Lessons Plans for Teachers Using Free and Open Source Software

This site is dedicated to collecting and cataloging lesson plans for classroom teachers interested in moving beyond mere document production and really tapping in to the promise of technology integration and education.

Introduction

• Free and open source software (FOSS) is software that's free of the restrictions usually placed on proprietary software - such as the right to copy, distribute or modify. As such, it is also usually free of charge. The FOSS movement is strong and growing and there are many high quality educational applications available. This site is devoted to collecting and organizing lesson plans for teachers interested in using FOSS.
• Contributors are welcome and encouraged.

  • Note: Please create the lessons themselves as SubPages of this page.

Requirements

• All lessons found on this site are tied to software application. In order to use any lesson, you will first need to secure a lab with the appropriate software installed. While some applications are available for Windows and MacOSX, many will only be available for Linux. It may be to your benefit to explore options for setting up a Linux based lab. In general, these will be of a lower cost than traditional labs and can even be assembled out of older equipment. Visit the edubuntu website for more information.

Legal Notice

• All lessons contained here remain the property of the original author. Permission is granted to use and modify lessons as needed. However, any redistribution of lessons, including those with modifications, should include reference to the original author and this web site and also must carry the same freedoms. Any reproduction or redistribution that limits the rights of users or fails to give credit to the original author is a violation of use. For more information, please see Copyleft or the preferred Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license, as discussed in the Ubuntu-doc team.

See also

• https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Education/UDS-Boston/ClassmatePC

Software Applications and Lessons Organized by Content

Below is a growing collection of lessons designed to help teachers integrate technology into instruction in a way that moves technology away from mere document production to true extension and exploration. Most lessons are inquiry oriented. It is expected that teachers will modify lessons to suit their own teaching style and student needs. When included, handouts are included in both Open Office and MS Office formats so that they can be easily edited.

Art

• Art Lesson Plans
  Subject	Grade Level	Topic	Link to Lesson	Description
  Tux Paint	Elementary	Paint Program	TuxPaint	Alternative to KidPix
  KolourPaint	Middle School		KolourPaint	Microsoft Paint "clone"
  Gimp	High School		Gimp	Photoshop Alternative
  Inkscape	High School			Adobe illustrator Alternative

Mathematics

• Mathematics Lesson Plans
  Subject	Grade Level	Topic	Link to Lesson	Description
  Statistics	Elementary/Middle	Data Analysis	R For Elementary	R is a stats analysis program
  Geometry	Elementary/Middle	Geometry	Kig Geometry Lesson	Kig is a an application for Interactive Geometry
  Algebra/calc	High school	Solve Equations	Maxima	Maxima is a tool to teach and solve algebraic equations

Music

• Music Lesson Plans
  Subject	Grade Level	Topic	Link to Lesson	Description
  ?

Science

• Science Lesson Plans
  Subject	Grade Level	Topic	Link to Lesson	Description
  Chemistry	High School	Periodic Table	Kalzium	An interactive periodic table
  Astronomy	Any	Earth's Rotation	Stellarium	Portable Planetarium
  Physics	Any	Motion	Phun	Portable interactive motion simulator

Social Studies

• Social Studies Lesson Plans
  Subject	Grade Level	Topic	Link to Lesson	Description
  ?

Lessons Needed

Here are some other ideas for lessons. Please pick one that appeals to you, write it up and insert it in the table above.

Science:

• Use Etoys to teach lessons about programming, physics, biology etc.

• Alice: easy 3D graphics programming: http://coldfrontramblings.blogspot.com/2007/12/baby-youre-greatest.html

Art:

• Use Gimp to teach Graphics Art without the need for Adobe Photoshop.

• Inkscape: easy vector graphics program in place of Adobe illustrator. http://www.inkscape.org/

• KolourPaint: simple paint program that easily replaces Microsoft Paint.

• Use Blender to do 3D animation.

Other ideas: *dia = diagrams *xsane = scanner utility *scribus = publisher program *kino = edit video *kstars = desktop planetarium *atomix = chemistry game *kturtle = logo programming *kmplot = graphing *kpercentage = calculate percentages *kbrush = fractions *tuxmath = arithmetic game *kverbos = spanish tutoring *khangman = word game *keduca = education testing (create your own tests) *ktouch = typing program *tuxtyping = typing program *gcompris= over 80 educational games

Presentations

We are also collecting presentations. If you have done a presentation on teaching with FOSS or anything related, consider uploading it for others to view and "borrow" for their own presentations. Creative Commons Licensing still applies.

• Blended Learning Presentation (created by JimHutchinson)

CategoryEducation