Popular Culture Online

Keep students entertained and engaged with these websites and online resources that connect learning to popular culture. From memes to movies we’ve got you covered.

From dance crazes like the ‘Floss’ to films, songs and toys, there are a wide range of cultural experiences and interests students have that often seem disconnected from their classroom learning. As highlighted in this issue in ‘Why Pop Culture Needs to be a Part of STEM Education’ (p. 62), simple tweaks to subject content can make a significant difference in how students relate to a subject and get them emotionally invested in pushing forward to develop new skills.

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      string(4515) "CultureUnit 3: Lore Building1: Mythological Influences on Esports2: Narrative Writing: Creating a Backstory3: Marketing as a Means for Building LoreUnit 4: What IS the Quest?1: Analysis: Live Tournament Breakdown2: Developing a Business Plan3: Formal Presentation: Tournament ProposalUnit 5: There Be Dragons Here!1: Reorganisation into Divisions2: Choice Writing: Exploring Grit through the Hero’s Journey3: Contingency PlanningUnit 6: Transformers1: Writing for an Audience: Gladwell’s Recipe for Success2: Discussion: Defining & Working within a Budget3: Persuasive Speaking: The Elevator PitchUnit 7: “Do, or do not.  There is no try.”1: Stakeholder Communication: Finalising Event Website2: Script Writing: Final Event Preparation3: Mock Tournament Run Through and ReflectionUnit 8: The Dragon’s Lair1: Event Post-Mortem and ReflectionThis new curriculum builds on the same pedagogical models and activities as the esports clubs, but it more systematically introduces students to core reading, writing, and communication skills across the levels that represent the various esports roles within the ecosystem (Figure 2). Each grade level ties ELA to one of four fundamental Career Technical Education pathways: Game Design (grade 9), Entrepreneurship (grade 10), Marketing (grade 11), and Hospitality (grade 12). Students can take one year or multiple years, opting in and out of the course sequence as they choose, in order to provide maximum flexibility for learners and teachers. Ideally, by year three of the NASEF league, students will be running the team websites, promotions, fundraising, and league championship event themselves, with adults taking a side seat as guides and mentors for their work. Final CommentsRejecting and denigrating the passions and interests of young people is, in our view, to land on the wrong side of history, Instead, we choose to meet students where they are and use those contexts as sites for their intellectual, social, and civic development. NASEF connects students’ passion for esports to thinking and reasoning, which have been long valued in classrooms, and caring mentors and near peers who can shape participants’ online and gaming lives in positive was. In so doing, we hope to raise not only more connected, resilient and engaged students but also better citizens of the increasing networked and cosmopolitan world.Constance Steinkuehler is a Professor of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine where she researches the cognitive and social aspects of esports and multiplayer online videogames. She formerly served as Senior Policy Analyst under the Obama administration in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, advising on games and digital media.References“About the Federation.” (2018, August 20). Retrieved from http://esportsfed.org/about/about-the-federationAnderson, Tsaasan, Reitman, Lee, Wu, Steele, Turner & Steinkuehler (2018). Understanding Esports as a STEM Career Ready Curriculum in the Wild. In the Proceedings of the VS Games Conference, 5-7 September, Weiberg Germany.Career Technical Education (CTE) Model Curriculum Standards. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.careertech.org/cctc.Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). (2018). Core SEL Competencies. Retrieved from https://casel.org/core-competencies/Cheuk, T. (2013). Relationships and convergences among the mathematics, science, and ELA practices. Refined version of diagram created by the Understanding Language Initiative for ELP Standards. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University.Gee, J.P. (2005). Semiotic socials spaces and affinity spaces: From The Age of Mythology to today’s schools. In D. Barton & K. Tusting (Eds.), Beyond communities of practice: Language, power and social context (pp. 214–232). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Ito, M., Horst, H. A., Antin, J., Finn, M., Law, A., Manion, A., … Yardi, S. (2013). Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out: Kids Living and Learning with New Media. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press.NASEF Curriculum (2018). Retrieved from http://www.esportsfed.org/resources/curriculum/english-12-and-hospitality/Perez, M. (2018, February 21). Esports to grow substantially and near billion-dollar revenues in 2018. Forbes Magazine. Retrieved 16 August 2018 from https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattperez/2018/02/21/report-esports-to-grow-substantially-and-near-a-billion-dollar-revenues-in-2018/"
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Creative Teaching & Learning

