They also encourage active participation by creating norms for being a good audience when a student is sharing his or her work.

Author: Lillian Hsu

HTH Structures: Classroom Management

Teachers at HTH strive to create classroom environments where students feel a strong sense of community and demonstrate respect for each other and for the teacher. One norm that many teachers establish is to give the speaker undivided attention when he or she is speaking. Other teachers establish class jobs or chores so that students take responsibility and ownership over their classroom space.

Author: Lillian Hsu

HTH Structures: Project Management

HTH Teachers use a variety of strategies to help students stay organized and focused during project time. Many teachers organize students into different departments or crews; students also take on defined roles within a group. To make use of their time wisely, group members complete a daily plan outlining each person’s responsibilties.

Author: Lillian Hsu

HTH Structures: Entry Activities

Entry activities are routines that teachers use at the beginning of class to engage students quickly. Most HTH teachers have a clear daily agenda that prepares students for the day ahead. Many also create a warm-up activity that focuses students on a writing, drawing, or problem-solving task. Other teachers create a daily ritual that builds community among the students.

Author: Lillian Hsu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VTuLobed60

I’ve been reviewing this simulation software and I am impressed with the potential.  It’s free, innovative, and easy to learn.  Did I mention it’s free

SimInsights is looking for 5 high school physics teachers to pilot two new products, SimNewton & Physics To The Rescue. Both products are available for free trial. Online training and technical support will also be provided free of charge.  SimNewton is a software for inquiry based learning of Newtonian mechanics concepts covered in introductory physics courses.

SimNewton has been piloted at Fremont High School in Bay area (http://collaborativesimulations.blogspot.com/2010/07/simnewton-helps-high-school-students.html) and at Pomona College summer school (PAYS). At PAYS, the following project was assigned to a group of high school students:

Project Title: Simulations and guided insights

Project Idea: In this lesson, you will study different bridge designs and the various ways in which they can fail.

Driving Question: Which bridge design is the best?

Entry Event: It starts off with a look at a YouTube video showing the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-zczJXSxnw) How could a mild gale bring down a massive structure?

The poster made by the students is available at http://collaborativesimulations.blogspot.com/2010/07/simnewton-used-by-high-school-seniors.html.

Physics To The Rescue is a set of mini-games, each focusing on a basic physics concept. By playing these games prior to lectures, students will create background knowledge and experience, thus becoming better prepared for classroom learning. Subsequent instruction will help students generalize their knowledge, experience, and observations. The games have been designed by physics teacher and researcher Anna Karelina (http://www.siminsights.com/Games/akresume.pdf) and developed jointly by Anna Karelina and SimInsights Inc. More background information on the research behind the games is available at http://collaborativesimulations.blogspot.com/2010/07/online-game-based-learning-of-physics.html and the games are available at http://www.siminsights.com/Games/

SimInsights is seeking teachers who would like to use SimNewton and/or Physics Physics To The Rescue in their physics classes this fall. To learn more and participate, please email siminsights at gmail dot com.

ABOUT SIMINSIGHTS

SimInsights is founded by professional engineers with 12+ years of rich experience in designing, developing and marketing simulation software used by Fortune 500 companies such as Lockheed Martin, Ford and Toyota. Our mission is to develop a web based platform to engage students in games and simulation based STEM learning. We have combined social networking, collaboration, interactive simulation, gaming, video and charting capabilities within the browser to create a 21st century learning platform. On this platform, we are building a set of software products customized for students at 8th grade to college levels. Our first products - SimNewton and Physics To The Rescue - are designed for introductory physics classes at the high school level. Additional products are being developed for middle school and college students. Please visit our site at http://www.siminsights.com to learn more.

We are seeking to learn from this model and apply elements of it to Project Based Learning. We have created a Science-History PBL Collaborative, with about 25 teachers, half science and half history. We spent a week in August going through PBL 101, and then taking time to work in teams to develop projects. We are not, for the most part, doing cross-curricular projects. But teachers worked in teams to develop projects appropriate for their courses, and we spent time discussing and working on ways to infuse written assessments into the projects. We will be meeting on a monthly basis to follow up and continue planning the projects, and reflecting on the process as it unfolds. We will also be holding a mid-year session to share student work and score it on a common rubric, so we can learn from what different teachers are doing in their classrooms. We are planning to host a sort of PBL Expo in the spring to share student projects district-wide.