CMIS Evaluation Technology Focus

Cyberbullying has become more high profile in the community in the last few years as technology such as mobile phones and the Internet become more pervasive.

Funding from the Australian Government is producing new research, such as this done locally at Edith Cowan University. How to deal with the problem of the bullying from a school perspective is under discussion with the Cyber Bullying Intervention program, also under way at ECU.

For a range of Australian and international information and research, the CMIS Cyberbullying webpage provides links to some of the major work currently underway.

We have also started a Cyberbullying list in Delicious and will add new resources as they come to our attention. If you have access to an RSS reader or make yourself an igoogle page, you can subscribe to this Delicious list and get an alert as we add new items.

A hands-on, informative session to develop your understanding of the Technology and Enterprise Learning Area through The Value Adding Quest.
The 2009 Value Adding Quest encourages students to identify a community need and explore the options for value adding by creating a product, concept, process or promotion which adds value to primary products or the natural environment.

Date: Saturday 14 March 2009 Time: 9.00 am to 12.00 pm Venue: St Andrew’s Grammar Address: 4 Hellenic Drive Dianella WA 6059 Cost: FREE

Session will include:

• Value adding and The Value Adding Quest.
• Links between Technology and Enterprise, Value Adding, Sustainability and the Sustainable Schools Project.
• Linking your current curriculum to the requirements of the Quest.
• Ideas from Technology and Enterprise teachers who have entered the Quest or are on the VAQ Committee.
• Opportunities for further learning.

To secure your place, visit the website, complete the registration form below and fax to Maria Biscotto on 9450 3157 or e-mail information to vquest@iinet.net.au by Monday 9th March 2009.

Media-rich, interactive websites make the teaching and learning of Languages Other Than English an engaging and exciting pursuit. Today’s CMIS Tech Focus blog features a short selection of WOW websites and CMIS webpages to share with your L.O.T.E. specialist teachers. Also included are links to K-10 Syllabus documents and TLF Learning Objects to support L.O.T.E teaching and learning programs. [DET portal log on required]

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WOW Websites

• Use the Internet Public Library Kidspace site to Say Hello to the World.

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• Forvo is the place where you´ll find millions of words pronounced in their original languages. Cool, isn´t it? Be a part of this cultural phenomenon now!

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• Aboriginal Languages of Australia There are more than 200 Australian Indigenous languages. Less than 20 languages are strong, and even these are endangered: the others have been destroyed, live in the memories of the elderly, or are being revived by their communities. This site has annotated links to 231 resources for about 80 languages. About 35% of these resources are produced or published by Indigenous people.

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• International Children’s Digital Library. The mission of the International Children’s Digital Library Foundation is to excite and inspire the world’s children to become members of the global community – children who understand the value of tolerance and respect for diverse cultures, languages and ideas — by making the best in children’s literature available online.

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• iLoveLanguages’ purpose is to list, categorize, and promote Internet resources related to language learning, education, and use. We want to make sure that people who are interested in learning a language can find information, products, and services they can use to help. We also want to promote language education by giving everyone the opportunity to delve into a language other than their own.

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• The CMIS Learning Area page: LOTE contains extensive links to resources to support LOTE programs.
• Also available are the CMIS WACE webpages to support
  • French
  • Indonesian: Second Language
  • Italian

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• K-10 Language (LOTE) Syllabus documents are available via the DET portal. [logon required]

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DET teachers are able to access The Learning Federation Learning Objects via the DET Portal. [log in required]

This search strategy will help you locate useful TLF digital resources in this collection which support LOTE teaching programs:

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Have you used TLF Learning Objects in your classroom?

Please take 10 minutes to complete a simple online survey to provide feedback

Survey link for Teachers

Survey link for School Leaders

Survey link for Principals

Survey link for Sector Personnel

Closing date is June 11

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World No Tobacco Day May 31st

Globally, most people start smoking before the age of 18, and almost a quarter of these individuals begin using tobacco before the age of 10. The younger children are when they first try smoking, the more likely they are to become regular tobacco users and the less likely they are to quit.

Resources to support units of work for World No Tobacco Day include:

• School Drug Education and Road Aware

Challenges and Choices

Early Childhood	Tobacco and Passive Smoking pdf
Middle Childhood	Tobacco and Passive Smoking pdfFocus area 1 Drug use issues.pdf
Early Adolesence	Focus area 2 Predicting and responding to drug use risks and consequences.pdf

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• K-10 Syllabus [available through the DET portal - login required]

Health & Physical Education

Early Childhood	Dangers of Passive Smoking
Early Adolescence	Drug Use: Patterns and Behaviours and Their Effects On People Lifestyle Choices Why People Use Drugs Australia’s Drug Problem

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DET teachers are able to access The Learning Federation Learning Objects via the DET Portal. [log in required]

Useful digital resources in this collection which support Health programs include:

The Sven Callaway Show: health
Watch a talk show host interviewing people about health issues: students, health experts and a studio audience. Look at issues such as health education, health services, asthma, mental health and obesity. Explore a range of opinions including ‘way out’ ideas. Notice how people interpret facts differently. Research a topic, then describe your views on the key issues. Prepare a presentation on the topic for a group discussion. This learning object is one in a series of four objects.
Also:The Sven Callaway Show: drugs, The Sven Callaway Show: sex, The Sven Callaway Show: parenting.

