Science – Page 15 – iLearn Technology

The Prince’s Rainforest Project for Schools

August 9, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2176 views

What it is: The Prince’s Rainforest Project for Schools is part of a campaign to help combat climate change by addressing rainforest destruction. Schools can take part by signing up and learning more about rainforests. The site features lesson plans, videos, fact sheets, a live webcam of the rainforest, photos, sounds, games, and assembly ideas. The idea is to spread awareness about rainforest destruction.

How to integrate The Prince’s Rainforest Project for Schools into the classroom: Support the rainforest by signing up your school and taking part in the Prince’s Rainforest Project for Schools. If you are teaching about the rainforest, make this site part of your teaching. The sounds, videos, and photos are excellent. Students can play games and complete activities that will help them learn more about animals in the rainforest. As students complete activities they can earn awards at each level.

Tips: There are great free resources on this site, be sure to check them out!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using The Prince’s Rainforest Project for Schools in your classroom.

Exploring the Secret Life of Trees

August 9, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2098 views

What it is: Exploring the Secret Life of Trees is a neat interactive site for 3rd through 5th grade students designed to help them gain an appreciation of trees, observe trees in every day life, and develop an interest in learning more about trees. Students will learn about the basic parts of a tree and their functions. They will also learn about conservation and renewable and non-renewable sources.

How to integrate Exploring the Secret Life of Trees into the classroom: There are several suggestions for using the Secret Life of Trees site in the classroom. These activities meet objectives in science, math, fine arts, language arts, and social sciences. Use the Secret Life of Trees as an introduction to a larger unit about trees. The site can be used with an interactive whiteboard or projector with the whole class or as a center activity in the classroom.

Tips: If you fill out the Secret Life of Trees request form on the teacher page, they will send you a free Secret Life of Trees poster.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Exploring the Secret Life of Trees in your classroom.

Explore Butterflies

August 9, 2009Kelly Tenkely1 Comment2725 views

What it is: Explore Butterflies is a neat interactive site where students can explore and learn about butterflies. Students can test their butterfly smarts, build a butterfly habitat, observe butterflies in a virtual field observation, and learn about butterflies and climate change. This collection of activities, quizzes, and games, is a fun way for students to learn all about butterflies.

How to integrate Explore Butterflies into the classroom: If butterflies are part of your science curriculum, this site it a must see. The site teaches all about butterflies and encourages student interaction. This would make an excellent science center, or activity for students to complete in a computer lab setting. Because of the way the site is set up, it would also be a great site to use with an interactive whiteboard and student response system (clickers).

Tips: The reading on this site may be challenging for younger students. This would be a good activity for younger students to complete with older buddies in a computer lab.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Explore Butterflies in your classroom.

The Potato Story

August 9, 2009Kelly Tenkely2 Comments10071 views

What it is: The Potato Story is a great interactive from the UK that teaches students about food (specifically the potato) and how it gets from field to fork. The story focuses on how the potato is grown and harvested and it’s journey from the farm to the table where kids eat it. It also teaches the nutritional values of the potato and the part they play in a balanced diet. The interactive for kids is spectacular, but the accompanying resources for teachers is truly incredible. The first lesson of the Potato Story is the life cycle of the plant. Each lesson comes with instructions for the teacher, the interactive portion for the student, additional educational weblinks, and pdf worksheets, quizzes, and printable lesson. The second lesson is a simulation where students can grow their own potatoes and learn about healthy root systems and plant needs. The third lesson teaches about plant growth and the plant life cycle. The final lesson is all about making healthy eating choices and nutrition.

How to integrate The Potato Story into the classroom: The Potato Story is a fantastic interactive that takes students on a journey of the food they eat. Students learn about plant life cycles, necessary elements for growing a plant, and nutrition. The Potato Story interactives are perfect as a center in a science class, completing individually in a lab setting, or completing as a class with an interactive whiteboard.

Tips: Be sure not to skip the teacher section on this site, there are SO many great ideas and extension activities included.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using The Potato Story in your classroom.

Nota

August 9, 2009Kelly Tenkely2 Comments3593 views

What it is: Nota is an incredible online collaboration tool that allows students and teachers to collaborate almost instantaneously on a shared whiteboard space. Instantly create and share any kind of document, presentations, notebooks, report, artwork, etc.. Nota makes any type of document and media work together seamlessly. The Nota interface is extremelly intuitive, it is quick to learn and use. Materials can be shared and edited simultaneously making it a truly incredible collaborative experience. Materials can be uploaded or added from sites like Flickr, YouTube, Google Maps, Wikipedia, and more. The Nota drawing tools work with any media or document in Nota. Public or private notebooks can be created. Collaborate with one or a hundred people on Nota and create as many pages as you want. Finished work can be stored, printed, or embeded. Best of all Nota is totally free!

