Showing posts with label promethean. Show all posts
Showing posts with label promethean. Show all posts

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Technolgy in the Classroom Does Help Chlidren Learn Better

The Preliminary report of the research study by Marzano that I referred to in my last post is now available.

The following excerpt was taken from the Executive Summary:

“The average effect size for all 85 independent treatment/control studies was statistically significant (p < .0001). When corrected for attenuation, the percentile gain associated with the use of Promethean ActivClassroom is 17 percent ( ). A reasonable inference is that the overall effect of a 17 percentile point gain is probably not a function of random factors that are specific to the independent treatment/control studies; rather, the 17 percentile point increase represents a real change in student learning.” An average “real change in student learning” of a 17 percentile point gain caused by the Promethean Activclassroom is remarkable and vastly exceeded my expectations. Additionally, the conclusion states, “The meta-analytic findings suggest relatively large percentile gains in student achievement under the following conditions: · a teacher has 10 years or more of teaching experience · a teacher has used the technology for two years or more · a teacher uses the technology between 75 and 80 percent of the time in his or her classroom · a teacher has high confidence in his or her ability to use the technology” The “relatively large percentile gains in student achievement under the following conditions” caused by the Promethean Activclassroom is a “29 percentile gain.”


To get the details from this report and other helpful information from Promethean, go to www.prometheanresearch.com .

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Magic Eraser Makes ActivInspire Magical

A lot of hits on this blog come from people looking for ways to use the magic eraser in ActivInspire. The Magic eraser is called Magic Ink in ActivInspire and is the eraser in ActivStudio. Regardless of the name, it is one of my favorite tools for wowing and engaging students. The magic pen reveals images or text hidden underneath other graphics. I have used magic erasers to reveal names of states on a map, definitions of words for vocabulary review, labels on a diagram, and more.


Prometheanplanet makes using magic eraser a breeze. Download the magic eraser resource. The resource offers ready-made images that have the magic eraser build into them. The resource pack offers many images such as a magnifying glass, glasses, binoculars, and many more fun graphics.


Layering is the key to using the magic eraser. The image with magic eraser needs to be on the top. The image that covers what you want to reveal goes on the top layer just below the magic eraser. Revealing an item requires placement of that image on the middle layer. I would also recommend that you lock the magic eraser if you plan on moving items into the magic eraser like the example below.




Creating magic eraser tools from scratch is a snap with Activinspire. The Object Browser makes it easy to see the layers that objects are located. You can quickly move objects from one layer to the next. No more guess work like in Activstudio.


The best way to improve your skills with magic eraser is to dissect flipcharts containing magic erasers. There are many on Prometheanplanet. Have fun with the magic erasers.