schools and tech: episode #33

SaTP33.mp3 Listen on Posterous   1) Rethinking Advanced Placement NYTimes - KB“Next month, the board, the nonprofit organization that owns the A.P. exams as well as the SAT, will release a wholesale revamping of A.P. biology as well as United States history — with 387,000 test-takers the most popular A.P. subject. A preview of the changes shows that the board will slash the amount of material students need to know for the tests and provide, for the first time, a curriculum framework for what courses should look like. The goal is to clear students’ minds to focus on bigger concepts and stimulate more analytic thinking. In biology, a host of more creative, hands-on experiments are intended to help students think more like scientists.”2) PBS Newshour - “Is Technology Wiring Teens to Have Better Brains?” - (10 min video) http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/science/jan-june11/digitalbrain_01-05.html  3)  KhanApp Offers Free Education To Go Education on-the-go is now easier thanks to Khan Academy's mobile application. KhanApp is a mobile webapp that offers a full-fledged application experience around your favorite Khan Academy videos.4) Virginia Poised to Ban Teacher-Student Texting, Facebooking - (ReadWriteWeb) Such is the case with a set of guidelines, set to be voted on this week by the Virginia Board of Education, that will establish the state's policy for how students and teachers can interact via text-messaging, social networking, and online gaming. In a nutshell: they can't. 5) Connectomics from NYT’s “In Pursuit of a Mind Map, Slice by Slice”  - mapping memory and personality in the brain; “The connectome is a product of your genes and your experiences. It’s where nature meets nurture.” The project’s actual website: http://www.humanconnectomeproject.org/   Image from Flickr This project is presently working to achieve the following goals: 1) develop sophisticated tools to process high-angular diffusion (HARDI) and diffusion spectrum imaging (DSI) from normal individuals to provide the foundation for the detailed mapping of the human connectome; 2) optimize advanced high-field imaging technologies and neurocognitive tests to map the human connectome; 3) collect connectomic, behavioral, and genotype data using optimized methods in a representative sample of normal subjects; 4) design and deploy a robust, web-based informatics infrastructure, 5) develop and disseminate data acquisition and analysis, educational, and training outreach materials. Main Topic: A Quaker Education in a High-Tech Era with Guybe Slangen, Assistant Head of San Francisco Friends School - a K–8 co-educational independent school that combines outstanding academics with Quaker values of simplicity, integrity, mutual respect, and peaceful problem-solving.Endorsements: Cammy:  http://www.teachparentstech.org/ Kevin: backpacks! I like the Kata DR 467i Tim: How to Audit and Update Your Passwords Researcher Develops Password Hacking Software for Wi-Fi Networks Using Amazon Web Services Permalink | Leave a comment  »