Science – Page 9 – iLearn Technology

On Demand Learning: Classroom Optional (Khan Academy and Academic Earth)

March 16, 2011Kelly Tenkely9 Comments2849 views

What it is: Tonight I was talking education with a fun group that is helping me think through my school design. As we were talking one of the participants mentioned Khan Academy…some of the teachers in attendance had never heard of it. I sometimes forget that not everything is common knowledge and even if it is common knowledge to most, there are still those who can benefit from the mention! Khan Academy was started by Salman Khan quite by accident. He tutored his cousins in math and when he moved away from them, they still requested support. Sal began making algebra videos and uploading them to YouTube for his family, it has grown to over 2,100 videos and 100 self-paced math, science, and history exercises for students. The library is extensive and comprehensive including algebra, arithmetic, banking and money, biology, brain teasers, calculus, California standards algebra, geometry, chemistry, cosmology and astronomy, credit crisis, current economics, developmental math, differential equations, finance, history, linear algebra, organic chemistry, Paulson bailout, physics, pre-algebra, pre-calculus, probability, statistics, trigonometry, valuation and investing, venture capital, and capital markets. It is a pretty impressive collection! I really like these videos because they provide students with on-demand learning and present the learning in a way that appeals to the visual and auditory learner. The experience is so much richer than a textbook can offer. It is like having your own personal tutor.

Academic Earth is another extensive video library that lets students (and adults) take video courses from the worlds top scholars all in one place…for free! The mission of Academic Earth is to give everyone access to a world class education. Subjects covered by Academic Earth include art, architecture, astronomy, biology, business, chemistry, computer science, economics, education, electrical engineering, engineering, entrepreneurship, environmental studies, history, international relations, law, literature, mathematics, media studies, medicine and health care, philosophy, physics, political science, psychology, religious studies, test prep, and writing. Students have access to the learning happening at Berkley, Columbia, Harvard, Khan Academy, Maryland, Michigan, MIT, Norwich, NYU, Princeton, Stanford, UCLA, UNSW, USC, and Yale. Did I mention all of that learning is free? I know, amazing!

How to integrate Khan Academy and Academic Earth into the classroom: Both Khan Academy and Academic Earth provide students with opportunities for on-demand learning in their areas of interest or their areas of weakness. Students can use these resources to support the learning happening in the classroom and to fill any gaps that students may have in their learning. Video is a powerful medium because it appeals to a wide range of learners and makes it easy to pause, rewind, review, and share that learning.

Khan Academy would be a great tool to use for the “Fisch Flip” where the homework is to watch the lesson on video and class time is spent on working through the problems together. Let that sink in…makes more sense doesn’t it? Students get support where they need it most, in the follow through and practice of the learning.

Academic Earth provides students with the opportunity of pursuing their passions, getting a feel for what type of study they would like to pursue in a university, and support learning.

Do you have students that could use additional challenge and are constantly searching for more learning? Set up an extended learning center in your classroom where students who need that challenge can self direct and extend their learning by using Khan Academy or Academic Earth.

Tips: Khan Academy is a great resource to pass on to families, parents are often looking for ways to supplement and support the learning happening in the classroom. Math in particular is a challenge as many parents did not feel successful enough in higher math themselves to help their children.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Khan Academy and Academic Earth in your classroom!

Draw That Habitat

February 24, 2011Kelly Tenkely12 Comments6164 views

What it is: I am a fan of everything PBS does, recently I ran across this gem while looking for some activities that help students learn about habitats. Draw that Habitat is SO much more engaging than most of the “match the animal to the correct habitat” lower level thinking “games” (if you can call them that) that are out there. In Draw that Habitat, students are introduced to imaginary animals. They are briefed on the animal and its needs and are then given drawing tools to create a habitat. Each month a new imaginary animal is introduced. This month’s challenge is an animal called a Flarch. During the activity students learn that a habitat is a place that an animal lives where they get food and water, find shelter, search for a mate, and raise babies. Students are asked to think about how and where the imaginary animal gets food and water, where it keeps safe from weather and other animals, etc. What I love about this activity is that it calls on student’s creativity and imaginations. They are asked to come up with a solution for an imaginary animal and in the process learn about habitats, camouflage, and adaptation. When students are finished with their habitat, they can share it with other students and view and rate the habitats that others have created.

How to integrate Draw That Habitat into the classroom: Draw that Habitat is a great little activity for primary students who are learning about habitats, camouflage, and adaptations. It is probably best to use Draw that Habitat after students have a general understanding of what a habitat is. This is a place where they can solidify that understanding and expand on what they have learned by creating something new. I like the abstract nature of the activity, they aren’t creating a habitat for a known, real animal; instead, students are coming up with new solutions based on some key information they are given. This gives students a chance to think critically, problem solve, and use some creativity and imagination.

In a one to one setting where each student has access to a computer, each student can create a habitat for the month’s challenge. When students are finished, have a class parade, where students walk through and view the different solutions that classmates came up with. Students can explain why they made the choices they did and see what other solutions might work.

In a one or two computer classroom, students can visit Draw that Habitat as a learning center in small groups. Students at the learning center can each contribute to the habitat.

If you don’t have access to computers for students to visit, create a class habitat using an interactive whiteboard or projector-connected computers. Each student in the class can add to the habitat and describe how their contribution is important for the animal who lives in the habitat.

As an extension activity, students can write a story about the imaginary animal and its habitat.

This site is intended for younger students (early elementary), but don’t discount it’s usefulness in upper-grades. I find that when drawing-coloring are involved, students of all ages get excited about it- I have had 6th graders jump on this site and have a great time creating a habitat (they were jealous the younger kids got to do the activity and they didn’t- reminding me once again that kids like opportunities to play and be creative!).

Tips: Students can save the habitat they create offline as a .jpg file. Click the “save” button to download.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Draw that Habitat in your classroom!

Rocks and Weathering Animation

February 22, 2011Kelly Tenkely5 Comments4047 views

What it is: Every year our third grade students do a unit on Rocks and Minerals so I am always on the lookout for fun ways for students to learn and engage. Bitesize from BBC is full of brilliant games and interactives for kids, I use them often but hadn’t run across this one before. The Rocks and Weathering interactive really is fantastic. The video is animated and asks for students participation throughout. It does a wonderful job of breaking down, what can be complex concepts, into manageable, well illustrated parts. The video has some nice features that make it accessible to every student including the ability to turn subtitles on or off and sound on or off. I like the way the animation prompts students to ask questions and to discover answers through “hands-on” models that may not be possible in real life (for example compressing over a long period of time to create sedimentary rock). The understanding that students gain about the different types of rocks is the best I have seen in any of the rocks/minerals materials I have found.

How to integrate Rocks and Weathering Animation into the classroom: The Rocks and Weathering Animation from BBC is a fantastic introduction to any elementary Rocks and Minerals unit. The interactive nature of the animation makes it perfect for whole class viewing with an interactive whiteboard or projector-connected computer. Pause the animation throughout to further discuss and inquire throughout the animation as a class. Invite students up to the board or computer for the interactive bits as the rocks and minerals “expert”. The animation would also be great as a center activity on classroom computers. Students could visit the computers to view and interact with the animation in small groups while other students read, complete experiments, or other research. Students can also visit the site individually in a lab setting. If students view the animation individually, be sure to give them time to discuss what they learn and ask additional questions that they had with other students. This type of reflection has been SO beneficial in my experience. I always let students keep a notepad application or physical notepad handy to jot down questions and thoughts they have as they view videos like this one.

As an extension activity, have your students blog, create a stop-motion film about rocks and weathering, or create an interactive presentation with Prezi or Glogster.

Tips: Students can view and re-view the animation at their own pace using the pause, back and forward buttons.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Rocks and Weathering Animation in your classroom!

