ZooBurst is a digital storytelling tool. Kids can create 3-D pop-up books that are saved to the ZooBurst site. You can use images that you upload yourself or you can choose from the extensive database of images in the ZooBurst database. Characters can have cartoon-like chat bubbles that appear when the character is clicked. In addition, authors can also record their own voices using the ZooBurst audio recorder to have their characters really “speak” when clicked! Also, ZooBurst provides embedding code, so once you have created a book you can embed it in your own website or blog.

There are too many exciting alternatives to boring high school programming classes to be offering only classes like C++ or java where students code for the same old assignments. I say let’s get our HS students developing apps for the iOS or games. The tools are free and the apps could sell!

Check out this class in iTunes U.
Developing Apps for iOS (SD) by Paul Hegarty
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Description: Tools and APIs required to build applications for the iPhone platform using the iPhone SDK. User interface designs for mobile devices and unique user interactions using multitouch technologies. Object-oriented design using model-view-controller pattern, memory management, Objective-C programming language. iPhone APIs and tools including Xcode, Interface Builder and Instruments on Mac OS X. Other topics include: core animation, bonjour networking, mobile device power management and performance considerations. Prerequisites: C language and programming experience at the level of 106B or X. Recommended: UNIX, object-oriented programming, graphical toolkits Offered by Stanford’s School of Engineering, the course will last ten weeks and include both the lecture videos and PDF documents. A new lecture will be posted each Wednesday and Friday. Subscribe to this course, and automatically receive new lectures as they become available. Released with a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND license.

Or, get your programming tool from Microsoft’s DreamSpark

“DreamSpark is simple: It’s about giving students Microsoft professional tools at no charge.”

Professional editions of the developer toolkits are available free for students.

“Microsoft XNA Game Studio is a set of tools that allow students, hobbyists and independent developers to build games for both Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360. XNA Game Studio is based on the .NET Framework and includes custom managed code libraries, Xbox Live Support, and Games for Windows Live support to make multi-player game development easier.”

Which assignment sounds like it would get more students motivated?
Write (and possibly sell) a game for Xbox, or code a simple calculator.
I think I can guess….

Press Release….

On the 11 January 2011 Google is launching the inaugural Google Science Fair. We have partnered with NASA, CERN, National Geographic, Scientific American and the LEGO Group to create a new STEM competition that is more open, accessible and global than ever before. We wanted to reach out to educators prior to launch to let you know “the Google Science Fair is coming” and to extend an invitation to schools and teachers to get involved early in what we hope will be a large global initiative.

The Google Science Fair is a global competition that any student aged 13 – 18 from around the world is eligible to enter. Students can enter as individuals or as teams of up to three. There is no entry fee and registration and submission will happen online. The deadline for submissions will be the 4 April 2011. The Science Fair will culminate in a “once in a life time” celebratory event at Google headquarters in California in July 2011 where finalists will compete for internships, scholarships and prizes in front of a panel of celebrity scientist judges including Nobel Laureates, tech visionaries and household names.

We want to celebrate and champion great young scientific talent and give students from around the world the opportunity to compete for amazing experiences, prizes, scholarships and internships.

We hope you are as excited about this upcoming competition as we are are! To sign up for fun and free resource kits for your classroom or school (Google bookmarks, stickers, posters and more!) and a reminder notification when GSF registration opens, please visit the Google Science Fair at: google.com/sciencefair