Good Secondary Software

[sonyahorton]

Do you have any software that you couldn’t live without for teaching your subject, or perhaps you could live without it but you have a faithful favourite to share with us?



I am always on the look out for good software to test for our software accreditation programme and I am sure many others would love to hear about your favourite software too. Tell us about it here.

[rexboggs5]

For secondary maths teachers who use TI calculators, SmartView (which emulates the TI-84 calculator) is a must.

Cheers

Rex

[jepatton]

I'm also a secondary math teacher, and I competely agree with Rex about TI Smartview. My students learn how to use their calculators much faster when they can see the actual keystrokes on the screen. Other packages I use are:

Geometer's Sketchpad - The Activboard is great to demo concepts and to give students a preview for their own explorations. I use Sketchpad with every class I teach, and I would love to see the ability to embed Sketchpad files into ActivStudio in the way that Quicktime and Flash files can be embedded.

Graphing Calculator by PacificTec. This software allows you to graph equations and functions in 2 or 3 dimensions, in several different coordinate systems. I really like the sliders that allow students to see the effect of changing one or more parameters in an equation.

Geogebra - Available on the web as a free download. This is kind of a cross between Geometer's Sketchpad and Graphing Calculator. What I like best about it is that you can create stand-alone Java applets that can then be posted to the web for students to do explorations with on their own time. Geogebra also has sliders, so I used it to demonstrate function transformations to my precalc students.

[saha]

Here are some that I recommend:

Math - Estarters, robert powell publications series.

Science - Robert powell publication series, visual simulation uk, Plato learning, crocodile clips science, opus headstart pro, sunflower learning


I will post the url links for these later.

[wilcogirl]

For me, any of the software that comes with the book is a big help with flipchart building.

We also use at our school Explore Learning.It is a great math and science supplement. It also works really well with the activboard or to assign in a lab setting. +wave+

[vryan]

OK, enough of the science and the maths, what about Geography? I am looking for a map that will run on mac on which I can add colour to each country (or region) to show different concepts like population density. The ones currently in the resource library active studio aren't really of a high enough quality to make this work...

All suggestions gratefully received...

Are other mac users out there also having difficulties finding resources? If so, what do you use and where have you found them?

Vicki

[saha]

Hi Vicky,

You may want to try this for geography:

http://www.robertpowellpublications.com/geography1.htm

[Stewart]

Hi Vicki,
It really depends on the sort of map you need. The one's in the Resource Library are only the one's available to us without a copyright. There are a number of websites which have themed maps. One eg. is The National Geographic site at http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine
Some maps in the Resource Library have countries/counties/regions/states in different colours, even seperate objects to move around. These can be coloured in using the fill tool to show things like pop density. I'll see if I can create some more and put them on the Planet for download.

[allenc]

Have you looked at the new google earth? it is not interactive. but you can do a capture of a region .. then use the hightlighter tool to stress your point of intrest.

[mistermorris]

Seriously. ArtRage. Seriously.

http://www.ambientdesign.com/artrage.html

Just download and try it. Art teachers everwhere shall rejoice. I use it for my comic creation club.

[sonyahorton]

I agree I accredited Artrage a couple of months ago and its fantastic and really good value for money, you can download a starter version free with limited tools but the full version is only $25, what a bargain.

Its not only good for Art but I can also think of endless ways it can be used in any primary classroom. Children could do full screen murals on the whiteboard or draw images for flipcharts, stories etc and the children will love the paint effects (especially the glitter).

I definately recommend this one.[clap]

Sonya

[Peter_Kent]

Hello All,

Spinnamaths is a fantastic software package for interactive whiteboards. It can easily be used to demonstrate difficult principles and allows teachers and students to 'play' with ideas and implications of some very high level mathematical concepts. It really only focuses on senior secondary school maths, Year 10,11 and 12, 16 years plus (KS 4 in the UK I think)

http://www.spinnamaths.com.au/index.html

If you have ever had difficulty getting students to visualise polynomial functions, polar curves or engaging discussions relating to complex number theory this is the software for you.

Cheers

Peter

[Gem]

Just wondered if anyone has tried 'Crazy Talk'? I saw it at a conference last year and thought it might help with GCSE poetry....
any feedback??
thanks

[Daniel Bunker]

I think it has a great deal of potential - the difficulty for many schools is finding curriculum time for extended projects that make use of such multimedia applications.

Where timetables are more flexible, pupils can really make excellent use of such software and make meaningful links between subjects.

I've had a go at linking something produced with Crazy Talk with Activ software - the trouble is the flash placeholder setting seems to slow down the playback and lip synching is not so good - but the process involves lots of valuable learning for pupils.

Dan

[mistermorris]

I'm really interested in doing extended projects. I've already got a comic creation club going and i'm trying to get them to spend time doing it during lunch and whatnot. You're right that it takes the support of the entire school. Good ideas and software aren't enough!

