You might be familiar with CNN Student News. It's a daily, ten-minute, commercial-free broadcast of the day's news geared for middle and high school students. It airs on CNN between 3:12 and 3:22 am. Don't want to set a VCR? You can also watch online.

As of last week, CNN Student News is also a podcast. You can get the video episodes delivered to computers automatically each day in iTunes. Every edition of CNN Student News has a transcript, quick guide, and ten questions posted here. Read more about CNN Students News podcasts in this article by Craig Nansen.

CNN Student News Podcast: -

Labels: podcast

Jason Jaffe, 6th grade teacher at Mill Creek Elementary School, writes this question:

Tony, do you have a list of some good educational podcasts that can be used to integrate with elementary students. Sites such as NASA, National Geographic...etc?

With over 30,000 podcasts out there today, it might be hard to find quality podcasts that you can actually use with students. Here are some podcasts that could be put to good use in classrooms:

Grammar Girl -
"Short, friendly tips for better writing. Whether English is your first language, these grammar, punctuation, style, and business tips will make you a better and more successful writer."

English Idioms and Slang -
"English idioms and slang lessons and study for those learning English. Learn by listening to these short podcasts."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day -
"Build your vocabulary with Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day! Each day a Merriam-Webster editor offers insight into a fascinating new word; explaining its meaning, current use, and little-known details about its origin."

Space.com Universal Space Podcast -
"Space.com's podcast features deep auditory examinations of topics and phenomena in the universe of space science and technology."

Dr. Carlson's Science Theater -
"Video podcast of cool science demonstrations. Join Dr. Matt Carlson as he risks life, limb, and dignity to bring you the finest science videos on Earth."

Mr. Wizard's Fun Science Facts -
"Mr. Wizard is here to provide you with Ten Minute Lessons on everyday science From physics to chemistry, biology to geology, the team behind Mr. Wizard is here to answer all of your tough questions."

PRI's The World - Geo Quiz -
"The World's Geo Quiz tests your knowledge of world geography and introduces you to the fascinating people and places around the globe."

Earthwatch Radio -
"Earthwatch Radio is produces by the staff and students at the Sea Grant Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The podcast covers a wide range of subjects that concern science and the environment."

History Podcast -
"History Podcast is a show simply devoted to history. Anything and everything related to history will be covered. Topics include historical figures and events."

National Geographic Magazine -
"Explore Earth's deepest trench. Discover Africa on foot. Go inside your DNA. Get the best of 118 years of adventure, meet the cultures and creatures that inhabit our globe in this series of podcasts."

Also check out iTunes' section Kids and Family. It has fun storytelling and comedy podcasts for younger listeners like Storynory and The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd.

The listing above is just a start and doesn't include my favorite kind: podcasts by kids. Periodically I'll post new podcasts that I think would be great for student listening. If you, dear readers, have podcasts you would like to suggest, please leave it in a comment!

Labels: podcast, podcasting

With nearly 100 million iPods sold, Apple's digital media player can be found everywhere. iPods are showing up in schools and they can be used as engaging learning tools. Teachers and students may already have their own iPods, just waiting to be used for teaching and learning. Some schools are spending money on these devices but may not be using them to their full potential. Sure, most people know iPods can be used for listening to audio and watching video, but there are many more features that educators can use.

I've added an iPod section to learninginhand.com that demonstrates the uses of iPods in education. Learn about functionality like syncing calendars and address book contacts, dictionaries, text files, PowerPoint slides, multiple choice quizzes, and other interactive content.

Unfortunately, iPods don't have the ability to run software applications like Palm handhelds and Pocket PCs. While this limits their usefulness, iPods can still do quite a bit to help teachers and students. Check out iPods in Education to see what iPods can do.

Labels: ipod

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Labels: ipod, palm, pocket pc, soft reset

On a recent road trip, I enjoyed one of my favorite Palm games: SolarWars. The object of SolarWars is to make money by buying and selling cargo while warping around the solar system. (You might have heard of SolarWars in Soft Reset #6.) You have 60 days (that's 60 different visits to planets) to make as much money as you can.

