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SMALLab Learning uses a projector, motion-sensor cameras, and a computer to create scenarios in which students can learn by immersing themselves in the lesson.

In an Elizabeth Forward Middle School classroom, students in an eighth-grade math class spent a recent morning getting into their lesson—literally.

Standing in their socks on a 15-by-15 game board that was projected onto a foam mat on the floor, they waved wands to move brightly colored virtual balls around the space.

They used trial-and-error to figure out what each colored ball did when it came into contact with another.

Did one ball bumping another cause it to multiply? Or did one eliminate another?

The students strove to develop a strategy to beat their opponents.

What they end up doing, educators say, is honing skills related to reasoning, decision-making, and critical thinking.

The teaching tactic is called embodied learning. It blends lessons and human-computer interaction.

Elizabeth Forward educators are implementing it with Situated Multimedia Arts Learning Lab, known as SMALLab Learning, which uses a ceiling-mounted projector, motion-sensor cameras, wands, and a computer to create scenarios in which students can learn by immersing themselves in the lesson.

The district is the first public school system in Pennsylvania to use this educational technology, developed at Arizona State University.

“It’s about getting students out of the standard desk and up and moving,” said Todd Keruskin, Elizabeth Forward’s assistant superintendent.

A $20,000 grant from the Allegheny County Intermediate Unit and the Grable Foundation helped fund the technology, which cost $35,000 and is new to the district this year. The district paid the balance.

Teachers in all subjects trained on the program, so anyone can incorporate it into a lesson plan.

“It’s as much about how the teacher drives discussion as it is about the game itself,” said Bart Rocco, superintendent.

Students who aren’t playing the game observe from the perimeter, taking notes and offering their classmates suggestions.

“The Earth is not 6,000 or 10,000 years old,” Nye said. “And if that conflicts with your beliefs, I strongly feel you should question your beliefs.”

The man known to a generation of Americans as “The Science Guy” is condemning efforts by some Christian groups to cast doubts on evolution—as well as lawmakers who want to bring the Bible into science instruction.

Bill Nye, a mechanical engineer and star of the popular 1990s TV show “Bill Nye The Science Guy,” has waded into the evolution debate with an online video that urges parents not to pass their religious-based doubts about evolution on to their children.

Watch the video:

Christians who view the stories of the Old Testament as historical fact have come to be known as creationists, and many argue that the world was created by God just a few thousand years ago.

“The Earth is not 6,000 or 10,000 years old,” Nye said in an interview with The Associated Press. “It’s not. And if that conflicts with your beliefs, I strongly feel you should question your beliefs.”

Millions of Americans do hold those beliefs, according to a June Gallup poll that found 46 percent of Americans believe God created humans in their present form about 10,000 years ago.

Nye, 56, also decried efforts in recent years by lawmakers and school boards in some states to present Bible stories as an alternative to evolution in public schools. Tennessee passed a law earlier this year that protects teachers who let students criticize evolution and other scientific theories. That echoes a Louisiana law passed in 2008 that allows teachers to introduce supplemental teaching materials in science classes.

“If we raise a generation of students who don’t believe in the process of science, who think everything that we’ve come to know about nature and the universe can be dismissed by a few sentences translated into English from some ancient text, you’re not going to continue to innovate,” Nye said in a wide-ranging telephone interview.

The brief online video was not Nye’s first foray into the combustible debate, but “it’s the first time it’s gotten to be such a big deal.”

In the video he tells adults they can dismiss evolution, “but don’t make your kids do it. Because we need them.” Posted by Big Think, an online knowledge forum, the clip went viral and had 4.6 million views on YouTube as of press time. It has garnered more than 182,000 comments from critics and supporters.

It drew the ire of the creationism group Answers in Genesis, which built a biblically based Creation Museum in Kentucky that teaches the stories of the Old Testament and has attracted headlines for its assertion that dinosaurs roamed alongside Adam and Eve.

The group produced a response video featuring two scientists who say the Bible has the true account of Earth’s origins, and that “children should be exposed to both ideas concerning our past.”

Watch the video:

Geldof says teachers are now responsible for all the “stuff we don’t want to do ourselves.”

Sir Bob Geldof—an Irish singer, songwriter, author, occasional actor, and political activist—noted during the Consortium for School Networking’s recent K-12 Technology Leadership Conference that the world’s economy is changing, thanks largely to mobile technology.

Geldof is a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, an honorary knight, and recipient of the Man of Peace title, which recognizes individuals who have made “an outstanding contribution to international social justice and peace.”

“When I heard the statistic recently that 20 percent of the world’s population has a mobile phone, I thought ‘tyranny can no longer exist,’” Geldof said.

The only problem is, those who don’t have access to mobile technology—including students who don’t have access in the classroom—won’t be a part of the future, and as a result, the nation’s economy will be at a standstill.

Another problem, according to Geldof, is that while “those who contribute no social benefits get millions, teachers, who do nothing but provide social benefits, get paid ‘buttons.’”

Watch the interview with Geldof:

The teacher defended the now defunct courses, saying that students were not taught to hate white people.

It’s frightening how uninformed some of the people who are responsible for making education policy in the U.S. appear to be.

Take Tucson Unified School District Governing Board member Michael Hicks, who faces criticism following his appearance on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” on April 2.

Hicks was featured in a segment on the show discussing TUSD’s Mexican American Studies program, which was dismantled in January amid a threat of losing millions in state aid.

The clip, which was 5 minutes, 25 seconds long, features The Daily Show’s Al Madrigal interviewing Hicks and Mexican American Studies educator Curtis Acosta.

