MSM 511: It’s Really Not a Rhetorical Question
Summary:
Shawn and Troy catch up on the challenges and changes coming in education. Dave continues his thoughts on computational thinking.
Jokes:
What do you call it when someone steals your coffee?
- A mugging
A friend went into a pet store and inquired about bird cages. He asked one of them was made of. The employee said aluminum. He asked if the bird cage was made of nickel. He was told that it wasn’t. He was thrown out when he declared, “So, it’s a nickel-less cage?”
I’m pretty sure that someone hid the final paragraph of my essay on a shelf way up high, but I don’t want to jump to conclusions.
What did they yell at Edgar Allan Poe as he was walking toward a maple tree?
- Poetry
I bought a new wig for $1.00
- It was a small price toupee
You know, many people enjoy a day off on July 4th. But not fire.
- Fireworks on July 4th
No matter how much you push the envelope, it will still be stationery.
Middle School Science Minute
by Dave Bydlowski (k12science or davidbydlowski@mac.com)
The Intentional Integration of Computational Thinking
I was recently reading the May/June 2021 issue of “Science Scope” a publication of the National Science Teaching Association. In this issue, I read the section “Interdisciplinary Ideas” written by Raja Ridgway. Raja wrote an article entitled “The Intentional Integration of Computational Thinking.”
Computational Thinking Practices:
- Decomposition — Breaking down into components.
- Pattern Matching — Finding similarities between components.
- Abstraction — The process of reducing complexity by focusing on the main idea. By hiding details irrelevant to the question at hand and bringing together related and useful details, abstraction reduces complexity and allows one to focus on the problem.
- Algorithms — A step-by-step process to complete a task.
http://k12science.net/the-intentional-integration-of-computational-thinking/
Reports from the Front Lines
- Changing sunrise by 45 minutes or so . . .
- Vocab Quiz: https://www.visitmaine.net/page/157/maine-slang
- ISTE21 LIVE! Was last week. Future of educational conferences.
- Interesting interview with Susan Cain about introverts and how schools aren’t supporting the “Quiet” kids by providing individual options to show mastery. Research shows a critical component of creativity is quiet and solitude. Not exclusively mind you. https://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts?language=en
- I’m not going to close my Advisory Google Classroom for the summer . . .
- New beginnings
- Video Conferencing this Fall?
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