Matt’s Media Tips 9-24Take Teaching to the Next Level Where Microscope and Mouse Meet

Connecting to a Global Community of Educators

Pre-Login Treasures

Over the past few editions we’ve explored many different things that you can do with the Discovery Education content after you have logged in. However there are a myriad of things that you can use even before entering in your username and password. In this edition of Matt’s Tips and Tricks we’re going to explore some of the magic that can be found by simply going to www.discoveryeducation.com.

What I am about to share with you is available to everyone. And by everyone I mean not only people that make up your community but the world at large. Basically if you can get to www.discoveryeducation.com than you can access all of this free stuff!

And it is free to you and everyone else because we partner with various companies from around the US and world to bring you new and innovative programs. Today we’ll explore five of my favorite free initiatives. And one free site that I think is the cat’s meow. They are as follows:

1. The Siemens We Can Change The World Challenge.

2. The PWC High School Business Challenge

3. The 3M Young Scientist Challenge

4. The Find Your Balance Challenge

5. Nature Works Everywhere

6. WebMath (meow)

Siemens we can change the world CHALLENGE - www.wecanchange.com

The Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge is the premier national environmental sustainability competition for grades K-12 students. Through project-based learning, students learn about science and conservation while creating solutions that impact their planet. Beginning September 13, 2012 through March 5, 2013, teams from across the country will be challenged to create sustainable, reproducible environmental improvements in their local communities. The Challenge awards more than $300,000 in scholarships, grants, Discovery Adventure trips and more. To date, more than 62,000 students have participated in the Challenge!

Over the past few years I’ve seen some really cool ideas and changes implemented across the country - all generated by students - all changing their communities for the better. You can check out last year’s agents of change projects by going here: Elementary School, Middle School, High School.

Even if you don’t enter the challenge you can still take advantage of all of the Challenge’s free supporting resources. Things like interactive labs, tools, videos, eBooks and more.

The PWC High School Business Challenge - http://hschallenge.pwc.com

PwC, the largest global professional services firm, and Knowledge@Wharton High School (KWHS) – the latest addition to the Wharton School’s Knowledge@Wharton global network – are proud to co-host the first PwC and KWHS Seminar for High School Educators on Business and Financial Responsibility. This upcoming three-day, intensive learning experience will enable educators and other financial literacy partners to deepen their knowledge and teaching skills in the areas of financial literacy and business.

You can participate virtually by registering to stream free, live sessions during the Sept. 28-30 seminar. You will be able to view sessions that fit both your interests and schedule. Video conference attendees will receive a letter recognizing their virtual participation in the seminar. However, virtual participants will need to work directly with their state Departments of Education and/or school districts to receive professional development credit approval. Knowledge@Wharton and PwC will not be responsible for following up on professional development accreditation.

The seminar will kick off with a national education panel featuring leaders from Wharton and PwC as well as other senior leaders from business, government and academia. Additional sessions will feature such subjects as leadership, marketing, strategy, negotiation, entrepreneurship and investing in the stock market. The seminar seeks to promote financial and business literacy, entrepreneurship and leadership among high school students and to provide educators with valuable lessons and skills for their classrooms. More information about the conference can be found at its website.

The Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge This Challenge is the nation's premier science competition for students in grades 5-8. Students have the opportunity to win amazing cash prizes and once-in-a-lifetime trips. Over the last 13 years, more than 600,000 middle school students have participated in the competition.participated in the competition.

The 2012 Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge asked students to create a 1-2 minute video describing a new innovation or solution that could solve or impact an everyday problem related to the way we move, keep ourselves healthy or make a difference. Ten finalists were chosen for their passion for science, spirit of innovation and communication skills. Check out and meet the finalists and follow their summer adventures by reading their blog entries. You’ll also want to check out the many Fun Science Extras including the Whelmers, Resources, and Science of Everyday Life!

Find Your Balance ChallengeThe Find Your Balance Challenge is open to elementary school classrooms in grades K-5 and rewards student teams for taking steps toward achieving Energy Balance in your own school communities. The challenge helps students and their teachers accomplish the following:

1 Identify Energy Balance needs at your school from both sides of the Energy Balance scale (food and physical activity).

2 Write a goal statement to help meet or address those needs.

3 Create a simple action plan to help your students meet that goal.

4 Engage your school's stakeholders in the process.

5 Winning schools have a chance to win a Grand Prize including a $30,000 grant and an Ultimate Energy Balance Party. 2 Second-Place winning classes will each receive a $10,000 grant. 3 Third-Place schools will each receive a $5,000 grant.

6 New this year! The teacher/mentor of the grand-prize winning team will receive a 5-night stay in a 2-bedroom suite at a CLUB

Nature Works EverywhereNature: It’s more than just a faraway beach or mountain. It’s a fantastic factory that makes the building blocks of all our lives—food, drinking water, the stuff we own and the air we breathe. It makes amazing memories, and even protects us from floods and storms!

