Creative Commons and Flickr – a solution found!

I’ve written before about the amazing collection of Creative Commons images that are available on Flickr, which are perfect for students (and teachers!) to use when creating any sort of visual content.  It is so important that as educators we model the use of Creative Commons licenced materials, because even though we do have some flexibility in education due to various copyright exceptions, if students wish to publish their work publicly these exceptions do not apply.

By Martin Missfeldt / Bildersuche.org [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

You can read more about Creative Commons if you are new to this term on this previous post on the ResourceLink blog.

Unfortunately, the solution which is described in this earlier post, using Greasemonkey to access Creative Commons licence information came unstuck late last month, when Flickr updated their image pages, which ‘broke’ the script.

As Cory Doctorow writes in this article about this issue, having no easy access to this Creative Commons licence information is extremely frustrating; such a wonderful range of images, which are so very difficult to attribute puts users off, and certainly sent me off looking to other sources for images when I was putting together some presentations last week.

The solution Cory suggests, using the Attributr script available through Github is terrific, but not for the faint hearted. It isn’t easy to navigate Github and get the script working; in fact, after reading this Lifehackr article about Github, I decided to look elsewhere for a solution.

Thankfully, Alan Levine, the creator of the original Greasemonkey script that I blogged about earlier, has again come to the rescue! He also has used Github to create a bookmarklet, but the difference is he’s designed it in such a way that it is really easy to use.

Simply go to his page (click the screen grab image above to access it), click on the Bookmarklet button and drag it up to your bookmark toolbar.

Now, when you go to any page on Flickr which has a Creative Commons Licenced image on it, click on the bookmarklet button, and a window will pop up with all of the attribution information you need! Too easy!

It looks just like this:

creative commons licensed (BY) flickr photo by globochem3x1minus1: http://flickr.com/photos/globochem/868547934

This means once again it is so easy to attribute creative commons images found on Flickr – and this is thanks to the work of others sharing their scripts and work generously under a Creative Commons Licence which allows us all to benefit from their technical skills. So thank you Cory Dodt (even though I found your solution too complicated for me) and thank you Alan Levine (Work found at http://cogdogblog.com/flickr-cc-helper/ / CC BY-SA 3.0) and thank you also to all of the other creators who share their work via Open Source or under a Creative Commons licence; together we is bigger than me!

creative commons licensed ( BY-SA ) flickr photo shared by opensourceway

Running a Maker Faire: Good Hard Fun at St Joachim’s

After being inspired by our fantastic day working with Gary Stager and Sylvia Martinez at the Invent to Learn day hosted by Brisbane Catholic Education (which you can read about in the earlier post, Resourcing the Maker Movement, my colleagues and I decided to run a Maker Faire at one of our schools. Being based at ResourceLink, I began creating kits of resources and equipment that we could use to run the Maker Faire, and which could then be borrowed by schools who wish to investigate using this style of hands on learning.

Running the Maker Faire

The plan was to run the Maker Faire at St Joachim’s, Holland Park West, where we could work with the Teacher Librarian who had also attended the Invent to Learn day, to introduce the Year 5,6 & 7 students to a range of hands on activities based on the ideas in Invent to Learn.

We organised the students into groups of 8, and timetabled them to spend about one hour on each of the activities, which they would rotate through throughout the day.

One space, ‘Cardboard Alley’ was open for the students to visit at any stage during the day, and offered the students the opportunity to use Makedo and Rolobox equipment with a huge assortment of cardboard boxes of all shapes and sizes. This was an important option, as it provided students a place to go and recharge if they completed an activity early, or if they just needed a ‘brain break’ from the more challenging activities.

During the Maker Faire, the students had fun with:

Lego WeDo – an introduction to Lego engineering and robotics, Lego WeDo allows students from Year 3 and up to build and program simple models such as cranes, cars and ferris wheels. Using either the Lego WeDo software, or the free programming app Scratch, students can experiment and develop skills in  language and literacy, math and technology, as well as enhance their creativity, communication and design skills.

