Did you ever notice that you never easily find nutrition information at your favorite fast food restaurant? To overcome this problem, students in Mr. Brych (pictured below working with a student) and Mr. Pope’s High School Health Classes have been learning how to use computer technology to analyze what exactly was in their favorite fast food meals. As part a recent unit on nutrition, students would pick their favorite meal and find information such as total calories, total fat and trans fat content, protein, and total carbohydrates from a fast food company website. They learned it was not unusual to find some meals totaling 1,500 calories! Considering the average adult should get anywhere from 2,000 to 2,500 calories, it is easy to see how Americans are seeing an increase in both obesity and their waistlines. After picking their favorite meal, they would then try to find ways to make a more nutritious alternative. By simply choosing to cut portion size, opting for water instead of soda, or changing their meal altogether, they learned that they able to make healthier choices. In addition to using Safari to explore various websites, students then had to publish their data into Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. By using basic graphing and calculating functions, they could compare their original and alternate choice data side by side to find out what was really in their favorite meals and how simple changes can make a big difference nutritionally. “It really put a perspective on food you eat every day,” says one student. Another student added, “I was surprised to see what you were actually eating, especially when you thought something was healthy.” Given that the obesity epidemic is growing in this country as we speak, knowledge and behavior change are paramount in fighting this condition. What better way to do this than using technology that students are comfortable with and like using anyways! As far as learning outcomes, Mr. Brych stated, “The time is now to show students how their behaviors and actions can impact their future. By learning skills such as accessing quality information and more importantly, analyzing that information, students can begin to make a change in their own lives." To learn more about how you can use Excel and web-based data in your classroom, feel free to contact Mr. Brych or Mr. Pope to see more closely what they have done with their students or look at My Learning Plan for workshops on Microsoft Excel today!

You probably know how to save files and documents in a Mac OS X application's File menu (or with the Command-S keyboard shortcut), but you might not know about some other useful tricks for saving files that can be real time savers. Here are a few that are sure to be helpful to any Mac OS X user!

When saving a file, click the disclosure triangle in the dialog sheet to see more save locations and additional options.

In Mac OS X 10.3 or later, if you drag files or folders to a Finder window's sidebar, they will appear in the left side of an application's Save dialog sheets where the disclosure triangle has been clicked, (see previous tip and below where a custom folder was added to the sidebar and is circled in the screenshot seen below).

Believe it or not, you can drag a file or folder to an application's Open or Save dialog sheet to quickly select it!

Another option: Drag the small icon that appears on the title bar of a Finder or application's window (the "proxy icon") to the Open or Save sheet.

Want to type a specific location path? With the Save dialog sheet open, press Command-Shift-G (or type "/"). A "Go To Folder" window appears where you can type a specific location, just like the Finder Go menu's Go To Folder option.

To fill in the Name field of the Save dialog box with the same name as another file, navigate in the Save window where you can see the first file. Click on it with the mouse and Mac OS X will assume you want to save the file you are saving with that same name!

TeAchnology, sponsored by a company bearing the same name, is a web portal aimed at providing services designed to support educators' in effectively incorporating technology in teaching and learning. Their goal is two-fold: to provide a reservoir of online resources for educators to access at any time and to provide effective tools for designing instruction that are both time and energy saving. Teachnology Incorporated was founded in response to the challenges associated with Twenty-First Century Learners: The Net-Generation. To help meet these challenges, the organization developed a method for individuals to access free on-line resources that support classroom instruction online at their website. As a web portal, TeAchnology.com offers a wide variety of free resources intended to bring educators into the world of teaching with technology. It provides links to valuable and useful information relative to current and best practices in the field of education. A large variety of classroom materials and support tools are available and a team of highly professional educators maintains the site on a regular basis. The team includes a cadre of Pre K-12 grade teachers, professors of higher education, leading educational consultants, small business constituencies, and experienced web designers.

There is no cost associated with accessing the resources found on the site and many are offered on this site as a free service due to the advertising campaign and sponsorship that pays for them. In addition to the free resources, the website also offers reasonably priced memberships programs designed to allow teachers access to resources beyond the free services. There is a wealth of excellent teaching resources here that any teacher and their students are sure to benefit from. Check out the site today to see what you it can do to extend your use of technology in the classroom not only by your students but in your own instructional practices and prepartation as well!

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Eager to learn about new ways to use Mac OS X even better? Come to our monthly OS X "Talk, Tips & Tricks" session. Find out more.

Below are select technology courses to be offered by the Teacher Center this month. To learn more, log onto My Learning Plan then click the links below for more details about each class and/or to sign up right now online!

Tuesday, May 1
Creating Lessons using KidPix

Wednesdays, May 2 & 23
Creating an iMovie as a Class Memento

Thursday, May 3
Fix & Forget it Classroom Webpage

Monday, May 7
iLife Cereal - Intro to iCal

Tuesday, May 8
Getting to Know GroupWise Better

Monday, May 14
Using OS X Drop Boxes to Collect Student Work Electronically

Tuesday, May 15
iLife Cereal - Intro to iMovie

Monday, May 21, 2007
OS X "Tech Talk Tips and Tricks" - May

Wednesday, May 23, 2007
iLife Cereal- Intro to GarageBand

Wednesday, May 30, 2007
SchoolCenter School: Exploring the New Features of Your School Website - May

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