The final countdown

June.

It's our final countdown to the printing of Brainspace Magazine. Our long-awaited and anticipated inaugural issue.

Though this is the height of excitement for Brainspace staff, it doesn't trump what June really stands for.

In the immortal words of Alice Cooper, "School's Out For the Summer."

June marks the final month of a completed school year. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping and once again we look back with a sense of accomplishment. Teachers and students are counting down the days on their blackboards to summer break.

There is a communal buzz at the impending break from day to day routine and studies. 

Most teachers would jest that it might be easier to teach a donkey to fly than it would be to teach new lessons to children in June. With the palpable excitement in the air, the results would likely prove to be similar.

June is dedicated to review and final exams. The results of those exams will be passed on to the next teacher in the coming grade. 

In September, teachers review. Typically, the initial two to three weeks of September are dedicated to getting the sparks going and normalizing the classroom to a daily routine.

Traditionally June, July, August and September are not optimal months for new learning. Add to these the winter holiday break with its preceding concerts/plays and parties and it is fair to assume that December is the winter equivalent of June.

Realistically, there are 7 months when children are truly primed for new learning. 

Take away the hours required for field trips, school events, fundraisers like Hoops for Heart, Dance-a-thons and teachable hours for core subjects are dwindling. 

Though extra-curricular activities are all a crucial part of learning, there is a limited pool of hours that is allocated to core subject learning. From that pool, we dedicate time to specialties such as music, physical education/health, art and French. Finally, the 3Rs are given the remainder of the hours. It is easy to understand why teachers often feel hurried to ensure their students meet curriculum expectations.

According to a recent study conducted by Brainspace Magazine, 73% of Ontario parents feel that their child would benefit from extra tutoring stating reasons ranging from dissatisfaction with their child's academic performance to needing to accelerate their child's learning.

We'd like to hear your feedback on one of the following topics:

- pilot schools that have frequent short breaks in the year rather than one long break in the summer

- extra learning methods - if any - that you use at home

Watch for Brainspace Magazine in August. Visit our website to request a copy of our first issue.

www.brainspacemagazine.com

Kids are going to be demanding this level of interaction.

The development of Brainspace Magazine has been an exciting if not lofty undertaking. However, doubt at the viability of a magazine in a somewhat trying economy creeps in. My passion for education and magazines has encouraged me to stay the course - and today, so has this article reprinted from guardian.co.uk. It's an exciting time for education and technology. Brainspace is proud to be on the cusp of it! Please comment below.

Nicky Middleton,
Publisher, Brainspace Magazine

brainspacemagazine.com

Watch for it in August.

The problem with augmented reality (AR) is its perception as digital gimmickry: a technology in search of a useful application that's often hijacked for novelty purposes.

AR can make cartoon monsters jump out of crisp packets or make tweets float in the air above the place they were posted from, but there's little evidence that people enjoy this half as much as brands looking for an easy PR win, or AR technologists.

The situation is improving, though. There are signs of AR having real potential for education, children's entertainment, interactive print and other areas; Nokia is making a big push with its LiveSight technology, and Google's Project Glass is attracting the futurists with its promise of less-clunky augmented eyewear.

AR has a prominent spot on Qualcomm's stand at Mobile World Congress courtesy of its Vuforia platform, which competes for the attention of app developers and brands with the likes of Aurasma andBlippar.

Julian Harris, senior business development manager at Qualcomm, told me that Vuforia now has 45k registered developers and more than 100k downloads of its software development kit (SDK).

More importantly – because developers tend to sign up for all the different augmented reality SDKs to try them out – more than 3k appshave been published using Vuforia, with 40 of those passing the 100k downloads milestone.

"It's meaningful stuff," said Harris, whisking me through demos of a selection of commercial third-party apps – a contrast to briefings in the early days of Vuforia, when Qualcomm was making its own prototype apps to show off what developers and brands could do, if they adopted the platform.

The demos at MWC include Big Bird's Words – a Sesame Street app that sends children off to scan specific words in the real world; a Lego augmented reality catalogue; Anatomy 4D with its full-body anatomical model; Disney's Princess Royal Ball app which gets children to build a virtual carriage then scan packaging to see it in the real world; Ballard Designs' interior design catalogue; and an issue of Maxim that maps a video of its cover-model to the cover when scanned with the magazine's app.

Oh, and Om Nom: Candy Flick, an augmented reality game developed by ZeptoLab and based on its popular Cut the Rope games, which was released in early 2013.

It's notable how many of the demos are aimed at children, who in my experience are more thrilled than sceptical about augmented reality when it's done well – even for novelty purposes. Harris agrees, citing another high-profile Vuforia-powered app: James May's Science Stories, released in 2012 by London's Science Museum.

"After James May's Science Stories, my son points my phone at things and says 'Where's the little man Daddy?'," says Harris.

"This technology is just par for the course with him, and it's this fusion between the physical and digital that we're calling 'digital sixth sense'. Kids are going to be demanding this level of interaction."

He's bullish about the prospects for AR aimed at adults, though. "Augmented reality as a technology is starting to mature, and people are taking fuller and better advantage of it," says Harris.

"It's also being used as a channel for product information, in ways that you couldn't possibly articulate in a printed manual or brochure."

reposted from an article published by guardian.co.uk 

Enough is Enough!

Geoffrey Canada says he's an angry black man. He's funny and poignant and he makes a few excellent points. He also sounds like Grover from Sesame Street and you can hear him speak inside the pages of the November issue of Brainspace Magazine.

Geoffrey Canada is an American educator but what he speaks of addresses many of the issues teachers and students face in Canadian schools.

Is our school "business model" a good one? Is summer break a good idea for struggling students? Is year-end standardized testing an effective cost?

