We finished a new game: Sum 10 . Try our students develop skills and mental calculation strategies in a fun way. In an unconscious way many of us use the sum to the dozen as an intermediate step to complete an operation. However, in the early stages we see that this is something that children find it difficult enough to internalize and use.
The game is a fundamental element for the construction of learning strategies and of course, mental calculation skills. We have therefore referred the following activities:
Truck: The simplest where they have to stack a pile of boxes on the other, so that total 10. The amount is represented by boxes that can make a mental picture of the number 10 as magnitude.
Tubes: A mechanical arm moves a number released by pressing the red button. To complete it successfully will fall on the tube leading to the total number 10.
Boards: In each of the boards is raised a sum dragging the child must complete a number to that total 10. Cars
: You have to click on two cars whose numbers add up to 10 before they disappear.
The intruder : Has a previous reverse operation. In this case you must click on the number left over to join the other 10.
And now everyone click here to play and then leave us a comment with criticism and possible improvements.
Learning English with dictates of the Second Congress
We are working on a new draft educational application for learning languages \u200b\u200bbased mainly on dictation. In other games, " The Peacock and the Crane " and " The fox and the grapes ", and include dictation, but not had been overly happy with the result because it seemed too complex texts for elementary students. This new tool has the following characteristics:
is based on the "Text to Speech" in Google Translate to pronounce any text you write in multiple languages. In this way we have absolute freedom in choosing the dictates sentences. We encountered a problem when using the sounds of the TTS in our hosting because we can not modify the crossdomain.xml and then security constraints not loaded. I solved using a proxy in PHP appearing on this page created by Abdul Qabiz .
As TTS voice sounds a little artificial and it is sometimes difficult to understand, we added the ability to use sound recordings in mp3. To get good sound we have discovered in Training and Resource Tatoeba project, which are experiencing the most common phrases in various languages. Its contents are licensed CC and very well, so we incorporated.
use Google Spreadsheets to create lessons. This saves us create forms and databases and have an open tool for creating lessons. Anyone can create a spreadsheet on Google docs as the previous image and publish it in ATOM format (button Share - Publish as web page - ATOM) with the sentences handed down.
still working to improve it, but you can try here . We have set the phrases related to a matter of English Secondary 2 and other useful when traveling. If anyone is interested in working or doing some testing, you can leave us a comment or send an email to asalinasci@gmail.com.
During the questions in Zaragoza (Thanks to Toni Nadal for the photo)
closed on Friday at the Second Congress Zaragoza School 2.0 in which we had chance to participate. As we by here, we were presenting our work in www.vedoque.com . We split the job and I (Antonio) began presenting the web: getting started, our starting ideas ... Then Mary Jesus undertook to explain how to use Vedoque in the Classroom with the fundamental idea of \u200b\u200busing the game to build learning. Here You can view the presentations:
soon publish the video to exposure in the media library section of Congress page. When you do link to here, meanwhile you can see all the experiences delivered on day 13 already published. All we saw were very good live. Colleagues from the Canary Islands, José Marcelo González Pérez and Luz Marina Ramirez War, showed us how to use the platform Chamilo, an interesting alternative to Moodle. We drew special attention to the collaborative activity for the area of \u200b\u200bEnglish. On 14 want to emphasize to our countrymen in Murcia:
The city as interactive teaching resource for Social Sciences. Luis Antonio Pérez Ortiz .
addition to classroom experiences, we were in several round tables and conferences in the opening and closing. Now we have much work to do, see the communications that could not attend and that other students said they had been interesting.
Another great experience was meeting personally Celestino Arteta, who knew from his work to promote ICT in Education. I also like to meet again Blonde Manuel Jesus who was my professor in the Master of Secondary Education at the University of Almeria and is another major driver of ICT in the classroom.
Our findings of Congress, three very intense days of sharing experiences, learning, meeting people and looking forward innovative and capacity to improve education. We wish to thank, as we did in Twitter, all attendees to our presentation and the heads of the Ministry of Murcia for inviting us. Also to all advisers Murcia CPR with whom we share the post-conference.
Arriving Congress did not know that participants voted for choosing classroom experiences more he liked them. We were lucky to get the 4 th prize.
(If you have time, will tell you more things because the truth is that as we have said, three days have been particularly intense and inspiring. We need to talk about ARASAAC , television online at school, from work Secondary areas, card covers, Vitorinos ...)
