Posted in 21st Century Learning, American history, citizenship, curated resources, digital citizenship, digital learning, First Amendment, informed citizens, NewseumEd, web resources

All About the First Amendment at NewseumEd

These days I hear many people talking about the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, but as they talk I often wonder how much they really understand about the document? Can they describe the five freedoms and how those freedoms affect people’s lives in the United States? Children and adults probably need to learn lots more.

An excellent NewseumEd activity, designed for students in grades three through eight, introduces the First Amendment using materials, discussion, and scenario examinations that explore how the First Amendment works in real-life situations. Similar resources are available at the website for high school and college learners.

Below are some interesting facts from the activity, although students will discover much more. Continue reading “All About the First Amendment at NewseumEd”

Posted in 21st Century life, acceptable use, digital life, modeling for kids

Can the New York Times Social Media Policy Become a Teaching Tool?

Today, October 13, 2017, the New York Times introduced its new social media policy for people who work in the Times newsroom. Not only is it interesting to read — it may will also become a useful document for educators to share with students. The policy clearly illustrates the advice educators share over and over with 21st Century young people, basically that anything a person puts online can become a public story.

Times Social Media
Click on the headline to read the article about the new policy..

Continue reading “Can the New York Times Social Media Policy Become a Teaching Tool?”

Posted in 21st Century Learning, 21st Century parenting, parents and technology, preschoolers, toddlers, young children

Young Children, YouTube Kids & Learning: Thoughts to Consider

If you have preschoolers in your family, check out The Algorithm That Makes Preschoolers Obsessed With YouTube, appearing in The Atlantic.

YouTube Kids splash screenWritten by Adrienne LaFrance, the eye-opening article describes how the YouTube Kids app works as well as the experiences of 21st Century preschool children who use it. The author also shares thoughts about the app (though not endorsements) from academics including Michael Rich, who directs the Center on Media and Child Health at Harvard Medical School and Sandra Calvert, who heads up the Children’s Digital Media Center at Georgetown University.

It appears that many older toddlers and preschool kids spend a considerable amount of time with YouTube Kids. They love the app, and the article in The Atlantic details many of the reasons why.

Continue reading “Young Children, YouTube Kids & Learning: Thoughts to Consider”

Posted in 21st Century parenting, collaboration, device-free times, digital health and wellness, digital kids, digital parenting, digital wellness, parents and technology, tech free time

Collaborative Family Digital Activities For Summer 2017

Summer 2017 is here, and as we enjoy family fun, outdoor activities, trips to museums and historical sites, vacations, and all sorts of camps and special programs, it’s also important to discover activities that will help 21st Century children use screen time creatively and wisely.

So with less frenetic schedules and no school, use the summer months to collaborate — that’s parents and kids doing things together. Adults can learn more about the digital whirl that’s such a huge part of young people’s 21st Century lives, and kids can engage in meaningful, creative, and interesting projects — and even have fun working with their parents. The pay-off? Everyone will figure out more about digital life and add variety to the types of digital activities that they typically do.

Below are 12 family digital project summer suggestions — all work best if people work together —  to consider for summer 2017.

Twelve Summer Digital Projects for Families                        Continue reading “Collaborative Family Digital Activities For Summer 2017”

Posted in 21st Century life, MOOC, online courses, online learning, parents and technology

Check Out Harvard’s Free Online Course: Religions of the World MOOC

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MOOC stands for massive open online course.

We all need to learn more about the religions of the world. Even people who are not especially religious need to become respectfully informed. Now a Harvard online MOOC course on the world’s religions is enrolling and welcoming participants — for free. A lot more about the course by reading a Huffington Post article.

The course is offered as a series of modules, each focused on a specific religion. The course can be taken for free, but if students want a certificate of achievement they will need to pay $50. The instructors leading the classes teach at Harvard University and Wellesley College.               Continue reading “Check Out Harvard’s Free Online Course: Religions of the World MOOC”

Posted in 21st Century parenting, 21st Century teaching, American history, citizenship, connected learning, digital learning, frightening events, Japanese internment, Library of Congress

Japanese Internment in the U.S. — Information to Share With Today’s Students

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https://loc.gov/pictures/resource/cph.3a35053/

I have known six people whose families were forced to move into United States government Japanese internment camps. It’s been an honor for me and my family to listen to their stories — though not always easy to hear about or imagine the cruelty they experienced. The internment, a reaction to the war with Japan and called an evacuation by the United States government, began in 1942 and essentially imprisoned more than 117,000 people. Two-thirds of them were born as American citizens and over half were children,

February 19th, the day in 1942 that President Roosevelt signed an executive order known as the internment order, is a Day of Remembrance in many states. Educators and parents can use the day to understand more — and help 21st Century children learn more — about the internment of Japanese families during World War II. Today, as we deal with the challenges of increasing diversity in the United States and recognize our immigrant history, it’s more important than ever to understand what happened and why the United States now recognizes the internment policy as a mistake.

As U. S. President Gerald Ford said, “Not only was the evacuation wrong, but Japanese Americans were and are loyal Americans.”      Continue reading “Japanese Internment in the U.S. — Information to Share With Today’s Students”

Posted in 21st Century life, connected world problems, Internet freedom

A Funny TED Talk About Responding to Spam Offers

If you shake your head in frustration when you get suspicious offers from various parts of the world that ask for money and offer to share profits in return, this 2015 Ted Talk given by comedian and writer James Veitch,  Please note that he does not use his personal email account to do this…

Laugh, and then keep deleting any of those emails that get through your spam filter.