We Choose the Moon

February 18, 2011Kelly Tenkely6 Comments2558 views

What it is: This site has been around for a few years, I am constantly using it with students and assumed (wrongly) that I had shared it on iLearn Technology. I think sometimes I use a site so often that I think that it is common knowledge or that I have already posted about it. I’m redeeming myself today and sharing the truly INCREDIBLE site, We Choose the Moon. The site drops students right into history where they get to witness, and take part in the Apollo 11 launch and mission. Time travel might not exist yet, but I’m telling you, this site is the next best thing. Students actually hear all of the chatter from Mission Control, control the launch, view all 11 stages of the mission, read mission transmission, and follow the mission in “real-time”. I cannot say enough about how truly awesome this experience is for students. At each stage, students can explore more in-depth by looking through actual pictures from the mission, videos (including JFK’s We Choose the Moon speech), and a “map” of the stages Apollo 11 took to get to the moon. I wasn’t alive to witness this piece of history first hand, but I can tell you that this interactive gives me goosebumps, makes me appreciate the giant leap that our country took, and makes me swell with pride. Not something a textbook can deliver.

How to integrate We Choose the Moon into the classroom: We Choose the Moon plops students right in the middle of the action. Students can experience this solo in a one-to-one computer lab setting where each has access to their own computer. Students can explore at their own pace and “rabbit trail” for more information as needed. My favorite use of this site is as a whole class using a projector-connected computer or interactive whiteboard. The site has such a sense of nostalgia and it gives the opportunity to remember how the nation stopped and focused on the monumental moment in time. Children everywhere were riveted to their TV sets watching men being launched into space to travel to the moon. Students born after the era of the space race have a hard time recognizing just what an event this was. Viewing the site as a class gives students the opportunity to discuss the fashion, technology, and viewpoints of the day. It gives students the opportunity to “witness” history first hand as if they have traveled back in time. Take time to look through the photos, watch the videos, and reflect with students. Turn the interactive into a creative writing opportunity where students choose a view-point (of JFK, a child, an astronaut, someone in mission control, etc.) and write about their reflections and thoughts as they witness and are a part of this history.

Don’t be afraid to let your students “rabbit trail”, click here to see where students I worked with took the learning.

If you have students who are still crazy for more “moon” experience, check out Google Moon and NASA’s Moon virtual tour. I cannot get over how amazing technology is! Do you ever just stop and marvel at what we have at our finger tips? Wow.

Tips: Do you have parents or teachers who fail to see the brilliance of technology in the classroom? I defy any parent or educator to experience a site like this and not have their minds changed. This is one of those sites that upon stumbling on, I immediately sent to my dad. He LOVED it.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using We Choose the Moon in your classroom

YouTube saves the day: Busting Conspiracy Theories

February 18, 2011February 18, 2011Kelly Tenkely5 Comments3064 views

As you may remember, I am currently working to bring a school from zero technology integration to full technology integration in a one to one laptop setting. I am working alongside a WONDERFUL teacher who is eager to learn with her students. The school initially asked me if I would just teach this group of middle school students technology as a separate subject. I explained why I would rather work alongside the teacher so that both students and teacher could learn technology together and we could integrate it into the learning that was already happening in the classroom. They agreed and I am now working with the teacher to weave technology into the learning that is already happening in the classroom. On Fridays, I model how to use technology within the learning they are doing. Today the learning focus was astronomy. I had the students start out in Capzles where they are building an interactive timeline of the astronomy events that they are learning. Each time they learn about a new discovery, historical figure, or space mission, they add images, reflections, and information to their timeline. I have to say, the Capzles interface is turning out to be the perfect place for them to collect all of their learning and creations in one place!

Throughout the week, students are keeping a night sky observation journal on Capzles. Not only are they studying about historical figures who made astronomical discoveries, they are adding their own discoveries to the timeline. Capzles lets students add blog posts right within the timeline. Students are taking pictures, and writing about their observations, reflections, and questions as a nightly blog post. In addition to adding their pictures to Capzles, students will also be uploading their photos to Planet FOSS where they have the opportunity to view other students night sky observations and add their own.