Arduino – Arduino is an open-source electronics  platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. Using Arduino, students can write simple programs using  Arduino open source software to create projects using motors, gearboxes, speakers, LEDs, switches, cases and many other electronic parts.Projects can be as simple or as complex as you wish, suiting users from Year 5 and up.

Makey Makey – allows students to turn everyday objects into touchpads and combine them with the internet. Simply use the supplied wires or alligator clips to connect any type of everyday item (such as fruit, plants, coins, play dough etc) to the Makey Makey board, and then plug the board into the computer, and you are able to interact with the computer by way of the attached objects. Students love playing computer games using fruit as the controllers!

Squishy Circuits– by combining conductive and non-conductive dough with a battery pack, leds, small motors and buzzers, students are able to create innovative simple circuits of any shape. A fascinating way to learn about circuitry and basic electronics.

Interactive Cardcraft– students were able to make light up greeting cards by using conductive paint and copper tape along with led lights and small batteries to create simple circuits on the cards. The challenge was to apply their understanding of circuits and switches to the real-life application of the greeting card.

Interactive Wearables – Using ideas from this wonderful soft circuits booklet, students created brooches and arm-bands that lit up by sewing circuits using conductive thread, copper tape, batteries and led lights. While the sewing was challenging, so too was the application of their understanding of simple circuits to another practical challenge.

During the day, the students had so much fun. Their smiles, their engagement and the question ‘is this really school work?’ was evidence that the Maker Faire was a big success. However, not only did the students have fun; they also learnt so much about circuitry, programming, robotics and simple electronics, as well as developing their creativity, their problem-solving strategies and their ability to collaborate and work together. We encouraged the students to ask each other for help, and to share their successes and failures throughout the day. Listen to the conversations the students are having during this short video:

Constructing the Invent to Learn kits: advice for libraries wishing to resource Maker Spaces

When creating the kits for the Maker Faire, I purchased equipment from a range of different outlets. As a library, ResourceLink cannot supply the consumable equipment required for these kits, and so I created detailed lists of what was included and what the user needed to supply in order to run the activity successfully. This information is included in each kit on a laminated card (copies of which you can download below). I also included where possible printable information and instruction cards, which you can download also from the links below. Being based in Brisbane Australia, please note that some of the suppliers are locally based, however some of the online retailers ship all over the world.

Cardboard Construction:

Click on the image to download a printable pdf version.

Click on the image to download a printable pdf version.

Squishy Circuits:

Click on the image to download a printable pdf version.

Makey Makey:

Click on the image to download a printable pdf version.

Arduino:Lego Engineering:Interactive Papercraft:

Links to all of the resources you could possibly need to learn more about Maker Faires and creating maker spaces in a library are available on the ResourceLink Pinterest Board, Makerspaces and STEAM in Libraries or Anywhere, and also curated on this Pearltrees site.

For those who want to try running their own Maker Faire, I can only say: Go for it! The learning, the enjoyment and engagement is well worth the organisation, and the equipment is really not as costly as you would imagine. Start small, and build up. You may be surprised at what your school already owns, once you start investigating! For those in Brisbane Catholic Education, borrow these pre-made kits as a ‘try before you buy’ – contact ResourceLink find out how you can borrow these new resources today!

Resourcing the Maker Movement – ResourceLink ventures into the Makerspace!

This title is available to BCE staff to borrow through ResourceLink, or to purchase online through Amazon.

This is the first of two posts on the Maker Movement – inspired by a recent visit to Brisbane Catholic Education by two educational leaders, Gary Stager and Sylvia Martinez.

