Cool Tools, Cooler People
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One person’s cool tool is
often another’s useless gadget. Witness my 86-year-old
father, who is on Facebook,
compared to my 82-year-
old mom, who won’t even
use a computer for a doorstop. But as you L&L readers well know, how cool a
tool really is has more to
do with how and why it is
used, not its mere presence.
I came across what I
think is a cool tool called
Raspberry Pi while attend-
ing an event during the
Computing at School meet-
ing in Cambridge, England,
UK (computingatschool.
org.uk). Why is it called a
raspberry, you ask? Because,
I was told, “It’s neither
blackberry nor apple.”
All kidding aside, Raspber-
ry Pi is a computer that is
only slightly bigger than an
Altoids tin. The $25 device,
according to the creators’
website, “plugs into your
TV and a keyboard. It’s
a capable little PC which
can be used for many of
the things that your desk-
top PC does, like spread-
sheets, word processing,
and games. It also plays
high-definition video.” Or-
ganizers want to see kids
across the globe use it to
learn programming. Find
out more about this project
by reading the FAQs on the
Raspberry Pi site (raspberry
pi.org/faqs).
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Managing Editor
Paul Wurster @Paul_Wurster
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—Kate Conley is ISTE’s periodicals
director and the editor of L&L. She
holds a master’s degree in journalism and a bachelor’s in English.
Conley has worked at ISTE for
more than 13 years.
❝From start to finish, this project has convinced us that using
iPads with at-risk learners creates an environment that meshes
nicely with the learning styles of our youngest digital natives.
—See page 24 to read the full article.
❞
tech we like
Here are a few of the L&L team’s favorite
resources from this issue.
Raspberry Pi: http://raspberrypi.org
Kate Conley likes this credit-card-sized
computer for kids. Read about it on this page.
TED-Ed: http://ed.ted.com
Paul Wurster likes TED’s new site featuring videos
by inspiring educators. Read about it on page 10.
Specky Boy: http://tinyurl.com/d2dudj
Tamara Kidd likes this site featuring Lego art.
Read about Lego Robotics on page 13.
Kid Whiteboard: http://tinyurl.com/76zgn2e
Andra Brichacek likes this app, which turns any
iPad into a whiteboard. Read about it on page 25.
Journey North: www.learner.org/jnorth
Diana Fingal likes this app to teach kids about
wildlife migration. Read about it on page 44.