Sustainably Digital

A beautiful typographic video of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights put out by the Human Rights Action Center: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights from Seth Brau on Vimeo. It amazed me how large a percentage of the world doesn’t enjoy the basic rights set forth in this declaration. In fact, even the United [...]

Another education design idea I’d put in the “really?” category (along with the multi-touch desks I commented on earlier): Flexboards! Interactive whiteboards that don’t need an LCD projector to work, and include a workspace! While just a design concept, their description page at TheGreenerGrass.org has some silly things on it (IMHO). While I’d agree that [...]

I have a decision to make. I don’t want to make it. I already know what I’ll end up doing in the end. Think you can figure it out? The situation My new school has two laptop carts per floor. That works out to two classroom sets of laptops for every 20-22 teachers or so. [...]

It’s really not that scary, especially at the level high school freshmen need to know it. The periodic table, however, is something almost inherently deemed as incomprehensible by incoming students. To them it’s something to be feared not something to be understood. After some ineffective periodic table teaching for a few years I realized I [...]

The K12 Online Conference 2008 is revving up to start on October 13 and running through November 1st. I was unable to participate in the 2007 edition due to time issues, and have heard very little but good about the whole process. They’ve just posted the schedule for 2008, so I urge you to check it [...]

Understanding the ins and outs of the United States economic woes of late isn’t exactly my strong suit. I get the basic concepts, but I’m not claiming to be much of an economic expert. This picture is definitely the best I’ve seen to date in describing the recent turmoil: Yes, that is Treasury Secretary Henry [...]

Sand. Salt. Iron. Mix the three together. Make the students separate them. Even better, make them figure out how to separate them before beginning. This is how I spice up an otherwise quite boring section on types of mixtures. The content covered Compounds and elements (Which substances are elements? Which are compounds? How can you [...]

A recent education-related post from an unlikely source was pushed my way this week regarding new touchscreen desks designed to be used in educational settings. “Multi-touch smart desks” could be used to authentically improve instruction. However, is it the best way? The most cost-effective method? The most relevant to our students’ future technology usage? Some [...]

I find great irony in the push for offshore drilling. As schools are being held accountable for improving numeracy in our students some political leaders seem to be lacking in that exact same skill when proposing policy decisions. Offshore drilling sites wouldn’t be online until 2017 (according the US Energy Information Administration), then would only [...]

Amazing slow motion video of a lightning strike: Most people have an emotional response to lightning. Growing up, that emotion for me was fear¹. As I got older, the fear gave way to respect, awe, and wonder. Indeed, staring out at an approaching thunderstorm on a warm summer night, watching the constant flashes of light, [...]