Augmented Reality in the Classroom

Augmented Reality is poised to change the way we look at the world, never mind impact education and the way students engage in learning. Connect the world of printed documents to an interactive, 3D environment using Augmented Reality Applications.  Aurasma, Layar, and Daqri AR apps, to name just a few, will allow students to literally interact with books and paper.  Watch the videos below to give you an example of how AR can be used to enhance students comsumption in the classroom.

Test Prep with Varsity Tutors

Let's face it - high stakes tests are a part of our lives and, while we don't want to teach to the test, we do need to prep students for them.  There is nothing that will replace quality instruction for preparing for a major exam, but there are a number of quality online assessment tools out there that are effective at helping students build on that quality instruction and get great test scores.  One tool that we have come across recently is Varsity Tutors.  This site offers free diagnostic and practice tests with feedback that help students prepare for an exam.  All of these tests are free and open to the public and, should you find from taking these assessments that you need extra help, you can sign up for in-home tutoring from them (for a fee).

 Creating an Account:

Creating an account is easy and allows any user to take any of the tests and get immediate feedback. 

Taking Tests:

When you first create an account, you are taken to the list of tests that you can take. You can select from over 100 tests and sub tests for everything from the intermediate and high school level to AP, SAT and CLEP.  

Diagnostic Tests, Practice Tests and Flash Cards,

There are 3 main types of assessments that you can take.  One is a diagnostic test for the major exams that are intended to be an overview of the entire exam to see how you would do.  The practice tests are broken down into different sub categories and the Flash Cards are really individual questions that you can work through one by one.  Your receive feedback on how much time was spent on each question as well as your performance on each question.  They have included an explanation of the correct answer on each question so that you can learn from your mistakes.  

Classroom Tools

• Creating Tests
• Teachers can create their own tests by either adding questions of their own or by choosing questions from the item bank.  

• Sharing Tests
• Once created, you can share the tests with students either individually or as a group

• Viewing Results
• Once students have completed their test, they get a Full report - View an example by clicking here.  
• Teachers can then see an item analysis of those test results for their whole class and can drill down and see how each student did on each assessment.  

Embedding Assessments and Flashcards

If you are interested in having students study and want to keep them on your website you can embed both complete tests and flashcards right into your website or LMS.  Check out the example below:

Powered By Varsity Tutors

Overall, we are impressed with this assessment tool and think it is worth checking out.  Let us know what you think.  

Happy Birthday Albert Einstein & Happy Pi Day

Next to "My Hero Zero", Pi is probably one of my favorite numbers. Though I may be a bit irrational at times, so is Pi, also known by the by the greek letter π. Pi is the ratio of a circle's circumference to it's diameter and is approximately equal to 3.14159.  March 14th (get it 3/14 -- 3.14!) is a day to celebrate the uniqueness of this mathematical constant and ironically it is also Albert Einstein's Birthday.  Below is a collection of websites taken from an Edutopia Article by Matt Davis for you to explore Pi with your students - If you want to celebrate Einstein's Birthday, I suggest a round cake!

• Pi Day Activities from the San Francisco Exploratorium: Without the Exploratorium, we might never have had an official Pi Day celebration. In 1988 Exploratorium physicist Larry Shaw started the tradition, and it was finally recognized by Congress in 2009. The Exploratorium highlights some great hands-on activities, and there is also a great list of Pi-related links.
• Happy Pi Day from TeachPi.org: TeachPi hosts a trove of Pi Day resources, featuring fun classroom activities, Pi Day-inspired music, and other fun learning ideas. There's plenty here to keep students engaged, and learning, on March 14. Check out the activities section for a bunch of great learning ideas.
• Pi Day Teaching Ideas from Scholastic: Scholastic produced these great lesson plans for three different grade levels -- preK-1, 2-3, and 4-6. There's also interesting information about the history of Pi, as well as a link to aWeb application that allows students to explore Pi through music.
• Pi Day Resources from Math Goodies: Math Goodies features some great, free math lessons that incorporate Pi. Check out their circle lessons, as well as links to other online resources and list of questions for students to research the history of Pi.
• What Is Pi, and How Did It Originate?: Scientific American dug deep into the history of Pi in this article, offering an insightful look at the origins of the mathematical constant.
• TeachersFirst's Pi Day Resources: TeacherFirst offers this great roundup of Pi-themed lessons and resources from around the Web focused primarily on high school. Included in the collection are some general math resources, like Simpsons Math, and they all come from a variety of great sources.
• Celebrate Pi Day with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics: There's plenty of great resources here from NCTM. Along with fun activities, there's also an Illuminations lesson plans section with some great standards-based lesson plans for educators.