Uncategorized

Kid-to-kid communications, that is - iEARN-style (iEARN.org, the K-12, Internet- and project-based learning network connects about 1 million students in 25,000 schools in 109 countries, working on more than 150 projects in 30 languages). I'll get to what sort of project in a moment; the big news and surprise pay-off is what this Net-enabled collaboration is doing for students academically - in … [Read more...] about K2K spells better test scores

"They know how to work in teams, are creative problem solvers, and believe that nothing is impossible," reports Harvard Business School's Working Knowledge. That may be comforting news to some parents of young thumb twitchers who thought that about all they were developing was good hand-to-eye coordination - maybe. "Gamers will make great workers and employees," concluded the authors of the … [Read more...] about Gamers: Future star workers?

Our young gamers may escape their arch nemeses in video games, but there's no escaping all the ads. "The fictional landscapes of video games are increasingly being dotted with product placements, pitching everything from athletic shoes to movies," the Associated Press reports. They're on buildings and billboards along virtual city streets, and they're simply products (cars, food, etc.) appearing … [Read more...] about More ads in games

Some 300-400 US day-care centers have Webcams, USATODAY reports, and their promoters are going after schools as well. The article cites one mom who actually chose her 17-month-old's provider, The Learning Curve in Gilbert, Ariz., because it allowed her to "click into" her child's day this way (with a user name and password and only for parents of kids 2 and under). She tries to limit herself to … [Read more...] about Childcare Webcams

"How can we track their instant-messaging?" was a question parents asked school counselor Amanda in the middle of a school community IM crisis. That's a question on many parents' minds that not many people can answer. SafeKids.com's Larry Magid tackled it for the New York Times, saying parents' monitoring and protection strategies depend on the IM system their kids use. And that, I'd add, usually … [Read more...] about IM-ing kids: Tech options for parents