Social Networking in School

What if the administrators of our school district unblocked all the social networking sites to everyone at school?

Read the questions below, but before you answer, do a little research, read through a few of the links and cite your references.  Consider all the people at school involved:  Students, teachers and administrators.  

•  Case for social media in school         
•  When do students and teachers cross the line?
•  Online Social Networking
•  Social Media: The Bully's Playground
•  Facebook for preteens, a bad idea?
•  55 Fun Infographics about Social Networking



1.  What could be the advantages or benefits of opening up all social network sites at school?  

2.  What could be the bad effects or dangers of this decision?  

3.   How could teachers use social networking in their classrooms? 
(YOU are GenYES be creative!) 

4.  Simple Yes or no!  (Do you think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages to open up social networking?)

Election Tech

1.  From the poll to the top right, choose an issue or consider an alternative, that you feel would be one of your top priorities in selecting a President.  

Discuss below why you feel it's most important.

2.  Where do you get information about the election?  TV?  Internet?  Twitter?  Facebook?  Radio?  Parents?  Friends?  Which sources do you feel are the most reliable, unbiased or true?


3.   How have advancements in technology changed elections?   Infographic

REMEMBER to bring items for the food drive! 

Tablet War Time!

It's inevitable.  With the release of the new Kindle HD a few weeks ago, the ipad mini and the upcoming Surface tablet, it's time for a Tablet War!  So which one would you pick?

Asus Padphone

Blackberry Playbook

Kindle Fire HD

ipad mini
ipad 3

Nexus 7

Surface


1.  Decide which one you personally feel is the best.  Be fair,  review them all.  What criteria do you think is most important in selecting this type of digital device?  Price / Value?  Design? OS? Sync with other devices?  Popularity?  Functions?  Size? Available apps?  School / Work use?  Fun factor?  Pick one device and defend it.  

2.  Go attack someone else's choice!  Battle on!

Fix a problem. Win an award.

Another exciting year for the James Dyson Award - 501 projects but only one winner.  James Dyson is reviewing the top 15 projects and will announce the international winner and two runners-up on the 8th of November. 
               JAMES DYSON WEBSITE

1.  Go to the website and look at the top 15 finalists. YOU pick the winner and two runners-up*! 

2.  What are the James Dyson Awards and why, as GenYES students, are we researching these?

3.  How do the US entries compare to the rest of the world?  Were any of them your pick? 

4.  To YOU, what are the most important aspects of developing a new technology?  How much money it can make?  Benefiting others?  Expanding communication?  Fixing a problem? Changing the way we work, play, compute, travel, learn?   Or....?  Was this part of your criteria for picking winners?

All About Google

The fourth QUAD group finished their unit on Google search functions this week.   So for this weeks blog, let's check it out some fun stuff about Google.

Explore the links below.  Then select TWO of the links from 1-5 to report on.  Find something cool that you discovered, perhaps in a sublink or a product or a story, about something you didn't previously know about google, on each site.   Be sure to read other student comments before you.  As always,  if you repeat a comment, you won't receive points for your post.  Have some fun with this.

• 1. Google Products

• 2. All about Google

• 3. Google Company

• 4. Fun Google Tricks

• 5. Life at Google

• Just for fun: Funny Google

Business Tech

In the third part of our focus on QUAD Project topics we are exploring business.  Specifically, business technology.

Watch the Bloomberg Tech Movie 

1.  What do you think of the predictions discussed in this movie? How might they affect you in your choice of a career?  Or how would you speculate technology affects other occupations?








2.  From the tab menu at the top of the page, either stay on the Technology tab or select another category.    Find an article that interests you and read it.   Give a summary of what you read and a personal opinion about what you learned.

Programming

Should kids learn to code in Grade School?

1.  Click on Mind/Shift.  Read the short article.  Share below your general thoughts or feelings on what you read.  

2.  Consider this: do you think that learning to write code might become as important as learning to write an essay in school?   Why or why not?  

 3.  Click on any offsite link on the page.  What did you select?   What did you discover? 

Gamification

Part 1:  List 2 choices for games to purchase from Amazon for the media center.  Provide the name of your game followed by the Amazon links for each.  Remember be appropriate, no FPS, no games that are M/ T /Violence, no, no playstation because we don't have one!  Only 2 games!  What your favs for this type of play for XBox or wii? 

Part 2:  Finish the discussion on Gamification by going to the Assignment Website.   Answer the 2  questions there and submit.

There's an APP for that...

There are millions of APPS out there!

1.  APPS ... just really what ARE APPS?

2.  On what devices do you use them?  About how many have you downloaded?

3.  How many have you paid for?

4.  Which 5 APPS do you think are the best?  Why?  Set up your answer like this:

             1.

             2.

             3.

             4.

             5.

Big Data in Your Blood

What is this? 

And why should you care about how it might change your life?

Read this

1. So what is it?
2. After reading the entire article, consider first, is this a good advance in technological progress for you personally?  For your health?  For your participation in sports?  For the potential of raising a family?  
3. After reading the entire article, quote a line that jumps out to you and comment on the benefits or detriment to society this might cause.
4. Explore one of the links in the article.  Comment on what you discovered.

Before you comment... reread the instructions for this blog.  Many of you are skimpy on your writing.  Please be mindful grades here on out will expect you to; 1) write in complete sentences after thoughtfully considering what you read and 2) write a significant amount defending your position.