Alice is a computer programming software environment focused on teaching first-time programmers the basics of computer science. A decade or so ago, web design classes began popping up in high schools across the nation as a way to engage students in a viable future profession in a similar way that shop classes throughout the country have prepared students for carpentry and other manual professions. More recently, computer science and programming classes have garnered buzz. As typical programming environments geared toward students have always focused on relevant business principled uses, and as programming students have reached younger and younger ages, a need has arose to teach programming in a way that feels relevant to students that do not yet understand the business demands of most computer science professionals.

This is where Alice comes in. Alice focuses on building three dimensional game-like environments (with Lewis Carroll’s protagonist at the head) purely through code. The software, which can be downloaded for as many users as desired for free, is open sourced and has been designed specifically for computer science students desirous of learning the basic principles, grammar, organization and design elements of modern coding. However, in the beginning, Alice avoids the frustration the students often encounter with coding through a drag-and-drop interface. If the student sets up malfunctioning code, the program will run up to the point where the code is faulty, all of which is designed to reduce frustration and make the learning process as simple as possible. Alice can be used in high schools, but is also used in universities as an initial introduction to computer science across America. From Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh to Ivy League Cornell University in Ithaca, NY to Duke University and California State University, Alice has graduated beyond the plethora of high schools already taking advantage of its benefits. A peer-reviewed IT journal published findings that in introductory courses to computer science, students averaged a grade B with Alice as opposed to a grade C with traditional teaching methods. Furthermore, after using Alice, 88% of students continued on to take a second computer science course after learning on Alice, whereas only 47% of other students continued on to another course. Alice can be downloaded for free at Alice.org. A plethora of teaching materials can be found there, as well as at http://www.aliceprogramming.net/.

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Microsoft has an academically rich education site at Microsoft.com/education. A wide range of free educational materials, including free lesson plans, are available for both the student and teacher to access, and numerous downloads and enhancements are available for either group to peruse. When landing on the main site at Microsoft.com/education, one will immediately notice that the site is very intuitive. Every clickable link is clearly labeled and adequately explained, which makes browsing extremely user-friendly and allows a person to find the materials they are looking for in as little time as possible. A teacher can access free lessons plans for Geography, History, Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Technology, and Social Studies with the click of a button. Several main topics are highlighted on the main lesson plan portal, but a search feature is also present. The search feature will allow an educator to search the free lesson plans and how-to articles for keywords and to limit the search to a specific grade level and subject heading. These lessons plans explore their topics through the use of computer programs and supplemental web-sites. Teachers can also access free clip art and media, educational templates, gradebook templates, academic calendars, newsletter templates, a professional development tool, and free posters for their classroom!

However, teachers aren’t the only ones who will find handy resources at Microsoft.com/education. Students can access a wide-range of materials to further their education, both at school and independently. A studies tab on the student section of the web-site presents a variety of well-organized tutorials, templates, and personal stories. These materials will help any student become a more efficient and organized learner, and provide them with handy tips and tricks to expedite basic tasks in Microsoft programs such as Word. The Microsoft DreamSpark section of the student portal provides access to numerous Microsoft program downloads for the purpose of education and personal enhancement. The software available will help students learn design and technology skills, math, science, and engineering activities. Any person who is enrolled at an accredited school and a verified student is free to download and use these programs. The Microsoft.com/education web-site provides a wealth of material for students and teachers. Much of the material presented utilizes a mixture of traditional education and technology, making it a real treasure for any teacher who wishes to expand the multimedia aspects of their lessons and for students who want to remain on the cutting edge of learning opportunities.

TED is an organization and a website with a collection of over 450 video lectures by some of the most notable academics, businesspeople, researchers, politicians, and scientists in their fields. Each lecture is only 18 minutes long. A small non-profit organization dedicated to getting the news out on the power of ideas, they have attracted such large names as Al Gore, Richard Dawkins, Jane Goodall, Bono, Richard Branson, Stephen Hawking, and Steven Levitt, the co-author of Freakonomics.

While each of the lectures, which can be streamed for free from the website, is educational, they are also inspirational. Since each of the lecturers is spending less than twenty minutes to describe their life’s passion, and because each of the lecturers is a superlative expert in their area of study, the lectures are as exciting and simply presented as they are educational and informative. For this reason, they might best be used at the outset of a curriculum, to introduce a topic, a theme, or an area of study. For instance, as a teacher begins a portion of a science curriculum on outer space, she could show Carolyn Porco’s TED speech, which asks the question, Could there be forms of life on one of Saturn’s moons? The lecture is fascinating, but also presented in simple enough terms for most high schoolers and certainly for college students. Alternatively, there are also many education-related lectures on TED that teachers or administrative staff might watch for their own edification.

Renowned mathematician Arthur Benjamin delivers a lecture suggesting ways to make math education more effective and less stressful. In two separate lectures, Sir Ken Robinson and Elizabeth Gilbert both discuss broad changes they would like to see made to the education system in order to foster students’ strengths. Whether for classroom use or for school staff’s personal use, TED lectures educate with the kind of gravitating and inspired videos that are just unavailable in most pre-packaged curriculum-driven video series. Find TED online at http://www.ted.com.

Ted Wujec on 3 Ways The Brain Creates Meaning