Sphero SPRK Edition

There’s no rule that says learning shouldn’t be fun, or that playing can’t be valuable. If there is, we created SPRK Edition to break it. We know that kids love Sphero, so we turned that love into learning and creation. Sphero SPRK Edition makes the skills of the future approachable and practical. And most importantly, fun.
The SPRK app experience lets you give your robot orders with visual blocks representing code – our own C-based language called OVAL. Immediately see the connection between the program you created and how the guts of your Sphero work and react. Sphero SPRK Edition will inspire a love of robotics, coding, and STEM principles.

You can read the full review here.

or WIN one here!

12 Huia Birds

Do you know the story of the majestic vanished huia bird? The largest of the New Zealand forest birds, the loss of this sacred bird with the curved beak and white-tipped tail is one of the great tragedies of New Zealand conservation history.

12 Huia Birds (yoozoobooks.com/12huiabirds.html) is a new and free educational, interactive app aimed at primary school-aged children and families. Funded by NZ On Air, it brings to life the story of the lost bird through interactive pictures, animation, sound, activities, and narration by George Henare in English and te reo Māori. It’s intended to be a resource to support both environmental education and reading.

Manurewa leaders meet The Mind Lab

How are four South Auckland Principals doing on The Mind Lab by Unitec’s postgraduate programme (themindlab.com)? In a new video, they explain how they’re enhancing and accelerate the learning of their students, as well as uplifting and inspiring their teachers.

Google launches Gmailify

Google has introduced a new feature called ‘Gmailify’ that will allow non-Gmail account holders to still benefits from its services, like spam protection and inbox organisation. Users of Yahoo and Microsoft’s Hotmail and Outlook – with others supported in the future – will not only be able to check email within Gmail’s mobile application but also manage accounts as if those emails were hosted on Google’s own servers.

Astro Pi on the International Space Station

British ESA astronaut Tim Peake shows us the Astro Pi flight units running UK students’ apps and experiments on board the ISS. Find out more and get involved at astro-pi.org.

Intro to KnowMe

Express yourself through video with KnowMe (knowme.com). The app lets you create edited, personalised videos by stringing together photos, videos, voiceover, and more. The simple touch-controls make it a breeze.

Classkick

Classkick (classkick.com) is a tool for sharing assignments with students, monitoring their progress, and offering feedback. Create accounts and easily collaborate digitally with your class.

Lapse It

Lapse It (lapseit.com) is full featured app for capturing and sharing time lapse and stop motion videos. It is easy, fast and intuitive to use.

Tour of HoloKlip

Shorten, ‘clip’ and mix YouTube videos with HoloKlip (holoklip.com). Simply enter the link and use the editing tool to select the part(s) of the video that you want. There’s also an embed app that lets you embed clipped videos into other sites.

How to use WorkFlowy

Organise your brain – and your life – with Workflowy (workflowy.com). Essentially, it’s an online notebook for lists. Use it to be less stressed and more productive and creative by managing your day, your workflow, ideas, and projects. There are video tutorials demonstrating all the site’s features.

Your First Map

Use Scribble Maps (scribblemaps.com) to create and customise maps the way you want. You can embed images, add text and markers, draw shapes and lines, add distance and area calculators, and create custom widgets. Once you’re done, simply share the result.

US Elections — How do they work?

This is a five- minute video for UK students studying A Level Government and Politics, explaining key features of elections, democracy and representation in the USA.

HAPPY – Trailer

Does money make you happy? Family and friends? Being successful? Do you live in a world that values and promotes happiness and well-being? Are we in the midst of a happiness revolution?

Explore the concept and secrets of happiness with ‘Happy’, an award-winning feature-length documentary that combines real-life stories of people from around the world with expert interviews.

Hang Son Doong

It’s nearly nine kilometres long, has a jungle and river, and could fit a 40-story skyscraper within its walls. Hang Son Doong (sondoongcave.org) is the world’s largest cave. This official site has details and data, photos, videos and other resources to learn about this extraordinary underground world.

BBC News : How to put a human on Mars

Rovers have landed on Mars – some 56 million km away and a journey of at least nine months – but can people go? In How to put a human on Mars, the BBC asked scientists from Imperial College London to design a mission to take astronauts there and back. Watch the videos and explore the interactive see their solution.

NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover at Namib Dune (360 view)

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has sent back a fascinating, 360-degree view, Full-Circle Panorama Beside ‘Namib Dune. The site is part of the dark-sand ‘Bagnold Dunes’ field along the flank of Mount Sharp. Images taken from orbit indicate that dunes move about one metre per Earth year.

This Week In History

As the name suggests, This Week In History looks at what happened in the past during a particular week. It’s a series of 30-second videos from the BBC, each is a collections of news clips, with text description and date.