Inspiring New Futures

Foradian Technologies - Official Blog : Interesting story about the origin of ‘+’ and ‘-’ signs in arithmetic We can we never think of mathematics without the ‘+’ plus and ‘-’ minus signs. While we do have a plethora of mathematical symbols for division(÷), multiplication (×), integral ( ∫) etc, at its core its always the ‘+’ and ‘-’ symbols. From our elementary days, we’ve been taught about these two integral symbols. It could be considered as the ABC’s of mathematics and things wouldn't have been the same without them. The same symbols are used everywhere, around the world. A little curiosity to know how these originated and evolved to present form wouldn't hurt. The signs as used in the earliest civilizations The plus and minus signs (+ and −) are mathematical symbols used to represent operations of addition and subtraction as well as the notions of the positive and negative. Moreover, the Plus and Minus are Latin terms meaning "more" and "less", ...

Education Week: Districts Forge School-to-Home Digital Connections : But education leaders are wrestling with how to put measures in place to allow school-issued digital devices to go home with students Ashley McCaslin teaches in a one-room schoolhouse on the island of Frenchboro, about eight miles off the coast of Maine. In her classroom, where seven students span six grade levels—from kindergarten to 7th grade—each has his or her own state-issued MacBook. Whether class members are participating in a video discussion via Skype in reading groups with students in other communities, writing essays in Google Docs, or building a social studies wiki, McCaslin sees the laptops as their key link to the outside world. And, she says, for the 7th graders, who take the devices home in the evenings and on weekends, they offer nothing short of salvation.

Digital Inclusion 'Imperative' for American Education -- THE Journal : Despite tough economic circumstances and sequestration, federal investment in education technology "can't wait," according to United States Representative George Miller, who addressed education leaders Monday at the CoSN 2013 conference in San Diego, CA. Miller, senior Democrat on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, has introduced legislation that would bring back funding specifically targeted toward technology in education, funding that has dried up with the end of Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The legislation, Transforming Education Through Technology (PDF), would authorize $750 million in fiscal year 2014 "and such sums as may be necessary for each of the succeeding 4 years" to provide for the purchase of hardware, software, and services and to provide professional development for educators and ad...

Is This Now A Typical Classroom? - Edudemic : I just stumbled across an interesting photo originally posted on  Gizmodo . Their title was ‘Are Computers Ruining Education?’ which of course catches the eye but it’s really not the story. While there may be an influx of computer in classrooms these days … it’s nothing new. There are countless 1:1 classrooms now. It’s all in how those computers are used.

How A School Gets Students Excited To Learn Outside The Classroom  | edudemic While controlling an underwater remotely operated vehicle, Te’shon Dickens carefully collected submerged items, confident of his wiring and waterproofing. His team spent more than a month configuring the device. “This is pretty awesome – making and controlling your own submarine,” said 12-year-old Dickens, standing beside a pool Feb. 22 at Woodmen Hills Recreation Center in Peyton, Colo. He’s not a marine robotics technician.

Should teachers bring ICT into the classroom? | EurActiv : Education experts and lawmakers gathered this week in Brussels at the invitation of US software giant Microsoft to debate the role that information and communication technologies (ICT) should play in education. The new generations of children use ICT on a daily basis at home, but not as much in school as they should in order to stimulate creativity