On Thursday April 14 we will present Vedoque in II School 2.0 Congress held in Zaragoza. The conference opens Wednesday evening with the conference "Social Learning and the School opened in 2.0" by Ms. Dolors Reig Hernandez de la Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. Our presentation will take place within the area of \u200b\u200b" Classroom Experiences" on Thursday 14 April at 16:40 in the classroom 1.4 Conference and Expo Zaragoza. Once we're done here will get the materials we use in the presentation and our Twitter ( http://twitter.com/asalinasci and http://twitter.com/mjvedoque ) try to tell what we discover. Twitter can also find the hastag # escuela20 what counts the other participants.
Arcadi Espada has written an article on the (in) general culture among youth and adolescents, referring to a work Berta Gonzalez de la Vega . Apart from more or less worrisome, one of the ideas that I liked is that it does not stay in the classic "Where are we going to go" and suggests that it is just that in this age of ignorance is more visible.
To improve the general knowledge, Berta intends to make the final ten questions of college exams and give extra points to those who successfully resolved. As an example, the following:
Capital of Libya
Number of European Union countries
Century World War
Jorge Luis Borges Nationality
Name 4 ministers of the current government of Spain.
Number of people in Spain. Logarithm
e
Why was suspended Olympics 1944?
What separates the veins of the arteries?
What is Silicon Valley?
Article have to use these questions to conduct a survey and the answers have been recorded at street level, are not exactly encouraging on the cultural knowledge of young people. Is clearly not a representative sample, it is not a sufficient number .... But he would not go into that, what interests me is that I have thought of another way to make a modest contribution to improving the situation or at least have fun and learn from us in the attempt.
My idea clearly unoriginal, is to create a blog in which we will publish daily a "pill" culture on a topic related to current events. Not a rehash of news but simple, straightforward information. For example, as we are concerned about the situation in Libya, it would be good to start by explaining the basic facts about Libya (location, population, capital ...) so that you can then better understand what is happening or at least know where you are going . Whenever possible, accompany the basic information and links to a story in depth. Only one entry per day publish and conduct a test on Sunday as published during the week. Will accumulate the results and even create a Topten with the best, although this can not convince us fully.
Of course the comments will be open for any further information, correct it or ask them to explain something better. Even those who are anime, we will reserve a position as editor.
sure there are already similar things online, but want to focus on education and make it a daily read (almost) mandatory among our students. They should leave a comment in which it was clear they had read the article. Perhaps it would be good to make two versions, one for primary and one for Secondary Did you find it interesting the initiative?
New game: The robot ships attack World Vedoque (Typing)
We completed and published in www.vedoque.com a new game a virus which affects the robot's world-ships and makes Vedoque enemy. You'll have to type the corresponding key to self-destruct before yours down. On this occasion we had the collaboration of four artists luxury: Miguel, Antonio, Santi and Alberto. They have been commissioned to create ships that try to knock you down. They filled the game with color and have given a special touch. We have also introduced a new system for recording the record score in the game. You no longer need to log in Vedoque to save the high score. We have given a touch retro, entertainment machine, since you can only write three letters in the registration record. Building on our recent upgrade to SwishMax 4 we used the component Databank for sharing variables without using databases. In our courses, we this game works well as a complement to typing lessons of our course. And now everyone playing and try to beat the record.
Last November CEIP La Manuela Seville Grove Murcia suggested that we did an activity on the Cathedral of Murcia for inclusion in a Comenius project. We could not spend as much time as we wanted but at least we managed to finish activity in that mix knowledge and educational games on this landmark building in Murcia. has six sections:
History: We created a timeline on the construction of the Cathedral, dividing each of the architectural styles that account: Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and Gothic. Appear after a few activities in which these subjects were reviewed. Exterior
: A tour of the highlights of the exterior of the Cathedral of Murcia, the main facade, the Puerta de las Cadenas, the door of the Apostles ... Then we used a great illustration of the Cathedral www.jesusda.com for a coloring activity. We also added a couple of pictures of our harvest in that activity and then a video of www.regmurcia.com on the construction of the Cathedral Gothic gem: the chapel of the Vélez. This section ends with an activity that must be completed drawings of the cathedral following a few dots. Interior
: It starts out similar to the previous one, with an image of Google Maps where we have marked the most interesting points inside the Catedral.En this section we highlight the little game that we did take advantage of the rosette Door of the Apostles. Is to find the two roses that have the same color before time runs out will you be able to beat the record?
Tower: It is a monument in itself and most prominent image of the city of Murcia. Get to know in detail the characteristics of each of their bodies and play the classic "Memory" with its images. Trivial
: The best thing to remember is to review what they learned with a set of questions and answers.
