We’ve got in depth with the history of Seattle native Bill Gates and learned about how he hacked his way from middle-school mischief maker to Harvard and then beyond.  We followed his empire as it moved from the early days in New Mexico back to Washington state, and how Microsoft has weathered competition to become a worldwide brand with significant market shares in gaming, search, software and hardware.

Today we talked about 2 Stanford guys who changed the way search engines rank websites to help us find what we are looking for.  Their project (called BackRub) became more than just a company…Google is a verb and a website that millions of people use everyday.  We spoke of how Google has tried to compete in various web endeavors that have failed (Google Video, Google Pages, Orkut), and how they’ve bought other companies that do things well (YouTube, KeyHole, JotSpot).

When asked who the people and companies that will make it huge in the next few years will be, students responded with an enthusiastic “we are!”

As part of these conversations, we’ve been using online maps and stock charts to illustrate concepts and we’ve been practicing our listening and participation skills in preparation for the guest speakers that will start sharing their technology experiences next week.

We started by tracking Apple’s stock price this year, beginning with the iPad announcement and following through until yesterday’s report that Apple made over 3 billion dollars in the last quarter.

Using Bing’s finance charts and Google’s time-related search results, we mapped increasing share price and product announcements over the last 3 years.  We found a clear trend – stock prices rise between the announcement of a new product and it’s actual launch.

Also, we realized that much of the pre-launch marketing around Apple products is free – news outlets and bloggers share stories and compete to scoop each other with rumors and insider (mis)information.  This is great news for Apple, since they don’t have to spend all of their money to get the word out.

Now to the rumor of the week – an Apple employee supposedly left a prototype of the new iPhone (to be released this summer) in a California bar.  The device was sold to Gizmodo, which has dedicated an entire portion of their site to stories about this gadget.  This creates more buzz for Apple as other news outlets report on Gizmodo’s reporting.

Students used Google’s real-time “updates” to monitor how many stories are bouncing around the blogosphere and Twitter channels about this story.  While there is a bump in traffic, we don’t think that this story is enough to sustain interest through the summer.  What else will Apple tell us about the new product to keep news outlets interested?

Some students wondered if Apple had “lost” the iPhone on purpose to try and get free advertising from bloggers, newspapers, television and radio.  Some bloggers suggest that Gizmodo got punked by Apple.

One class had an unexpected find during class today, a webpage that simultaneously searches Google and Bing, displaying results side-by-side.  In Firefox, you can actaully set http://www.google-vs-bing.com/ as your default search engine if desired.

Student definitions:

The difference between a web browser and search engine has been murky in the past for some students.  We reinforced our Microsoft Excel skills from STeM class to build a comparison chart:

Microsoft Student has an interactive learning tool that explores how speed and angle effect orbits.  We spent some time playing with the 2 variables to create circular and elliptical satellite rotations.

The rest of our time was spent in Google Moon (a feature of Google Earth).  On the Moon, we found evidence of humans (decommissioned, crashed satellites), entered panoramic photographs taken by real astronauts on their visits, tracked the paths of rovers that have been deployed, viewed video footage on lunar landings from YouTube, and overlayed historic maps of the Moon’s surface.  In the process, we learned to use Google Earth’s layers and navigation controls.

]]> http://www.billingsmiddleschool.org/beta/2009/10/23/6th-grade-blasts-off/feed/ 0 http://www.billingsmiddleschool.org/beta/2009/05/05/freelance-designer-visits-6th-grade/ http://www.billingsmiddleschool.org/beta/2009/05/05/freelance-designer-visits-6th-grade/#comments Tue, 05 May 2009 18:41:22 +0000 Jac de Haan http://www.billingsmiddleschool.org/beta/?p=412 The 6th grade’s tech visitor series concluded today by spending time with Blair, a Seattle freelance designer who has designed and coded for many companies including Nestle, Microsoft, Cadillac and Burger King.

Blair discussed the benefits of working for yourself (he has 2 chickens in his home office!),  how being creative can turn into employment (he makes games and then gets hired to put company logos onto them), and how his interest in art and technology has turned into a career.