That’s why The Nature Conservancy and its 550 scientists have created a new initiative — Nature Works Everywhere — to help students learn the science behind how nature works for us…and how we can help keep nature running strong.

Nature Works Everywhere gives teachers, students and families material that they need to start exploring and understanding nature’s fantastic factory. Go to this site and to explore, videos, interactive games, lesson plans, and interactive lesson plans that align to standards. You’ll also find video interviews with scientists and staff.

In partnership with the Nature Conservancy, Discovery Education is pleased to offer a Virtual Field focused on Kenya’s ecosystems and ecotourism. Renowned conservation specialist M. Sanjayan, lead scientist at The Nature Conservancy, will share research and stories from his time spent in Africa. This engaging journey is meant for all grade levels, however will focus on middle school students and will highlight social studies, science, and math content. The webinar will be at 1pm on October 19, 2012. You can register here. Way cool!

WebMathWe’re all friends here right? Ok good. Then I can confide in you. I am terrible, and I mean dreadful, at math. I am garlic to math’s rose. In other words - I stink. That’s why I love WebMath. WebMath is a free online math tutor that will walk you through any math problem that you submit. It could be something basic to something complex. In addition, it provides images, graphs, etc throughout the problem solving process. That, my friends, is a pretty nice tool to have around. Educators now have a free tool to help remediate or reinforce math concepts. Parents can maintain that “sure-I-can-help-you-with-that-math-problem-because-I-am-smarter-than-you” aura. Students now have a free online/anytime homework helper.

Want more? Check out my colleague Kyle Schutt’s (Twitter Handle @ktschutt) Scoopit page. Kyle details all of our free partner resource pages in an easy to read/follow format. http://www.scoop.it/t/freederesources!

Discovery Education Webinar ScheduleDiscovery Education Webinar ScheduleDiscovery Education Webinar Schedule

Dates Time (EST) Link

9/24 3:45pm - 4:45pm

Back to School Update Participants will learn the three search methods that can be used to find materials related to their curriculum.

9/24 7pm - 8pm

Discovery Education Builders 101 Learn to select from provided content and add your own to create exactly the assignments your students need.

9/25 4pm - 5pm

Preparing for Back to School with the Techbook for Tech Departments: We’ll show you how to import new teacher and student accounts, update existing user accounts, and more.

9/25 7pm - 8pm

Find Your Balance Challenge Kickoff The Find Your Balance Challenge is open to elementary school classrooms in grades K-5 and rewards student teams for taking steps toward achieving Energy Balance in your own school communities. Join us to learn about the Challenge, find curriculum to support healthy habits in your school, and hear about the experience, tips and strategies from last year's winning team.

9/26 5pm - 6pm

Techbook 2.0 Preview: Join us for a comprehensive overview of the new features and updates available for Techbook 2.0.

9/26 7pm - 8pm

Tools for Discovery Education Administrators In this session, learn how to navigate My Admin, update user accounts, run reports, and easily bulk upload accounts to provide student access across the school or district. In no time your students will be exploring videos, songs, images, completing assignments, and more during or outside of the school day. This session is intended for those who are Discovery Education administrators or those who have interest in managing users, customizing access, tracking usage, and getting student usernames up-and-running with Discovery Education by becoming an administrator.

9/27 7pm - 8pm

Tools for Discovery Education Administrators - see description above

My colleague Max Brooks (Twitter Handle @maxbrooks1)showed me this app on Saturday. I loved it so much that it made this week’s app highlight!

This free app is pretty amazing. It turns the user (i.e. your student) into an instant game designer/programmer.

It is super easy to use and tons of fun. You can upload your images, say from Discovery Education, take pictures from your iPad/iPhone, or draw your own. Then you can incorporate those images into your game’s background and/or characters.

Imagine your students creating a game out of images of a cell, or designing a game that follows a signal from the brain to the foot, following Christopher Columbus’ journey or more - you are really only limited to your imagination.

What’s more - you can sell your games! That’s right - users can make 50% of the revenue (after Apple’s 30% cut) whenever someone buys their game from the App Store!

Click here for the free download

Sketch Nation StudioBy Engienous Games Inc.

The Discovery Educator Network (DEN) is a global community of educators passionate about teaching with digital media, sharing

resources, collaborating, and networking. With over 100,000 members providing professional development to over 600,000

educators worldwide, the DEN connects teachers both on-line and in-person. Discovery Educators have exclusive access to a wide range

of resources, professional development activities, networking opportunities, exclusive Discovery Educator events and more. Find out how you can be part of this dynamic and supportive community.

Become a DEN Star today!

What is a DEN Star Member?

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8/27/2012

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Miss a week? Catch back up here! 2012-2013 School Year Archives

Back to School Review. Check out some of the major enhancements made to Discovery Education over the summer. We'll give you a chance to weigh in, showcase a new back to school webinar series and highlight Nearpod, a very cool classroom mobile app.

Opening up Closed Captions. Check out all of the new and enhanced ways to stream captioned content. We’ll also continue to explore the back-to-school webinars and play with EasyBib, an Android and iPad app that makes citing reference material a breeze.

