http://theodoregray.com/PeriodicTable/Posters/Poster2.2000.low.JPG
This site has a very cool pictorial depiction of the periodic table. It’s amazing imagery makes learning the elements very fun. Although it’s not a replacement for a traditional periodical table due to it’s lack of information, it is still a interesting and fun resource.
In my previous article I talked about one of my new favorite hobbies, Geocaching. If you are not sure what geocaching is or how it works please visit geocaching.com for more details. I pondered on how this cool technology could be used with students. I have noticed that my own children’s knowledge of directionality, judging distance, and map skills have significantly increased since we began Geocaching. The challenge with integrating Geocaching into the classroom, is that we are relatively limited in where we can go. I’m quite sure that a bus couldn’t't make it to the places I have been, and the liabilities of taking a fourth grade class climbing up a 30 foot cliff are just a little to great. I think you will find that with a little searching you are likely to find a safe Geocache withing walking distance of of the school. If not you can always create one or two. I have thought about using the concept to create small learning stations scattered throughout our school grounds and then we could do an activity where in small groups students can find the learning stations using a GPS then complete the activities. I also think it would be fun to set up a geocache of our own as a class. to make it interesting for visitors we could include a book of student works such as poems or short stories . As people visit they will leave feedback and comments about your Geocache site that students can check periodically. These are just a few ways I have thought of to integrate GPS and geocaching in my classroom activities next year. Please ad your suggested activities in the comments.
Website: http://www.trilobites.info
When teaching about fossils and Dinosaur bones it is very cool to have actual fossils to show the kids. I love Trilobites because firs of all they predate the dinosaurs, and second of all it is a realistic fossil to obtain for classroom use. I have seen specimens on eBay for as low as $10. I have a rather large collection that I dug from a hillside in Central Utah. It was a commercial quarry that cost $35.
Finding the fossils is easy but finding good detailed information about these fossils has been difficult. Trilobite.info has made a great website that gives a tremendous amount of background on trilobites, there variation, and there history.
It has been a long time since I last posted. I typically post from school after my work hours where I have a lot of my educational resources available for reference. Our district however has expanded the reach of there filtering software to block all Blogger sites because a few of these sites may be inappropriate. I am looking at other solutions, but any hosted service that is primarily for blogs is also blocked. I see a definite need for filtering software, but wiping out a powerful educational tool, because there might be a little swearing on a page is overstepping the bounds. No filtering software can protect from everything, but with a vigilant teacher and appropriate supervision most problems can be eliminated. The filtering software should be set to block only the worst of sites, rather than blocking huge blocks of content where 90% is good and legitimate, and of the remaining 10% most only have a few offensive words here or there.
website: http://www.brainpopjr.com/
Grade: A
Cost: $95 Annual fee for teachers (School, Parent, and other licensing options are available)
I have looked at Brainpop before and have given it a positive review. The addition of Brainpop Jr. which is targeted more to the primary grades, makes it even better. In addition to providing many great educational films featuring fun animated characters, it also contains many learning games and activities to solidify the concepts taught. Student can do Games, Writing, Drawing, read a comic book that teaches the concepts, as well as take a quiz on the subject. It also contains a link for teachers with suggestions of activities that correspond with the video. I can’t say the animation is spectacular, but it is sufficient to keep students interested, especially with the well written scripts.
Is it worth the $95? With research you could probably find free resources to teach many of the concepts taught on this site. But if your time is at all valuable it is worth the $10 per school months to have all of these resources in one location. I personally think it is a bargain. My resource students have learned concepts on Brainpop with ease that they struggled to grasp in a traditional classroom setting. To me that is also worth a lot.
Website: http://www.glumbert.com/media/multiply
Grade: A
I found this video that teaches a new method of multiplication. It has worked time and again as I have tried it. Give it a try.
Website: http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/candy/index.html
Grade: A-
This is just a quick post to let you know about this cool site. If you are teaching about chemistry, Chemical and Physical Change, or many other scientific processes, many of those can be seen and experimented with through food. Kids relate well to food because they love to eat, and it is something they relate to. This site helps you tie food to science to make great lessons that kids will love. Check it out.
Website: (Teacher Resources) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/teachers/programs/3012_elegant.html
Website: (Video Downloads)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elegant/program.html
Grade: A
NOVA introduces string theory and Albert Einstein’s dream of unifying the forces that underlie all phenomena in the physical universe. This television program is called The elegant universe. It is freely available for download from the above PBS Link. This program is very well done and is broken down into bite sized pieces that help you focus your lessons. The website also contains a teachers guide that provides you with with activities, lesson plans, and more to help you get the most out of this program. The video downloads are a very good quality full screen video so it does require the preprocessing power of a modern computer and high speed internet is recommended. If you want to avoid the hassles of the download, you can purchase the video from the PBS site but you can find Elegant Universe at Amazon
The program:
reviews the quest for unification, the search for a single theory that describes all the laws in the known universe.
introduces string theory as a candidate for a unified theory and summarizes the theory’s main idea—that all matter and forces are made of tiny strands of energy that vibrate in different patterns.
chronicles how, in 1665, Isaac Newton integrated the laws governing the heavens and Earth under the theory of gravity.
details Einstein’s discovery that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light and reveals how that finding conflicted with Newton’s laws that showed that gravity acts instantaneously across any distance.
explains how Einstein resolved the conflict with Newton’s ideas by showing in his general theory of relativity that gravity travels at the speed of light.
describes how electricity and magnetism were unified in the mid-1800s into a single theory of electromagnetism and illustrates how electromagnetism works and why it is hundreds of billions of times stronger than gravity.
chronicles Einstein’s quest to unite electromagnetism with gravity.
relates the rise of subatomic physics in the 1920s and reviews the development of the radical theory of quantum mechanics and the uncertainty that rules the quantum world.
conveys the discovery in the 1930s of two additional forces—the strong force and the weak force—and the eventual grouping of electromagnetism and the strong and weak forces under the umbrella of quantum mechanics.
discusses the challenge of unifying the force of gravity with the forces described by quantum mechanics and expresses the need for a unified theory to describe phenomena in the universe, such as the depths of a black hole, which is both enormously massive and incredibly tiny.
concludes with the idea that while string theory could unify general relativity and quantum mechanics, there is currently no way of experimentally confirming its predictions.
Website: http://www.roma.unisa.edu.au/07305/symbols.htm#Percent
Grade: B+
If you have ever wondered where the division symbol came from, or questioned the the origin of pi this website is great. This site has a tremendous amount of information as can be seen by their index:
The information is good but could be more organized and presented in a more entertaining way.
Site: http://www.teacherxpress.com/
Grade: B
Cost: Free
If you are looking for a vast collection of education related websites this site is perfect. Even with the vast amount of information available is is surprisingly well organized. The downside is that despite the vast volume there are things missing. Also it provides no detail as to what the pages in the directory contain, other than the category they are placed in. This is a good site to find difficult to find links, but is not perfect.
