Need some global statistics to emphasize a point you’re trying to make in an ecology or civics lesson plan? Trying to drive home the point in a health-related lesson about the spread of disease or the scope of our ever-growing obesity epidemic? Then check out Worldometers, a real-time online ticker that tracks statistics ranging from food consumption, to energy use, to how much people spend on video games.
As a science teacher, I’m always looking for a way for my students to see “real scientists.” While live guest speakers are wonderful, they are not always available. Well, Make Magazine interviewed “great minds working in science and technology to find out what intrigues them and learn more about the work they do.” The results of those interviews can be found in short videos at this website.
Each video is approximately three and a half minutes, and features the scientist speaking about what they do and how they got interested in it. (more…)
Media specialists and information-literate teachers have been teaching students the Big6 Skills Model of Information Problem-Solving for years. By using this research approach, students can easily master the six-step process (just three steps for K-2!) and take responsibility for both the process and the product of their research. This is an important skill set for student school success, but can this help them even more in real life? Perhaps.
Students are faced with all sorts of tests, both in school and beyond, and these tests require not just mastery of the content, but also the process. It is not enough to learn the amendments to the Constitution and the associated landmark court cases; students must see how these historical events have relevance beyond the end-of-course test. Productive citizens need to be able to find and analyze information, organize and evaluate their ideas, and apply this process to their everyday lives. This is profoundly challenging in the media-rich world we live in today.
Looking for a completely science-focused web site to aid you with a STEM focused classroom? Then direct your attention to Planet Science for a wealth of science-based goodness. While the front page can be a bit overwhelming with how much it tries to present at once, there are many great resources here.
BY DAVID BARGER
Classroom Earth is a dynamic website that synthesizes materials from numerous sources into a virtual cornucopia of useful environmental information. Are you an environmental news junkie and not getting what you need from the mainstream news media? The In the News section should be your first stop to see real-life stories of how the environment is affecting us all. Recent stories include how students in LA can attend environmentally themed classes and a look at America’s 10 most-endangered species.
Here’s what’s going on at the NASA Earth Observatory, brought to you by Fred Beyer at EarthSciTeach.
Acquired January 8, 2010, this true-color image shows part of Karachi, Pakistan, a city of over 12 million residents. Heavily urbanized areas mix with rivers and mangroves, especially near the Port of Karachi.
Let me just say it: I love PBS. From the documentaries, to the quality children’s programming, it’s one of my favorite channels to watch. But my love of Cookie Monster aside, did you know that PBS had developed a top-notch web resource for teachers? If the answer was no, then you owe it to yourself and your students to spend a planning period looking at the PBS Teachers website.
BY BILL FERRIS
Dividing your class into teams is an activity fraught with peril. Friends cluster together, shy kids awkwardly ask if they can join a group, and all that jostling can eat up several minutes. You could pick teams yourself, but doing so makes things too complicated — you have to put Little Johnny and Little Suzie in separate teams or they’ll goof off the entire class period. Type-A Bobby will want to do all the work himself, and Steve and Vanessa will let him, so you’ve got to split them up. See? Nothing but headaches. If only you could turn this process over to random chance.
See what I did there? I set a problem to make you wonder if there was a solution. And there is. Team Maker randomly generates teams for your class’ group projects. (more…)
BY BILL FERRIS
It’s been far too long since we’ve done a Random Roundup. For this month, we’ll feature posts that mention that bastion of educational programming, PBS.
Stop by Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood on the web
When I was a kid, I always wanted to go to Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Like actually go there, meet Speedy Delivery, check out the Trolley, all of it. If I’d only had the good sense to be born twenty years later, I could have paid a visit via the internet to the excellent Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood website.
BY BILL FERRIS
Here’s another easy way to download online videos so you can sneak them past the school firewall show your students valuable educational content. Similar to KickYouTube, Savevid lets you download videos simply by entering the URL of a video into the big green window. (more…)
When I was a small child growing up, one of my all-time-favorite phrases was a single word, “why?”. I had to know how things worked, why things interacted the way they did, to the point of driving my teachers and parents crazy. So when I saw Inquiry in Action, I had to write it up because I wish it had been around when I was a kid.
BY BILL FERRIS
Aviary, the web-based image-editing suite, used to charge for some premium features like saving private files and allowing access to tutorials. I say “used to” because they’ve stopped charging money for it.
This is a great development for art and design teachers looking for a viable alternative to Adobe Creative Suite. Aviary gives schools the ability to start graphic- and web-design classes without spending a fortune on the software.
BY BILL FERRIS
Given the polarized public opinion on the direction of American government, a game named Argument Wars seems like the perfect classroom activity to learn about the judicial branch of government. In this classroom game from Our Courts, students will argue both sides in several famous Supreme Court cases. According to the Our Courts website:
“In Argument Wars, you debate historical Supreme Court cases by advancing arguments and backing them up with supports. Play New Jersey v. T.L.O., Brown v. Board of Education, or Gideon v. Wainwright today! Coming soon: Texas v. Johnson, Miranda v. Arizona and more!”
Images — so useful in education, yet so convoluted in copyright explanations that many people fear using them. But if you wade into the waters of Creative Commons you can find millions of available images, ready to be used, modified, and shared. One of the more common image sites is Flickr, which we have highlighted a few times. Here at Instructify, we’ve talked about creative commons laws, and we’ve given you several ways to search Flickr using third party search engines like FlickrCC and Flickrstorm, but there is another way that deserves mention for their combination of the two.
BY DAVID BARGER
I love the large, international sporting events that take place only once every four years. That means for me, 2010 is going to be a special year with the Winter Olympics in Vancouver and the World Cup this summer in South Africa. Nothing like competition to get the blood pumping!
How about a competition that’s not only exciting, but also engages the mind and helps the environment? The folks at the Canon Envirothon might just have the games for you. The Envirothon is a fast-paced, hands-on, environmental science academic event that engages students to think critically about our natural world and our role in it. (more…)
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