Movies as you've never seen them

Training Guinea Pigs

Our guinea pig, George.

During Labour weekend I went to a guinea pig training camp (4 days). We worked in teams of 3 attempting to train guinea pigs to scent gunpowder.
Two teams got as far as the double blind scent. This is a test where neither handler nor animal know which of two tins has the gunpowder in it. The guinea pig has to find the right tin and stand on it.
At the time the camp finished, we were training ours to find and mark the gunpowder tin.
The camp was an intense, tiring experience. I went along hoping to discover new things about teaching and learning and I did. I've shared some of my discoveries with the class and I hope they may put some into practice. I sure plan to do so!

Some of the many treats we used to keep him interested and working.

Intending to learn

This is a great article with information about how to learn more effectively: Intending to learn .

Are you acrophobic? Then don't look!

Living dangerously!


"The medical definition for the fear of heights is “acrophobia.” It is an abnormal and persistent fear of heights. The word “acrophobia” is derived from the Greek words “acron” (height) and “phobos” (fear). Acrophobia, the fear of heights, is a natural fear. To a certain extent, there is nothing wrong with having a fear of heights. It is a healthy defence against doing things like walking off a cliff. The problem is when the natural healthy instinct becomes a morbid (unsound or even paranoia) fear. This type of unhealthy fear, acrophobia, is usually overwhelming and debilitating (it will freeze you in your tracks)."

(Definition from this site: acrophobia ).

How to check maths answers.

This is what the class came up with today.

I'm looking forward to seeing lots of really accurate maths calculations because the students will be so good at thorough checking!

Fairness

Soon we will be asking the question "Is NZ Fair?" To start with, watch this and compare what you know about NZ with this teacher's discussion of how his students live in the USA.

At this link meaning of fair  you will see definitions of the word fair. Read the definitions and see which ones make sense when we are talking about how we treat people.


Critical explorers will decide what the word means, before they begin investigating if NZ is fair.

The Bully Project

11-year-old Caine Smith was choked, beaten, harassed, and was called a long list of names. Instead of staying locked away and hiding, he stood up and did something about it.

Future proofing your skills

I really liked the wisdom shared in this article http://tinyurl.com/careerwisdom

What do you think about this?