“My concern was a lot of the radical ideas that they were teaching in these classes,” Hicks told Madrigal. “Telling these kids that this is their land, the whites took it over, and the only way to get out from beneath the gringo—which is the white man—is by bloodshed.”

It was Hicks’ comments that followed on the nationally broadcast show that drew the most criticism, as he told Madrigal that he chose not to attend any of the classes and that he based his thoughts on “hearsay from others.”

Acosta defended the now defunct courses, saying that students were not taught to hate white people. Rather, he said that the courses encouraged critical thinking.

Hicks, an adjunct faculty member at Pima Community College, went on to say that every week the teachers would “go out and buy burritos and feed these kids … what that does is it builds more of a bond between the teacher and the students.”

Perhaps one of Hicks’ largest gaffes came when he spoke about slavery and how other courses like African American Studies would not be affected by the state law in place.

“The African American Studies program is still there. It’s not teaching the resentment of a race or class of people. … You know, Rosa Clark did not take a gun and go onto a bus and hold up everybody,” he said, referring to civil rights activist Rosa Parks.

Hicks could not be reached for comment, but he said in a Facebook posting that he now knows that “The Daily Show” is a satirical news show that does not always represent the true remarks their guests make.

“What I believed to be would be a true interview ended up being nothing of the sort,” Hicks wrote on Facebook. “It is unfortunate that The Daily Show opted to amuse rather then inform.” He also said that he did visit a Mexican American Studies class and that his comments were spliced.

Watch the video here:

Material from the Arizona Daily Star was used in this report. Copyright (c) 2012, The Arizona Daily Star (Tucson, Ariz.). Visit The Arizona Daily Star online at www.azstarnet.com. Distributed by MCT Information Services.

Before the ceremony, the winners sat down with eSchool News Editor-in-Chief Dennis Pierce to discuss the qualities they think are important for today’s superintendents, the initiatives they’re most proud of having led in their schools, and the advice they’d give to colleagues in piloting schools effectively in the Information Age.

To hear what these exemplary leaders had to say, click on the headlines below. 

Mark Evans: The ‘three Cs’ that ed tech can help address

For Mark Evans, being a tech-savvy superintendent means “always looking down the road,” with an eye toward how technology can help school districts achieve what he calls the “three Cs”: classroom engagement, cost efficiency, and communication.

Daniel Frazier: ‘Bold leadership’ is needed for today’s schools

Daniel Frazier, superintendent of Iowa’s Sioux Central Community School District, believes the most important thing school leaders need to do today is “show bold leadership.”

Nicholas Gledich on the importance of ‘pausing and planning’

Nicholas Gledich, superintendent of the Colorado Springs School District 11 in Colorado, says one of the things his district has learned is the value of “pausing, planning, and executing” when it comes to ed-tech implementation.

Michele Hancock: The key to ed-tech success is ‘constantly communicating’

Michele Hancock, superintendent of the Kenosha Unified School District in Wisconsin, attributes much of her district’s ed-tech success to constant communication with stakeholders.

Michael Hanson: How he’s taken his district from worst to first in ed tech

When Michael Hanson became superintendent of California’s Fresno Unified School District in 2005, the district was on the verge of a state takeover, and an audit revealed it was the worst in the state in terms of ed-tech use. That’s no longer the case.

C.J. Huff: Creating new possibilities from unspeakable tragedy

On May 22, 2011, the town of Joplin, Mo., lost six schools in an EF5 tornado that killed 160 people and displaced half the student body. Joplin currently has about 3,200 students living in temporary facilities. In spite of these challenges, the district is leading the way in using technology to transform instruction under the guidance of Superintendent C.J. Huff.

Jerri Kemble: Today’s superintendents must be ‘willing to take risks’

Jerri Kemble, superintendent of the Centre School District in Lost Springs, Kansas, knows first-hand the challenges of leading a small school district: She’s not only the superintendent, but also the K-12 principal and virtual school director for this one-school district located “in the middle of a wheat field.”

Brad Saron: Ed tech is not about devices, but ‘how you use them’

For Bradford Saron, being a tech-savvy superintendent “has less to do with the devices you have and more to do with how you use them. In my judgment, being able to leverage technology to help people grow and also to convene teams to solve problems are the most important parts of being a tech-savvy superintendent.”

William Skilling on moving from professional development to ‘professional learning’

The most important part of effective leadership “is not knowing how do to something, but knowing what to do”—and then turning it over to the people with the right expertise, said William Skilling, superintendent of the Oxford Community Schools in Michigan.

The winners were honored at a special awards ceremony Feb. 18. The ceremony—which featured a keynote speech from noted ed-tech consultant Alan November—was held in conjunction with the Century Club 100’s annual meeting during the American Association of School Administrators’ National Conference on Education in Houston.

Watch the full awards ceremony here:

“What is your plan for making every home a center of learning?” he asked those in attendance. “I’m concerned that we’re spending too much time fixing schools as the dominant focus in helping children succeed.”

South Korea is putting a 1-gigabit internet connection into every home in the country, he said, adding: “That’s more capacity than some states have for all their schools.”

Watch November’s thought-provoking keynote speech here:

Evans, the superintendent of Andover Public Schools in Andover, Kansas, a suburb of Wichita, is a 2012 winner of the Tech-Savvy Superintendent Awards from eSchool Media. He recently sat down with eSchool News Editor Dennis Pierce to discuss his district’s ed-tech accomplishments and the keys to its success.

In the interview, Evans discussed how virtualizing its servers has allowed Andover to save at least $750,000 by not having to build a data center to contain them. He also described the growth of the district’s virtual school, which is providing new learning opportunities for more than 300 students—with more students enrolling every year.

Watch what Evans had to say: