QR Codes Explained and Ideas for Classroom Use

Yesterday I attended a meeting at the Heckscher Museum in Huntington, led by Joy Weiner, who shared some of the exciting technologies that are currently being used in the museum, including QR codes, audio feeds, exhibits on the web and video conferencing opportunities. The QR codes are linked to websites, slides and digital handouts.  The patrons can then scan the QR codes with their phones, ipad or ipods and have instant access to the resources and information about the artist, historical time period, materials or politics surrounding the exhibits they are viewing.
So What are QR codes and how can they be used in education, fellow blogger Richard Byrne in his Free technology for teachers has this information:

“One of the resources that I occasionally use to explain QR codes is a commercially licensed copy of QR Codes Explained by Common Craft (disclosure: I have an in-kind business relationship with Common Craft).  After showing the video the next resource in my list is Russel Tarr's QR Code Treasure Hunt Generator. The QR Code Treasure Hunt Generator will walk you through each step of creating QR codes for use in your classroom. The QR Code Treasure Hunt Generator also offers some examples of using QR code treasure hunts in classroom.”

The following posts have more ideas about using QR codes in schools:
Interactive Bulletin Boards
QR Codes in the Classroom
QRPedia - QR Codes for Wikipedia Entries
Assign QR Codes to Your Documents
Create a Mobile Language Lesson With QR Voice
Tom Barrett's Interesting Ways to Use QR Codes

YouTube Channels Not Named Khan Offering Math Lessons

WowMath.org is developed by high school mathematics teacher Bradley Robb. His YouTube channel has more than six hundred videos covering topics in Algebra and Calculus. You can access the videos on a mobile version of WowMath too.

Numberphile is a neat YouTube channel about fun number facts. There are currently thirty-three videos in the Numberphile collection. The videos cover things like 998,001 and its Mysterious Recurring Decimals, Pi and Bouncing Balls, and 1 and Prime Numbers. I've embedded Pi and Bouncing Balls below.

Bright Storm is an online tutoring service. On their YouTube channel Bright Storm provides hundreds of videos for Algebra I, Algebra II, Trigonometry, Precalculus, and Calculus. Bright Storm also offers some SAT and ACT prep videos.

Ten Marks is another online tutoring service that offers mathematics tutorial videos on their site as well as on their YouTube channel. Some of the lessons in their playlists include lessons on units of measurement, decimals, fractions, probability, area and perimeter, and factoring.

Math Class With Mr. V features seven playlists made by a mathematics teacher teaching lessons on basic mathematics, geometry, and algebra. In all there are more than 300 video lessons. Like most mathematics tutorials on YouTube, Math Class With Mr. V uses a whiteboard to demonstrate how to solve problems.

The Open University is one of my go-to YouTube channel for all things academic. A quick search on The Open University reveals seven playlists that include lessons in mathematics. The lessons that you will find in these playlists are more theoretical than they are "how to" lessons.

Yay Math! features an excited teacher teaching mathematics lessons to his students. The videos capture just the teacher and his whiteboard with some feedback from students. The videos cover topics in Algebra and Geometry. You can check out the Yay Math! companion website to learn more about Robert Ahdoot, the teacher featured in the videos.

Thanks to three helpful readers I learned of three more good YouTube channels offering mathematics tutorials. Then I reminded myself that The New Boston which is primarily a channel for computer science lessons also has some good playlists of geometry, algebra, and basic mathematics lessons

James Gubbins commented on Monday's list with the suggestion of adding Hurley Calculus to the list. Hurley Calculus, as the name implies, provides lessons on calculus. There are currently 73 videos in the Hurley Calculus channel.
Math Doctor Bob's YouTube channel was suggested by a reader using the Disqus ID Npisenti. Math Doctor Bob offers nearly 700 video lessons on statistics, algebra I and II, calculus, geometry, and much more. The lessons feature Doctor Bob giving the lesson in front of a whiteboard so you see him and don't just hear his lessons.

Patrick JMT was suggested by Robert Borgersen who wrote, "Patrick JMT is HUGE, and equally good, if not better in some places, than Khan." Patrick JMT doesn't cover as many topics as Khan or Math Doctor Bob, but the videos are equally solid. 

re-posted from Free Technology for Teachers by Ricard Byrne

Learn What Is In Your Food From The Museum of Science and Industry

Would You Eat That? Learn What Is In Your Food

The Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago recently released a new game designed to promote awareness of the ingredients in common foods. Would You Eat That? presents a food and a list of ten ingredients that you might not expect to find in that food. To play the game you have to correctly identify which four of those ten ingredients is in your food. When I tried the game with a packet of hot cocoa and a bag of dog food, I was surprised at a couple of the ingredients. 

Applications for Education
Playing Would You Eat That? brought to mind Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. While the ingredients in the foods in Would You Eat That? aren't as disturbing as what Sinclair discovered, there are still some surprises. Playing the game could teach students about ingredients and what function they perform in creating a tasty food.

re-posted from Free Technology for Teachers by Ricard Byrne