Archive for the ‘Resources’ Category

The CMK08 Library

Like all good learning environments, an important ingredient in the Constructing Modern Knowledge was the classroom library. The following is a bibliography of the books in the CMK08 library, plus a bunch written or illustrated by Peter Reynolds and a few books I forgot to bring to Manchester.

Don’t forget there is a creativity, computing and constructivism Amazon bookstore created by the Constructivist Consortium.

Abel, J., & Glass, I. (1999). Radio: An Illustrated Guide. W B E Z Alliance Inc.

Ahl, D. H. (1978). BASIC Computer Games: Microcomputer Edition. Workman Pub Co.

Anderson, M. (2006). Amazing Leonardo da Vinci Inventions You Can Build Yourself. Nomad Press.

Baker, D., Semple, C., & Stead, T. (1990). How Big is the Moon?: Whole Maths in Action. Heinemann.

Bedford, A. (2005). The Unofficial LEGO Builder’s Guide. No Starch Press.

Boaler, J. (2008). What’s Math Got to Do with It?: Helping Children Learn to Love Their Least Favorite Subject–and Why It’s Important for America. Viking Adult.

Braitenberg, V. (1986). Vehicles: Experiments in Synthetic Psychology. The MIT Press.

Burger, E. B., & Starbird, M. (2006). Coincidences, Chaos, and All That Math Jazz: Making Light of Weighty Ideas. W. W. Norton.

Cadwell, L. B., & Gandini, L. (1997). Bringing Reggio Emilia Home: An Innovative Approach to Early Childhood Education. Teachers College Press.

Caney, S. (1985). Steven Caney’s Invention Book. Workman Publishing Company.

Clayson, J. L. (1988). Visual Modeling with Logo: A Structured Approach to Seeing. The MIT Press.

Colella, V. S., Klopfer, E., & Resnick, M. (2001). Adventures in Modeling: Exploring Complex, Dynamic Systems with StarLogo. Teachers College Press.

Cuoco, A. A. (1990). Investigations in Algebra: An Approach to Using Logo. The MIT Press.

Curtis, D., & Carter, M. (2003). Designs for Living and Learning: Transforming Early Childhood Environments. Redleaf Press.

Druin, A., & Solomon, C. (1996). Designing Multimedia Environments for Children. John Wiley & Sons.

Edwards, C., Gandini, L., & Forman, G. (1998). The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Approach Advanced Reflections, Second Edition. Ablex Publishing.

Egan, K. (1988). Teaching as Storytelling. Routledge.

Erwin, B. (2001). Creative Projects with LEGO. Addison-Wesley Professional.

Field, B. (2000). Make a Movie That Tells a Story. William Field.

Goldenberg, E. P., & Feurzeig, W. (1987). Exploring Language with Logo. The MIT Press.

Gonick, L. (1992). The Cartoon Guide to Physics. Collins.

Griffith, S., Dragotta, N., & Bonsen, J. (2007). Howtoons: The Possibilities Are Endless!. Collins.

Gurstelle, W. (2004). The Art of the Catapult: Build Greek Ballistae, Roman Onagers, English Trebuchets, and More Ancient Artillery. Chicago Review Press.

Harel, I., & Papert, S. (1991). Constructionism. Ablex Publishing.

Haskins, J. (2008). Diary of a Harlem School Teacher. New Press.

Healy, C. C. (1993). Build-A-Book Geometry. Key Curriculum Pr.

Hendrick, J. (2003). Next Steps Toward Teaching the Reggio Way: Accepting the Challenge to Change. Prentice Hall.

Hill, L., Cadwell, L., & Schwall, C. (2005). In The Spirit Of The Studio: Learning From The Atelier Of Reggio Emilia. Teachers College Press.

Hoyles, C., & Noss, R. (1992). Learning Mathematics and Logo. The MIT Press.

Kelby, S. (2006). The Photoshop Elements 5 Book for Digital Photographers. New Riders Press.

Kelsh, N. (2003). How to Photograph Your Life: Capturing Everyday Moments with Your Camera and Your Heart. Stewart, Tabori and Chang.

Kenworthy, C. (2005). Digital Video Production Cookbook: 100 Professional Techniques for Independent and Amateur Filmmakers. O’Reilly Media, Inc..

Kohl, H. (2007). Painting Chinese: A Lifelong Teacher Gains the Wisdom of Youth. Bloomsbury USA.

Kohn, A. (2006). Beyond Discipline: From Compliance to Community. Association for Supervision & Curriculum Deve.

Kohn, A. (1992). The Brighter Side Of Human Nature: Altruism And Empathy In Everyday Life. Basic Books.

Kohn, A. (2000). The Case Against Standardized Testing: Raising the Scores, Ruining the Schools. Heinemann.

Kohn, A. (2007). The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing. Da Capo Press.

Kohn, A. (1992). No Contest: The Case Against Competition. Mariner Books.

Kohn, A. (1999). Punished By Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A’s, Praise, and Other Bribes. Mariner Books.

Kohn, A. (2000). The Schools Our Children Deserve: Moving Beyond Traditional Classrooms and "Tougher Standards". Mariner Books.

Kohn, A. (2006). Unconditional Parenting: Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason. Atria.

Kohn, A. (2004). What Does it Mean to Be Well Educated? And Other Essays on Standards, Grading, and Other Follies. Beacon Press.

Kohn, A. (2000). What to Look for in a Classroom: And Other Essays. Jossey-Bass.

Kohn, A., & Shannon, P. (2002). Education, Inc.: Turning Learning into a Business. Heinemann.

Lopate, P. (2008). Being with Children: A High-Spirited Personal Account of Teaching Writing, Theater, and Videotape. New Press.

Magid, L., & Collier, A. (2006). MySpace Unraveled: A Parent’s Guide to Teen Social Networking. Peachpit Press.

McDonald, M. (2006). Doctor Judy Moody. Walker Books Ltd.

McDonald, M. (2002). Judy Moody. Candlewick.

Mcdonald, M. (2007). Judy Moody & Stink: The Holly Joliday. Candlewick.

Mcdonald, M. (2007). Judy Moody Declares Independence. Candlewick.

McDonald, M. (2003). Judy Moody Gets Famous!. Candlewick.

Mcdonald, M. (2008). Judy Moody Goes to College. Candlewick.

Mcdonald, M. (2005). Judy Moody Predicts the Future. Candlewick.

Mcdonald, M. (2004). Judy Moody Saves the World!. Candlewick.

Mcdonald, M. (2005). Judy Moody’s Double-Rare-Way-Not-Boring Book of Fun Stuff to Do. Candlewick.

Mcdonald, M. (2006). Judy Moody, M.D.. Candlewick.

Mcdonald, M. (2008). Judy Moody: Around the World in 8 1/2 Days. Candlewick.

Mcdonald, M. (2006). Stink. Candlewick.

Mcdonald, M. (2008). Stink and the Great Guinea Pig Express. Candlewick.

Mcdonald, M. (2007). Stink and the Incredible Super-Galactic Jawbreaker. Candlewick.

McDonald, M. (2007). Stink and the Incredible, All-time World’s Worst Stinky Sneakers. Walker Books Ltd.

Mcdonald, M. (2008). Stink and the World’s Worst Super-Stinky Sneakers. Candlewick.

McGhee, A. (2008). Little Boy. Atheneum.

McGhee, A. (2007). Someday. Atheneum.

Minsky, M. (2006). The Emotion Machine: Commonsense Thinking, Artificial Intelligence, and the Future of the Human Mind. Simon & Schuster.

Minsky, M. (1988). Society of Mind. Simon & Schuster.

Nagata, J. (2001). Joe Nagata’s Lego Mindstorms Idea Book. No Starch Press.

Onn, A. L., & Alexander, G. (1998). Cabaret Mechanical Movement. Cabaret Mechanical Publishing.

Papert, S. (1994). The Children’s Machine: Rethinking School In The Age Of The Computer. Basic Books.

Papert, S. (1996). The Connected Family: Bridging the Digital Generation Gap. Longstreet Press.

Papert, S. A. (1993). Mindstorms: Children, Computers, And Powerful Ideas. Basic Books.

