science

05
Aug
2017

Summer Learning – Part 2

I have been looking for interactive sites for science, and I came across Wisc-Online. I have mentioned this site before, but I never explored the full extent of their website. There are three main categories on the home screen – learn, play games, and build games. In the “Learn” section, there are interactive slideshows and videos on a variety of topics related to computer science, science, math, and the humanities. In “Play Games”, you can choose from the same subjects, and games range in type (flashcards, hangman, jeopardy, matching, memory, bingo, tic-tac-toe, and many more). What I especially like, however, is the “Build games” section. The entire selection of game types is available, but you can tailor your game to your own content. They even provide an image library for you to use in your game. If you are going to build your own games, then I highly recommend exploring the variety of games beforehand. This will make it easier to build your own games. Have fun exploring!

Posted by admin in General Education, 0 comments
04
Aug
2017

Summer Learning – Part 1

I want to spice up my science classes, and so I have been looking for short one-off activities that will inspire creative and critical thinking skills. Today I came across the ‘Evolution and the Nature of Science Institutes’. Their mandate is to encourage evolutionary thinking within modern scientific thinking (as paraphrased from their website). What led me there was a portion of a website called ‘Nature of Science Lessons’. On this page you can find activities that will encourage students to think critically while having fun. Full lesson plans are provided along with student handouts. There are quite a few lessons that I am excited to try. If you find any similar resource sites, please send them my way!

 

Posted by admin in General Science, 0 comments
03
Aug
2017

Sustainable Learning

Resources for Rethinking is a database of sustainable learning activities developed by Learning for a Sustainable Future. You can search for lesson plans, books, videos, and various activities, all of which are teacher reviewed. The website has been developed to enable Canadian teachers to search for material that connects to provincial units across the curriculum. Search results take you to various other websites, many of which (but not all) contain free resources.

Posted by admin in General Education, 0 comments
26
Jul
2016

Videos in the Classroom…Part 1

Today I would like to highlight some science YouTube channels that can be incorporated into the classroom.

First, let’s discuss Crash Course. Brothers John and Hank Green began this channel to provide a variety of educational content, with Hank providing most of the science content. You can find playlists for history, geography, literature, and many science topics. I have only watched the science videos. They are not fancy and are mostly comprised of Hank talking for 10-15 minutes, and talking quickly. However, there is something in his mannerism that appeals greatly to me, and I find the content within the videos informative and succinct.

I first came across ASAP Science when I was looking for fun content for teaching the Periodic Table. And it was fun I found. The best thing that I probably did during that unit was introduce The Periodic Table Song, written and sung by one of the channel creators, Mitchell Moffit (the other guru behind this channel is Gregory Brown, and both are Canadian). Although there were many other fun task incorporated into the unit, my students loved the song and most had the first few verses memorized within days, generating excitement for the coming activities within the unit. Their videos are colourful and entertaining. Just be aware that there are some racy topics covered, so you may not want to randomly search through their playlist with students watching.

Next up, Minute Physics by Henry Reich. Don’t let the name fool you, the videos last longer than a minute. Look here for short tutorials on things physics related, as well as other science content. Vidoes are created on a whiteboard, and I always find it mesmerizing to watch content unfold as it is being drawn.

Finally, Veritasium offers videos on science and engineering, showing experiments, demonstrations, and interviews created by Derek Muller. For a neat sample of what he offers, check out the Stringless Yo-Yo! video.

Stay tuned….

Posted by admin in General Science, 0 comments
10
Jul
2016

Biodiversity and Ecosystems

I recently came across some interesting biodiversity and ecosystem sites. The first site is called Phylo and it would be interesting to incorporate into a biodiversity unit. The website introduces a crowd sourced biodiversity card game (originally proposed as an alternate to Pokeman), and provides various decks for the same game format. Each deck focuses on different living creatures. You really need to explore it for yourself, I cannot do it justice. 

The second is a site called Wildscreen Arkive, and it would complement either biodiversity or ecosystem units. It appears that the main goal of the site is to archive the diverse life on our planet, and animal searches can be conducted based on conservation status. The education section of this website is also worthwhile, and lessons are organized into different age groups. Lessons are well developed, with presentation notes, teacher notes, and student handouts (update – education link no longer active).

Happy summer, everyone!

Posted by admin in General Science, Grade 6 Science, Grade 7 Science, 0 comments
29
Jul
2015

American Chemical Society

I have been searching for resources  for next year and I came across the American Chemical Society.  I think that I have run across it before, but I never explored it in depth. Well, today I did, and there are some wonderful resources on the education portion of their site.  There you can find goodies for student in elementary and beyond, including science experiments, lesson plans, interactive activities, animations, and everyday applications of chemistry.  There is also a section to explore chemistry, which includes an informative periodic table, chemistry landmarks and history, and links to explanations of the science in movies and the chemistry in everyday products.

Have a great day.

