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Showing posts from October, 2007

Tech Tip 10/31 - Scary Emails

A scary tip for a scary day... Today's tech tip is about circulating those scary emails and rumors. Over the years email has become a quick and easy way to pass along rumors, hoaxes, and threats. Most of these emails are untrue and contunue to make the rounds. To ensure that the information you are passing along is truthful you can validate it at the following websites: www.snopes.com http://www.truthorfiction.com/ They are the utmost experts on these kinds of stories and claims. So before scaring someone with a story about a computer virus, phone bill scam, or similar warnings run it through the fact checkers first. It is also a great site to use with your kids about substaniating sources and claims. Many of the stories on these sites are fun to go through. A good exercize in researching is to pick a couple and have the students determine if they are true or false using a varity of sources. One of my favorites is: http://www.truthorfiction.com/ru

Tech Tip 10/11 - Google Maps Street View

Today's tech tip is just something fun and geeky. Check out Google Maps Street View. http://www.google.com/intl/en_us/help/maps/tour/#street_view There are 15 cities in the US that are now offering street view. What is it? Why must you have it? Well, its cool. You virtually drive down the street and see around you. You can twist your head and look around 360 degrees as well. I just took a virtual trip down Michigan Avenue. How can it help your kids? Here is the really cool part. Google Street View is in 15 cities. Use it to drive by Ground Zero, or follow Holden Caulfield through the streets of New York in a modern Catcher in the Rye , compare architecture in different cities, or use proportional triangles to determine the height of a building...there is a lot of potential there. I don't know if you have used other features of Google maps yet in your classroom, but I will be showing you how over the next few weeks as we embark on another thread