Blair uses his own website as a showcase for his talents and is also starting his own small business, PillowMob, which is a great example of bringing a creative idea to the marketplace.Billings Middle School thanks Blair for his visit!

Erin spoke about her high school and unviersity career, where she was often one of very few women in a class and how she focused on what she enjoyed and didn’t worry about what other people thought.  She is interested in electrical engineering and had internships at Microsoft where she was able to explore her passions.  So talked about her role as a project manager – the trips she gets to go on, the new software she gets to play with and all the people she gets to talk with everyday.

Students had lots of interesting comments and questions.  Abbey, Isaac & Lysbeth had questions about the upcoming Windows 7 operating system.  Ismael asked about using Microsoft & Apple computers harmoniously in the same household.  Isaac and Aaron had many specific questions about Erin’s favorite tasks/projects/benefits.  Augie was interested in Erin’s current software and Aselya wondered about meeting Bill Gates.  Deividas, Sam, Nick S., James, Nicholas, Olivia, Lizzi, Nick R., Sophie & Elijah all engaged with Erin and commented on her stories.

Special thanks to 7th grade parent Bob for setting up this experience!

These are the types of choices that we’re asking readers to make in our original choose-your-own-adventure stories. Before Spring Break, we typed up our stories in Microsoft Word. Today, we translated those stories into Powerpoint. Not only did we learn the basic functions of the program, but we learned how to be creative with clip art, photos and background choices, making our slides bona fide works of art. The final step was learning how to create hyperlinks, so that with one click, readers are transported down the storyline of their choice – for better or for worse…

We’ll be finishing these up next week, although students are encouraged to work on their slide shows outside of class.

1. use some Microsoft products so we know what their company does
2. use a search engine (like MSN Live) to find online information
3. visit the Microsoft official website
4. look up their company on a map (there are lots of offices around the world!)

Once we were finished sharing discoveries made in the above 4 ways, we did a little story telling about the origins of Microsoft and some funny stories about founders Bill Gates & Paul Allen’s days at Lakeside (a local independent high school).  We looked at how this company had transformed the Bellevue/Redmond area from sleepy farms to bustling city.  We also came to realize that companies like Microsoft are so big that you don’t have to be an expert computer programmer to work for them: Microsoft needs chefs, sales people, creative thinkers, artists, shuttle drivers and all sorts of people to make their company work smoothly.

View Larger Map

Students agreed that Apple is a computing company and Google is an advertising company.  They don’t compete for hardware (iPhone, computers, iPod, etc) but they DO  fight for software users (Apple sells software, Google gives it away).

Students pointed out that Google’s web browser (Chrome) only works on PC, not on Apple computers.  This makes us think that Apple and Google will work together to steal users from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.

However, on January 5th, Google released a piece of software called Picasa for Mac, a direct competitor to iPhoto (the most popular free Mac photo organization/editing software).  What does this mean?  Is Google attacking Apple?

The 6th grade thinks that this will be a tough fight for Google.  Apple computers come with iPhoto already installed, and for people that already use iPhoto, there isn’t a lot of reason to switch.

These were some student suggestions in response to the challenge we faced today in Tech class, when we began Part I of the “Million Dollar Assignment.” Using a mind-mapping/outlining program called Inspiration, students worked either in pairs or independently to figure out a way to spend one million dollars. There were a few strings attached:

1. Taxes on the full amount must be paid.

2. Only one of any one thing (car, house, etc) can be purchased.

3. 25% of money (after taxes) must be given to charity.

Using an online tax calculator, students got to work, and were somewhat horrified to discover that $328,597 of their hard-won cash would be gone before they would have a chance to spend it. The new subtotal? A mere $671,403.

But wait! What about that 25% earmarked for charity? Subtract $167, 850.75 and the new subtotal is a paltry $503,552.25.

Gulp. Scratch the plans for the Ferrari. Maybe a house is more important than a car after all.

Next class, we will spend more time on researching the actual cost of the things they want to buy – rather than just creating a mind-map – and students will explore the financial feasibility of their current expenditure plans.

All of this is leading up to creating a balance sheet in Microsoft Excel, where they will create formulas to calculate costs, and hopefully, find an equitable way to spend their remaining half-million dollars.