 

Posted by admin in General Science, 0 comments
27
Jan
2015

Interesting Resources

This week I came across two interesting educational resources, the National Stem Centre in the UK and surprisingly, the National Security Agency (who knew?).

I was searching for solubility animations when I came across the National Stem Centre. According to their website, they house  “the UK’s largest collection of STEM and teaching resources”. The e-library is definitely the place to be on that website, where you can search their vast resources by topic, age range, type/format, publisher, or year. If interested, here is the resource I found for solubility (which is actually only a small part of this resource).

The second site was found as I was exploring creative ideas for teaching slope. One of the documents that came up in my search was a pdf from NSA website. I was surprised at the source, and so I went to their main site to see what other type of resources were available. Finding the education section was a bit tricky and wasn’t easily accessible from their main page, but I managed to find the right area. The section is titled “Concept Development Units”, and the right side bar allows you to choose elementary, middle school, or high school. Once on the correct school section, there are a variety of math topics with lesson and unit plans to explore. Here is the resource that I found which uses Geometer’s Sketchpad to help teach slope concepts. (Update – This section no longer appears to be part of the website)

Have a great week.

 

Posted by admin in General Science, Math, 0 comments
02
Sep
2013

Exploring Flight

Today’s post will highlight a few of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s online resources, and specifically those focused on flight.

How Things Fly is a comprehensive interactive resource that reviews forces of flight, gravity and air, aerodynamics, propulsion, structures and materials, wing design and flight dynamics.

There is a Pioneers of Flight online gallery, including Military Aviation, Civilian Aviation and Rocket Pioneers.  The activity section in this gallery  includes a simulation of the US Army’s 1924 Around the World Flight, Designing an Air Racer, and helping the Lindbergh’s pack their airplane for long flights.

The Wright Brothers – The Invention of the Aerial Age explores the Wright Brothers and their first flyer, and there is also a Lecture Archive where past museum lectures are shared on Youtube. These include lectures from astronauts, pilots, and academics.

There are many more areas to explore, much more than I can highlight in a short post. Go explore.

Wishing everyone a successful school year.
Have a great week.

 

Posted by admin in Grade 6 Science, 0 comments
18
Feb
2013

App Review – The Periodic Table Project

Most science geeks like me are quite familiar with the iPad app, The Elements: A Visual Exploration. It is a stunning app, and I have not found another Periodic Table app that visually compares. However, I recently came across a Periodic Table app that peeked my interest.

The Periodic Table Project is an app that was developed by the University of Waterloo for the International Year of Chemistry in 2011.  It was a joint project between the Department of Chemistry and the Faculty of Science, where the call went out to chemistry educators worldwide to artistically interpret an element. Each piece of art was accompanied by a description from the artist, which explained its significance. As well, specific data can be found for each element in relation to high school curriculum.

It is a free app, so there is no cost to take a look. Alternately, you can check out the interactive version on the University of Waterloo website.

Have a great week.

Posted by admin in General Science, Using Tech, 0 comments
08
Apr
2012

The Escalator

I came across a neat resource from the University of Toronto. As an educator who lives in Toronto and a University of Toronto alumnus, I am surprised that I had never heard of it before. The resource is called The Escalator. It is an outreach site from the University of Toronto, with an emphasis on math and science.

Under the Math tab at the top there are two options: Mathematics and Fields. Click on the Mathematics link and you are taken to the University’s Department of Mathematics page. Here you can find links to math competitions, teacher resources, and other tidbits.

There are two links under the Physics tab. The Physics link takes you to information for the Physics Outreach program and the Physics Olympiad Preparation program for high school students, complete with practice problem sets. The Candac link takes you to the Canadian Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Change, which has a variety of links and information, as well as a teacher resource page. The Chemistry tab also takes you to an access page for the Canadian Chemistry Olympiad for high school students, again complete with practice problem sets. The Engineering tab takes you to a list of robotics competitions and a variety of summer programs for students in grade 5 and up.

Click on Universe under the Astronomy tab, and you are directed to University of Toronto’s public portal. Here you can video chat with astronomers and send them questions, or book a planetarium visit or speaker. There is also a link here to the Transit of Venus. On June 5, 2012 Venus will pass across the sun. This has not happened since 2004 and will not happen again until 2117.  (Alternately, you can read about the Transit of Venus here.)

The resources tab has a few areas to explore, including a link to the teachers’ resource page of the Canadian Mathematical Society, which has its own database of resources to search through. The curriculum link is still being developed, so check back to see its full potential. Currently you can find the link to the Science Rendezvous for Educators site. The Science Rendezvous is what first led me to The Escalator website. It is a one-day science festival, hosted on university campuses, research institutions and community sites across Canada on Saturday, May 12, 2012. The database on the educator page is not yet built, but again, I am curious to see what will be included there.

Have a great week.

Update – Escalator links are no longer active…I think this program has been discontinued.

Posted by admin in General Science, Math, 0 comments