In-the-know about Infographics. This edition highlights the new 2012 election material within DE. It also dives into different ways that you and your students can evaluate and explain data by examining three different sites that create infographics. Sock Puppets, an iPad app that is animated by your voice, is also explored.

Downloading Closed Captions Explore how to download closed captioned files and manipulate their text on both a PC and Mac. We'll also examine the TechChef4U app that links to many education apps! Finally, in this edition, I provide links to the Best of Matt's Tips and Tricks webinar resources.

Scratch.mit.edu, Popplet.com and EduTechr mobile app explored.

4/2/2012 Mi Content es Su Content. Book- marking and sharing your Discovery Education content across your school and district, two great contests, and two text-to-sign mobile apps

3/26/2012 Can You Picture it? Learn how to create a six-word story using iPiccy.com and Discovery Education. Digital Story Challenge! MeeGenius Audiobook app for mobile devices.

3/19/2012 Audio Book ‘em Dano. Eight simple steps for creating an audiobook using iTunes and any computer (Mac/PC). Molecules mobile apps.

3/12/2012 It’s All About The Sharing. Uploading, sharing and accessing your own content within Discovery Discovery Education. Cel.Ly app polling device via any device.

2/27/2012 Teacher Center Treasure Trove of Resources. Interactive Calendar Atlas, STEM Connect explored. Socrative App (student response).

2/13/2012 Special Valentines Issue - Things I love about Discovery Education. Five Minute Preps, Images,Coaches Eye App

2/6/2012 What did you say? Closed Captioning on an iPad? Getting Closed Captions to play on your iPad, GreenScreens on iPhone/iPad with GreenScreen FX app

1/30/2012 Let’s Give Them Something To Sing About Differentiated Instruction Using Songs, First Student Media Contest of the Year, ShowMe and Educreations whiteboard apps

1/23/2012 Meet the Faces of Discovery Education Get up close and personal with the Discovery Education on-air talent, special student webinar series, Story Kit app

Miss a week? Catch back up here! 2011-2012 Archives

7/19/2012 Sneak peek at the back to school enhancements. Roadshow app.

6/11/2012 Fun things to do over the summer with technology and media. Mustacheme app is featured.

5/21/2012 The ins and outs of Digital Storytelling. Digital Storytelling Web 2.0 presentation and apps

5/14/2012 Who Knew We Had News? Find an additional set of free Discovery News videos, the Video Yearbook, video almanac, and great webinar information. Roadshow App for playing back videos on-demand is reviewed.

5/7/2012 My Five Favorite Summer Resources. We explore five free interactive sites that parents, students, and teachers can use over the summer. We’ll also explore a free translation app for mobile devices.

4/30/2012 Getting Your Game On. Finding great games, simulations and more within Discovery Education. Back-to- School Sneak Peek Webinars announced. Futaba Classroom Games for Kids iPad app explored.

4/23/2012 Getting the Point with PowerPoint and Keynote. Learn how to trim audio & video in PPT and save both PPT & Keynote presentations as images to embed in Web 2.0 sites. 2 Screens and Joinme mobile presentation apps explored.

4/16/2012 It’s all about the Theme. We’ll explore several different ways to find unique thematic content. Three most voted upon stories revealed. Studyblue mobile flashcard app highlighted

4/9/2012 Scratch and Pop. Six-Word Story finalists revealed. Links between Discovery Education and

1/18/2012 In a Class of Their Own Setting up Discovery Education Classrooms, Discovery Education Live Webinars, Quizlet App.

1/9/2012 Building out the New Year Five of my favorite things you can do with the Discovery Education Builders, Rover App for DE Students

12/19/2011 Special Holiday Edition 13 Tips from Educators around the US and Canada, Videolicious App

12/12/2011 50 Ways to Use Discovery Education Tips and tricks galore iSwifter - Flash for iPads

11/28/2011 What I am Thankful for Building out your PLN Wordspree and Math Acorn Apps

11/14/2011 Things I Stole From the Community DEN Tips, Four really cool tips you can do with Google. TED and Animoto apps

11/7/2011 First Six Weeks Aggregated

11/4/2011 Creating an “iCenter" How to create an ePub using DE videos. Spirit of Innovation Challenge

10/24/2011 Spooky Edition Digital Storytelling, Web 2.0 Piqua City Community Night, Crazy Pumpkin and Halloween Card Creator Apps

10/17/2011 Stick it to IT Collaborative Note Taking Site Educator Spotlight - Jennifer Everett, ToonTastic and PuppetPals Apps

10/3/2011 Opening Up Closed-Captions Closed-Captions for Macs and PCs, 10 FAQs Customer Service Receives

9/26/2011 Common Core, Web 2.0 and DE Three cool sites that integrate nicely with Discovery Education. Administrator Spotlight - Molly Hay!

9/13/2011 Can you Hear what I’m Writing? Embedding an eReader into your Writing Prompts, Getting to know Discovery Education SCIENCE