I was very proud of myself when I achieved my highest SolarWars score yet: $442 million. I retired a millionaire! Although $442 million is a decent score, the highest recorded score on the internet I found was $4,355,154,944 near the bottom of this PalmGear page. SolarWar's documentation points to http://cronus.cnicinc.com/solarwars for a high score list. However, that site is no longer available. I searched for that address on Archive.org's Wayback Machine and found this page from April 2003 with 75 scores (all of which are higher than mine).

Players can achieve a higher score by examining the SolarWars Cargo Chart. I made an overhead transparency of this chart so that my fifth graders could refer to it when buying and selling cargo. Also, be sure to read the documentation in the Readme.htm file that is included when you download SolarWars. It gives valuable game play information and offers this strategy:

Diversify your investments. Start by visiting Earth and borrowing the maximum amount you can. Buy water, food, meds, and weapons on Mars and Earth, and sell them on Saturn, Neptune, and Pluto. Buy ore and dilithum on Saturn, Neptune, and Pluto and sell on Earth, Mars, and Jupiter.

Labels: economics, games, palm

Futurelab is a nonprofit U.K. organization committed to sharing the lessons learned from research and development in order to inform positive change to educational policy and practice. Last month Futurelab published the handbook Learning with Handheld Technologies. The 35 page PDF has implementation ideas and detailed case reports. This handheld book is useful for schools just starting to explore handheld computing and for schools who want to improve their current program. It's based on two years of research from the University of Bristol, which observed and interviewed some of the leading practitioners of handheld learning in the UK.

The second page of the handbook lists the key recommendations from the research.

• There should be an authentic purpose with clear learning goals.
• It is harder and takes more time to manage a small set of devices than it is to manage models of use where each learner "owns" their own.
• Professional development is very important. A collaborative community of practice that involves the whole school will help embed handheld technologies in the curriculum.
• Wireless internet connectivity is preferred because it makes the devices much more useful.
• Schools need to figure out long term storage of students' data as they will produce so much work it won't all fit on the devices.
• Spare handhelds should be on-hand for quick replacement of broken units.
• Teaching styles must accommodate personal ownership of learning.
• Successful projects used handhelds for accessing content and for producing projects.
• Adoption of handhelds goes smoothly when integrated with with existing technologies like interactive whiteboards, software, and data projectors.

All of the recommendations in Learning with Handheld Technologies seem to apply to all school technologies, not just handheld devices. The handbook also contains a listing of many handheld learning projects from around the globe. The projects include all kinds of devices like Palm handhelds, Pocket PCs, and iPods. You can download the PDF or request a free hard copy of Futurelab's handbook.

Labels: ipod, palm, pocket pc, research

Educational bloggers are playing a game where they "tag" other bloggers. If you are tagged, then you must tell about five things others may not know about you and tag five more bloggers. Kathy Schrock tagged me, so here are five things about Tony Vincent you may not know:

• Each year I taught fifth grade I would throw a "News Year's" party on the first day of school. In fact, this is a great time of year to buy discounted New Year's party supplies for next school year. During my first day of teaching, I was so nervous that during the News Year's party, I left the classroom, vomited, and came back. Not a single student noticed that I was gone as they were busy eating snack cakes and drinking 7-Up.
• In seventh grade I had the option of going to Washington D.C. on a class trip for $500. Instead, I used my hard-earned money to buy a pre-owned Apple IIc computer that I used all of the way through my sophomore year of college.
• When I was a kid, my friends and I would ride with our backs on our skateboards up a sewer drain near my house. Up the tunnel about 30 yards was a manhole. It served as a fun "fort." Down a few feet from the hole was a gutter, out of which we'd stick out our hands and have people think we were trapped in the gutter.
• One of my two cats, Tucker, has to be in the bathroom each time I shower. If I lock him out of the bathroom, he urinates on the door. So, in the interest of cleanliness, I have an audience when I shower.
• In high school I prided myself on earning straight As. Much to my disappointment, I did earn one B. The class? Computers! The teacher would give quizzes that were only three questions long. If you missed one question, you'd fail. This experience really affected how I graded my own students--which was hopefully more fair.

I'm "tagging" these bloggers to tell five things in their blogs and tag five more bloggers: Rolly Maiquez, Karen Fasimpaur, Dale Ehrhart, Lynne Wolters, and Debbie Lyles.