Parks, B. (2005). Makers: All Kinds of People Making Amazing Things In Garages, Basements, and Backyards.. O’Reilly Media, Inc..

Patri, A. (2007). A Schoolmaster of the Great City: A Progressive Education Pioneer’s Vision for Urban Schools. New Press.

Peterson, I. (1998). The Mathematical Tourist: New and Updated Snapshots of Modern Mathematics. Owl Books.

Pilegaard, U., & Dooley, M. (2007). Forbidden LEGO: Build the Models Your Parents Warned You Against!. No Starch Press.

Potter, E. (2006). Olivia Kidney. Serres.

Potter, E. (2005). Olivia Kidney and The Exit Academy. Philomel.

Rathjen, D., & Klutz, I. (1998). Lego Crazy Action Contraptions: A Lego Inventions Book. Klutz Press.

Reynolds, P. H. (2003). The Dot. Candlewick.

Reynolds, P. H. (2004). Ish. Candlewick.

Reynolds, P. H. (2006). My Very Big Little World: A SugarLoaf Book. Atheneum.

Reynolds, P. H. (1997). The North Star. FableVision Press.

Reynolds, P. H. (2006). So Few of Me. Candlewick.

Richardson, W. (2006). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. Corwin Press.

Rinaldi, C. (2005). In Dialouge with Reggio Emilia: Listening, Researching and Learning. Routledge.

Ryan, J., Dunford, G., & Sellars, S. (2006). Micronations. Lonely Planet.

Sato, J. (2002). Jin Sato’s LEGO MINDSTORMS: The Master’s Technique. No Starch Press.

Schwartau, W. (2001). Internet & Computer Ethics for Kids:. Interpact Press.

Singh, S. (2002). The Code Book: How to Make It, Break It, Hack It, Crack It. Delacorte Books for Young Readers.

Singh, S. (2000). The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography. Anchor.

Smith, D., & Goldhaber, J. (2004). Poking, Pinching &Pretending: Documenting Toddlers’ Explorations with Clay. Redleaf Press.

Sobey, E., & Sobey, W. (2008). The Way Toys Work: The Science Behind the Magic 8 Ball, Etch A Sketch, Boomerang, and More. Chicago Review Press.

Solomon, C. (1988). Computer Environments for Children: A Reflection on Theories of Learning and Education. The MIT Press.

Tobias, T. (2000). Serendipity. Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing.

Topal, C. W., & Gandini, L. (1999). Beautiful Stuff: Learning with Found Materials. Sterling.

Upitis, R. (1992). Can I Play You My Song?: The Compositions and Invented Notations of Children. Heinemann Drama.

Upitis, R. (1990). This too is Music. Heinemann.

Villiers, M. D., & Nielsen, L. J. (1997). Is Democracy Fair?: The Mathematics of Voting and Apportionment. Key Curriculum Press.

Vines, R. D. (2008). Composing Digital Music For Dummies. For Dummies.

Vorderman, C. (1999). How Math Works. Readers Digest.

Wang, W. (2003). Totally Tasteless Photoshop Elements. McGraw-Hill/OsborneMedia.

Watson, B. (2003). The Man Who Changed How Boys and Toys Were Made: The Life and Times of A. C. Gilbert, the Man Who Saved Christmas. Penguin (Non-Classics).

Wells, D. (1998). The Penguin Book of Curious and Interesting Numbers: Revised Edition. Penguin (Non-Classics).

Wiese, J. (1994). Roller Coaster Science: 50 Wet, Wacky, Wild, Dizzy Experiments about Things Kids Like Best. Wiley.

Williams, M. (2006). Making Real-Life Videos. Allworth Press.


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Not CMK08, but worth a look

This is one of my favorite Ted Talks. Author and publisher Dave Eggers tells the inspirational story of how one can create a learning environment for kids outside of school. Eggers and his colleagues also demonstrate a great deal of respect for teachers and the challenges they face.

