Lifelong Learning 2.0

On the surface, this seems like a great site for learning about explorers. However, this isn’t a just another website for history lessons.  All About Explorers is a great tool to use to teach students about finding validity in what they find on the web.  Wikipedia defines digital literacy as “the ability to locate, organize, understand, evaluate and create information using digital technology.”  The lessons you’ll find on All About Explorers are designed for elementary students, emphasizing the importance of digital literacy.

Be sure to check out the resource page for teachers first, where you’ll find lessons, materials, links and references.  Here are the lessons you’ll find:

1. Just Because It’s Out There Doesn’t Mean It’s Good.
2. So How Do You Find the Good Stuff?
3. Google, What?
4. Where Exactly Am I, Anyway?
5. How Could They Be So Wrong?
6. Explorer WebQuest

The website has students complete research using a variety of website links.  The links chosen for the activities have all been created by the team behind All About Explorers. Some of the information is true, mixed in with fictitious facts.  Here’s an example, taken from one of the websites about Christopher Columbus:

“Columbus returned to Spain in 1939 and was hailed as a hero. He was known as the first person to walk on American soil. A huge parade was held in his honor. He appeared on Larry King Live and became quite famous around the world.”

“Columbus made three more voyages to the lands of Hispaniola, Dominica, Trinidad, Venezuela, Mexico, Honduras and Panama. These trips were all documented by National Geographic and opened a whole new business of tourism for the country of Spain.”

Some of the other fictional examples are not as obvious to spot.  The creators have this to say about their project:

“Because we wanted to make a point about finding useless information even in a site which looked at first to be fairly well put together, all of the Explorer biographies here are fictional. While many of the facts are true or based on truth, many inaccuracies, lies, and even downright absurdity are mixed in indiscriminately. As such, it is important that you do not use this site as a source of reference for your own research!”

Use the lessons to teach how to search the Internet skillfully, to discern which information is valid and useful.  Then, if you want to continue with the historical webquest on explorers, the site provides accurate information in a different section.

One of the featured videos on the education section of The New York Times is “The 21st Century Librarian.”  One of the archived videos highlights school librarian, Stephanie Rosalia.  She shares how she has transformed into a “multi-faceted information specialist who guides students through the flood of digital information that confronts them on a daily basis.”  In the video, she is shown using the All About Explorers lesson with a class of 5th graders.  Take a look here.  If you decide to give these lessons a try, let me know how it goes.  Thank you for the organizers of All About Explorers.  This is a wonderful, useful tool that I’ll be using with my students for years to come!

Photo Attribution

Here are a few activities I shared on the blog I use with my students and their families.

Ten Web 2.0 Activities You Can Do With Your Kids

1. Go on a park hop.

Shared this with the homeschooling families I teach.  They loved it!  Start at home by searching for a few parks in a particular area.  Use an online mapping tool to map out your day.  When you’re at the park, give the camera to one of the kids to take a photo.  It’s great seeing pictures of the parks from their perspective.  Record that child’s thoughts about the location and features.  Have the kids take turns being the photographer and reporter for each park.  Later, map out the parks using place markers in Google Earth.  My students decided to create a placemarker, upload their picture, type a few sentences highlighting the best features of the park.  Now they can share the Park Hop Travel Guide with others.

2. Have an art day.

Turn up the music, set out materials, and get creative.  Have each child choose their best masterpiece and take a picture of it.  Upload the pictures to Art Snacks.  While there, check out the other artists and find 3 pieces of art that you enjoy on the network.  Choose a rating and leave a comment for those fellow artists.

3. Start a family blog.

Have each person be responsible to post on a particular day of each week.  Teach your kids how to find a picture using creative commons, and how to give photo attribution.  There are so many skills that can go into this one.  Want a safe way for the kids to surf the internet or keep a family blog?  Check out KidZui.

4. Write a song together and record it.

Upload it to your song and invite friends and family to listen to and post comments.

5. Create a digital storytelling project.

See what you can do with Photostory3.  Document a family vacation, a trip to the zoo, or what your family does on an ordinary day.

6. Interview an older family member.

Have the kids write the questions and record the interview.  Upload and share on YouTube or a video sharing site.

7. Plan a meal together.

Choose a theme and delegate the tasks.  Have each child find one recipe online that you can add to your menu.  Go back later and have them write a short review or post a rating for the dish.  Create an original dish together and photograph it.  Upload it to a recipe site and check back later to see what people think of it.

8. Review a book.

Check out an online bookstore such as Barnes and Noble, Jr., Borders, or Amazon and find a favorite book.  Have each child write a short review.  Consider choosing a new book or two to add to your library.

9. Become authors.

Publish your story and share it with others.  Decide on a topic and map out the storyline.  Give each person specific pages to write and illustrate.  Transfer your story to a self-publishing website for kids like this one.

10. Create a movie

Check out Kerpoof Animation Studio.  It’s free.  Animoto makes it easy to create videos.

10 Cool Web 2.0 Activities To Do With Your Kids are great, but 12 would be even better; with one activity for each month of the year!  Can you think of a great idea or two to add to this list?

Photo Attribution:  Kidzui, TikaTok, Computer Keys: Lizzardo

Jefferson County Schools, in Tennessee, has a great collection of educational links on their website. Check on these pages on Geometry, Graphing, Fractions and Algebra. For more math links, check out the math page, which has 14 categories to choose from.

APlus Math has a variety of online flashcard games. The Math-O game is a fun way to practice addition facts. You can also create and print your own flashcards here.

MathBrain is a popular one with my students. You can choose your grade level and game piece that marks your place on the game board. The arcade-style games focus on various areas of math. Students love the fact that when you take a break, you can get a password that allows returning users to pick up where they left off.

FreeMathHelp is a wonderful resource for junior high and high school students. The lessons focus on: Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, Calculus, and Statistics. After the lesson, students can play games for practice, or ask questions on the message boards.

My students have had great success in boosting their math skills with the videos from the Khan Academy. I’ve tried a few different ones, but my students seem to go back to these most often. If you aren’t familiar with it, take a look at the website, where you’ll find the entire video library or subscribe to the Khan Academy channel on YouTube.

Salman Khan is the man behind the Khan Academy. Sal describes the mission for his not-for-profit organization as “providing a high quality education to anyone, anywhere. We have 700+ videos on YouTube covering everything from basic arithmetic and algebra to differential equations, physics, and finance.”

of literature, history, poetry, and writing.”

I’ve been hearing great things about Shmoop lately.  As described on their about page, “Shmoop wants to make you a better lover (of literature, history, poetry and writing).  See many sides to the argument.  Find your writing groove.  Understand how lit and history are relevant today.  We want to show your brain a good time.  Our mission:  To make learning and writing more fun and relevant for students in the digital age.”  Anyone tried out Shmoop yet?