Monday, February 22, 2010

KIDSPIRATION


Inspire your kids with the new and exciting KiDsPiRaTiOn!


Kidspiration is the finest thinking and learning tool that supports success throughtout the curriculum, for visual mapping, outlining, writing and making presentations. It makes creating web maps, concept maps, process flow maps and other diagrams for thinking organizing and writing much easier to create.



This software helps:

Develop strong thinking skills by expressing and exploring their ideas using graphic organizers. The graphic organizer helps children convey their thoughts by creating different pictures, diagrams and symbols.


Strengthen reading and writing skills through the combination of text, pictures and sound to develop understanding, organize ideas and construct stories. Vocabulary and spelling are also enhanced as literacy is improved.

Build conceptual understanding in math using a mixture hands on learning power of manipulatives together with computer interaction. Kidspiration's visual math tools focuses on the concrete foundations of counting, place value, computation and geometric thinking. They are able to show operations visually which will make solving word problems easier.

Educator developed resources supports curriculum integration with tools the teacher can use and lesson plans for certain standards in Math, Language Arts, Science and Social Studies. There are assortments of templates that can be used so teachers can create lesson plans for individual learners, group work or for the entire class.

Teachers keep children focused on learning using the numerous activities available after each lesson plan that they can engage in. Teachers can modify the tasks given to ensure students do not delete or move anything as well as limiting them to specific resources on the computer so they can figure out problems on their own. Tutorials are provided to help teachers understand how to use this software effectively and efficiently especially those who are not technologically inclined.

These are all beneficial factors for students in Trinidad & Tobago for the improvement of critical thinking, vocabulary, writing skills and problem solving skills. However, due to the lack of funding, development and growth in some schools, they are unable to obtain the proper resources to enhance learning. At the same time, all students should have access to a computer outside the classroom to ensure continuous learning takes place but for some this is not a reality. It is an exciting and innovative way to increase learner diversity and interaction between teachers and students which will allow each child to reach to his/her full potential.


References :

Elemict. (2009, February). How to use Kidspiration software [video file] Retrived from http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=kidspiration&search_type&aq=f

Inspiration Software, Inc. (2010). Kidspiration, The Visual Way to Explore and Understand Words, Numbers and Concepts. Retrived from http://www.inspiration.com/Kidspiration



Monday, February 1, 2010

INDIVIDUALIZED EDUCATION PROGRAM GENERATORS


Collecting information on the rate a student's performance, Analysis of that information then steps are taken to Improve a student's learning capabilities. These are the key processes in understanding a child's capabilities in the classroom.

DDtrac is a developing minds software which assists children especially with learning disabilities with educational tasks, social interactions and behaviour episodes. It also allows children to set individual goals and objectives. Teachers are urged to encourage students to reach their full potential and assess them gradually. Students would be able to make more meaningful decisions that will enrich their lives.

Charts, graphs and detailed reports on students progression are documented and can be accessed at any time for comparison. This software enables children to move forward and have a better tomorrow.

4 more info :

http://developingmindsoftware.com/about/


A Walk Through DDtrac