Eclectic Technology

If you are looking from some short (as in 1 - 2 minute) videos that may help you begin a science lesson check out Ask Smithsonian, located on the Smithsonian website.

You will find over 40 videos available. The topics vary, from What is the Origin of Applesauce to Is Quicksand Real to Why Do Bugs Die on Their Back. You will also find some videos that are applicable to social studies, such as How Did King Tut Die.

Check out this new eBook from the Smithsonian Science Education Center. You may download it for the iPad or Mac and it will be interactive. It is also available as a pdf. 

This book is designed for students in grades 3 - 5, introducing them to insects from a range of locations. In the interactive version you will find pictures, videos,  the sounds of the insects habitat and students may click or tap underlined words and hear definitions of the words. There is also an animated map in the interactive version. 

There is also a coloring book that you may download, and all are free!

Help students learn about why insects are beneficial, how they survive and how they impact their ecosystem.

Richard Byrne provides a number of links to websites that have great hands-on activities for students to learn science. The sites include:

* Science is Fun - 25 chemistry experiments geared to students in grades 4 - 9

* Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago has activities in twelve topics. You will find experiments for students preK through grade 12.

* Discover the World is from NOAA. A total of 43 experiments which are probably best for grades 4 - 8.

* Squishy Circuits. Learn how to create the "dough" to create these circuits and watch a TedEd to learn more.

There are many ideas to be found in this post and lots of fun for your students to experience while they explore and learn science!

Finding great videos that you may use in your classroom takes time. This post provides four videos with a STEM focus that you may choose to use in your classroom. These are often referred to as motion graphics. The ones within this post include:

* The Solar System, Our Home in Space is "an infographic trip through the wonders of the solar system" that allows students to explore the inner and outer planets;

* Measuring the Universe, which combines math and scale and helps students begin to comprehend how vast the universe is;

* For the Love of Mountains, where you will learn more about some of the "extremes" of the earth's mountains;

* Forest (the English version), a "study in ecology and the environment.

I find videos are a great hook for students, providing opportunities for them to quickly engage with the subject and begin to ask questions as they want to learn additional information. These four videos would work with a wide range of ages and are well worth checking out.

This interactive website allows you to explore climate change from the following perspectives:

* By region (and it is global so you click on the location you want to begin)

* By theme (and there are seven themes):

   - Food Security

   - Food Emissions

   - Climate impact on production

   - Climate impact on people

   - Adaptation

   - Mitigation

   - Policy and Finance

Quoting from Larry Ferlazzo's post Big Facts is "intended to provide a credible and reliable platform for fact checking amid the range of claims that appear in reports, advocacy materials and other sources. Full sources are supplied for all facts and figures and all content has gone through a process of peer review."

This is an open access resource. Much more information may be found at the site. (And think about checking out Larry Ferlazzo's post at http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2014/02/08/very-very-impressive-new-interactive-site-on-climate-change/

It appears that science is trending in educational videos on YouTube. Other videos in this list (and embedded in the post) include:

* Immovable Object vs Unstoppable Force

* Why Do We Kiss?

* Is Your Red the Same as My Red?

* How Old Are Your Ears? (Hearing Test)

* Amazing Facts to Blow Your Mind (Part 2)

* What if the Sun Disappeared?

* What Your Body Does in 30 Seconds

* Canada & the United States: Bizarre Borders (Part 2)

* The True Science of Parallel Universes

Richard Byrne shares six science games that are available online through Rice University. The games include:

* CSI Adventure - six adventures that allow students to become forensic scientists and solve a crime.

* Cool Science Careers - students may explore five STEM-based careers. Students take an interest survey and their adventure will be guided by their interests.

* MedMyst - learn about microbiology with a focus on infectious diseases and how they spread.

* Reconstructors allows you to "gather evidence and data to solve drug-related cases." (3 games)

* Virtual Clinical Trials - become a research scientist and help develope treatments for spinal cord injuries, depression and brain injuries.

* N-Squad - "investigate the effects of alcohol on the digestive, circulatory, and nervous systems."

These games are geared to middle and high school students and these adventures are also available in Spanish!

Are your students interested in dinosaurs? Here is an infographic that provides information about dinosaurs including:

* A definition of dinosaur and paleontology

* When did they exist?

* Where big were they?

* What were there eating habits?

* How did they walk?
* Where did they live?
* How did they become extinct?

Although this post on Visual.ly did not show the author some searching shows that it was designed by a paleontologist for children between the ages of 7 - 11. You can find his story on this and sections of the infographic at http://ashmitav.wix.com/portfolio#!dinosaurs/cv7u

Check out this infographic that shows fifty facts about the earth divided into the following categories:
* Space

* Atmosphere

* Sea

* Under Earth

* Ground

* Man

and sources are provided for the information. If your class studies the earth this may be a great visual to use with your students!

Planet Nutshell tells stories through animation. Their website provides access to videos in three areas:

* Climate Change - a series of 11 videos that explore issues in climate change including What is Climate, Too Much Carbon Dioxide and How the World can Tackle Climate Change. In addition to the series there is also a list of resources used to create the series.

* NetSafe is a series of videos that explore issues that students may experience online. The videos are divided into grade levels. There are four videos for Grade K - 3 that explore What is the Internet?, What is Personal Information?, Tell an Adult, and Be Kind Online. For Grades 4 - 6 you will find five videos including " Cyberbullies are No Fun!, Understanding Online "Friends", and Posting Pictures Online. Five videos are available for Grades 7 - 12 including How to Stop Cyberbullying, Protect Your Personal Information and Say No to "Sexting".  Several other videos cover Distracted Driving, Public WiFi Network Safety and Mobile Location Privacy. These videos also allow you to download the transcript.

* A third category is Borrow Wisely that discusses FAFSA, Student Loans, and Financial Aid.

It appears that they continue to create videos for education (as well as businesses).

Have you heard about the concept of a paradigm shift? This happens when new information comes in that does not fit what we expected. Unfortunately in many cases we choose not to see this lack of fit, and ignore the information. This post looks at this type of issue but suggests that you have students look it as "surprises" and notes that "we need to actively look for signs that our assumptions are wrong..."

How can we do this? Try creating a "Surprise Journal" with your students. Based on one teacher who has done this consider having your students (and you) look for moments of "surprise." Have them respond to two questions:

* Why was this surprising?

* And what does that tell me about myself?

This teacher has collected over 1,000 moments of surprise and shares a few of them in this post.

Here is his statement about how it changed his classroom culture (quoted from the post):

“In the class culture, acknowledgement that you are mistaken about something has become dubbed a ‘moment of surprise’ (followed by a student scrambling to retrieve their journal to record it),” he wrote to me. “As this is much more value-neutral than ‘I screwed up,’ the atmosphere surrounding the topic is less stressful than in previous years.”

This is an animated visual that shows how human lungs, bird lungs, and a grasshopper (who does not have lungs) breathe. I suspect that students will be very intrigued with this and that a great classroom discussion could take place, or students might want to learn how other animals breathe, and compare them to the images provided.