Today I taught the students how to add a YouTube video to their timeline. I have to admit, this isn’t the one-step process I would hope for (either the ability to use the YouTube embed code or just copy/paste the link to embed). Students first searched for videos about the moon using NeoK12. Then they click on the YouTube link within the video so that they can view the video in YouTube. In front of the YouTube URL the students typed “kick” so that they could download the video to their computers. From here, they can upload the video to their Capzles. You can view my step-by-step instructions for that process here. Even though it isn’t a simple one-step process, it still isn’t difficult and it gave students the opportunity to practice downloading and uploading files- bonus tech skills that are built-in is always a good thing!

After students learned how to embed video, we headed over to the site We Choose the Moon. If you haven’t seen this site, it is a MUST. It has been around for a few years and is absolutely incredible. It drops students right into the Apollo 11 mission and gives them the chance to “re-live” that experience. The students were totally engaged and excited to look through the pictures, video, comment on the fashion of the day, how much technology has changed, etc. The dialogue as they explored and completed the interactive was incredible. This interactive let students travel back in time and made them feel as if they were witnessing history first hand. Incredible. Reading a text-account just can’t do an event like this justice. During the interactive one of the students casually mentioned that he didn’t believe that we had ever really been to the moon, he thought it was a conspiracy theory and started pulling up websites supporting his claim. This led to a lively class debate.

I remembered seeing a Myth Busters episode where they busted those moon landing conspiracy theories. I pulled up the YouTube video on my iPad for students and we watched as the Myth Busters busted each one of the conspiracies that the boy had found online support for. It was an AWESOME learning experience for all of the students as they learned about perspective, atmosphere, vacuums, and light.

You know what I love about technology? It spurs and enables learning experiences. Without technology in that classroom today, the conspiracy theory student might have mentioned the theories he had heard. Kids would have chuckled and rolled their eyes and that would have been the end of it. Because we had access to technology, the conspiracy theorist was immediately able to pull up evidence to support his claim. He even had some students who were initially rolling their eyes believing that the theories might be true. Other students immediately jumped in to support the opposing view, that Americans had indeed landed on the moon. This is authentic learning at its best. Students practiced searching, taking a position, forming a persuasive argument, debating, and going through the scientific process of hypothesis, experimentation, and conclusion. None of this was in our learning plans for the day… it was SO much better than anything I could have planned. We were able to immediately pull up a Myth Busters episode on YouTube (yet another example of why filtering policies need to be re-thought!). The class ended with students making plans to re-create some of the Myth Buster experiments so that they could see the outcomes first hand.

Today reminded me of why I am passionate about technology in education. It also reminded me of why I love learning.

Best quote of the day from a student: “This is cool, I thought we would just learn about technology, I didn’t know we were actually going to get to use it.”

What a novel thought, using technology as a tool to learn.

Science Fix: Video demos and experiments

February 16, 2011Kelly Tenkely1 Comment3295 views

What it is: Science Fix is a fantastic video blog that I learned about from my friend and PLN colleague Kyle Pace. The videos are all recorded science experiments and demos from middle school science teacher Darren Fix. The majority of the videos are chemistry related but there is also some good physics videos in there as well. The videos are hosted on YouTube so if you don’t have access, you may have to use one of those tricky ways to download and save from home. (See Tips below for ways to do that.)

How to integrate Science Fix into the classroom: Science Fix is a great place to find demos and science experiment videos to share with your students. These videos will help your students better visualize and understand the concepts that they are learning in your class. We don’t all have robust resource budgets, sometimes we have to pick and choose what we will be able to demo for our class live. These videos are a big help in bringing those experiments to our classrooms when budgets don’t allow us to do it live. There are great descriptions and additional links and resources along with each video.

Tips: For those of you who don’t have access to YouTube in your building, you can still use these awesome videos in your classrooms with a little bit of pre-planning. Download and save YouTube videos so that you can show them at school without accessing the YouTube site. UseKeepVid, YouTube DownloaderHD, Kick YouTube, SaveVid, or Zamzar. Some of these tools will even let you download at school if you know the YouTube url. The downloaded video should have no trouble playing at school!