Links and credits: a review of the sources we used to build our business and some links to sites with more information about the Cathedral. We highlight the work of students in 3 of CEIP La Arboleda: " Cathedral A to Z " and the blog of this project: European Routes .
This work has been very important photos, texts and music that many share as volunteers on the Internet. Thank you all and if anyone believes that we have not cited in a timely manner or that its work should not appear, tells us and resolve it. Now all to learn about the Cathedral and tell us improvements and corrections.
Search with Google is something as usual it seems that all we do well and do not need to learn anything else right? Can you answer the following questions:
Would you know to search Word documents (. doc)?
What is the Google search history?
I can report the news "that have been published in 2011 on Egypt?
"I can make my favorite pages in a search?
...
Support from Google itself clarifies all these issues and therefore we will only have added a few exercises you can practice in our courses. The following links you can download the documents we use. In the first two mixes theory with practical examples and the third is to respond to a few questions using the search:
Furthermore, we found another document in Internet more interesting exercises on searching Google. We use in courses for children and adults. We hope you find them useful and appreciate the comments if you know more interesting resources on the subject.
We have a new game: Space Rescue . This time it looks only fun, but can someone help to know / review the names of the planets of the Solar System.
should be directed at the rocket with the arrow keys but in a way a bit special. Press "Up Arrow" is to launch the rocket and the reactors up. When the test button, the rocket down. Using the arrow keys left and right, as usual, the rocket move laterally. The first thing you do is pick up the astronauts and then land on the planet in question, that in each phase is changing from Mercury to Neptune. Be careful to avoid colliding with the stars and the comets.
Now to try around the world and leave a comment if you find any problem.
finally continue with the series of interactive features for Environmental Awareness Elementary Secondary 2. This time is one of those that do not cost too much to motivate students: Earth (the Moon and stars). The main points covered include:
Earth: To explain how the Earth began by reviewing the theories of some ancient civilizations. After an animation of Wikipedia shows our planet and discuss their fundamental characteristics. We have created two simple games in which they must drive a spacecraft. One to differentiate the Earth and other planets to see if they have learned the basic ideas of the Atmosphere.
Day and Night : Enter the rotation of the Earth as the cause of day-night cycle and translational motion of the Earth around the Sun
Moon: On a beautiful photograph Moon Luc Viatour expose its salient features. Then focus its phases relying on excellent images from Wikipedia on the motion of the Moon around the Earth.
Stars and Planets: Although the Solar System is not among the levels recommended for this level, we've added at the request of students of the College of The Quarries, our official testers.
Reading and Review: For the reading this time we have chosen three telescopes focused on the sights of our planet and space walks.
This time we added a section with a game because in the previous sections and there are few. Since we often happens, we have not been totally happy. We would have liked to create 3D animations to reflect the movements of the Earth with precision and quality, but you did, we would have finished the piece in a couple of months. If your course is doing a version 2.0, including the 3d. Well, as we always say, now playing leave us any comments and criticisms and suggestions.
Some time ago we were serializing a course on the 2003 version of Powerpoint. Then came the 2007 and 2010 that have greatly improved the program, but also the interface Ribbon has its drawbacks. Despite being dated, in most schools in Murcia, and in many other places, is still using the 2003 version. Therefore, other things are irrelevant and because I promised and never did, we'll do a compilation of themes and exercises that made up the course. And even maybe later go updating and adding some others.
also believe that the exercises included in the presentations may be useful in courses on the new versions and even other courses Impress presentation software such as OpenOffice and web applications like Google Docs or Slide Rocket.
The following links are downloadable Word documents that combine theory and practice:
and kicking, wanting to keep doing new things. In 2010, we have not done the typical post where we say that next year we'll finally start making 3D games, making multi-language vedoque.com, creating games for mobile ... and some things we would like and not just done. Although we have not been able to finish any of these projects, the truth is that we're pretty happy with how the year has gone to www.vedoque.com:
In November we went from 2 million page views and 468.ooo visits.
our attempt to cover a full course of primary education. We have chosen Knowledge of the 2 nd and we have published 5 issues.
We have new lessons and typing games
And blogs in English , French and Portuguese already translated some new games. Besides
and although we do not reach the level we can publish, we did some progress in the internationalization of www.vedoque.com and the creation of mobile games. For the first case we are creating a WordPress Theme we can serve to publish the games and make the plugin WPML to make multi-language. As for the mobile games we've done something very simple that works on Android. When we have something more safe, we will post it here.
