Jac de Haan

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Homepage: http://www.billingsmiddleschool.org/beta


Posts by Jac de Haan

Independent Project Spotlight: Rowan

March 5, 2010 - 10:18 am

Posted in 6th Grade, Projects | 5 comments

My name is Rowan, and I am a 6th grade student doing an independent tech project about important issues around the world.  My website has links to other websites that are helping to solve these issues.
Check out my website to see how you can help too. You can leave comments right here on the tech [...]

Computer Engineer Barbie

March 4, 2010 - 12:05 pm

Posted in Digital Identity | 2 comments

Barbie has been around for 51 years and there are 126 different versions of the doll! While popular around the world, there are many people who don’t like this toy because they say her body is unrealistic, she perpetuates a stereotype and she doesn’t represent real women.
Mattel, the company that makes Barbie, is trying [...]

OK GO followup

March 2, 2010 - 4:11 pm

Posted in 7th Grade, Digital Identity, Projects | 1 comment

On Monday, the 7th grade talked about the band OK GO and their inability to post embeddable videos due to the record contract they have in place.  State Farm Insurance stepped in and gave the band money to make a new video that falls beyond the EMI agreement.  Enjoy this massive Rube Goldberg machine:

OK GO coming to Washington state

March 1, 2010 - 11:15 am

Tags:
Posted in 7th Grade, Digital Identity | No comments

7th grade time in the lab is split between two lessons today – bridged by digital identity:
1. OK GO is a band that became popular through some awesome YouTube videos.  Instead of signing a recording contract and spending millions on advertising, they made a couple of low-budget, hilarious films and posted them online.  The videos [...]

Apple iPad testing

February 26, 2010 - 2:01 pm

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Posted in Projects | 1 comment

Students got their hands on an Apple iPad today – weeks before the product has officially been launched!  We did some testing and compared the size of this new device with an iPod and a laptop.  Overall impression was that the screen seems small for web surfing, but it is a fun gizmo.
If you are [...]

2010 digital identity survey results – cell phones

February 20, 2010 - 7:15 pm

Posted in 8th grade, Digital Identity | No comments

The 8th grade Community class has been analyzing the results of their 2010 Digital Identity Survey. 88 students (out of 103) completed the request for information. There is a lot of information to work through – from social networking accounts to gaming consoles to parent perceptions of tech use. Below is a [...]

Applied Math Lab: Avalanche!

February 11, 2010 - 2:33 pm

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Posted in 8th grade | No comments

8th grade students have been learning about the aspects of avalanches as well as safety and awareness (partly in preparation for the February snow camping trip). They simulated three different avalanche terrains on a flat board, and used flour, salt, sugar, and potato flakes to simulate varied snowpacks. As they increased the angle of the [...]

iPad deconstruction

February 1, 2010 - 2:01 pm

Tags: ,
Posted in 6th Grade | 2 comments

The 6th grade spent the period deconstructing the marketing around Apple’s new iPad announcement.
We started with the official video that greets visitors to the Apple website.  What does Apple want us to believe about the new device?  How do they use music, backgrounds, demonstrations and interviews to convince us?
Next we broke up into groups to [...]

What’s behind that website?

January 25, 2010 - 6:09 pm

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Posted in 6th Grade | No comments

We use websites every day to do all sorts of things: watch video, communicate with others, research and explore.  How is it that computers know what a website should look like to the viewer?
6th graders got behind the scenes today as we learned about hyper text markup language (HTML), a way that computers speak so [...]

Billings Middle School iPhone app released

January 20, 2010 - 4:52 am

Posted in Projects | 3 comments

Billings Middle School has released an iPhone/iPod Touch app – available free from the iTunes store.  This app contains news and information gathered from various parts of the School’s digital identity: the public news feed, the Head of School blog, the Tech Lab blog and our YouTube channel.
Special thanks to Annaliese (8th grade student), who [...]