You can follow ScienceFix on Twitter here.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Science Fix in your classroom!

HIP2B²: Science/Math edutainment magazine and videos

February 11, 2011Kelly Tenkely2 Comments3329 views

Open publication – Free publishing – More science

What it is: HIP2B² is an edutainment site that aims to show students that subjects that are generally labeled as “difficult” or “hard” can be fun and are important to our future success. HIP2B² is a website, digital magazine, and TV show that work to equip learners with vital life skills including analytical thinking, problem solving, and a curious mindset. The goal is to encourage curiosity in science and math in everyday life. The magazine is a high-quality quarterly publication that is free to view online, the magazine uses the Issuu platform for the digital viewing. You can see an example of the digital HIP2B² embedded above. The TV show can be viewed online, powered by YouTube.

How to integrate HIP2B² into the classroom: The HIP2B² videos and digital magazine are a fantastic way to invigorate a sense of curiosity and discovery in your students. The digital magazines are really well done, students will eagerly read through them. Each of the digital magazines is focused on a science or math topic such as mysteries, senses, the environment, technology, origins, animals, safety, food, intelligence, and much more. Students can view the digital magazines all the way back to June 2007. Use the digital magazines as inspiration for science and math inquiry. Students can read through the digital magazines on a classroom computer set up as a reading center, as a class using an interactive whiteboard or projector connected computer, or individually in a lab setting. Do your students get silent reading time in class? Allow them to use the computers to read through the HIP2B² digital magazine.

In the video section, students can learn about “tricks” of science like invisibility cloaks and floating paperclips or more serious science like nanotechnology and extreme weather. These videos can be used to introduce a topic or science/math concept or to illustrate a concept.

Are your students working on science and math that encourages analytical thinking, problem solving, and curiosity? Why not have them create their own HIP2B² inspired digital magazine. Students can put together their own magazine using any word processing or publishing program and upload the finished product to Issuu to share with the world.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using HIP2B² in your classroom!

Science Animation Gallery

February 10, 2011Kelly Tenkely4 Comments3506 views

What it is: Sumanas, Inc has created a complete animation gallery for science. Each animation comes with a written summary description, a narrated animation, a step-through tutorial (understanding the concept through a series of steps), and a quiz. There are a variety of main topics, each with several related animation modules. In the gallery you will find General Biology, Molecular Biology, General Biotechnology, Microbiology, Biopsychology/Neuroscience, Ecology, Astronomy, Statistics, Chemistry, and Environmental Science. There is also a Science in Focus section for animations that explain science topics that are in the news (stem cells, malaria, gene therapy, ulcers, antibiotic resistance, and anthrax). These are great for current event science conversations and understandings.

How to integrate Science Animation Gallery into the classroom: The Science Animation Gallery takes what can be difficult to understand concepts, and animates them in a way that breaks down the concept into manageable parts. Many of the science concepts are more appropriate for middle and high school students, but some sections, like Astronomy, include animations that are useful for elementary students (moon phases).

Students can use the animations to explore science concepts that they are interested in learning more about, or to further delve into a topic just touched on in curriculum. Many of the animations would make a great launching point for science experiments and inquiry units.

Use the animations to introduce a whole class to a new concept or topic using an interactive whiteboard or projector-connected computer. At the end of the animation, you can instantly check for learning using the quiz at the end (it would work well with a student response system, voters). Use the feedback from the quiz to guide the learning and next steps for students. Students could also visit the gallery as a science discovery center in the one or two computer classroom. I really like the different options offered by the animations, students can listen to a narrated version of the animation or navigate through the animation at their own pace using the step-by-step. The narrated animation is brilliant, science has so many unfamiliar vocabulary words and terms that struggling readers can often get bogged down in just sorting out the words. With the narrated animation, the focus is on the concept being taught and the vocabulary is learned more naturally without stifling the learning.

Encourage your students to watch for science in the news. The news has been full of it lately! Use those current event topics and dig in a little deeper with the Science in Focus animations. So often students hear about stem cells or gene therapy and don’t really know what they are referring to (adults either for that matter!) take the opportunity to teach students about the science concepts fueling those news stories. There are some additional links and resources related to each animation in the Science in Focus section.

Tips: Some of the animations are available for download and can be played on an iDevice or in iTunes.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Science Animation Gallery in your classroom

Planet Foss: Investigating Science by Taking Pictures

February 9, 2011Kelly Tenkely7 Comments4407 views

What it is: Planet Foss is a science photo sharing website for students. Students are enlisted to help capture science in the real world through pictures and share them with other students around the world. Students choose a science course to investigate, see what photo challenges exist within the course, and then take a picture of science as it happens. Each course comes with several challenges; the challenges are all based around themes that tie into the FOSS investigations. When students have taken their photos, they can upload them, tag them, and record observations about the science they captured in their picture. Students can also head over to Planet FOSS just to check out the photos taken by other students, they can search by the date that the picture was uploaded, by tag, keyword, or search by location using a Google map. Courses on Planet FOSS include Chemical Interactions, Diversity of Life, Earth History, Electronics, Forces and Motion, Human Brain and Senses, Planetary Science, Populations and Ecosystems, and Weather and Water.

How to integrate Planet FOSS into the classroom: Planet FOSS is an excellent way to involve students in science exploration and discovery in the real world. The great thing about the site is that it helps students discover the science that it all around them. Through the photo challenges and investigations, students learn to view the world through a new lens and begin to understand that life is science. That isn’t a concept I understood until I was out of school (for me science usually meant filling out a worksheet or memorizing science vocabulary-sad). Don’t have access to digital cameras at school? Students can still use Planet FOSS by exploring other student photos. The photos are a great way to introduce science concepts and illustrate concepts in a way that is more authentic than the textbook offerings. As students view others photos, they can leave feedback about the photo, observation, or comment on the similarities or difference to where they live using a set of virtual “stickers”.

Tips: To protect student privacy, Planet FOSS does not accept any photos that includes pictures of students. Planet FOSS has a great introductory video that will have even the novice computer user uploading photos in no time!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Planet FOSS in your classroom

Extreme Planet Makeover: make a planet

January 28, 2011Kelly Tenkely2 Comments2168 views

What it is: NASA has some really fantastic resources and activities for use in the classroom. This week I am creating a customized integrated technology plan for a local elementary/middle school. One of the subjects we are integrating tech into is astronomy. NASA was, of course, my first stop for finding some resources we could use. While I was there I came across Extreme Planet Makeover where students can try their hand at making their very own planet. In this fun interactive, students can control the look and habitability of their own world. Students use the controls available to adjust the planetary attributes. They can change things like size, distance from star, star type, planet age, and even start their planet based on different presets. As students are adjusting their extreme planet, they will start to understand the differences between earth and the other planets in our solar system. When students are finished, they can download a picture of their custom world.

How to integrate Extreme Planet Makeover into the classroom: Extreme Planet Makeover is a neat simulation where students can design a custom planet. As they create their own custom planet, they will begin to notice what makes a planet habitable or not, and the unique features that must be in place for life. Extreme Planet Makeover can be used with the whole class using a projector-connected computer or interactive whiteboard. Invite each student to make an adjustment to the planet. With each adjustment, students can describe the ways that the planet has changed. The finished class planet can be used as the base for a creative writing prompt.

Set up Extreme Planet Makeover as a center activity where students can create a planet and download to save. The finished planets can be shared on a class photo stream, website, or blog where students can compare and contrast the features of each planet.

In a one to one or computer lab setting, students can each create a planet that they use for a compare/contrast to an actual planet in the solar system and as a creative writing prompt. Who lives on this planet? What galaxy is their planet in? How do you get there?

Tips: One of the features I really appreciate about the Extreme Planet Makeover is the explanations that pop up over each planet attribute. Students learn about how atmosphere, size, different stars, the distance from the star, and the age effect a planet.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Extreme Planet Makeover in your classroom.