Links:

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MicroWorlds EX Getting Started Videos

PROBLEMS SOLVED - LINKS BELOW NOW WORK AND VIDEOS PLAY

The following are a few “getting started” tutorial videos I created for MicroWorlds EX. The first two introduce the environment and the last two show you how to program your very own Pacman-style video game.

Click to download a trial version of MicroWorlds EX Robotics.

Be sure to visit the MicroWorlds EX Project Library.

Additional project ideas may be found here.

If you need MicroWorlds EX tech support, email info@lcsi.ca. The web site for MicroWorlds and its project library is www.microworlds.com.

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Bookstore link for CMK08

Melinda Kolk and I created an online bookstore for creative educators in conjunction with Amazon.com.

I will assemble and publish a list of the books in the CMK08 library over the next week or so.

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LEGO Robotics Reference Materials

Fred Martin’s Art of LEGO
Fred Martin, the engineer behind the RCX brick, wrote a terrific paper explaining LEGO engineering principles.

The Art of LEGO 2
MIT Media Lab graduate students, Arnan (Roger) Sipitakiat, Paulo Blikstein and Rahul Bhargava created a handy color collection of strategies for assembling LEGO elements.

MicroWorlds EX Robotics downloadable reference handout.

Great LEGO Challenges
Here is a collection of 13 challenges sure to inspire classroom creativity.

25 Things to Do With LEGO Robotics
A timeless list of project ideas.

Gary Stager’s LEGO Robotics web page


New Workshop!

Improvisational Robotics - Authentic Opportunities for the Construction of Knowledge

LEGO Robotics offers students a high-tech high-touch improvisational medium for interdisciplinary learning. An ability to identify rich problems is required to engage learners of all ages. We will explore different approaches to bringing the curriculum alive through an improvisational approach to robotics. The new MicroWorlds EX Robotics software will be used to create interdisciplinary projects that combine the real world with the screen.

Click here for more workshop information.

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Constructivist Software

Recommended Software

Programming Environments for Learners

Cool Tools

  • Audacity (open source Mac/Windows/Linux audio recording and editing software)
  • Delicious Library (catalog books, CDs, videos on a Mac)
  • Fission (native audio editing for the Mac)
  • iShowU (low-cost video/screen capture for the Mac)
  • Tubesock (download YouTube videos)
  • TubeTV (Mac software for capturing all sorts of web video, including Google and YouTube)
  • Visual Hub (convert all sorts of video formats)
  • VLC (play all sorts of video formats including DVDs from other regions)
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Plane Reading

Constructing Modern Knowledge stands on the shoulders of giants. The following articles help set the tone for the spirit, possibilities and powerful ideas guiding the event.

Some are whimsical, others complex. However, they’re all worthy of your consideration.

Ice-breakers (4 of my favorite stories)

Powerful ideas

Read some or all of these articles before you leave, while on the plane (unless you’re the pilot) or at your convenience during and after CMK08.

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What to Bring to CMK08?

Packing list:

Clothes: The temperature in Manchester should be between the mid-60s and mid-80s(F). Bring casual clothes, comfortable shoes and a swimsuit (if you wish). You might wish to pack a smart casual outfit for dinner Tuesday and Wednesday night.

Laptop: Bring your laptop, power adapter and any necessary cables.

Gadgets: Feel free to bring digital cameras, digital video cameras, MIDI keyboards, digital microscope, web cam or any other high-tech toy you’ve been meaning to spend time learning or using. Don’t forget to bring tapes, memory cards, cables and any bits and pieces you may need.

Paper journal or blog: Each day will end with a discussion and period for reflection. It is recommended that each participant write their reflective thoughts in a journal or share their thoughts with the world via
a blog. If you already have a blog, fantastic! If you need to setup a blog in advance, try one of the following free options:

  • WordPress
  • Blogger
  • Constructing Modern Knowledge - You can have a free blog here. Just email gary [at] constructingmodernknowledge.com

Your imagination: Get ready for four days of action - with computers, experts and new friends.

Remember: Meals, except for the dinner at the baseball game, are at your own expense.

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CMK08 Pre-event Program Now Online

The tentative schedule for Constructing Modern Knowledge 2008 is now online here.

There are also some packing tips to be found there as well.

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