Learning and Leading - November 2012

Citia is a new iPad app that turns digital books
into fast-moving, shareable, 3D reading ex-
periences. Using professional writers, editors,
and designers, Citia reorganizes and con-
denses popular business/technology titles into
a series of ideas and presents them to readers in a virtual
index card–based system. The “idea cards” for each book
live in a 3D interface that allows readers to dive straight into
the ideas that most interest them, discover and explore new
concepts, and share excerpts using social media. Designed
for the touchscreen, Citia offers a game-like experience with
intuitive navigation and rich content that can be emailed,
tweeted, or posted to Facebook. Readers will also have the
ability to highlight passages and save individual cards.

MORE INFO: itunes.apple.com/us/app/citia-what-technology-wants/ id527251397?mt= 8

PBS LearningMedia is adding select digital content from Annenberg Learner to its media-on-demand service, which it offers free to all teachers, students, and families nationwide. The content from Annenberg Learner will include resources from key subject areas, including U.S. history, literacy, science, technology, engineering, math, and the arts. Additional classroom resources will be available through PBS LearningMedia. The new resources join nearly 20,000 digital assets from PBS’ award-winning series, including Nova, Frontline, American Experience, and Sid the Science Kid.

Spongelab Interactive has released a free online version of Knowledge Mine, a trivia game that combines puzzle genres to challenge and reward players’ knowledge of biology. Knowledge Mine is a science quiz for high school and postsecondary students. It includes more than 3,500 questions on topics such as biochemistry, human anatomy, genetics, ecology, zoology, science history, evolution, and more. Users with a free Spongelab account can play in any web browser.

Designed as a study and review tool for 7th–12th grade science students, the game also comes with the public beta-testing version of Dragon Breeder, an educational game about genetic theory, which students can play for free on the Spongelab online platform.

Instructional Technology Tools: A Professional Development Plan by L. Robert Furman is a new book intended to be a comprehensive guide to help educators embrace the use of instructional technology tools in the classroom. The book describes new technologies and tools available to teachers, and it includes lesson plans that principals can use for professional development.

MORE INFO: bookstore.iuniverse.com/Products/SKU-000520055/ Instructional-Technology-Tools-A-Professional-Development-Plan.aspx

Social Studies Goes Global How do you teach global awareness, digital citizenship, diversity, and multicultural understanding? Susan Anderson, a social studies teacher from Pennsylvania, USA, piloted a program designed to do just that. Find out how she and her students helped develop the Schoolwires Greenleaf International Classroom Exchange Program with learners from China.

Critical Thinking Starts with the Teacher The best way to teach critical-thinking skills is to develop and exercise your own first. Phyllis Newbill and Liesl Baum of the Integrated Design + Education + Arts Studio in the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology at Virginia Tech explain how they help teachers build creative-thinking skills while developing instructional materials.

From the Ground Up

After Joplin, Mississippi, USA, was devestated by a tornado in May 2011, Joplin School District had only 55 days to rebuild. In the midst of tragedy, this 2012 Sylvia Charp Award Honorable Mention found the opportunity to become even better than before by recreating its infrastructure, starting a one-to-one initiative, and implementing an open source digital curriculum.