The purpose of this learning video is to show students how to think more freely about math and science problems. Sometimes getting an approximate answer in a much shorter period of time is well worth the time saved. This video explores techniques for making quick, back-of-the-envelope approximations that are not only surprisingly accurate, but are also illuminating for building intuition in understanding science. This video touches upon 10th-grade level Algebra I and first-year high school physics, but the concepts covered (velocity, distance, mass, etc) are basic enough that science-oriented younger students would understand. If desired, teachers may bring in pendula of various lengths, weights to hang, and a stopwatch to measure period. Examples of in- class exercises for between the video segments include: asking students to estimate 29 x 31 without a calculator or paper and pencil; and asking students how close they can get to a black hole without getting sucked in.

In this three-day unit, learners identify two-dimensional shapes used in castle construction, create a castle collage using assorted shapes, and design tapestries using repeated patterns of color, shape, or line. They understand that the castle's primary purpose was to keep the community safe but that it also served as a home for the lord and his family. This activity is featured on pp.37-38 (part of a lesson that begins on page 35) of the "LEGO's Castle Adventure" unit of study for grades K-6.

This video lesson aims to motivate students about chemistry and to raise their awareness about how chemistry helps in solving certain environmental problems. In this lesson, the air pollution problem created by cars and other vehicles is presented. The lesson will highlight causes of this problem, harmful products from it and possible solutions. There will also be discussion of ways to convert the pollutants produced by burning oil in vehicles into more friendly products.

This wiki page describes the DIY Design Challenge Activity used during ISKME's Teacher Academy. Design a DIY Project for students that meets the following design principles:The design must meet a need for their school community. The design must use collaboration between teacher, student, and community. The design must be multidisciplinary. The design must use low cost and/or no cost materials. Group examples are included.

This lesson aims to introduce students at the top of the K-12 ladder to the concept of Design Thinking via Common Core Literacy Standards recently introduced

This site presents challenges faced by NASA engineers who are developing the next generation of aerospace vehicles. The challenges: thermal protection systems, spacecraft structures, electrodynamic propulsion systems, propellers, and personal satellite assistants. Students design, build, test, re-design, and re-build models that meet specified design criteria, using the same analytical skills as engineers.

Maker Faire participants collaborate in ISKME's Design Lab, using digital stories and salvaged materials to design an innovative school of the future. The Design Lab features Makers Mauro ffortisimo Di Nucci's deconstructed piano and INKA Biospheric Systems' Vertical Garden; as well as Student and Teacher project examples that integrate art, science, sustainability, and green design inspire the creation of shareable open-source learning resources. This wiki page showcases photos and video from the Design Lab, open educational resources for teachers, and a step by step guide through the design process.

ISKME's Design Lab 2011: Make an OER Maker Faire participants collaborate in ISKME's Design Lab to brainstorm, prototype, and present new ideas in teaching and learning. This wiki page showcases photos and video from the Design Lab and a step by step guide through the design process used.

ISKME's OER Commons Teacher Training Initiative offers teachers a collaborative professional development model centered on engagement with Open Educational Resources (OER). The OER Commons Teacher Training Initiative is rooted in the idea that equitable access to high-quality education is a global imperative. Open Educational Resources, or OER, offer opportunities for systemic change in teaching and learning through accessible content, and importantly, through embedding participatory processes and effective technologies to engage with learning for all.

This wiki page documents the Design Process Workshop ISKME facilitated at the Roadtrip Nation offices in Costa Mesa, CA on February 18, 2011. Storytelling, design thinking, improv, brainstorming, and prototyping were used to design for the Design Challenge:How might we create more teacher engagement with the Roadtrip Nation Experience?

This wiki page documents the STEAM Design Challenge Activity ISKME facilitated during the SLANT Summer Institute at San Francisco Unified School District July 19-23, 2010.Participants designed prototypes for an arts integration project for students and posted their ideas on the wiki.

This wiki page documents the Sun Curve Design Challenge, inspired by the "Sun Curve" aquaponic garden sculpture to challenge teachers and students to produce new OER materials and incorporate green design thinking into the classroom.

This wiki page describes ISKME's Teachers as Makers Professional Development Academy.A two day professional development teacher training for the Maker inside each of us. We will explore how Maker-Teacher collaboration can facilitate innovation in the classroom. The Makers’ Projects are points of inspiration for Teachers as they experience DIY inquiry and design. Teachers will have time to brainstorm, create, reflect, and share how their experiences at Maker Faire and with Make Teacher Academy can translate into their teaching using online resources and collaborative tools. This page includes links, activities, photos, video, and group presentations from the Academy.

Activities, resources, photos and videos from ISKME's two day professional development teacher training that explores Open Educational Resources (OER) and Maker-Teacher collaborations to facilitate innovation in the classroom. The Makers’ projects are points of inspiration for Teachers while they engage in design-thinking activities to create, remix, and share OER Projects with online collaborative tools.

This wiki page describes the goals and tenents of improv, as well as four different improv activities (Name Gesture Circle, Yellow Ball, Vacations, and Thank You) used in ISKME's Professional Development Teacher Academy: Teachers as Makers June 15-16 2010 at San Mateo County Office of Education.

Respecting a child's race, colour, gender, religion, political view, nationality, origin of birth. What does this have to do with the students in my classroom or children all over the world? Ethics and social responsibility in the classroom are invited in this unit of study.Have your students ever thought about looking at an idea through different lenses? What about thinking about one item in different ways? Through the thinking, writing, speaking exercises the students will examine the Declaration of the Rights of The Child and will create a scrapbook weaving multiple genres.

Project Zero's mission is to understand and enhance learning, thinking, and creativity in the arts, as well as humanistic and scientific disciplines, at the individual and institutional levels.

Debbie Clark's 8th grade science students take several days to complete their Rube Goldberg contraptions. Bringing things from home, they experiment with the parts, design their contraption, and make a blueprint for it before beginning to build. This is a lesson that emphasizes cooperation, teamwork, creativity and design.

This wiki page documents the activities, articles, links, and resources used, as well as the teacher created Open Educational Resources (OER) during the SLANT Institute.On July 19-23, 2010 San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), in collaboration with the California Academy of Sciences, the de Young Museum, 826 Valencia, KQED, ISKME, and the Exploratorium launched the Science, Literacy, Arts iNtegration in the Twenty-first century (SLANT) Summer Institute for Pre-k through 8th Grade Teachers to explore and investigate science and art integration. Participants received resources to use in the classroom and on field trips as they plan lessons with grade level colleagues.