How to integrate Nota into the classroom: Nota is the ultimate in online collaboration. It reminds me a little bit of a glog but Nota goes way beyond Glogster in so many ways. Nota can be used to complete group projects between students. The instant collaborative abilities mean that students can see each group members contribution instantaneously. Imagine using Nota to work on difficult math problems, create science diagrams, compare and contrast historical figures, create a character sketch of a character from a classroom novel, etc.. The possibilities are endless for collaborative learning. Work on a common notebook for whole class projects where each student is responsible for a contribution to the Nota. Make interactive whiteboards a truly interactive experience by combining with Nota. Throughout teaching, have students add their new learning to a common Nota notebook. At the end of teaching, use the interactive whiteboard to view the Nota and add any additional information and resources to it. Print out or send the Nota to students as a study guide that they helped create. Nota creates an impressive mashup of media and documents and allows users to collaborate and combine knowledge. When students work together to construct knowledge, they end up with a greater, more complete understanding of material.

Tips: Nota works with any web browser making it ideal for the classroom setting where students may not have the same computing platforms or Internet browsers at home.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Nota in your classroom.

Ecybermission

August 4, 2009Kelly Tenkely1 Comment1982 views

What it is: Ecybermission is a free, web-based science, math, and technology competition for students in sixth through ninth grade sponsored by the US Army. Students compete in regional and national awards by working to solve problems in their community. The goal of the competition is to help students understand how science, math, and technology work in the world today. Each team needs 3 or 4 student members. The team members must register and join the team by December 18, 2009. Each team also needs 1 adviser this could be a teacher, coach, club leader, etc that is at least 21 years old. There are four mission challenges that a team can choose from: sports and recreation, 2009-2010 scenario challenge, environment, or health and safety. Students will research the problem they are seeking to address, write a hypothesis, and conduct experiments. An online Team-Talk allows students to meet with each other online using discussion forums, chat rooms, and instant messaging. Students can answer questions in an online mission folder that allows them to attach files such as photographs, survey questions, or a website. At the end of the competion the mission folder is submited (before February 26, 2010).

How to integrate Ecybermission into the classroom: Why not make Ecybermission a portion of your schools science fair? Students could gather into teams competing in the competion, solving real-world problems. My guess is that this competition would be a much richer learning experience than the typical volcanoes, and planet mobiles that usually show up to science fairs. As students work to solve a problem, they will build communication, collaboration, innovation, critical thinking and scientific process skills.

Tips: Get your students signed up today, registration is open from now until December 18, 2009. I would think the more time you can provide your students the better! Need an added bonus? Any team that registers with Ecybermission gets Brian Pop for free!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Ecybermission in your classroom.

The Blobz Guide to Electric Circuits

July 31, 2009July 31, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment4285 views

What it is: The Blobz Guide to Electric Circuits is a fun, interactive website where individuals or groups of students can learn about circuits. There are 5 sections to the Blobz Guide to Electric Circuits. Section 1 teaches students about what makes circuits work, section 2 teaches about conductors and insulators, section 3 teaches about switches, section 4 teaches about changing circuits, and section 5 teaches about circuit diagrams. Each section includes a teaching portion, an activity, and a quiz. If students answer all of the questions in the quiz correctly, they get a special bonus activity after they have completed each section. The “Blobz” characters explain each section with pictures, animations, and text.

How to integrate The Blobz Guide to Electric Circuits into the classroom: The Blobz Guide to Electric Circuits is a fun way to teach students about circuits, conductors, insulators, switches, and diagrams. Students could work on this website individually, in small groups as a center activity during an electric circuits unit, or as a whole class using an interactive whiteboard. The information section might be good to go through with the whole class for some guided practice and instruction. Students could complete the activities and quizzes individually or in small groups as a center after instruction.

Tips: This site is British so some of the vocabulary may be unfamiliar (for example a flashlight is called a torch).

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using The Blobz Guide to Electric Circuits in your classroom.

The Secret in the Cellar

July 16, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2442 views

What it is: A few days ago I wrote about the awesome interactive Smithsonian Museum, today I found another great activity on the Smithsonian website called The Secret in the Cellar. The Secret in the Cellar is an interactive web comic that is based on an actual forensic case of a 17th century body that was recently discovered. Through graphics, photos, and activities, students begin to unravel a mystery of historical and scientific importance. Students can analyze artifacts, and examine the skeleton for clues to determine a cause of death. Because of the subject matter of this web comic, this activity is best suited for middle school or high school students.

