Weird Richard News Update

Sent Date

04-01-02

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TECHNOLOGICAL LITERACY UPDATE

A weekly newsletter for families and educators committed to
building brighter futures for kids in a technology-rich society.
THIS WEEK: HANDS-ON FUN!

This week's sponsor message from Edventures Learning Labs,
preparing students for future success through project based
learning.

A COMPLETE LEGO LAB FOR YOUR SUMMER OR AFTERSCHOOL PROGRAM!!

We're delighted to announce the latest addition to our exciting
Learning Lab product line -- BrickLab! The Edventures BrickLab
includes over 5000 LEGOŽ bricks, 52 lesson plans, posters, 208
activities, and online support services and training. BrickLab
is the perfect hands-on solution for summer camp, after-school,
or in-school use. FREE SAMPLE ONLINE! Click here to learn
more!
http://www.edventures.com/l/11/tlu19/index.html

TECHNOLOGICAL LITERACY THIS WEEK

This week, we're going to take a fun break from our technology
integration strategies and show you how you can use exciting
LEGOŽ materials to get your students engaged in four separate
topic areas: 1) Communications; 2) Construction; 3) Mathematics;
and 4) Physics. The free sample activities made available by
Edventures at their new BrickLab site were so exciting, we
decided to use them as our newsletter focus this week.

USING HANDS-ON MANIPULATIVES TO TEACH TECHNOLOGY CONCEPTS

The effectiveness of hands-on learning is something that nearly
all home and classroom educators are very familiar with. The
act of creating, designing, experimenting, or investigating
excites, engages, and energizes young learners. Unfortunately,
it can be very tough to facilitate and organize these learning
experiences. Simply managing resources can be exhausting! One
of the best manipulatives on the market for teaching a variety
of topics are LEGOŽ products. They are durable (nearly
indestructible), colorful, fun, and of a high quality that
ensures they will work for students. In addition, organized and
facilitated properly, they can make your hands-on learning
experiences simple to manage.

TRY THIS IN YOUR CLASS OR HOME THIS WEEK!

The following is a brief synopsis of four hands-on activities
that you can do with your stuents using the most common of LEGOŽ
elements -- LEGOŽ bricks. Click on the link to go the
Edventures website and download the full activity, complete
with student worksheet and assessment information. Please note,
the free activities are in Adobe PDF format so you will need
Adobe Reader software (a free download from Adobe.com).

1) Communications: Create Your Own Code
A fun new way to look at written and symbolic communication
using LEGO Bricks! Students will be exposed to symbols,
braille, and encoding.
http://www.edventures.com/l/11/tlu19/index.html

2) Construction Engineering: Arches and Corbelled Arches
Students will be able to identify and construct a corbelled
arch structure after doing this activity. Students will be
introduced to the history and development of the arch and its
uses throughout history.
http://www.edventures.com/l/11/tlu19/index.html

3) Mathematics: Probability
Students will be able to calculate and identify the odds of
drawing a particular colored object from a container. This
awesome math activity emphasizes a hands-on understanding of
probability, ratios, and the scientific method.
http://www.edventures.com/l/11/tlu19/index.html

4) Physics: Newton's Third Law of Motion
Students experiment with LEGO materials to gain an understanding
of Newton's Third Law of Motion. Using simple materials
students are introduced to concepts of velocity, momentum, mass,
and more!
http://www.edventures.com/l/11/tlu19/index.html

SEE YOU NEXT WEEK!!

We hope that this week's newsletter has been useful to you in
your educational pursuits. In the coming weeks we will continue
to address additional methods of integration and special topics
related to technological literacy. Together, we can build a
brighter future for students around the world by preparing them
to use technology as naturally as they use a pencil and paper!

Until next week!

Technological Literacy Update