Bits & Pieces

Here are some quick items for you...

Enter to win a free Tungsten E2 Educational Started Pack from the Palm Store for Educators. Simply enter your name, institution, and email for a chance to win six handhelds with wireless keyboards, six 128MB expansion cards, and more! Enter by July 31. The winning name will be drawn on or around August 8.

Inspiration has released its concept mapping (they call it "visual learning") software for Pocket PC handhelds. It requires Windows Mobile 2003 or later and 3MB of available memory. You can download a free 30-day trial.

Google has added a new feature to their specialized search page for mobile users. It allows you to restrict your search to pages that are specifically designed for mobile phones and handhelds. Mobile Web Search can be helpful in finding sites that work well with web viewers like FlingIt or Plucker. It's also great if you are browsing the web on your handheld using WiFi.

PillyBurbs.com has a story titled, "Students Get Wet in Creek Study". Seventh graders studied and measured a local creek. Using science probes attached to handhelds, students received, recorded, and analyzed real-time data. Thirty-five handhelds were part of Palisades Middle School's grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Education. According to the article, the project had to be developed from scratch and "the end result was a thick packet of worksheets for the students to complete, starting with vocabulary definitions of watershed-related terms and continuing to explain what a watershed is, what kind of life can be found there, and more." It sounds to me that the 35 handhelds could have certainly been used for these tasks instead of piles of worksheets! Maybe next year they'll get even more use from their handheld computers!

TeachLEARNING has an article by Sheetal Singh called "Mobile Managers". It's a brief guide to software and hardware that school administrators might find handy and includes Palm and Pocket PC suggestions.

If you are perhaps looking to purchase a couple of handhelds or some accessories, you should try registering for Adopt-A-Classroom. If your classroom becomes sponsored, you will have $500 to spend on classroom supplies!