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Check the CMIS Resource Bank for reviews of resources including fiction, non fiction and websites on the topics of smoking and tobacco. [Select All Fields search and enter the Keyword 'tobacco' or 'smoking'.]

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A ‘grab-bag’ of Visual Arts websites linking technology and art.

	ProtoZone Interactives – Art Machines
Interactive artBots that will generate a wide variety of images. For the most part, they’re drawing / painting programs that produce pictures with underlying constraints.

SwarmSketch

SwarmSketch is an ongoing online canvas that explores the possibilities of distributed design by the masses. Each week it randomly chooses a popular search term which becomes the sketch subject for the week. In this way, the collective is sketching what the collective thought was important each week. A new sketch begins after one week, or after the previous sketch reaches one thousand lines, whichever comes first. SwarmSketch was developed by Peter Edmunds as part of an honours project at the University of Canberra.

Renaissance Connection

The Renaissance Connection is an interactive, educational website that uses the Allentown Art Museum’s internationally recognized Samuel H. Kress Collection of Renaissance art as the foundation for teaching math, arts, science, language arts, and social studies. The connections between the visual arts and selected subject areas reveal that Renaissance innovations in many disciplines contributed to contemporary advancements.

[No image available]	Running the numbers
Running the Numbers looks at contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics. Each image portrays a specific quantity of something: fifteen million sheets of office paper (five minutes of paper use); 106,000 aluminum cans (thirty seconds of can consumption) and so on.

	The Zoom Quilt
Click and drag up and down with your mouse to zoom in and out.

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…and a couple for exploring Dance and technology.

	MoveMixer
Mix, make and shake. Create a dance of your own.

	Big Room Web Dances
Created by choreographer and web designer, Richard Lord these four dances were created specifically for the web and exist in no other form. Check the ‘Rose by any other name’ link for more information.

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Creating music online has never been easier.

	Tony-b machine

	Jam Studio
Requires registration for a free account. Upgrades to subscription accounts available.

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Media specialists may appreciate our earlier post: Create- Animate!

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DET teachers are able to access The Learning Federation Learning Objects via the DET Portal. [log in required] Useful digital resources in this collection which support programs in the Arts learning area include:

Middle Childhood and Early Adolescence

Creativity: Fifi Colston
Explore Fifis studio and discover how she creates wearable art. Look at aspects such as inspiration, motivation, planning and techniques. Plan a design to communicate a message. Choose objects and materials. Use tools to arrange elements of your design such as size, position and colour. Review and revise your work. Use your design to work with real objects.

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Sonic space: home
Create your own soundscape from noises around a family home. Explore sounds such as voices talking and the hum of a washing machine. Think about the images and atmosphere suggested by these sounds. Arrange the sounds to make a soundscape. Experiment with order, volume, pauses and repetition. Describe possible uses of your soundscape. This activity is one in a series of six activities.

Also: Sonic space: city, Sonic space: travel, Sonic time: our world, Sonic motion: water world

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Found art: city
Explore a city and create a design using objects found in a caf, kiosk, gutter and dumpster bin. Plan a design to communicate a message. Choose objects and materials. Use tools to arrange elements of your design such as size, position and tone. Arrange the materials to create new meanings. Look at aspects such as composition, contrast, juxtaposition, perspective and repetition. Review and revise your work. Describe how you could use your design to work with real objects. This learning object is one in a series of four objects.

Also: Found art: park, Found art: outback, Found art: beach.

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The Arts K-10 Syllabus webpages provide support for teachers as they continue with implementation of the Curriculum Framework. The Arts pages detail syllabus content at each year of schooling and phase of development from kindergarten to year 10 and provide classroom-ready resources to support the teaching of all Arts outcomes.

Learning Area Context List

Dance

Expressive Movements using body, space, time and energy.

Drama

Taking on role and acting out situation.

Media

Communicating with print, film and electronic media.

Music

Sounds and silences making music through body, voice and acoustic and electronic means.

Visual Arts

Visual and tactile experiences in two and three dimensional forms.

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The CMIS Arts Learning Area web page has extensive links to reviewed resources to support Arts teaching and learning programs.

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National Mathematics Day is a chance for teachers to share and promote good mathematics teaching and learning – with each other, with students, with colleagues and with the wider community.

