What's the QRuestion?

I've been hearing about QR code for some time now and it hasn't really stuck in my brain as something great for education.  I was looking at it as "fluff" and not necessary.  I suppose it still is "fluff" but I got a hard lesson in why it's cool over the weekend.

It all started last weekend when I saw a QR code on a refrigerator price tag at Best Buy.  I was with my newest daughter, a 7 year old that soaks up every bit of knowledge put in front of her.  I showed it to her, quickly downloaded the QR code to my phone and took a picture.  "WOW!" was the reaction I got from her as all the information about that refrigerator showed up on my phone.  This was my first time doing this as well, so I was kinda like WOW myself and I thought "what a great shopping tool!"

The next day, she asked me where else she could find QR code and if I could put that reader on her iPod.  I explained that if she looks around stores, she'll see more of them and I thought to myself I'd have to look a little more closely so we could read codes when I saw her again.  This morning, upon finding a code on a blog, I remembered it was easy to create my own, so I looked up what she is learning in school this week and made a few text based questions using http://qrcode.kaywa.com/

Here is one: a math problem for counting money.


If you don't have access to a QR reader at the moment, It says:

You found the secret Money code!
While Olivia was cleaning, she found 1 quarter under the chair.  Then, she found 1 dime and 2 nickels in the couch cushions.  Finally, she found 1 dollar while folding Rusty's clothes!  How much money did she find?

My plan is to place several of these around the house for her to find.  I will be making codes for all of the subjects she's learning right now in school.

Of course, my mind is running wild and now I want iPods pretty bad at my school so I can do some of these activities with the children here.

As a note, I downloaded the Welt Kompakt QR code reader on my iPhone and found that it wasn't so great at picking up the codes.  I then found the QR code reader for iPhone by TapMedia and have had better success with it.