Digital Pedometers

Hi!! Last month at UCET I had the opportunity to work with Harrison to present a session on Digital Pedometers.  Wow, it was actually fun.  There are so many different and new products that could be used to measure walking and in school to promote fitness.

My favorite was the iPod Nano, it is a little tiny iPod that has a pedometer when it comes out of the box. I have been getting up and putting it in a pocket, that is it.  At the end of the day I have a count of all my steps, distance and calories burned. All the data stores in a calendar history and syncs to my computer.  Not bad for something so small and hold 8 GB, FM radio, video camera, and a voice recorder.


There are several free apps for the iPod Touch and iPhone,  i am checking out three .99 ones.  (Go Pedometer, iSteps, and Footsteps)

Here are some other fun sites:  Log It is from  PE Central and allows you to record students steps online and enter competitions and track progress.  Nintendo is coming out with a new game where you take the "Pokewalker" out and earn extra with physical activity that then you sent to the game control with an infrared beam.

There is more, so take some time to look and then step away from the computer and go for a walk.....

New Ways and Ideas to Create Word Clouds

Remember how Wordle creates Word Clouds.
http://www.wordle.net/

Remember that Word Clouds are collections of words from a document or documents that show the frequency of word use by their size, and are often designed in a unique manner.

Here are some resources to continue to use Word Clouds in your Curriculum.

Forty-five Interesting Ways to use Wordle in the Classroom
http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dhn2vcv5_157dpbsg9c5

19 Word Cloud Resources, Tips and Tools
http://teacherbootcamp.edublogs.org/2010/02/14/12-word-cloud-resources-tips-tools/

Other Examples of Word Cloud Sites

Tech Tools and Words Clouds
http://marisaconstantinides.edublogs.org/2010/02/10/tech-tools-pedagogy-ii-word-clouds/
Comparison of Word Cloud Sites
http://philbradley.typepad.com/phil_bradleys_weblog/2010/02/wordle-closed-alternatives.html
More Examples of Classroom use of Word Clouds
http://21centuryedtech.wordpress.com/2010/03/03/i-can-back-off-my-blogging-turn-down-my-tweeting-and-even-wrap-up-my-wiki-but-i-can%E2%80%99t-wane-my-wordling/

UEN Resources for Science

As teachers we are always trying to find engaging content that relates to the core subjects that we are assigned to teach. Just as important as the lessons being engaging they should also be tied to the Utah State Standards. Margo Shirley just introduced me to a number of resources that are provided for Utah educators by UEN. I was not aware of most of the resources that Margo showed me, so I thought that I would pass on some of that knowledge to you.

The tools that I will show you are UEN Resources for K-12 Education-Science. There are 8 broad topic areas that link you to a wealth of information for those topics. To access the general resource area click here. And to access the Science specific area click here. I know that you will find great resources to use in this UEN site. Give it a try.