[Gem]

Dan!
Fab example; it's very spooky. I hadn't thought about using it in this way but using your great Macbeth characters is really effective. Thanks. You're right about the extended projects and I know that something like this would probably be used at full potential with lots of student participation in the creation process (something that time does not always allow) but at a simpler level as you've just demonstrated I think it may be worth the money....will download the free trial and see!
thanks again,
G

[amanmauld]

Hyperstudio is a great tool for interactive learning! You can create games, web projects, and video projects. Special effects, enhanced transitions, drag and drop features, and"click-programming" are some of the many features offered. It is similar to Activstudio, but Hyperstudio has many more features. It can be used in any grade level and in any subject area.

[gillilandd]

As a Mac user who teaches high school science I couldn't teach without Keynote. (http://www.apple.com/iwork/keynote/) I used Powerpoint for years but find Keynote much more powerful, visually pleasing and fun & easy to use.
I have also been using HotPotatoes (http://hotpot.uvic.ca/) for years to make interactive students quizzes to post on my web site.
To author interactive programs I once used HyperStudio but switched over to Revolution (http://www.runrev.com/) several years ago when Roger Wagner sold the company. Now that he is bringing it back I plan to purchase it as soon as it hits the streets.
Doug Gilliland
Sarasota High School
http://www.honorsphysicalscience.com

[LisaD]

Oooh, I used to love HyperStudio! I found it on this site.

http://www.mackiev.com/hyperstudio/index.html

Is this what you mean or is Roger really coming back? I used to know him well!

Lisa

[wilcogirl]

I have never used Hyper Studio. is it only for the MAC?

[LisaD]

The specs on the website list both Mac and PC. (But...long, long ago it WAS mac-only!)

Lisa

[rexboggs5]

I have never used Hyper Studio. is it only for the MAC?

From: http://www.mackiev.com/hyperstudio/index.html
Back and better than ever, this all-new HyperStudio for Mac OS X and Windows :ouses the latest technology to provide students with a completely up-to-date media-rich creative tool for presenting ideas, stories and adventures.

Cheers

Rex

[wilcogirl]

But how does this differ from having our students use Activstudio or Activprimary? What are the differences? What are the advantages? This coming from someone who will use Activstudio to for anything.

[soverton]

Thanks for the info on the different science sites to use!! These helped tremendously[clap]
Soverton

[mpwhalen]

Ignite! Learning has a lot of functionality very well-suited for Promethean tools. In geography, this includes having students drag nations into correct contextual order, exploring interactive maps, working in competitive teams, and practicing whole-class tests.

http://www.ignitelearning.com/

[rgabino]

OK, enough of the science and the maths, what about Geography? I am looking for a map that will run on mac on which I can add colour to each country (or region) to show different concepts like population density. The ones currently in the resource library active studio aren't really of a high enough quality to make this work...

All suggestions gratefully received...

Are other mac users out there also having difficulties finding resources? If so, what do you use and where have you found them?

Vicki

The following website has some great themed maps. http://www.worldmapper.org/ I am not sure if you can do it specifically for a country but I know it shows world views.

The best thing that I have found is using maps that are out on the internet for specific topics. Just take a snapshot of the maps and insert them into your flipchart.

Good luck!

[markrobinson]

If you really want to analyse and compare large bodies of geographical data then a GIS application is useful...

http://www.esri.com/software/arcexplorer/

or..

http://wwwamb.bologna.enea.it/forgrass/


Google Earth is also very well supported with additional data that appears as special layers in the software.

http://www.google.com/educators/p_earth.html

http://www.google.co.uk/schools/secondary-geography.html

http://www.gearthblog.com/index.html

[mondo]

As a parent is there softwear I can down load to held my son when he is at home after school, I feel the white board may very well be in his school very soon and I would like to be up to speed with it and not be in the dark,

Thank You Raymond????

[markrobinson]

There is a free Viewer which you can get now... Promethean Planet > Software Upgrades. This only has limited functionality.

There is also a free Student Edition that you can download if the school has Promethean equipment.

The full software is also available under a special "learning community license" to meet the need you describe.

I might suggest you speak to the school and discuss your desire and let them see this thread. On the blog there is also an article on student software accreditation - this is a very popular read and and suggests that many teachers want the students and parents involved with learning the software.


http://www.prometheanplanet.com/blog/?p=351


The school may want to consider engaging students as one of the ways to ensure the sucess of implementing the Activboards.

[geeky4u]

I just got the active stdio at my school and people are not so familiar with it as yet. However, it cannot be installed on my commupter because my operating system is vista and the soft is for xp an d machintosh. I am truly disappointed because i cannot go home and explore the possibilities of the board.




Do you have any software that you couldn’t live without for teaching your subject, or perhaps you could live without it but you have a faithful favourite to share with us?



I am always on the look out for good software to test for our software accreditation programme and I am sure many others would love to hear about your favourite software too. Tell us about it here.