Their ‘Invent to Learn ‘ day inspired the twenty or so fortunate educators who were participating in their workshop, including myself, to take up the challenge and bring hands on tinkering and making to learning.  Gary and Sylvia gave a fantastic overview of why the ‘maker movement’ is such a powerful way to bring learning to life in the classroom, before setting we teachers loose at a range of learning stations, where we could see for ourselves the enjoyment and reward of ‘making’, as well as the clear connections this hands on learning has for Maths, Science, Technology, The Arts, English and more.

Inspired by this day, we decided to plan a ‘Maker Faire’ for students at one of our schools, and how we did this and what happened will form the second ‘maker movement’ blog post. This post focuses on some of the many wonderful resources already available for teachers who wish to learn more about how to bring about this learning in their classrooms, and why it is so powerful.

The books mentioned in this blog post are all available for sale online, but are also available to borrow from the ResourceLink library for staff of Brisbane Catholic Education.

The seminal text in this area is of course Stager & Martinez’s recently published ‘Invent To Learn‘. Accompanied by a fantastic website, the book begins with ‘an insanely brief and incomplete history of making’, which brings readers up to date with the work of Jean Piaget and Seymour Papert, exploring the Reggio Emilia Approach and highlighting how hands on learning has featured in classrooms during many periods of history, but has never been as accessible as it is now:

‘Today we have the capability to give every child the tools, materials and context to achieve their potential…thanks to the personal fabrication and physical computing revolution… unencumbered by the limited imaginations of today’s education policy makers.’

Stager and Martinez provide not only theory and sound arguments for why kids learn better by making – they also provide strategies, advice and resources for teachers who want to bring making into their classrooms.

The maker movement is all about hands on – and so the first titles that were added to our library’s collection are ones that inspire exciting, innovative and ‘dangerous’ projects – just the thing for those looking for something to make or do.

Unbored is available to BCE staff for loan from ResourceLink and available for sale online.

Unbored is a huge resource. According to the introduction by Mark Frauenfelder, co-founder of Boing Boing,

‘it is the first kids’ book to truly encourage a hands on approach to creating a personally meaningful life –  a powerful antidote to those forces that constantly try to shape us into passive consumers of pre-made reality.’

With Chapters devoted to you, home, society and adventure there are over 350 different activities, games, challenges, story excerpts, comics and more to keep kids and adults entertained for months.

Visit unbored.net for a sample of activities and ideas from each of the book’s chapters, which are complete with exhaustive resource lists with further reading and websites.

50 Dangerous Things is available for loan to BCE staff through ResourceLink, and available to purchase online.

Another terrific title we have added to our collection is 50 Dangerous Things (you should let your children do) by Gever Tulley and Julie Spiegler. Tulley is best known for his school, Brightworks which is a non-profit private school, currently catering for 30 students. The students learn through a hands-on pedagogical approach where students investigate their own ‘arcs’ – projects of their choosing which have three different phases: exploration, expression, and exposition.

In 50 Dangerous Things, Tulley and Spiegler give explicit instructions (with note paper provided to jot down observations, improvements and new ideas) for 50 wild and crazy things – things that some kids have never even considered trying.

These projects range from mastering the perfect somersault to constructing your own flying machine, and reflect the truly sheltered nature of some childhoods compared to those of 20 or 30 years ago. While some projects are challenging and do require adult supervision (such as changing a tyre or experimenting with fire), others, such as climbing a tree or walk home from school encourage kids to take back the childhood experiences many adults took for granted.

This is available to for BCE staff to borrow from ResourceLink or to buy online.

For indoor making adventures, we purchased Super Scratch Programming Adventure! – a colourful, graphic based book which gives students step by step instructions for creating different games using the free to download Scratch program, which will run on most basic computers and enables kids to experiment with graphical programming. Scratch was developed and is maintained by the MIT Media Lab, and is a simple tool allows kids to program their own interactive stories, games, and animations — and share these creations if they so choose with others in the Scratch online community.

This video is a great way to learn more about Scratch.

