Office Yoga Break:  During long classes like this one students are always reminded to take breaks and get exercise.  Students shouldn't spend more than 30-40 minutes in front of a computer without taking a break.  For our break today we practiced a simple office yoga stretch for your arm.

Technology Current Event Video:  As a followup to our internet moment about Sketchup we finished class today with a short video about Computer Aided Design (CAD).  (PA-BCIT Standards:  15.6.8.M, 15.8.8.K, 15.8.8.S, 15.9.8.F)

* Class time was shorter today due to PSSA testing

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April 20, 2015
44 minutes

Internet Moment:  Students explored PhotoSynth.net today which is an online service from Microsoft that allows you to "knit" digital photos together to make large 360 degree images that you can pan and zoom into.  (PA BCIT Standards:  15.6.8.M)

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April 16, 2015
61 minutes*

Internet Moment: Students had a chance to explore Plane Finder which is an online resource that displays the locations of all the commercial airliners in the world. This website is an example of what it possible when huge amounts of publicly available data is presented in an easy to understand interactive website. We also discussed how the information about airline locations is collected by a government agency, the Federal Aviation Administration, and is therefore in the public domain. (PA BCIT Standards: 15.3.5.V, 15.4.8.A, 15.6.5.L)

Business Letter Quiz:  As a follow-up to the business letter projects we did earlier students were asked to take a follow-up quiz to check their knowledge of this basic skill in MS Word.  Please follow this link to view the quiz.

Day at School PowerPoint Shows:  We continued to add additional features to make this the "greatest PowerPoint" our students have ever made. Students were introduced to using action settings and internal hyperlinks by taking a survey that was made in PowerPoint. The computer term "infinite loop" was also introduced as part of this demonstration. Next class students will add action buttons  and a table of contents to their shows so they could be set-up in a kiosk format. Students will also make a custom start button on the first slide using the edit points feature.   Click here to enlarge the project description. (PA-BCIT Standards: 15.3.8.E, 15.2.5.L, 15.2.5.M, 15.3.5.H, 15.4.8.G, 15.3.8.S)

Video Conference:  During class our students interviewed Mr. Steve Sherman, the founder of LivingMaths.com in Cape Town, South Africa. Our students asked him many questions about what school is like for the students there.  They were surprised to find out that Autumn was just starting there and that their school year started in January and went until December.  Since they are in the Southern Hemispheres their Summer break is when we have our Winter.  Mr. Sherman told us about technology in their schools and the different subjects that are taught.  He also talked to us about the most popular sports in South Africa like rugby, cricket, and football (soccer).  Before the interview we prepared a list of things to do and not to do in a formal video interview.  We also prepared our questions in advance so we could learn more about school in South Africa. (PA-BCIT: 15.2.8.H, 15.3.8.K, 15.3.8.M, 15.7.8.I, 15.7.8.J, 15.3.8.X, 15.4.8.A, 15.4.8.B) (ISTE Standards: 1d, 2b, 2c, 5a, 5b, 5c)

Technology Current Event Video:  We finished class today with a short video from RBB Public Relations that features 3 tips for successfully participating in a Skype interview. (PA-BCIT Standards: 15.2.8.H, 15.3.8.M, 15.6.8.M, 15.4.8.A, 15.8.8.M)


* Class time was shorter today due to PSSA testing

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April 14, 2015 
92 minutes*

Internet Moment: As an example of how to use the the internet to learn independently we went to DrCalculator.com to learn some basic financial concepts and vocabulary. Students experimented with the simple savings calculator to learn about interest rates and did an activity to see how much money they could save up for their graduation. We also experimented with the Loan Calculator to see the real costs of borrowing money for a car. The effect of a good credit score was also explained. Finally we used the Cost of Living Calculator to experiment with the effects of inflation over time by comparing the current cost of a school lunch to what their parents and grandparents might have paid. Students were then given some time to explore other calculators on their own. Students were also reminded that they will have and opportunity to learn more about money if they take the Personal Finance Class at our high school. (PA-BCIT Standards: 15.6.8.B, 15.6.8.F, 15.6.8.G, 15.6.8.H,15.6.8.J, 15.6.8.K, 15.6.8.Q)  (ISTE Standards: 1c, 3c, 4a, 4c, 5c, 6c)

