schools

MyScript Calculator (iOS|Android) is an app for both iOS and Android that lets you perform mathematical operations with freehand writing of expressions on your touch screen. This app won the Mobile App Showdown award at CES 2013 and after some time spent using it, it's easy to see why.

The simple-looking interface mimics the look of graph paper. In the top right of the screen you have buttons for undo and redo, and a trash can for when you want to clear the screen completely. In the upper left you can open a menu where you can access … Read more

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On this week's show, we check out Tailly, a wearable robotic tail that wags when you get excited. If that gets you wagging, then you'll definitely want to have a look at the Satis Bluetooth toilet that can flush with your smartphone. And in honor of winter, we look at how a snowflake is born. It's the last show of 2012, and we bid you farewell until the new year. The show returns on January 18. … Read more

Steven Sinofsky, who recently left Microsoft after running the Windows division for six years, tweeted this morning that he will teach at Harvard Business School this spring.

"Excited to return to @HarvardHBS to teach again this spring!" Sinofsky wrote. "New perspectives, recharge, share experiences, write."

In response to a question on Twitter, Sinofsky said he intends to teach "product development" as well as write articles about the topic.

Sinofsky has some history at Harvard Business School. He served as a "visiting scholar" there in 1998. He also co-authored a book on organizational … Read more

The slow demise of cursive handwriting is not a new story, but lately the death knell has been tolling a little louder. In a recent example, the State Board of Education of Kansas is about to debate the role of cursive lessons in the schools amid a nationwide decline in those lessons.

School districts large and small have been phasing out cursive. Verona, Wis., will phase out most third-grade cursive instruction by 2014. Indiana formally de-emphasized cursive last year in favor of pushing proficiency in keyboard use.

Common Core State Standards for what students are expected to learn have been picked up by most of the states in the union. Those standards don't require cursive. Keyboarding skills, however, are featured in the writing standards. That means most states no longer have a mandate for teaching cursive.… Read more

There's something new(ish) under the sun in the rural South African village of Phomolong, where Samsung has built a gadget-laden solar-powered classroom -- in a renovated shipping container.

The Solar Powered Internet School -- a product of Samsung's corporate-social responsibility initiative -- has solar panels on the roof that can generate nine hours of electricity a day. That power's needed to juice the electronics inside -- a 50-inch electronic board, Samsung Internet-enabled solar-powered notebooks, Samsung Galaxy tablets, and Wi-Fi cameras.

… Read more

So you're 13 and at school.

You're playing with a school-issued iPad. Would you click around? Of course you would.

What would happen, though, if you clicked and were confronted with a topless picture of your teacher?

This was the deep dilemma faced by 13-year-old Joshua Troutt and three fellow teens at Highland Middle School in Anderson, Ind.… Read more

The lovely thing about technology is that it helps you control children.

They need to be controlled. Otherwise, they will run amok and do all sorts of dreadful things, like go to the restroom, smoke cigarettes, or kiss each other.

Hanging IDs with RFID chips around students' necks isn't exactly new. Some Texas schools have been enjoying it for some time.

However, recently, the Northside Independent Schools District in San Antonio encountered a little consternation when it announced its foray into the idea -- one that is reportedly being instituted to combat truancy (and therefore make the schools more money).

Now that the IDs are in force, a counter-force has emerged: civil disobedience.

I would like to identify MySanAntonio.com as suggesting that most kids happily accept the new tags, as their path through school (if they show up) is made simpler and quicker. For example, in the lunch queue. … Read more

As back to school kicks off in the U.S., new data claims that Apple's iPad is outpacing traditional PCs in sales to students and schools for the first time ever.

Charlie Wolf, an analyst at Needham & Company, wrote to investors today that the iPad is now "cannibalizing" PCs in sales to the K-12 market, according to Apple Insider.

"Clearly, a significant portion of iPad sales represented an expansion of the market," Wolf wrote, according to Apple Insider. "But in view of the fact that Mac sales held steady at around 520,000 … Read more

Run a quick search for "notepad" on Google Play, and you'll see that there are at least 1,000 apps claiming to fit the bill. The good news is, we've taken the time to show you a few notepads that are absolute must-haves, especially for students just getting back into the groove of school.

Evernote (free) These days, the all-powerful Evernote feels more like a platform than a single, independent app. It has a full menu of companion downloads like Skitch, Evernote Food, and Evernote Hello available, and tons of developers are racing to integrate its … Read more