The Super Scratch Programming adventure gives kids a starting point for making different games – and once they have begun coding in Scratch, they are free to iterate, improve and develop the games in complexity and quality. It’s the hands-on ‘getting inside’ of the computer game that empowers kids to explore and take an active role rather than passively consuming pre-created games; it also gives kids a huge kick when others play or interact with one of their own creations!

cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo by Morten Diesen: http://flickr.com/photos/mortendiesen/8091682612/

Each of these hands on ideas books are open exciting avenues for teachers – but will your principal let you take this path?

Thankfully, ResourceLink has also added to its collection books that give you the theory and the research that shows that operating in the makerspace is a credible and worthwhile investment.

Two of these books available for loan to BCE staff (and available for sale online) are World Class Learners by Yong Zhao and Creating Innovators by Tony Wagner.

Both of these titles are available to BCE staff to loan or to purchase online.

Zhao argues that students leaving school today will be entering positions which increasingly require creativity and entrepreneurial skills – and that current educational systems which focus on standards and high stakes testing are not necessarily the best methods for developing these:

…existing evidence suggests at least that tightly controlled standardised curriculum, a uniformly executed teaching approach, narrowly prescribed and carefully planned learning activities, and rigorously watched and frequently administered high-stakes testing do not produce creative and entrepreneurial talents, although they may lead to higher test scores. Zhao, p17.

Zhao concludes that students who have autonomy to follow their interests and passions, who are given the opportunity to produce and create and who are not limited to working solely within the limits of the classroom will have a greater chance of developing the skills and qualities required by a 21st century workforce.

In Creating Innovators, Wagner echoes these findings, identifying schools, colleges and workplaces where cultures of innovation are nurtured through collaboration, interdisciplinary problem-solving and intrinsic motivation. Below is just one of the 60 videos created to support the text. 

The maker movement is innovative, exciting and has so much potential for learners – stay tuned for our next post about how we bring it to life in one of our schools.

Young People using Social Media positively: Authentic, real world learning opportunities

Many of you will have heard about Martha Payne, the 9 year old Scottish girl whose blog, Never Seconds, came to international attention earlier this year. If you didn’t, here’s a brief rundown:

Martha began writing her blog as a record of her school lunches.
She promised a photo, and a score:

Photo credit: Sakurako Kitsa / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND

Food-o-meter- Out of 10 a rank of how great my lunch was!
Mouthfuls- How else can we judge portion size!
Courses- Starter/main or main/dessert
Health Rating- Out of 10, can healthy foods top the food-o-meter?
Price- Currently £2 I think, its all done on a cashless catering card
Pieces of hair- It won’t happen, will it?

Within two weeks her blog posts had gathered more than a million viewers, and enthusiastic posts from other students sharing their own lunch photos, not just from Scotland, but from Finland, Germany, Japan, Spain and the United States. She was garnering so much attention that she even raised a sizeable amount of money for a charity; Mary’s Meals, an organisation that funds school lunches in Africa. Seven weeks later, the local council made the controversial decision to ban Martha from bringing her camera to school; thankfully this decision was quickly reversed after protests from some of her most well known supporters (including Jamie Oliver and Neil Gaiman) as well as a massive media protest at the short-sightedness of the move.

This is just one example of the extraordinary potential young people now have to influence what was previously beyond their reach; using social media and other 2.0 technologies, the thoughts and actions of young people can have powerful influences across the entire globe.

Another example is the recent news that Hasbro has revealed it will release a toy oven in shades of black, silver and blue, after McKenna Pope, 13, submitted a petition with over 40 000 signatures that she had created on Change.org.  The thirteen year old was planning to buy the toy oven as a gift for her little brother, but became aware that it only came in pink and purple, and featured all girls in the advertising. Using YouTube to raise awareness of her petition, McKenna showed how social media can be used to create positive change.

With examples such as these for inspiration, there is no end to the possibilities for teachers looking for ways to engage their students in real world action. In fact, as Marilyn M. Lombardi’ suggests in Authentic Learning for the 21st Century: An Overview, thanks to technology, authentic, real world learning has never been more achievable.

Why not consider the following:

* Use iPads and iMovie to create documentaries on student issues – post to a YouTube channel for a world-wide audience

* Publish student research as a Wikipedia page

* Tweet results of student surveys; ask other schools to comment and compare results

* Create a Google Map of the local area around the school, locating community services and resources relevant for the school community; publish on the school blog

* Participate in a global project such as the Flat Classroom or a local one such as Witness King Tides

* Use real data sets to create suggested strategies for real-world problems – try Saving Migratory Animals as an example

As you can see, the possibilities are limited only by your imagination, and the projects can be as simple or as complex as you wish.

Looking for further inspiration? Check out these amazing young people and what they’ve achieved using passion, energy and technology!

A small beginning has led to Random Kid – a website that helps kids solve real world problems:

Using YouTube to share a great message:

Have your students taken on a great real world project? Share in the comments below!

Marilyn Lombardi. (2007). Authentic Learning for the 21st Century: An Overview | EDUCAUSE.edu ( No. ELI Paper 1: 2007). Educause. Retrieved from http://www.educause.edu/library/resources/authentic-learning-21st-century-overview

Numeracy Ideas for the Contemporary Classroom

The Melbourne Declaration of Educational Goals for Young Australians (MCEETYA 2008) recognises that numeracy is an essential skill for students in becoming successful learners at school and life beyond school, and in preparing them for their future roles as family, community and workforce members. More broadly, a highly numerate population is critical in ensuring the nation’s ongoing prosperity, productivity and workforce participation.

Individuals who are numerate are better prepared to participate and engage in a world that is increasingly focused upon creativity, innovation and which focuses upon knowledge creation and sharing.

This blog post is based upon the research of Professor Merrilyn Goos and many of the ideas here have been inspired by the great work of Tom Barrett.  He is a tremendous inspiration for all teachers, not just in the work he does with Ewan McIntosh for NoTosh, but also in his tremendous crowd-sourced series, Interesting Ways. I would encourage you to follow him on Twitter (@tombarrett), as a regular source of great ideas and resources.

21st Century Numeracy

Professor Merrilyn Goos has developed an excellent model for 21st Century numeracy:

A model for 21st century numeracy by Merrilyn Goos

Click on the thumbnail for a larger version, or read about the model in more detail in the following Keynote Presentation: http://www.nlnw.sa.edu.au/files/links/Goos_SAkeynote.ppt

Explaining the model:

You still need mathematical knowledge to be numerate! This includes concepts, skills, and problem solving strategies, as well as the ability to use sensible estimations. A numerate person also has positive dispositions – a willingness and confidence to engage with tasks – independently and in collaboration with others – and apply their mathematical knowledge in flexible and adaptable ways.
Numerate practice often involves using tools. These include:

1. Representational tools like ready reckoners and charts and tables that might be used in a manufacturing context, and of course

2. physical tools like mathematical drawing instruments and the work related tools of a trade or profession

3.digital tools – technology.
A numerate person can organise their personal finances, for example in relation to credit card spending and mobile phone use. They manage their personal health by making decisions about their eating and exercise habits. They engage in leisure activities that require numeracy knowledge, such as travel, sport, perhaps gambling.

All kinds of occupations require numeracy. Many examples of work-related numeracy are very specific to the particular work context, and often the mathematics used is either invisible to the user or is used in very different ways from how mathematics is taught at school.

Informed and critical citizens are numerate citizens. Almost every public issue depends on data, projections, and the kind of systematic thinking that’s at the heart of numeracy.

Numeracy – A General Capability

In the Australian Curriculum students become numerate as they develop the capacity to recognise and understand the role of mathematics in the world around them and the confidence, willingness and ability to apply mathematics to their lives in ways that are constructive and meaningful.

As they become numerate, students develop and use mathematical skills related to:

• Calculation and number
• Patterns and relationships
• Proportional reasoning
• Spatial reasoning
• Statistical literacy
• Measurement.

With this in mind, below are four examples of different ways technology can be used creatively to enhance students’ numeracy skills. These ideas do not focus specifically on maths, but rather on broader strategies that require the application of a number of the mathematical skills numerate students demonstrate.

 1. Wolfram Alpha –

creating interesting calculation and number problems with real information

Wolfram Alpha is a computational search engine. Although it works at extremely complex levels, there are many challenges that can be set using Wolfram Alpha as inspiration and to check results against.

For example:
Write down everything you know about the number 28. http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=28

1)    Is 10 001 a prime number? http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=Is+10001+prime%3F

Or create engaging calculations using information that is nominated by the students. For example:

1)    Which Harry Potter movie is the longest, and by how much (students need to compare numbers, order them and then subtract second longest from longest) http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=Harry+Potter+and+the+Philosopher%27s+Stone&a=*C.Harry+Potter+and+the+Philosopher%27s+Stone-_*Movie-

2)    How much closer is Brisbane to the South Pole as the North Pole? http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=Brisbane+to+North+Pole

3)    Are there more men or women living in Australia, and by how much? http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=how+many+men+in+australia

2. Proportional Reasoning using Scootle

There are fantastic learning objects available on Scootle that allow students to see and interact with fractions and the understandings required to develop proportional reasoning.

Explore this learning path of examples of some of the quality learning objects:

http://www.scootle.edu.au/ec/pin/EDWHQM?userid=20960 – Pin number is EDWHWM

Cassowary sanctuary

Help a park ranger to arrange fencing in a wildlife sanctuary. Divide common geometric shapes into equal-sized sections for keeping cassowaries. Group the enclosures to form a quarantine zone, then express divisions of the enclosures as fractions. Work through facts about the life of cassowaries: physical characteristics; diet; habitat; life cycles; and locations. Interact with graphs to see how people can help to save cassowaries. This learning object is a combination of two objects in the same series

Playground percentages

Help a town planner to design two site plans for a school. Assign regions on a 10×10 grid for different uses such as a playground, canteen, car park or lawn. Calculate the percentage of the total site used for each region. Use a number line to display fractions and equivalent fractions. This learning object is a combination of two objects in the same series.

Measures: scaling down

Compare the areas of squares, rectangles and triangles before and after being scaled down (reduced). Notice that ‘similar shapes’ in the mathematical sense have the same shape but different areas. Explore the relationship between side-length reduction and area reduction when scaling down shapes. This learning object is the third in a series of eight objects that progressively increase in difficulty.

Spatial Reasoning using Resources from Flickr

A great deal of Maths is visible in the everyday. Having students identify where they see Maths can be an engaging way to relate the concepts being taught to real life examples.

Using Flickr students can:

• search for specific examples of spatial concepts in real life

http://www.flickr.com/photos/44335830@N08/sets/72157625801871870/

http://www.flickr.com/groups/geometric/pool/page2/

http://www.flickr.com/groups/99544099@N00/pool/

cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo by kathryn_rotondo: http://flickr.com/photos/kathryn_rotondo/2228148826/

cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo by Andrew J. Sutherland: http://flickr.com/photos/sutherlandviolin/3351394552/

cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo by Cast a Line: http://flickr.com/photos/58754750@N08/5454720719/

• students upload their own photos and share explanations for their choices – use the ‘notes’ feature on photos in flickr to add explanations, as seen in this example:

cc licensed ( BY NC SD ) flickr photo by reekhardough: http://flickr.com/photos/70968517@N00/321037734/

  http://www.flickr.com/photos/70968517@N00/321037734/

Developing Statistical Literacy using Google Docs

Using Google Docs allows students to create forms that are automatically linked to spreadsheets for analysis of data.