Day at School PowerPoint Shows: We continued to add additional features to make this the "greatest PowerPoint" our students have ever made. We accessed and used the Slide Master. Students were also shown how to drag and drop a slide from one PowerPoint show to another. Images and words were turned into hyperlinks to the internet so 6th graders could find more information on their own. Students were introduced to using action settings and internal hyperlinks by taking a survey that was made in PowerPoint. The computer term "infinite loop" was also introduced as part of this demonstration. Next class we will add action buttons and a table of contents to the shows so they could be set-up in a kiosk format. Click here to enlarge the project description. (PA-BCIT Standards: 15.3.8.E, 15.2.5.L, 15.2.5.M, 15.3.5.H, 15.4.8.G, 15.3.8.S) (ISTE Standards: 1d, 3b, 3c)

91 minutes

Internet Moment: Today students were introduced to the idea of online education by exploring the Open Course Ware that is available from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Students were shown a presentation about college that included vocabulary terms such as major, syllabus, and different higher education degrees (associates, bachelors, masters and doctorate). We then went to ocw.mit.edu and students selected a program to explore from the courses by department. As an example of a college level lecture we visited Physics I: Classical Mechanics by Professor Walter Lewin. We watched part of Lecture 11: Work, Energy, and Gravitation. You can view the segment of the lecture that we watched above. Each student then had some time to explore the website on their own and they were encouraged to check it out at home also. (PA-BCIT Standards: 15.2.5.B, 15.2.5.J, 15.2.5.L, 15.2.8.E, 15.2.8.F, 15.8.8.K) (ISTE Standards: 1d, 3a, 3b, 3c)

Day at School PowerPoint Shows: We continued to add additional features to make this the "greatest PowerPoint" our students have ever made. Students were shown how to find license free images from the internet using advance searches in Google and Bing. Accessing old yearbook photos on our school network was also demonstrated. Students were then shown how to drag and drop slides from another show and how to access and use the Slide Master feature. All students had 6-9 slides done by the end of class today. Click here to enlarge the project description. (PA-BCIT Standards: 15.3.8.E, 15.2.5.L, 15.2.5.M, 15.3.5.H, 15.4.8.G, 15.3.8.S) (ISTE Standards: 1a, 2b, 3b, 3c, 4b, 6d)

Office Yoga Break: During long classes like this one students are always reminded to take breaks and get exercise. Students shouldn't spend more than 30-40 minutes in front of a computer without taking a break. As part of our break today we practiced a simple office yoga stretch for your back. 

Technology Current Event Video: As a followup to today's internet moment about online education and Open Course Ware from M.I.T. we watched a 60 Minutes video about Salman Khan and his creation, Khan Academy. Students were also reminded that while they are making their slide shows about their day at school for the 6th graders they are participating in online education as an instructor. (PA-BCIT Standards: 15.6.8.M, 15.4.8.A, 15.8.8.K) (ISTE Standards: 1d, 3b, 3c)  Khan Academy: The future of education?


 

Internet Moment:  In continuing with the theme of protecting yourself online students were shown the website OnGuardOnline.gov and given an opportunity to try some of the games in the Video & Media  section.  Some of the games were:  Phishing Scams, Invasion of the Wireless Hackers, Cyber Criminal & Invest Quest.  Students were encouraged to go back to this site and explore it on their own. (PA BCIT Standards:  15.6.8.M)

Finish Internet Treasure Hunt: Students finished this project by adding a table and inserting images. Students were shown the various "save as" options in Word and how to save their project as a single file webpage in word. Students then displayed their finished webpages in Internet Explorer and we did a gallery walk activity so everyone could get up, move around and share each other's work. Click here to enlarge the project description. (PA-BCIT Standards: 15.3.8.E, 15.4.5.G, 15.3.8.U, 15.4.8.D) (ISTE Standards: 1a, 2b, 3b, 3c, 4b, 6d)

Final Word Project:  The overall   goal of teaching Word in computer class is to make sure that when students have an idea for a project they are able to make it in word and print it so it looks just the way they imagined it.  For the final Word project students are supplied with a specifically laid out version of the Gettysburg Address and they have to make one that looks just like it.  The concept of public domain vs. copyright protected  was also discussed. Everyone will have time to finish this project and print it next class.  Click here to enlarge project description.  (PA-BCIT Standards:  15.3.8.A, 15.3.8.B, 15.3.8.E, 15.4.5.G, 15.9.8.M)  (ISTE Standards: 1a, 3b, 3c, 4b, 5a, 5c, 6b, 6c, 6d)