Extra Curricular – Brain Exercises

BRAINLY - AN ON-LINE HOMEWORK HELP PLATFORM
https://brainly.com/
From the web site: "With Brainly you a) Get homework help from millions of students and moderators; b) Learn how to solve problems with step-by-step explanations; C) Share your knowledge and earn points by helping other students; and d) Learn anywhere, anytime with the Brainly app!"

BUILDING COMMUNITY THROUGH CREATIVITY - STUDENT ENGAGEMENT ACTIVITIES
click here
This blog has a great list of activities that could take place in a classroom, an entire school, or in neighborhood non-school tutoring and/or mentoring programs.

COMIC BOOK PROJECT
https://www.comicbookproject.org/
From the web site: "The Comic Book Project is a world-renowned literacy initiative that engages young people in the process of planning, writing, designing, and publishing original comic books. Since 2001, CBP has engaged more than 250,000 learners in a creative process leading to academic achievement, social awareness, and community development. By engaging youths in brainstorming, sketching, plotting, designing, and publishing original comic books, CBP encourages students to become active learners and content creators, rather than mere information receivers." 

CREATE COMIC STRIPS AS LEARNING, FUN - SEE EXAMPLE
https://dogtrax.edublogs.org/2016/02/18/so-long-internet-kid-its-been-great-writing-you-and-you-too-horse/
Kevin Hodgson is a 6th grade teacher in Western Massachusetts. He uses comic strips as part of his teaching. This blog article shares one film strip he created. This could be a project of youth and volunteers in a tutor/mentor program as well as an in school or home learning project.

DESIGN THINKING FOR EDUCATORS TOOLKIT
https://www.ideo.com/post/design-thinking-for-educators
From the web site: This is a "A free, how-to toolkit and coursework that introduces educators to the process and methods of design."  Could be used by staff and volunteers in tutor/mentor programs, too. 

DIGITAL STORY TELLING - THE ART OF STORYTELLING
http://storyconcepts.blogspot.com/
This is a 2013 website so some information may be out of date. However, the site offers many ideas for digital story telling "in terms of low budget projects that can yield high academic and creative returns in a short amount of time".

DIGITAL STORY TELLING - TIPS FOR USING VARIOUS TOOLS
http://chalkface-digital-age.blogspot.com/2013/03/developing-digital-literacies-through.html
This site is from 2013 so some of the information may be out of date. However, the post shows how to use several different tools and applications to create your own digital stories. 

E-PORTFOLIO PROGRAM AT LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO
https://www.luc.edu/celts/programs/learningportfolio/index.shtml
From the website: "The ePortfolio Program at Loyola University Chicago is designed to support students, faculty, and staff in the process of creating dynamic, engaging ePortfolios as a tool for teaching, learning, reflection, transformation, and assessment."  The site includes many useful ideas for using e-portfolios. 

EXPLORABLE EXPLANATIONS - LIBRARY OF IDEAS FOR LEARNING AND PLAY
https://explorabl.es/
From the website:  Explorable Explanations is a hub for learning through play.  It's a disorganized "movement" of artists, coders & educators who want to reunite play and learning."  The site hosts collections of activities.  Take a look. 

GAMES FOR CHANGE - USE GAMES TO STIMULATE LEARNING
https://www.gamesforchange.org/resource/educational-potential-of-computer-games/
From the web site "Founded in 2004, Games for Change facilitates the creation and distribution of social impact games that serve as critical tools in humanitarian and educational efforts. We aim to leverage entertainment and engagement for social good. To further grow the field, Games for Change convenes multiple stakeholders, highlights best practices, incubates games, and helps create and direct investment into new projects." 

HOW STUFF WORKS - HOW THE WORLD ACTUALLY WORKS
https://www.howstuffworks.com/
From the web site: "HowStuffWorks got its start in 1998 at a college professor's kitchen table. From there, we quickly grew into an award-winning source of unbiased, reliable, easy-to-understand answers and explanations of how the world actually works."

HOW TO SPOT FAKE NEWS - SLIDE PRESENTATION
click here
There are many resources to help you spot fake news. This presentation is one.

HOW TO CREATE STOP MOTION ANIMATION ACTIVITIES FOR STUDENTS WITH GOOGLE SLIDES - SULSO179
https://shakeuplearning.com/blog/how-to-create-stop-motion-animation-activities-for-students-with-google-slides-suls0179/
This presentation offers a full tutorial on creating stop-motion activities for students in Google Slides. 

IDEAS FOR PROJECT BASED LEARNING
https://my.pblworks.org/projects
From the web site: "Our exclusive focus is Project Based Learning. Why? Because PBL advances educational equity and empowers youth furthest from opportunity. We believe PBL is transformative for all kids. Through PBL, students engage in learning that is deep, long-lasting, and relevant to the challenges of their lives and the world they will inherit. Research confirms this. Our services, tools, and research are designed to build the capacity of K-12 teachers to design and facilitate quality Project Based Learning, and the capacity of school leaders to create a culture for teachers to implement great projects with all students"

KIDNECTED WORLD - CREATES ON-LINE LEARNING EXPERIENCES FOR KIDS
https://kidnectedworld.org/
Kidnected World "seeks to connect the world’s kids to re-imagine the world together". This is the description on the web site: "This entire world will change in a generation. We believe that if you connect the young global citizens who inhabit it, they will turn it into one of unprecedented imagination, understanding, respect and discovery. We exist to build the tools and spaces where this kind of connection is possible and tied to tangible impact for good—supporting the kids who will create this future with the means and confidence to make it a reality."

KQED TEACH - EXPAND YOUR MEDIA SKILLS
https://teach.kqed.org/
From the web site: "KQED’s online professional learning platform dedicated to engaging participants in a hands-on approach to learning digital media literacy skills. This is the space to practice and collaborate with your fellow educators to learn and bring media making your learning environment."

LEARNING GEOGRAPHY, THE FUN WAY
http://www.fffbi.com/missions/
From the web site:  Fin, Fur and Feather Bureau of Investigation (FFFBI)  uses humor and storytelling to help kids ages 8-13 learn about places and cultures around the world. This is an important first step toward building their global literacy."  The site provides investigative games where in pursuit of elusive targets, students have fun learning geography. This is a site worth exploring for use in classrooms or in tutor/ mentor programs.

LEARNING STRATEGIES - HELPFUL TO STUDENTS
https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/19989/do-students-know-enough-smart-learning-strategies
This article offers suggestions for teaching learning strategies to students.

LOGIC COMIX: LEARNING RESOURCE? 
https://impedagogy.com/wp/blog/2023/10/04/logiccomix-anybody-using-these-in-the-learning-venues/
This blog article introduces a genre of comics, saying  "that they are all about logic and critical thinking. They use humor and clever illustrations to explain complex concepts."  See links in the article. 


MAKE BELIEFS COMIX - MAKE YOUR OWN COMIC STRIPS; HAVE FUN
https://makebeliefscomix.com/daily-comic-diary/
From the web site: "MakeBeliefsComix is for people of all ages who like to play and explore. They include, for example, those wanting a few minutes of fun; youngsters and their parents; students and teachers; business executives trying to unwind from the stress of work, and activities directors and social workers who try to help people express their deepest thoughts and feelings."

MAP OF NEW YORK CITY, SHOWING BUILDINGS FROM LATE 1800s
https://www.oldnyc.org/
Students doing research projects might find this map useful, and interesting. More than 8000 photos from the late 1800s are plotted onto a Google map showing where the buildings were located. Introduce this to your students and let them browse the site.

PROBLEM SOLVING ACTIVITIES - ARTICLE
http://life-long-learners.com/without-an-o-we-cant-s_lve-pr_blems/
This blog points to some problem solving activities that could be used by volunteers, parents, tutors, educators in helping youth learn critical thinking skills. 

RAPTORS IN THE CITY
http://raptorsinthecity.homestead.com/
From the web site: "Kids and their mentor pals can catch a glimpse of the fastest creature on earth, the peregrine falcon, as they watch falcons live online via cameras mounted on skyscrapers. This rare cliff-dwelling raptor has moved to the city and has proven to be a subject city kids can call their own. Nearly extinct because of DDT, the peregrine has recovered and now nests on skyscrapers in cities across North America. Months of "falcon fun" webquesting activities can be done via telementoring or one-on-one at the computer. It's great around Earth Day as falcons are busy laying and incubating their eggs. Chicks hatch, grow, and learn to fly - all live online! Website is free and sign up for a free e-newsletter, the "Falcon Flash". Mentoring activities package available at minimal cost."

RESEARCH-BACKED TOOLKIT HELPS YOUTH ORGANIZATIONS INTEGRATE DIGITAL LEARNING
https://clalliance.org/blog/research-backed-toolkit-helps-youth-organizations-integrate-digital-learning/
This article points to a "recently published Reclaiming Digital Futures toolkit" that can inspire work in non-school tutor, mentor and learning programs, homes and traditional schools.  Read the article and follow the links.

SKETCH 50 - CREATIVE EXPRESSION ACTIVITY
https://sketch50.org/
Browse this site and see how people from throughout the world, mostly educators, are prompted to create doodles and visualizations for 50 consecutive days. While this is a 2017 activity, it could be adopted by any classroom, or non-school youth program, as a future activity.

SKETCHCASTING: A COMBINATION OF BLOGGING, TALKING AND DRAWING!
https://www.speedofcreativity.org/2010/06/09/sketchcasting-a-combination-of-blogging-talking-and-drawing/
During the 2013 ETMOOC this blog demonstrated uses of creative technology to support learning and engagement. This article about "sketchcasting" shows an activity that could be a student/volunteer project in any tutor/mentor program. 

STRING GAMES - & FUN LEARNING - YOUTUBE CHANNEL
https://www.youtube.com/user/momsminivan
On the MomsMiniVan channel you can find dozens of videos showing how to make string games that can be used in classroom teaching mentoring and tutoring and just for fun. 

STRING GAMES, A SIMPLE, POWERFUL, TEACHING TOOL - VIDEO
click here
In this Google Hangout Fred Mindlin shares his passion for string games. By the end of the one-hour video, tutors, mentors and teachers, especially those working with elementary school kids, will see that this is a powerful tool that they can use to engage with kids.

TECHNOLOGY IN LEARNING - CREATE STRIKING VIDEOS WITH ANIMOTO
http://thede-tech-tive4teachers.blogspot.com/2012/08/create-striking-videos-with-animoto.html
This is "A technology blog created by an educator whose goal is to de-tech and share 'teacher-tested' technologies for classroom use." 

THE LEARNING NETWORK - THE NEW YORK TIMES
https://www.nytimes.com/section/learning
From the web site: "Every school day since 1998, we have offered fresh classroom resources — from lesson plans and writing prompts to news quizzes, student contests and more — all based on the articles, essays, images, videos and graphics published on NYTimes.com." This site was nominated for a Webby Award as one of the best educational web sites of 2003.

THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF PLAY - VIEW THE COLLECTIONS
click here
From the website: "The Strong National Museum of Play owns and cares for the world's most comprehensive collection of toys, dolls, board games, video games, other electronic games, books, documents, and other historical materials related to play. This unprecedented assemblage offers a unique interpretive and educational window into the critical role of play in human physical, social, and intellectual development and the ways in which play reflects cultural history."

THE WONDERMENT - LEARN AND CREATE WITH KIDS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD
https://thewonderment.com/about/
This site offers a world of creative exploration and learning for kids from any place. Here's intro from the web site: "In the Wonderment, kids participate in collaborative creative experiences with other kids across the globe and turn their shared imagination and interaction into a currency backed by brands and donors to support social good projects benefiting kids around the world. It’s a place where kids can find their creative voice, connect it to others and use it to make a difference." This is a project of Kidnected World.

TO BOOST HIGHER-ORDER THINKING, TRY CURATION
https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/curation/
This article shows how to engage students in higher level learning experiences using curation activities. 

USING MAPILLARY IN EDUCATION - AN ESRI GIS MAPPING TOOL
click here
This article shows ways students, educators and volunteers can use the ESRI Mapillary tool in a variety of ways.  Take a look. 

WNET EDUCATION RESOURCES
https://www.wnet.org/education/
From the web site: "WNET’s award-winning Education Department (collectively representing the station efforts of THIRTEEN, WLIW21, and NJTV) is a local and national leader that engages the education community (formal and informal) through the development and delivery of high-quality and innovative media and services that are designed to enhance learning, enrich lives, and extend the impact of public media content."

 
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