[NAEP] More summer exploration

[Dawn Wiseman]

Having cleaned up my inbox, I'm trying to keep on top of things. 
These sites come from today's Scout report and Math Forum Newsletter.

Dawn
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ESL Gold [Real Player, pdf]
http://www.eslgold.com/
Gold is a precious commodity, and the quest to obtain even modest 
amounts of this substance has consumed the lives of many men and 
women throughout recorded history. To find a website titled "ESL 
Gold" may raise the skeptical eyebrows of some, but truly many of the 
resources on this site will be just that valuable to English as a 
Second Language educators, students, and other concerned parties. The 
homepage is a bit busy in its visual design, but users navigate it 
fairly easily. The site's primary materials are thematically 
organized into categories such as "Speaking", "Listening", "Reading", 
and "Writing". Within each of these sections, visitors can take a 
look through topical resources that compartmentalize different more 
digestible themes, such as "Topics for Writing" or "Organizing and 
Composing". As might be expected, visitors can also find materials 
for beginning, intermediate, or advanced level students.


Knowledge Media Laboratory [pdf]
http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/programs/index.asp?key=38
How do students learn in the classroom? How can teachers best utilize 
new and emerging technologies in the classroom? What can teachers do 
to seamlessly incorporate technology into the learning experience? 
These are all questions that are asked by The Carnegie Foundation for 
the Advancement of Teaching's Knowledge Media Laboratory. On their 
website, users can learn about their work with communities of 
teachers, faculty, programs, and institutions over the past several 
years, and also look over some of their informative case studies. The 
Gallery of Teaching and Learning is a good place to start one's 
exploration of the site, as it contains a number of exhibitions that 
look at how web-based tools can be used in teaching and how 
scholarship may change as a result of an increasingly networked 
milieu. One seminal resource on the site is the KEEP Toolkit. With 
the Toolkit, teachers and others can create engaging knowledge 
representations on the web for their own use. For visitors who might 
feel a bit overwhelmed by this, there is also a nice tutorial that 
explains how the Toolkit can be used.


Algebra: In Simplest Terms
http://www.learner.org/resources/series66.html
The Annenberg Foundation has been an active part of creating 
educational and professional development tools and instructional aids 
for teachers for many years. To reach the broadest audience possible, 
their Annenberg Media website also contains many of their programs in 
their entirety. Math educators and aspiring students of algebra will 
be delighted to learn that their popular series "Algebra: In Simplest 
Terms" is one of those programs found on their site. All told, there 
are a total of 26 episodes in the series, and they deal with such 
topics as linear relations, the ellipse, rational functions, and 
geometric sequences. Narrated by Sol Garfunkel, the series uses 
practical examples as illustrations of various principles and axioms. 
It should be noted that to watch the videos, visitors will need to 
fill out a free online registration form.

Panda, Inc. [Macromedia Flash Player]
http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0607/feature1/index.html
Pandas have captured the imagination and interest of millions of 
people in the United States over the past several decades, and a 
number of well-publicized visits to some of the nation's zoos have 
helped fuel this interest. Despite the fact that pandas are 
tremendously expensive to care for, many zoos continue to argue that 
the visits are important in terms of the cultural exchange 
opportunities they offer for Chinese and American scientists to work 
together. This online feature created by National Geographic explores 
the scientific and financial aspects of hosting pandas in the United 
States, and includes a photo essay, an essay on the subject, and an 
online discussion forum. Accompanying the photo essay are "Field 
Notes" written by photographers Fritz Hoffmann and Michael Nichols. 
These are a real treat, as they both talk about photographing these 
shy creatures, and also about the politics of doing such work in 
China. Finally, the site also includes a "Learn More" area which 
features answers to a number of questions (such as "Are pandas really 
bears?") and a host of related links and suggested readings.

Integer Jim's Math Squad
http://www.mathsquad.com/
Jim Bennett offers creative ways to use art, writing, research, and 
Internet projects to make math more exciting for students. With his 
art projects, Bennett has created year-long adventure themes for his 
middle school students at Cincinnati Christian Schools.
Selections include:

     * The Mission
     * Integer Jim
     * Math Journals
     * Treasure Map
     * Mural Painting
     * Student Web Pages
     * Helps, Challenges
     * Posters, Coupons, etc.

Request a free sample curriculum and guide for using art to teach 
math. See also his TrueType fraction font for formatting numbers with 
a horizontal bar.
http://www.mathsquad.com/fractionfonts.html