FV #33 - Now I Feel Insignificant, Thanks.

A couple of years ago Cary Huang and his brother created this interesting "interactive" visualization of the scale of the the universe.  He recently updated and improved it with his Scale of the Universe 2 visual.  Learn about the scale of things by zooming in and zooming out.  It's certainly an improvement over the earlier version and worth looking at.  I especially like the interesting assortment of universe objects that the creators selected (and the fact that you can click on them to learn more).  

Clearly science teachers can use this when discussing space and molecules.  I think that math teachers can take advantage of the scientific notation, too.

Depending on your internet connection it can take a second or two to load.  Be patient.

If you like this one, you might like this video I shared a few months back too.

Let me know if you've come across any similar visuals.

Having Fun... A Prerequisite for Learning?

There is no doubt in my mind that learning should be fun*.  I get this overwhelming sense of excitement and a general giddiness when I'm learning something new.  Now, since school is a place of learning, it should be one of the most fun places on the planet, right?  Think about your own school.  Is it a fun place to be?  

This is just a thought that has been rattling around in my head but: is fun a pre-requisite for learning? 

Fun is a simple word and might be easily misconstrued.  I think for me it is synonymous with exciting, joyful, satisfaction and delight. Perhaps most of all, I equate fun with happiness.  I'm worried that school is no longer a fun place to be, or at least it's not as fun as it could be (for both teachers and students).  I read recently in the MetLife Survey of the American Teacher that only 44 percent of teachers surveyed reported being very satisfied with their jobs, compared with 59 percent in 2009.  If teachers are not satisfied with their jobs, it must be harder to create a fun environment, right?  

But, does learning need to be fun to be effective? I really think so.  Naturally, there is more to creating a meaningful learning environment than simply making it fun, but I contend that it is a critical ingredient.  I haven't done any research on this but looking back at my own experiences as a student the school activities I actually remember were all fun: Mrs. Okada's real-world economic activities, Mr. O'Leary's crazy physics experiment, and Mr. Snow's lively class simulations (and even more lively class discussions). I also remember that all of us were having fun... students AND teachers. Without a doubt I believe that fun learning activities are more memorable. Think back to your best learning experiences, did they contain an element of fun? I bet many of them did. 

So, what makes for a fun classroom environment? I brainstormed a few things.

1. Let go of control - Nobody likes a control freak. Involve your students in decisions, let them be in charge sometimes. 
2. Create a risk taking environment - Worrying about failure is stressful (i.e no fun).  Make sure students know that it's ok to make mistakes... as long as they learn from them.
3. Use technology - Technology can unleash creativity... being creative is fun.
4. Be a learner yourself - It provides great perspective and can be invigorating and motivating.  With the Internet you can learn just about anything, take advantage of it.
5. Reflect a lot - How can you improve if you don't?
6. Assess differently - You don't always have to give the kids a quiz or a test to see if they know something.
7. Create some project-based learning activities - Hands-on, minds-on is fun.  Let the kids build & destroy... and everything in between.
8. Make it relevant - Learning something without knowing why it is important is not fun.  
9. Be Creative - Ample opportunities to be creative is fun for students and for you. Create activities that allow students to be creative.  Worksheets, by their very nature, are generally not fun. Always remember that the standards inform what we need to teach but don't dictate your instructional design.
10. Be Empathetic - Put yourself in the shoes of your students... think "if I was a student in my classroom would this be fun?" Alternatively, "would I want to be a student in my class?"
11. Laugh a lot - Fun and laughter go together.  Your classroom should be filled with laughter... yours and theirs.

Well, that's all I've got.  What do you think?

* I don't mean to imply that learning is not serious business.  The stakes are very high but I think it is possible to maintain the importance of what we do and still have fun.  The fun I experience when learning is different that the fun I have at a party or a roller coaster... but it is no less meaningful... or important.

FV #32 - That is Deep... 9 Traits of Good Visualizations

How crazy was James Cameron?  Our friends over at XKCD have brought out yet another informative web comic, this time focusing in on the depth of the Earth's oceans and lakes (among other things). Zoom in and take a look, it's really great.

This type of visual would be really simple to re-create (by you or students)... you could use paper and markers, construction paper, or PowerPoint.  

And now for the reflective portion of this post...

However, the value in this visual for me is that it got me thinking a bit about visuals and the characteristics of visuals that I happen to appreciate.  I put together a list of these thoughts... not all encompassing, just off the top of my head.  The best visuals are ...

1. Informative - The best visuals help me understand something better.  They are (mostly) self-explanatory and can break down a complex concept into something my pea brain can work with... even (maybe especially) if I don't really care about the content.

2. Accurate - Duh. 

3. Interesting - The topic can and should be interesting, but a few random bits of trivia in the mix can help spice it up.  In the visual above I learned that Emperor Penguins can dive really, really deep... crazy deep (although I still don't know why they do that), the Deepwater Horizon is also crazy deep, and that the Dead Sea is an amazing distance below sea level.

 

4. Data Visualizations - There are loads of lame, text heavy infographics out there... making it pretty with pictures really doesn't change the fact that I don't need an infographic representation of "iPads vs. Textbooks" to help me understand the issues.  Also, I hate scrolling down 10 pages with these...* the best visuals represent data and help me identify trends in that data.

5. Creative - I appreciate good design, but I'll take a creative visual over a well designed one any day of the week.

6. Humorous - I like visuals that make me chuckle.  I think they should (if appropriate) contain an element of humor.  Not forced humor, but creative, suble humor.  In the "Lakes & Oceans" visual above you can find some (of course, it's XKCD so that's expected).  I think humor can make the visual more memorable as well.

7. Offering something new - Due to James Cameron's historic dive to the Marianas Trench, there have been tons of visuals illustrating just how deep it is "down there".  All of these visuals look basically the same and show the trench as a steep, deep gash in the ocean floor.  This is the first visual I've seen that offered the Horizontal Scale... not only valuable information, but something I'd never seen before.

8. Not overwhelming - Too much is too much.  The best visuals have enough to keep me entertained and educated but don't get carried away.  I'm sure you've encountered examples of what I'm talking about. 

9. Relevant - I guess this is relative, but one of the reasons this "Lakes and Oceans" visual works is because James Cameron just went down there and its all fresh in our heads. 

BTW, if anyone can explain this to me, that would be great!

Tablets or Laptops? Ask the Right Questions.

Ok, it's Spring, so let's make the assumption that this is the year the money tree behind the school finally blooms.  So, do you buy every student a laptop or a tablet?*  This question is being bantered around all over the country (money tree or not).  Here is what I think... it's the wrong question.

Here is what we should be asking... what do we want our students (and teachers) to do?  What do we want them to create? What problems do we want them to solve?

Once we answer these questions, the solution of which tool to purchase should be obvious.  The thing is, I think that sometimes we get a little too excited about all the things the tools can do that we don't fully answer these questions.

For me, and as much as I love my iPad as a learning device, I think the only answer right now is the laptop (at least for kids older than 3rd grade). Basically, I don't think that the range of things that we want students to be able to do can be completely covered by a tablet... yet.  I readily concede that things are changing... but it might be five or 10 years before the switch really happens.

Here are a few of my other reasons:

• You can create a wider variety of content on the laptop and can consume content much more easily, too.
• I think the lifespan of the laptop will be longer than the tablet
• Text editing is easier on the laptop (try editing a paper on an iPad only... ick)... sure you can buy a keyboard, but if you want your tablet to be a laptop, buy a laptop.
• You can only do iBooks Author and write iOS apps on a Mac
• The MacBook Air has a great battery life
• You can lease a laptop
• Kids may already have their own mobile devices, so open up BYOD.  Why buy them things they might already have?

* In my head this means MacBook Air or iPad.  Why these two?  They are, in my opinion, the top of the heap when it comes to portability, versatility, reliability, community, and overall cost of ownership.  I really don't see the point in buying non-Apple devices at this point (of course, I always say this).

FV #31 - Failure and Learning

Today's visual is from Indexed.  Indexed is a blog by Jessica Hagy where she posts an visual every weekday.  Her visuals are always on index cards.  Here is hers for today:

I'm sure every educator will recognize the importance of failure as a learning aid.  I won't get all political about the whole "failure is not an option" thing.  

Related to the topic of failure, I was reading a letter from F. Scott Fitzgerald to his daughter over on the Letters of Note blog just the other day where Mr. Fitzgerald provided this advice to his (then 11-year old) daughter:

Don't worry about failure unless it comes through your own fault

I like that too.

Two things here for teachers:

1. I've always thought that students should try to create their own "Indexed" visuals related to their studies... could be a great assessment device
2. The Letters of Note blog can be a wealth of resources for Language Arts and Social Studies teachers.