To celebrate National Library and Information Week the Australian Bureau of Statistics released the snapshot ‘Libraries are for Everyone’ Did You know that: 46% of Australians aged over 18 years visited a library in 2006. 74% of children read for pleasure in April 2006. 55% of children visited a public library outside of school hours in 2005-06. Federal and State and Territory Government funding for libraries in 2005-06 was $394.0 million. This was a national average of $19.95 per person. The ABS Education Services page is dedicated to promoting access, understanding and greater use of ABS statistics in the schools sector. CensusAtSchool is ABS Education Services flagship project. Access real, raw data about Australian school students. Go to CensusAtSchool website to find out more about this engaging online learning resource.

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• Rainforest Maths by Jenny Eather
  

Interactive mathematics activities for K-6 students.

Also: A Maths Dictionary for Kids by Jenny Eather

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• Go Geometry Step by Step from the Land of the Incas

The website mixes dynamic geometry, animations, science, and Inca history in order to raise students’ interest in Euclidean geometry. Numerous problems are presented with step-by-step solutions for each proof. All the steps are colorful and animated.

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• Wolfram Mathworld

MathWorld is an extensive mathematical resource, provided as a free service to the world’s mathematics and internet communities as part of a commitment to education and educational outreach by Wolfram Research. Academic site.

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• National Library of Virtual Manipulatives

An extensive library of interactive learning objects designed to actively involve K-12 students in mathematical learning and understanding. These objects help students visualise mathematical relationships and applications in an engaging virtual learning environment.

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• Maths is Fun

The idea behind the site is to offer mathematics as well as some fun bits, and to combine the two wherever possible. The main content of the site is aimed at basic math skills. However you will find some more complex stuff, and some easier bits. Hopefully there should be something for everybody.

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• Interactivate
  

Creation, collection, evaluation, and dissemination of authentic interactive Java-based courseware for middle school mathematics explorations.

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DET teachers are able to access The Learning Federation Learning Objects via the DET Portal. [log in required] Useful digital resources in this collection which support Mathematics programs include:

• Early Childhood

Number trains
Arrange train carriages according to numbers on their sides. The numbers are represented in a range of formats such as words, numerals, dice dots or counting frames. Identify the numbers that come before and after starting numbers. Begin with numbers up to ten. Move on to work with larger numbers such as 40 and 50. Practise ’skip counting’ by twos, fives and tens. For example, ’skip count’ by five to arrange four carriages into the order 12, 17, 22, 27. This learning object is a combination of five objects that progressively increase in difficulty.

Monster choir: look and listen
Help monsters in a choir to make animal and instrumental sounds in order. Look at a sequence of two or three shapes: squares, circles and triangles. Choose monsters so that their sounds match the shape pattern. Repeat the pattern to make a song. This learning object is one in a series of three objects.

Balance the cups
Put blocks (or balls) into the cups on the scales to make them balance. Think about the number rule and the problem to help you work out how many blocks you need in each cup. Finish the number sentence to show an equal number of blocks on each side. This learning object is a combination of three objects in the same series.

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• Middle Childhood
  

Wishball: whole numbers
Test your understanding of decimal place value. Start with a whole number such as 1374 that includes four digits. Spin a random digit, then choose its decimal place value. Decide whether to add or subtract the random digit from your target number. The starting number will be adjusted by the amount you choose. Work towards a given target number such as 3278. You can use a Wishball to help you reach the target number. Try to achieve the target with as few additions or subtractions as possible. This learning object is one in a series of ten objects.

Hopper: whole numbers
Help a frog to jump along a number line. Estimate the finishing point on a number line, after adding or subtracting multiples of whole numbers to a starting number. For example, 255+(10 x 4) = 295. Explore the patterns made on a counting grid and number line. Identify counting rules that match the pattern of ‘landing spots’ on a counting grid. This learning object is one in a series of seven objects.

Exploring transformations
Explore transformations of shapes such as rotation, translation or reflection. Identify which transformations have been applied to circles and polygons to produce new images. For example, the original image may have been rotated 90 degrees around the point (0,0). Notice how the coordinates of the transformed image are related to the original image. Watch a video showing transformations of objects in a shopping mall, hotel and fun park.

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• Early Adolescence

Trigonometry: finding angles
Look at an explanation of the trigonometric ratios: sine, cosine and tangent. Adjust the angles of a right-angled triangle within a unit circle (radius of one unit). Set the cosine, sine and tangent values of angles from 090 degrees. Identify the angle for each of the values. This learning object is one in a series of ten objects.

Mobile phone plans: peak and off-peak
Compare monthly call plans quoted by a phone company. Look at the effect of off-peak discounts. Use line graphs to work out the costs for talk time, text messages, photos and total costs. Recommend the best plan. This learning object is one in a series of six objects.

Maths and the car: loan calculator
Use a calculator to estimate loan repayments needed to buy a car. Look at variables such as price, compound interest rate, term of loan and payment frequency. Work out the total interest to be paid by the borrower.

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The Mathematics K-10 Syllabus webpages provide support for teachers as they continue with implementation of the Curriculum Framework. The Mathematics pages detail syllabus content at each year of schooling and phase of development from kindergarten to year 10 and provide classroom-ready resources to support the teaching of all Mathematics outcomes.

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