The difference between using a program such as Excel and Google Docs is that with Google Docs you can provide a web link or embed the form on a class blog or website to provide more open access. Also, multiple students can access the form/spreadsheet at the same time, making it possible to set group tasks or even homework (e.g. survey parents etc).

An example is here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AgBciM5qWAuTdGRIQWdPS2FJN2tfYkVxRXlPSGRiZUE

Google Forms can be as simple or as complex as required, and provide the option to view responses in a summary format also:

Google Spreadsheets allow data to be visualised also:

Developing Measurement Skills using Google Maps

Google maps allow you to zoom in on many different areas of interest. If you have a Google Account, you can create maps with pins that have associated maths challenges.

As part of the Maps Labs, you can tick an option to have a distance measurement tool function that students can then use to measure different distances – not only the distance between different points, but the area and perimeter of swimming pools and other large constructions and locations. To access this tool, you need to be logged in – why not create a generic Google account for students so that they can use this and other features.

For Example:

http://g.co/maps/phz5s

Your thoughts?

Have you used a contemporary tool in an innovative way to develop numeracy skills?

Share your ideas or experiences in the comments – we’d love to hear of more ways to engage students in this vital area!

Could your students make a real difference? Take part in a world first!

ITU Telecom is part of the ITU (International Telecommunication Union), the United Nations specialized agency for telecommunications. ITU Telecom organizes global events for the governments, industry leaders and regulators that form part of the world’s ICT community. The first ITU Telecom event was held in 1971 and marks its 40th anniversary in 2011. The next ITU Telecom World event, will take place from 24 to 27 October 2011 in Geneva, Switzerland.

The ITU Telecom World 11 MetaConference [http://world2011.us] is all about seeing how young people think technology might solve some of the world’s greatest problems. You can sign up to get involved right now in this project brought to you by the United Nations agency responsible for ICT: http://world2011.us/get-involved/

ITU Telecom World 2011 [http://world2011.itu.int] is the MetaConference’s physical event in Geneva, Switzerland, bringing together thousands of influential delegates from the telecommunications and technology industries to discuss what steps need to be taken to get more of the world connected. It’s the world’s most important ICT event, where big decisions are taken on how technology can be used to solve some of our biggest problems.

And they need the help of your students!


By asking your students how they would go about solving problems running through seven major themes, you are not just covering content that is almost certainly in your curriculum – you’re offering a global stage for the ideas in front of the very people making the decisions for all our futures.

 

Conference organisers are  inviting 10,000 global school children (8-18)  to design the innovations that could make a real difference to their world, and submit their videos, blog posts, photographs and sketches, through you, to http://world2011.us/get-involved/

We want them to tell us how technology could be harnessed to:

•        alleviate poverty and hunger

•        improve education for all

•        address gender inequality

•        make sure everyone has access to health care

•        protect our environment

•        make disabled people’s lives easier

•        close the gap between the developed and developing world

 

Ideas and prototypes will be shown to delegates at the World 2011 event in Geneva, Switzerland on October 25-27. In addition,  all students will be encouraged to send in their ideas live during the event, with the event’s expert panels answering their questions and points.


 

There are  some brief online lesson starters and project ideas to help you make the most of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for your students [http://world2011.us/category/inspiration/]. There’s also a collaborative space to share your own teaching and learning approaches, as well as upload video, audio, photographic or written content from your students’ work.

 

This is YOUR chance to be part of a world-first experiment, to have YOUR voice heard on a   global platform, to have YOUR ideas seen by the very people who make the decisions that affect our everyday lives. How can technology make our world happier, safer and smarter? How can people from different countries work together to make our world more sustainable

 

Once you’ve registered [http://world2011.us/get-involved/], you can share your ideas and prototypes with each other. Your ideas will also form a significant part of World 2011’s Manifesto for Change; a blueprint for using technology to make a real difference. 

This challenge comes to you from the International Telecommunication Union http://www.itu.int

Sign up today: http://world2011.us/get-involved/

It is amazing what kids can achieve: