Let's try Arduino in High School!

Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform that is fantastic to create interactive objects or environments. Arduino is cheap and very easy to use, so is a very powerful tool for artists, designers and hobbyists. And it is an amazing tool to teach electronics and programming. Let's try Arduino in High School!

Here you have "Arduino The Documentary":

Dancing "Cupid Shuffle"

Watching the tv series "Treme", I have discovered a song called "Cupid Shuffle".  It is a song with an easy choreography.  Do you know the song?  Is it famous in Spain?  Here you have a video with people dancing the song:



And another video about how to dance it:



I know it's very easy, but I like it!

Here Be Dragons

"Hic sunt dracones" was written in the Hunt-Lenox Globe in 1503.  It was a way of saying that we don't know an area of the map and it may be dangerous.  Brian Dunning made a video about critical thinking and called it "Here Be Dragons".  In ancient times there were legends about dragons and other creatures to explain the unknown.  Now we give new names to the supernatural: reiki, homeopathy, ghosts, conspiracy theories...

Here you have a press kit about this video: Press Kit

What do you think about this topic and the video?  Should we watch it in class?

Another article about this problem: Supersticiones, pseudociencias y placebos: ¿cómo saber qué es verdad y qué es mentira?

Kids don't learn from people they don't like

Rita Pearson was a teacher most of her life. She said that kids don't learn from people they don't like. What do you think? How important are the relationships between teachers and students? In this amazing TED talk we remember the educator Rita Pearson:

Duolingo: learn a language for free and translate the web

Imagine a good free program to learn a language. Imagine that this good program is free because when you are using it you are working for them: they use the answers of your exercises to translate the web. That's Duolingo, one of the best web pages to learn a language. You can use Duolingo in your browser or in your smartphone, because there are versions for iPhone and Android. So let's recommend Duolingo to our students!

In this TED talk the founder of Duolingo, a mathematician from Guatemala called Luis von Ahn, tells us about how he invented Duolingo and Captcha:

Learn American English Slang and Idioms with American Anthony

What you learn in textbooks is very useful information. But there’s a problem. Most textbooks don’t teach “slang” English.

If you want to communicate with native English speakers, watch TV in English, work and travel overseas then you need to speak and understand “real” spoken English.

http://www.americananthony.com

Commentators divided on Thatcher's legacy

Former British Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher has died at the age of 87 after suffering a stroke.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22073484