Month: March 2013

Ice Cream Currency Calculator

In America, especially, ice cream is very important. We eat it just as it is, we add toppings, we add it to pies and birthday cakes, we even have socials just to celebrate ice cream. And all around the world different countries put a different price on this beloved dessert. Take a look at this […]

In America, especially, ice cream is very important. We eat it just as it is, we add toppings, we add it to pies and birthday cakes, we even have socials just to celebrate ice cream. And all around the world different countries put a different price on this beloved dessert.

Take a look at this infographic and see who puts the highest price on ice cream, and who the lowest. Compare it to other favorite commodities of Americans and your students. Try to find information on the prices of milk, skateboards, and other items. See how different countries compare, and what would be the best country to live in based on price. But don’t forget to factor in the income of the residents of these countries!

Blog: http://visual.ly/ice-cream-currency-calculator

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Amount of Water Wasted at your Home

As you, and some of your students, know, the water bill is not very expensive. It is not typically something people think about when they try to cut expenses. But what people don’t think about, is the impact on the environment. Growing up, I would see commercials about this, but not as many anymore. Share […]

As you, and some of your students, know, the water bill is not very expensive. It is not typically something people think about when they try to cut expenses. But what people don’t think about, is the impact on the environment. Growing up, I would see commercials about this, but not as many anymore.

Share with your students the reasons why we want to conserve water. Talk about the impact on the environment, and what is going on with various species if we use too much fresh water. Also, talk about the amount of fresh water we have access to, and what will happen if that runs out.

This infographic goes over how much water we use in a year in the average household. Explore with your students ways to cut down on water use. Also, brainstorm and research ways to turn salt water, or contaminated water, into fresh water for drinking. Discuss with your students ways to get salt water in for things that fresh water isn’t needed for, such as the toilet. Get your students thinking about their future!

Blog: http://visual.ly/amount-water-wasted-your-home

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Stress in the Workplace

This is a great infographic for those who are just entering the workplace, and for those who are feeling stressed in school. Stress can have a very negative affect on students and employees, as the infographic shows, it can take a toll on productivity and safety. Go over this infographic with your students, and help […]

This is a great infographic for those who are just entering the workplace, and for those who are feeling stressed in school. Stress can have a very negative affect on students and employees, as the infographic shows, it can take a toll on productivity and safety.

Go over this infographic with your students, and help them destress in order to be more productive. Brainstorm with them on ways to destress and encourage them to come to you for assistance.

Blog: http://visual.ly/stress-workplace

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NCTIES Program Analysis

NCTIES is my state’s International Society for Technology in Education affiliate (ISTE).  It stands for North Carolina Technology In Education Society.  They will be holding their annual conference this week at the relatively new Raleigh Convention Center.  In the last few years the state capital’s downtown has become a descent place to hold a conference.  More restaurants, museums, night life and many more people living downtown, making the streets safer.

I finally went through the conference program yesterday and was struck by several trends that seemed apparent during that scan.  So I thought I’d spend a few minutes this morning doing a casual frequency analysis.

Number of term mentions in the conference program
Term 2012 2013 Trend SD
Game, gamilfy, etc. 14 73 3.5
iPad or iPads 34 68 2.1
apps 25 49 1.5
Common Core 15 42 1.6
resources 72 42 -1.8
Web 2 67 34 -2.0
play 6 34 1.7
Professional Development or PD 65 34 -1.9
free 37 33 -.2
engage 33 33 .0
Google 61 32 -1.8
1:1 77 30 -2.9
Apple 8 22 .9
Collaboration or Collaborate 24 22 -.1
Twitter 10 15 .3
iOS 14 14 0
tablet 5 13 .5
blog 28 11 -1.0
Minecrqaft 0 8 .5
Android 2 1 -.1
laptop 11 1 -.6

In a casual counting, I found 205 concurrent presentations being made during the conference including the student showcases and not including the two keynotes. Of those 205, 51 of them (24.5%) are being delivered, at least in part, by vendors. 35 are being delivered by presenters representing elementary schools, 20 by presenters from middle or intermediate schools, 15 from high schools and 14 from universities. I am especially happy to see so many presenters from five of our state supported universities, two private universities and one community college.

The happening place in North Carolina seems to be Rowan-Salisbury Schools with 14 sessions being facilitated by 33 district educators.  Also notable is Union County Schools with 7 sessions and 18 educators.

I’m doing one session.  But hopefully, I’ll be setting a productive tone for the conference.

I’m looking forward to seeing old friends at NCTIES

Added March 5

I finally found a list of last years presentation descriptions, and searched for the frequency of the terms in this table (above and left). I inserted a column for the 2012 conference and then added a column with arrows to indicate the trending up and down. To quantify the change, I added a final column with the number of standard deviations of the total change. This sounds like I know more about statistics than I really do.