In his opinionated talk, Enough is Enough, Geoffrey Canada makes us take a look at who the decision makers are, what their decisions are based on and why some of those decisions need to be questioned.

http://www.ted.com/talks/geoffrey_canada_our_failing_schools_enough_is_enough.html

Please comment below.

Bringing learning to life

I've had the same beautiful pictures of my children on my wall for over 3 years. They were taken by a professional photographer (thanks Ann Zbitnew!) for an article when I was the art director of Today's Parent magazine.

My son was only 4 months at the time and my daughter a little more than 2 years old. There are 6 photos in the series and my son is watching his sister intently in every shot. Adoring her - I surmised.
My kids are now 13 and 15.


Just the other day, I looked at the pictures. Really looked at them. I noticed that he wasn't just watching his older sister in adulation. My son was intently studying her left hand. In each and every shot, those gorgeous blue eyes were studying her delicate, little, left hand. He was learning. Eureka! Suddenly - after 12 years - those pictures did tell a thousand words.

Soon, Brainspace Magazine will be doing so much more than that. Pictures, diagrams and drawings will be able to virtually tell you what they mean. Downloading the free app will allow your student to hover his/her mobile device and - much like the Harry Potter newspaper - the pictures will tell a story about math, science, language, geography, history or any of the topics covered in Brainspace Magazine. The potential for augmented reality in education is huge.

Taking theory and virtually applying it to practical life situations is what makes learning real and purposeful.

Watch for the launch of Brainspace Magazine at Word on The Street, September 22nd in Queen's Park, Toronto. We'd love to meet you!

Please comment below.

Your thoughts, as always, are valued.


Nicky Middleton, Publisher

www.facebook.com/brainspacemagazine

Have faith educators!

I love ideas.

As a teacher, I heard many ideas. Kids have endless ideas.

Some sounded far fetched like the idea of creating a star in jar.

There is a science experiment conducted with oil, water and alcohol that likens the reaction to the creation of a star. This experiment inspired an idea that Taylor Wilson had. Taylor Wilson, 17 years of age, is now a nuclear physicist having developed a fusion reactor in his garage at the age of 14. I highly recommend watching the scientific wunderkind; click on the TEDtalk link below.

http://www.ted.com/talks/taylor_wilson_yup_i_built_a_nuclear_fusion_reactor.html

Taylor Wilson is changing the world. Taylor sees things in a unique way. He was given permission to do so.

I remember a grade 1 student completing a reading lab assignment and this was one of the questions:

Are the stripes on the zebra:
a) horizontal?
b) vertical?

Vertical of course. Basic.

The child walked up to me and said "I don't understand this question." So, I assumed she hadn't understood the subtext of the question and helped her read it again. "No, Mrs. Middleton, I know what the question reads." She was obviously perplexed. "What is it that you don't understand then?" So, I proceeded to review the geometry lesson on vertical and horizontal lines on the blackboard assuming the little light bulb would go on. "I know that vertical lines go up and down. Is the zebra sleeping?"
Aha. "Let's assume, the zebra is awake, so he's standing up and you are standing beside him."

Picture the stripes if the zebra was lying down and you were standing in front of his head.

My brain was more structured or predisposed to answering formulaic questions.
Her's, not as much. Less confines = more possibilities.

Why am I going on about zebra stripes? To illustrate the value of trust in our children's ideas.

Educating Taylor Wilson must have been a tremendous task - if a teacher felt it was his/her responsibility to do so. However, I would guess that the great teachers allowed themselves to learn from Taylor Wilson. The great teachers didn't expect Taylor to fall within the parameters of a grading rubric.
Great teachers likely gave the tools to inspire him and trusted/allowed him do the rest - without interruption.

I'd once discussed the science of plate tectonics to grade 3 students as we studied the lithosphere. I could almost see the connections their brains were making to volcanic and seismic activity. This extension to a lesson on the composition of the Earth wasn't part of the curriculum expectations - not at a grade 3 level - but it was fascinating and came about because of a question one of the students had asked.

During a federal standardized test taken several months later, a question pertaining to volcano eruptions was answered in great detail by 4 of my students. They wrote about plate tectonics and one child even drew a diagram of convection currents. This was extra research he'd done on his own beyond the classroom. The grading rubric did not recognize the advanced terminology or did it consider the diagram- all of which was quite relevant to volcano eruptions. He didn't get the points for his thorough understanding of volcanoes. According to the parameters of the federal education system score, he didn't get it.

Children like Taylor Wilson need to be inspired by education rather than filled with education. Structured curriculums and mandated subject content aren't conducive to evolved thinking. In fact, they may even curtail the possibility of discovery or genius at play.

Do you know a creative child? Has your child's brilliant idea fallen on deaf ears? Please comment below.

Please comment.

Your comments and feedback are valued.

Texting woes? Fret not parents!

You're engaged in conversation with a 14 year old who proceeds to take out her mobile device, reads, smiles and proceeds to respond by texting back - all in under 30 seconds.

A typical 40+ year old adult, will generally feel dismissed and slightly offended.

This scene is endemic. However, is it necessarily an affliction that we need to be concerned with or could it possibly be a blossoming that we should observe with inquisitiveness or maybe even a small sense of awe?

Neurologists have noted greater synapse development in brain activity and linguists are intrigued by the development of new language derived from this new age of "texters."

Watch for more on this topic in the August issue of Brainspace Magazine: Synapse Science and the Evolution of Language.

Please see the TEDtalk below.

<iframe src="http://embed.ted.com/talks/john_mcwhorter_txtng_is_killing_language_jk.html" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe>

http://www.ted.com/talks/john_mcwhorter_txtng_is_killing_language_jk.html

John McWhorter: Txtng is killing language. JK!!