Thriving Through Competitive Gaming

10 Oct 2018

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      string(333) "... Yeti and troll legends.Some were smaller, and when scientists first found their remains in a cave in Flores Island, East Asia, tenyears ago, the media called these tiny people ‘hobbits’.Some say hobbits, or Homo floresiensis, to give them their official name, are most likely descended from thelarger prehistoric ..."
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      string(5613) "instructions are the same as for designing aleader, but pupils use the blank body outline found in Activity sheet 11d. Thereare nine jobs listed, which include politician, programmer, sports star, lifeguardand inventor.Download this resource pack hereActivity 11: Design a humanIn Destiny, a computer game out last September, each class of player has a unique special ability that theyuse to fight hostile aliens. Here’s an opportunity to look at whether skills and talents are inherited or learned.Last year, a University College London study said leadership quality is genetic. Is this the same for sportsstars and computer geniuses?http://library.teachingtimes.com/articles/science-goes-pop-activity-11Science goeS pop! Cross CurriCulum ProjeCt Plan95Volume5.3nCreativeTeaching&LearningDescription Images and sound immerse pupils in the story of a group of early humans whoare attacked by a Komodo dragon. The pupils plan and write a piece of creativewriting to show what happens next.Curriculum focus Literacy – creative writing, evoke character and setting, descriptive writing,story writing, story endingsThinking skills – imagination, creative thinkingProcedure When the children come into the classroom, have the powerpoint – acompilation of rainforest photographs – playing on the interactive whiteboard.You may wish to play some rainforest/jungle sounds, which you can find for freeon YouTube.When the children have settled down, begin reading the story found in Activitysheet 12a. The short narrative tells of a group of H. floresiensis returningthrough the rainforest with their latest kill. The group attracts the attention of apassing Komodo dragon, which attacks.The pupils’ task now is to write a piece of creative writing, describing whathappens next. Keep the music playing and the images on the board on loop (thepowerpoint is automatically set to do this, switching photos every minute) asthey plan and write their piece.Download this resource pack hereActivity 12: What happens next?A history of sizeThe third Hobbit film, The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies, came out in December. Tolkein’s Middle Earthfeatures human-like creatures of all shapes and sizes – elves, dwarves, Maia, orcs, goblins and of course,hobbits.Unless you believe stories about leprechauns, fairies and big foot, modern humans (Homo sapiens) arethe only people around today. But that wasn’t always the case. During prehistoric times, as our ancestorsevolved, there were lots of other species. Some of them were big and probably inspired Yeti and troll legends.Some were smaller, and when scientists first found their remains in a cave in Flores Island, East Asia, tenyears ago, the media called these tiny people ‘hobbits’.Some say hobbits, or Homo floresiensis, to give them their official name, are most likely descended from thelarger prehistoric human Homo erectus. H. erectus evolved in Africa 1.8 million years ago and spread aroundEurope, Asia and Australasia, reaching Flores about one million years ago. Maybe some got across the seaand, because of scarce resources and their isolation from the mainland, these people slowly grew smallerover the generations. This is called island dwarfism and has happened all over the world with many differentspecies, throughout history and prehistory.Other scientists believe hobbits are descended from Homo habilis, a more primitive species that left Africamany thousands of years earlier. This would also explain why H. floresiensis is so small, with such a smallbrain. Others think they’re not a separate species at all, just modern humans with a degenerative disorderthat stunts their growth. H. floresiensis used relatively sophisticated stone tools, seemingly to hunt andbutcher their kills. They were particularly fond of elephant meat, although the elephants that lived on Floresback then were no bigger than water buffalo – island dwarfism again. Paradoxically, in the same environment,smaller animals grew larger. H. floresiensis would have had to contend with rats the size of a golden retriever,as well as the Komodo dragon – the world’s largest monitor lizard – which still lives on the island today.http://library.teachingtimes.com/articles/science-goes-pop-activity-12Science goeS pop! Cross CurriCulum ProjeCt Plan96Volume5.3nCreativeTeaching&LearningDescription Pupils create a timeline of human ancestors.Curriculum focus Science – evolution and inheritance, survival, extinction, natural selectionHistory – Stone Age, Metal Age, prehistory, evidence of the past, humanancestorsResearch and information skills – activate prior knowledge, locate and accessinformation, summarise information, organise and synthesise information,analyse and make inferencesProcedure The cards in Activity sheet 13b show a number of human ancestors and howmany years ago they lived. Pupils need to cut out these cards and arrange themas a timeline on an A3 piece of paper.Once the cards are glued down, have pupils label each hominid with information fromtheir research about how and where they lived, and why they died out. They shouldalso find a picture to show what each human ancestor might have looked like.Pupils now mark the various periods of the Stone Age and also the Metal Ageon their timeline. They should note the developments each era is characterisedby, plus observations about the length of these eras and what this says abouthuman progress. The idea here is for them to realise that the eras get shorter,meaning human development/progress quickens.Download this resource pack hereActivity 13:"
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Creative Teaching & Learning

Project Plan: Science goes pop!

27 Mar 2015

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      string(5651) "encourages students to thinkdeeply about their lives and how they want to present themselves to peers. And notsurprisingly, many students are more willing to edit their work when they are writing tosomeone their own age, rather than for a teacher or parent.Corresponding with others across the globe can also open windows into othercultures. Consider a project like ‘One Day in the Life’, which invited students to compareessays and images across cultures. Participants gained a glimpse of a life that may bequite different from their own – geographically, economically and culturally – just byfinding out how others typically spend a given day. We wonder: is it too far-fetchedto imagine that these understandings can lead us toward greater harmony amongnations, and well, even world peace? As optimists, we say give it a try.Another advantage of keypal exchanges has to do with foreign languageacquisition. Imagine a ten-year-old boy in the UK corresponding with a boy whosenative language is Russian. By the same token, the Russian boy would practise hisEnglish language skills with his UK counterpart. This type of exchange would take bothstudents well beyond the limitations of their textbooks and rote learning. Think abouthow much they would learn about each other’s culture and worldview. An added bonusis that, according to research, children who engage in cross-cultural friendships havehigher levels of social competence and self-esteem than children who have not hadsuch opportunities.Find out moreWebsites to help you find a partner classroom by language, country and so on,include:■ ePals■ Student Letter Exchange – Pen Pals■ Kidworld Keypals.Also, here’s a template for ‘A Day in the Life’ and related resources from theBritish Council.MOOCs: Learn with others from all over the worldA MOOC might just be the favourite new thing you have never heard of but cannotwait to dive into. Why? Because you can take a MOOC to follow your passions, whetherthey include ancient Greek heroes, how to save schools, solar energy or poetry.What is a MOOC? Short for Massive Open Online Course, a MOOC is a course taughtby a thought leader in a particular discipline (such as Anant Agarwal, an MIT professorwho teaches his ‘Circuits and Electronics’ course as a MOOC). Once you sign up for aparticular MOOC (at no cost usually), you can study where and when you please, withinthe structure of the course.We were MOOC newbies when we signed up for one this summer – ‘Leadersof Learning’, an EdX course taught by a former Harvard Graduate School Professor,Richard Elmore. The course description got our attention – a six-week course to helphttp://www.epals.com/#!/mainhttp://www.pen-pal.com/http://www.bconnex.net/~kidworld/keypals4.htmhttp://www.britishcouncil.org.br/sites/britishcouncil.br/files/cc_project_template_-_adayinthelife_-01.pdfhttps://www.edx.org/course/leaders-learning-harvardx-gse2x#.VIh7HTGsXoYhttps://www.edx.org/course/leaders-learning-harvardx-gse2x#.VIh7HTGsXoYhttps://www.edx.org/31Vol 6.4School Leadership Todaywww.teachingtimes.comLeadingLearningTechnologystudents ‘identify and develop their personal theories of learning, and explore how theyfit into the shifting landscape of learning’.We registered for the course and started watching the videos of Professor Elmore’slectures. We read the course readings. We watched the ‘Voices from the field’ videosthat featured school leaders giving on-the-ground advice based on their own lessonslearned. We also signed up for updates via social media and eChats, where we weregrouped alphabetically with other educators from all over the world. I (Julie) was luckyenough to be part of a Boston area ‘Meet Up’ group, organised to allow colleagues tomeet in person to discuss the course.Why might you decide to take a MOOC? It might be that you believe in lifelonglearning. Or maybe you enjoy the flexibility of learning where and when it’s convenientfor you. Or maybe, like us, you want to take part in a new paradigm for education. If youcan relate to any of these statements, go for it!Find out moreProviders of MOOCs include:■ EdX■ Coursera■ Carnegie Melon Free Courses.Find MOOCs offered by the best universities and organisations at MOOC List.Using Twitter for CPDWhen I (Nicole) first used Twitter, it was to help promote an online business. I hadnever tried it and wasn’t sure what it offered. Now I see Twitter as a way for me tocommunicate as a professional. I leave Facebook for ‘friends’ and use Twitter to connectwith other educators across the planet. Some people use it for news updates, others toshare interesting article and ideas. I try to use it for the former.Contrary to what some people say, and how others may use it, it’s not just sillychatter, but a good use of your time as an educator because of some of the cool ideasand discussions that can improve your practice. One hashtag I like to keep track of is#ukedchat. The topics are always up to date, and I enjoy seeing the comments by othertech savvy teachers. UKEdChat also host a discussion on Twitter on Thursday eveningsbetween 8 and 9pm which are very popular – and inspiring. The chats are also a wayto find out about best practice in other schools and to link up with educators directly.Many headteachers are using it, as are theorists and academics.Find out moreTwitter really is worth a go. Here are a few resources to get you started.The Cool Cat Teacher, Vicki Davis, has created a video tutorial for teachers whodon’t ‘get’ twitter chats. You can view this here. You can"
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Leadership

Teaching in a global classroom

27 Jan 2015

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      string(5629) "with amultiple-choice test to check understanding.Other BBC computing resources include: the Technobabblegame maker, a platform for kids to design, build and showoff their own arcade-style computer game; CBBC Stay Safe,a compilation of games, clips and music videos from kids’programmes like Horrible Histories, illustrating the importanceof internet safety; and ‘Doctor Who: The Doctor and theDalek’, an intergalactic quest-based game which gets pupilsdeveloping key programming concepts such as selection,repetition and variables as they play. The game is available inmost browsers but also as an iOS and Android app, and theBBC have provided a teacher’s resource pack to support itsuse in the classroom.Another resource worth mentioning here is BBC Webwise,which provides a range of video and written guides to helppeople of all ages develop their digital skills and awareness.Aside from the obvious informative benefits, Webwise couldinspire pupils to create their own videos for peers, youngersiblings or grandparents which explain different computingconcepts. After all, what better way to cement knowledgethan to teach it to somebody else?BBC Schools Computing(www.bbc.co.uk/schools/0/computing) Key Stages 1-4QuickStart Computing(www.quickstartcomputing.org) Key Stages 1-4http://www.computingatschool.org.uk/http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/0/computinghttp://www.quickstartcomputing.orgVolume6.1nCreativeTeaching&Learning73e-learningAs its name suggests, Computing Science For Fun exploresthe exciting side of computer science – that is, the interestingways the technology and theory pupils are learning about areapplied to the real world. The many articles on this site arefrom the free tech magazine, CS4FN. You can download fullissues of the magazine or explore individual articles in theirextensive archive.The articles themselves are generally quite short and newsy,with many references to popular culture, including the futureof wearable technology like Katy Perry’s glowing LED gownof 2010, how a Harry Potter style invisibility cloak might becreated through nano-machines individually refracting light,the launch of a fan-built virtual training environment foraspiring Jedi, and a selection of computer science-based plotholes in famous movies. You can search by date or by topic,of which there are a wide range, including computer crime,cryptography, fashion, philosophy, cyborgs, linguistics, womenin computer science, music and more. There are also a numberof logic puzzles, codes and ciphers pupils may enjoy solving,as well as some interesting maths and computer-based magicto try. Overall, it’s a great way to show all pupils the relevance,possibilities and plain brilliance of computer science in theirschool lives and beyond.Head to the ‘Resources for teachers’ page for a link toCS4FN’s sister site, Teaching London Computing. Here you’llfind lesson plans and activities to use in your teaching, mostof which don’t require access to a computer. This site isn’tthe easiest to navigate, but it’s definitely worth a rummage. Ifyou’re feeling overwhelmed, head to ‘Resources for teachers’ inthe top tab, then ‘Developing computational thinking’, whichorganises activities according to core concepts (algorithms,decomposition, generalisation, etc.), or ‘Interdisciplinarycomputational thinking’, where you’ll find the activities sortedinto the relevant curriculum area.The Barefoot Computing project is a fantastic resource forprimary teachers looking for straightforward explanations ofkey computing concepts and fun cross-curricular activities toteach them. Helpfully, the ‘Plan your curriculum’ page mapsout the site’s resources according to the statements in the KS1and 2 programmes of study. This is a simple yet useful feature,and one of the few sites I’ve seen to do so. Simply click yourchosen objective, and you’ll find a collation of key conceptsand approaches to teaching this aspect of the curriculum, aswell as a range of activities to do so.Barefoot is supported by Computing At School, but CASmembers will need to create a separate account to access itsresources. Beginners may prefer to start on the ‘Learn computerscience’ page, which provides clear and detailed explanationsof a range of key computing concepts such as repetition, logicand abstraction. Each of these pages gives a definition of theconcept, considers why it is so important and explains whereit fits in across the wider primary curriculum. You’ll also find arange of relevant activities to teach the concept or skill, linkedto different areas of the curriculum.The activities themselves are a mix of online and offlineactivities. There’s a great unplugged introduction to algorithms,for example, where pupils write and refine an algorithm thathelps their friends draw a crazy character. Other activities thatdon’t require computers include: a ‘guess what’ drawing gameto learn about abstraction, a partnered sudoku solving activityto explore logic, and choreographing and teaching a sequenceof movements to the rest of the class through decomposition.Most of the online activities are Scratch-based, which the majorityof teachers will now be familiar with, and cross-curricular innature. Highlights include: programming an animation to showhow fossils are made, creating a maths quiz, and detecting andcorrecting errors in an animation of the water cycle.Barefoot Computing(barefootcas.org.uk) Key Stages 1-2Computer Science For Fun(www.cs4fn.org) Key Stage"
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Creative Teaching & Learning

Connected computing

3 Dec 2015