Tech Tuesday

Jac & the 6th grade will work in a seminar style to research, hypothesize and deconstruct tech companies that are having a huge effect on our lives. Students will be expected to work in small groups and participate in full class discussions.  There will be some homework – mostly reading short articles in preparation for class discussions.

Working Wednesay

Kasha will introduce the 6th grade to the Microsoft Office suite of applications.  Students will become proficient with Word, Excel & PowerPoint this term through a series of creative and practical lessons designed to introduce program functionality and teach students when such tools are appropriate.  There will also be time for students to use these programs beyond their “intended” use, for instance, making art with Excel or creating Mad Libs using Word’s mail merge feature!

A digital identity is who you are online, on your phone, on your credit card, anything digital. Maybe it’s your real name, maybe a nickname. It’s what computer you use; what sites you go on. It’s your phone number; your AIM screen name, anything you have that’s digital. I think that young children, differing in age from child to child, should have their parents know what sites they go on, who they are calling, to keep their digital identities, and real identities, safe.

I think having a list is a useful thing to do, especially for things like keeping people safe. On one site I went to, there was an actual guideline for keeping yourself safe, for kids! It had some ten useful rules, and here are three of them

1. I will not give out personal information such as my address, telephone number, parents’ work address/telephone number, or the name and location of my school without my parents’ permission.
2. I will tell my parents right away if I come across any information that makes me feel uncomfortable.
3. I will never agree to get together with someone I “meet” online without first checking with my parents. If my parents agree to the meeting, I will be sure that it is in a public place and bring my mother or father along.’

It’s a good guideline, for children and parents both, for teens and toddlers. It can help young kids know what’s safe, and it can remind the older kids of it, too.

With a device that can be installed on phones, called Radar, parents and others can make sure that their kids are safe. If anyone calls who isn’t on their approved list, they are sent a text message. This could be a good thing. For example, if their children were being harassed and didn’t know what to do, their parents would know about it and they could help.

However, Radar could also not be a good thing. Kids should have a bit of privacy, without their parents completely running their lives. If they get interrogated about every one of their friends that their parents didn’t know, it would get very tiresome to keep telling their parents, who called; what they knew that person from, and all that. Their parents should trust them a bit, and maybe not have such an extreme grip on them, as to monitor their phone calls.

In conclusion, kids should get some freedom, and some safety. I believe that as you get older, your parents should give you more freedom, especially if you use that freedom responsibly. From cell phones to using the internet, you need some privacy, but some safety.

Articles:
Here are two very similar lists of Kid Online Safety Rules:
http://www.safekids.com/kidsrules.htm
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/family/age/upto10.mspx
Here is a site about parents being able to track their children’s phone calls.

Today News Corp. (Rupert Murdoch’s company that owns Dow Jones, Wall Street Journal, FoxNews and more) announced that it is in talks with Yahoo! to buy a stake in the company.

The 7th grade spent our class together discussing the implications of both of these potential events. For the Microsoft merge, we discussed why MS would be interested in buying Yahoo!, how search engines generate revenue from advertising, and the implications of having less choices for search engines.

When talking about the News Corp. deal, we went discussed freedom of the press, the building of communications conglomerates and the effect of monopolization on competition and freedom of choice.

Students ended class in small groups. Each group chose an industry (fashion, booksellers, ski resorts, to name a few) and imagined what things would look like if a single company took over that entire industry. Some discussion highlights:

• Maya and Becky suggested that if there was only a single clothing retailer, people’s economic status wouldn’t be reflected in their clothing but that people would lose their ability to express their individuality through dress.
• Owen pointed out that if Barnes & Noble were the only bookseller, they could drastically reduce the amount of stores needed in any geographic area, thus reducing costs.
• Nava, Savannah & Isaac hypothesized that if Papaya made and sold all the clothing in the country, the price of clothing could be reduced and garment workers could be paid a fair living wage.
• Sam, Tristan & Stephan said that if all the ski areas were owned by a single company, then that organization could raise and lower the prices of lift tickets at all resorts simultaneously knowing that there weren’t better deals in the area.