My daughter sent me a link to Breathing Earth a week or so ago, and I’ve had it on the list of things to explore since then. Breathing Earth provides real-time simulation displays the CO2 emissions of every country in the world, as well as their birth and death rates.The data used for the simulation has been gleaned from a variety of sources, including CIA World Factbook and United Nations Statistics Division.

The creator of the simulation emphasises that this is purely a simulation, and that data that measures things on such a massive scale can never be 100% accurate – however, I think it is an effective way of visually modelling some of the issues and concerns that exist around global warming, CO2 emissions etc as a ‘way into’ thinking and talking about such concerns with students.

Using the simulation as a base, I can see opportunity for lots of discussion and further deabte. Even if you consider the claims of CO2 emissions and global warming are over-rated, the simulation provides a prompt for exploration about the validity of such claims, further investigation of the data and its reliability etc.

In my mind this is one of the things that technology does well – processing large amounts of data and representing it visually in ways that allow for us to engage with complex issues and ideas more easily. Roll on the day when such representations are generated from real-time data collection and aren’t dependent on modelling based on already out-of-date data that has been gathered elsewhere

The Learning@School conference is rollicking along in Rotorua at the moment, with keynote speaker on day one, Andy Hargreaves, setting the scene with challenges to us all about the need to take account of the whole context and culture of our school when considering change and development. Pam Hook had the audience spell-bond also with her “Hooked on Thinking” ideas and strategies.

Unfortunately for me I am missing the conference, and have had to rely on my Twitter feeds, text messages and the odd call to keep me posted. Having made it to the opening of the conference I’ve had to return home for family reasons. That didn’t stop the presentation I was scheduled to do from going ahead – with my colleague from the Ministry of Education, Douglas Harre, stepping up to share thoughts, insights and ideas based on CORE’s Ten Trends for 2009. This is the annual list of trends developed by CORE staff to represent a view of some key areas of interest for NZ educators with regards to the impact of ICTs on teaching and learning.

This year’s trends are:

1. Mobile Technologies for learning
2. Netbooks
3. Cloud Computing
4. Learning spaces/environments
5. Open Education Resources
6. High Definition Video conferencing
7. Advanced Networks
8. Cyber-Citizenary
9. Green computing
10. Digital Literacy

The slideshow used at Learning@School is provided here:

For links to other research and lists of trends and predictions for 2009 check out the following:

Horizon Report, 2009

Looking forward to 2009

100 Top Sites for the year ahead

The Future of the Internet III

Horizon report – Australia/NZ edition

The growing interest in a global energy crisis and the drive to find alternative fuels and ways of conserving our existing energy sources is a hot topic at the moment, and one that provides an excellent context for theme-based, cross-curricular learning at all levels of the school.

I’ve blogged previously about resources that have been developed for use in schools, including Electrocity, a simulation focused on energy use in the city and PowerUp, a 3D virtual world with an environmental focus from IBM. The latest I’ve discovered is EnergyVille, (referred to me by Clarence Fisher via Twitter).

EnergyVille is an interactive game that puts you in charge of meeting the energy needs of a city or around 3.9 million people. It’s certainly engaging enough, with plenty of opportunity for exploring the choices to be made and pondering the consequences – I could certainly see how this could stimulate lots of activity in a classroom.

Of course, when considering energy futures we open ourselves to lots of speculation and differing points of view, depending on who is promoting the alternatives (energy companies, governments, ‘green’ groups etc – all have their own particular bias.) According to the game intro, the game has been created by the Economist Intelligence Unit, and the assumptions for the game, both present and future, are based on their assessment of global facts and trends from numerous credible sources. The intro goes on to emphasise that there are a great many points of view in this debate, and that there are no easily answers. The important thing that is emphasised is the need to engage with good information and understand what the variables are and the consequences of these in any decisions that are made. If indeed this is what the game embodies then it gets a tick from me as a useful addition to the resource bank for teachers!

World Environment Day is looming – Wednesday 5 June – and to celebrate this event schools from throughout New Zealand and around the world are being invited to make a pledge and decide on some sort of eco-action to make a difference in some way. These ideas and actions can be submitted on the WED Website. Every New Zealand school, wharekura, kura, early childhood education centre, and kōhanga reo can use this website to share their plans to contribute to a sustainable future and participate in World Environment Day (WED) on 5 June 2008.

Overseas schools can also share their own sustainability thinking on a day when New Zealand’s students will be first to see the sun and to show the way today! The organisers are currently trying to get schools from as many countries as possible to participate, so that the maps that become active on 5 June will show a broad coverage of participation from across the whole world. If you know of a school that might be interested in participating please pass this message on.

I’ve just been taking a look at PowerUp, a free, 3D virtual world launched a few days ago by IBM. The game is aimed at educating teenagers about alternative energy sources and environmental conservation. It’s really quite engaging, and makes great use of a 3D games environment that merges the appeal of fantasy virtual worlds with the educational goal of building wind and watermills to save the world. Playing the game, students work together in teams to investigate the rich, 3D game environment and learn about the environmental disasters that threaten the game world and its inhabitants.

Players meet Expert Engineer characters and experience the great diversity of the field. Conversations with these experts and engaging interactive activities allow players to explore ways engineers design and build systems to harness renewable energy sources as alternatives to burning fossil fuels. Players take on the role of Engineers, working together designing and building energy solutions to save the world.

Despite the strong use of the gaming environment, Powerup has definitely been created with an educational intent – it comes with notes for parents and teachers, including a list of lesson plans, and also has a strong emphasis on internet safety. There is no requirement for users to input personal details that may let them be identified. In addition, PowerUp players use a phrase-based chat system to communicate with each other. There is no blank field into which another player can type a message and send it to the user, rather, throughout the game players can choose from a contextualized list of messages to send to other players. The list has been created by the game designers and includes only phrases that are necessary for cooperation and positive reinforcement between players.

Unfortunately for me it’s only available for PC – no Mac version available (yet?). Take a look at the intro video below for more…

Here’s a great educational resource sent to me by my son-in-law this morning.

From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It’ll teach you something, it’ll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.