Two things caught my eye in particular. And I’ll share one now – The SmartUs Digital Playground (their Finnish website).

The whole set up is very futuristic. Kids are issued with RFID smart cards that can be recognised by readers scattered throughout the playground. They login at the main portal and are assigned a task (run from point A to B via C three times, or something more complex) and the computer records their time. This time is recorded on an international online network where kids from different schools, or even different countries, can compare each others times and records.

Additional tasks and learning can also be integrated by assigning different nodes answers to a multi-choice quiz. This also comes into play by the presence of a dancepad hooked up to the main video monitor of the playground as well. This can be used for quizzes, fitness, dancing or simon-type games.

In Finland, it even became the basis of a family/children’s gameshow which involved celebrities and national atheletes, called FunTzu. Again, these TV scores were uploaded online, so schoolkids could challenge their idols. Unfortunately I can’t find any videos of the TV show – but after some searching I have found a news item of Asia’s first SmartUs playground in Hong Kong which shows how it works.

Tapping into children’s natural competitive behaviour, and then combining it with social media and massively multiplayer gaming Lappset have really hit the mark (or market). The only real downsides to it I can see are the initial outlay costs (which you can guess would be quite high) and also the pitfall of having ‘standardised cookie cutter playgrounds’ that don’t have their own individual community flavour. There also might be other hudles here in Australia given EQ’s stance on students and social networks.

Pretty much any official is saying that this was a major balls up by the teacher, and I’m finding hard to believe that with all the red tape (in the for of occupational health and safety) present in Australian workplaces these days, that this investigation was ever approved. I have no problem with hands on experiments. In fact, I think these should be encouraged. On top of that, if we expect to have smart and scientifically literate graduates from high school, experiments involving potential biohazards should be allowed. However (or even because of that) it still very important to recognise that risks are involved and the appropriate precautions be taken.

Do read the comments on The Mercury article too.

There seems to be some sections of the world who are somehow thinking that the teacher has not done anything wrong, because there are no schoolboys in Tasmania with bloodborne infectious disease. Perhaps they could do well to investigate the Health and Ageing website which show that historically (prior to vaccinations) they have been one of the highest risk groups for Hepatitis (which is probably the largest worry in this instance, rather than HIV). Blood-borne transmission is probably the number one risk that health organisations try to minimize to prevent the spread of disease.

Sydney facebookers can try to woo blondeshell Grace Carter by petitioning the event page. If she likes your “vibe” and your offer on the RSVP, she’ll go out with you. Could be more authentic than Kate’s Party.

I stumbled across this through a sponsored ad, so I don’t know if this venture is actually cheaper than more conventional internet hook up websites (unless it was free trial advertising).

Would be suitors, might be wise to check Grace Carter’s personal profile, she has a tattoo (not that there’s anything wrong with that*), has a gambling problem (likes “Winning at Life”), and perhaps has a thing for 2 girls: 1 cup^ (likes “Heaps of Shit” & “Authentic Shit”). If that appeals and you’re African (likes “Kenya” and “Oxfam”) who likes taking your gurl “to da movies” and random yet public internet hookups, go for it tiger!

*plus, at least it’s not a tramp stamp

^if you don’t know, you don’t want to know

Take in some futurology from the past in these videos – A combination of industry propaganda and promotions from the early 20th Century.

“Frontiers of the Future” (A Screen Editorial With Lowell Thomas) (1937) Archive.org

“To New Horizons” (1940) Archive.org

“Century 21 Calling” (1964) Archive.org

“Connected Earth” (1969) Youtube

Can you see some modern day inventions, perhaps in a slightly different form? And how about those inventions that never eventuated – was it because they were impractical, or an industry related reason, or perhaps they still might-someday-be?

What things did these futurologists never take into account? Perhaps the inverse growth relationship between the size of a TV screen and the size of a mobile handset…

You can learn much from this video which offers a brief overview of recent politics and issues in Australia.

Yes. It is true. In Australia we choose our leader by dangling rancid meat and political portraits before a crocodile pit and hurl beer cans at those crocodiles.

(That said, this one was pretty good too)

Real ad. Real political party.

Luckily, I consider myself a bit of a homo universalis – and dabble a bit in the Arts myself. I was on Australian Idol, thank you very much. You can look at my Flickr to see I enjoy visual arts – mostly photography, collage and sometimes drawing. I also did senior Drama at high school, enjoy the occasional roleplay, and will compulsively consume any movie available to me. But then there is the final dimension of the Arts – Dance. Now some people might consider my singing pretty bad, but that’s nothing compared to catastrophe produced by the uncoordinated disrhythmic spasms of my lanky frame to sounds.

Despite around four years in the schools music tour group, the grace to perform dancing more complicated than a rocker’s headbang tended to elude me. Luckily though, it was gracelessness, not denseness that prevented me from carving up the floor, so the general theory of dance as well as handful of moves from country, jazz, ballroom, hip-hop and other genres still lies buried within my neocortex – so I can fulfill the age old teacher’s mantra – Those who can’t, teach.

Below is my basic dance lesson for middle to upper primary students (8-12 year olds), which could probably be adapted for lower secondary. I used it in my government interview portfolio to demonstrate, that while I am the highly desired young, male math and science primary school teacher, I am oh so much more (and modest, too!²)

Using curriculum language, the lesson aims to give students the opportunity to create with peers a series of simple rhythmic patterns of swinging movements with various body parts to a 4/4 time signature to synthesise a short movement sequence for presentation to the class.

Take A Swing at Dance – Introductory dance lesson for middle-upper primary

Lesson duration: 90-120 minutes. I think I worked it over 3-4 30min sessions over as many weeks (that includes walking to and from the dance room, and one session was interrupted by a lockdown drill)

Resources needed: Rehearsal and performance space (either a studio room, a spare room, or your classroom with the desks pushed aside), music with a 4/4 beat – probably a CD, or failing that a basic instrument like tapsticks could work. The song I used was Hot Hot Hot by Arrow because it was upbeat, repetitive and low on lyrics to distract the children. You can decide to use a different music for your warm ups if you feel like it.

Risks: Body contact – make sure all students respect personal space. Appropriate movements – use your adult intuition to put a stamp to any silly business. Students are also working in groups, so keep an eye out that they are actually working and in their groups. It is probably wise to have a whistle, hand signal or other attention getter to redraw focus onto yourself when needed.

Warm Up: Learn that dancing is moving your body to music. After some optional stretching, ask the students how they feel about dancing, let them know we are doing a dance lesson that will have the ultimate ending that they will work in groups to create and perform a dance. Dance is simple, and does not need to be anything terribly fancy. It is just moving and music or a beat. Practice clapping a simple beat; 1, 2, 3, 4. Ask one student a movement they can do with their arms or hands (e.g. swinging up and down or side-to-side, more complex actions like punching or spirit fingers should be accepted too, if you students are stuck point out the clapping that was just done was a hand/arm movement). Get all students to copy this action. Do it together to the practiced rhythm; 1, 2, 3, 4. Repeat this with another student with legs/feet. Then with the head. Then with the waist or hips. Now put on your music. Get students to follow the beat by clapping; 1, 2, 3, 4. Then do the hand movement. Then do the foot movement. Then the head, then the waist. Now call out to the students which action they will do (e.g. “Okay, hands, now … legs, now… heads, legs, hands, waist, good!”). Speed this up or slow this down depending how your students go with it.

The Lesson/Task: Tell the students you are going to teach them a simple real dance move that they are going to use in the task. This dance move uses the legs. It is called the square or box walk. To a rhythm of 1, 2, 3, 4 walk on the spot in the shape of a square. That is right foot forward slightly, left foot forward slightly, right foot back to where it was, left foot back to where it was. Practice this with the students, without and then with the music. The students task is to work in their assigned groups to take the box walk and add two other body movements to it and put it to the class music (all students are working to the same music). These other movements are going to be using other body parts than the legs and feet (as these are occupied doing the square walk). If students are confused ask or offer suggestions for movements that might be interesting to use.

Rehearsal: Students are now split off into their groups and given rehearsal and discussion time. Give the students time without the music to discuss their movements first, then start the music so they can practice to the music they will be performing to. The teacher should float and observe in this time. Encourage students formulate democratic decisions, have self confidence and stay on task. Breakdancing headspins are cool, but do not fit in with the assigned task which requires students to do their dance while walking in a square.

Performance: Once students have had suitable rehearsal time. Have students perform. Performances should be short. Precede and follow performances with applause to provide encouragement. Ask students to name their dance groups and dance moves if they want to. Add reflection and peer-assessment if you like. Identify the students learning – moving rhythmically to music is dance and can be done in different ways.

Teachers notes: This lesson sort of organically grew from what had originally been planned a single 30 min activity to expose students to ‘creating’ dance and interacting with its elements, rather than just learning the nutbush and macarena as they appeared to be doing with their class teacher. While it is hard to monitor several groups of pre-adolescents engaging in creative process (read: arguing and messing about) with added background music, I was pretty pleased with our end products.

Dance moves my students created were as simple as adding marching arms and then shrugging shoulders to the square walk, or another group that added hand movements rotating a square around the face, and a ‘zombie’ move – arms outstretched and a nodding head. Some students considered some things like adding in structuring devices – such as having dances at different level – or dancer formation to their pieces, which was really outside what I had planned for the lesson. Most students got into the lesson, even those few (mostly boys) students who said they didn’t like or ‘get’ dance. Only one girl decided to not perform, which I think was the result of a creative dispute over whose dance move ideas would be incorporated. There was also a short mini-discussion over creative ownership after two groups incorporated the same dance movement. The definite focus of this lesson was on creation, not on performance, so students weren’t judged or made to feel judged on the artistic credibility or even how well they performed their dance moves – just that they did create something that could be recognised as matching the set task.

Each session started with the warm-up and a rehearsal of the ‘square walk’. I experimented a little with the warm up. Once I asked students what their hobbies were and turned them into dance moves – we ended up with a rugby pass, 1, 2, 3, 4,  carrying shopping bags, 1, 2, 3, 4, playing guitar, 1, 2, 3, 4, and playing x-box, 1, 2, 3, 4.

From here: By the time we got to presentation, my time at the school was up, so I don’t know if it went anywhere from there. If I’d stayed on I would have liked to move onto structuring devices and dance formation, as well as investigating timing (such as double-time movements). Students could also be asked to reflect on their movement sequences – did they match the music, did they match each other, would they match the movements created by their peers – this would lead onto the discussion of meaning in dance – was it a joyous dance, a funny dance, a threatening dance or something else entirely?

Image credit: Cute Little Girl in Pink Dances on the Beach during the Kite Festival by Mike Baird (Flickr CC by A)

¹Those exceptions usually being LOTE (Foreign language), Music (which receives dedicated teachers in Qld), and sometimes the regimented P.E. of H&P.E (but don’t forget the daily Smart Moves program)

² And desperate, give me work… pleaaaaase!!

It’s National Science Week.

It seems I’ve missed out on alerting you to vote for your favourite Aussie scientist for the Eureka prize (I would have been supporting Evans and Smith for proving the intellectual and communicative exploits of chickens).

But it is not too late to start voting for your favourite new Aussie species discovered this past year. Given that this year’s theme is biodiversity it’s a pretty appropriate poll.

Place your vote here.

Nominees are:

• Opera House Barnacle (Calantica darwinii)
• Kimberly Froglet (Crinia fimbriata)
• Sea Spider (Paranymphon bifilarium)
• Steve Irwin’s Tree Snail (Crikey stevirwini – I kid not!)
• Spinifex Ant (Camponotus triodiae)
• Pink Handfish (Brachiopsilus dianthus)
• Cape York Amber Fly (fossilized) (Chaetogonopteron bethnorrisae)
• Bacchus Marsh Wattle (Acacia rostriformis)
• The Bandalup Buttercup (Hibbertia abyssa)
• Truffle-like Mushroom (Cribbea turbinispora)

More new species and biodiversity stuff at the bushblitz website including a free teacher booklet (just in case your school somehow missed out, or your from another country).

This might include current or previous jobs, research, volunteer work, PD sessions, or even trawling through youtube and teachers.tv

So for those of you who might need something to add to those personal development logs, or just gain a clue in the classroom watch these global experts at work.

Embedded videos below the fold.

From England:

And of course Australia:

Sketch shows are Armstrong & Miller, Kids in the Hall, and SkitHOUSE.