How to integrate The Secret in the Cellar into the classroom: The Secret in the Cellar activities and web comic are a fantastic way to excite students about the history of Colonial life in America and the science behind archeology. This site takes students on a journey of discovery and critical thinking. Throughout the web comic, students will find links to additional articles about the actual forensic case and the display at the Smithsonian Museum. This activity would be best in a computer lab setting where each student can explore at their own pace. Along the way, encourage students to keep a record of their inferences about how the boy died. Before students complete the web-comic, discuss what conclusions students have come to based on the evidence.

Tips: Students can dig deeper into this site learning about bones, the lives of colonists, forensic anthropology, and learn more about the related exhibit at the Smithsonian.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using The Secret in the Cellar in your classroom.

UPM Forest Life

July 14, 2009July 15, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment3394 views

virtual forest

What it is: UPM Forest Life is an excellent interactive site that lets students explore a forest virtually. This is the next best thing to actually being in a forest, I can almost smell the pine trees! UPM Forest Life aims to teach about forest sustainability through an outstanding ‘hike’ through the forest. Along the way, students can click on points that will reveal videos, pictures with information, and sounds. Students will learn about forest planning, harvesting, regeneration, respacing, thinning, transport, recreation, training, berry picking, bird watching, hunting, fishing, natural forests, valuable habitats, deadwood, forest structure, water, and native tree species. Students will also learn about the various animals that call a forest home. This is an outstanding way for students to learn about tree species, habitat, and animals because it is learning through exploration. UPM Forest Life will teach them in a way that no textbook can.

How to integrate UPM Forest Life into the classroom: Although I am sure we would love to take our students on a field trip to a forest to explore and learn first hand, it isn’t always practical or possible. UPM Forest Life is a fantastic virtual substitute. It is so realistic and well done that your students will feel as if they have taken a trip into a forest. This would be an excellent site to use with an interactive whiteboard. Allow students to take turns being ‘tour guides’ for the journey. They can click on the various videos, pictures, and information embedded in the forest. Create an observation journal where students can jot down observations of trees, animals, and sounds that they expereince while in the forest. This site would also be a great one for students to visit individually in a computer lab setting. Be sure that students are equipped with headphones so they can enjoy the full experience of the site. After students explore the forest, discuss what it means to have a sustainable forest and why it is important. This site is perfect for the science classroom or Earth Day but it would also work well in the language arts classroom. Students could use the UPM Forest Life as a writing prompt, after exploring the forest they could write a story with the forest as the setting, or use one of the animals in the forest as a character in the story. The scenery and sounds in the Forest are so peaceful and restorative, this may be a good site to have going in the background while students silent read…almost like reading above the trees in a tree house!

Tips: I have really enjoyed exploring this site and haven’t closed it since I opened it. I learned about the UPM Forest Life site from @atkauffman on Twitter, I highly recommend a follow! Andrew often has great resources for teachers and shares them on Twitter.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using UPM Forest Life in your classroom.

The Why Files

June 11, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment1662 views

What it is: Colorado has had some extreme weather conditions in the past week. With tornadoes, rain, rainbows, and hail, The Why Files seemed like a fitting site to highlight today. The Why Files bring science to life virtually. Students can make rainbows, control a tornado, play with lightning, and build a snowflake. If only the real weather was this easy to control! The Why Files begin each interactive with a brief “why” of how the weather occurrence works, students can read all about the occurrence and even get a link where they can learn more. The fun starts when the students enter the interactive where they can control the weather.

How to integrate The Why Files into the classroom: The Why Files are amazing interactives that will help your students to better understand the science behind weather. This is a great site to use with an interactive whiteboard, invite students to take turns interacting with the weather. Read the paragraph before the interactive as a class. After the students have ‘controlled’ the weather, go back to the information page and follow the link to additional information. Your students will want to know more after playing with the interactive! The Why Files makes a great science center on classroom comupters while students are learning the science behind weather. Students can visit the center in teams and take notes in an observation journal recording their experiences about controlling the weather.

Tips: Check out some of the other goodies on the site: “The Why Files produces a new story each week, alternating longer features with shorter shorties. We also post a series of interactive science animations, the ever-popular “Cool Science Images,” and a series of Teacher Activity Pages linked to the national science teaching standards. Eager to explain the science behind the news, our home page reprises older stories that become relevant to the headlines.”

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using The Why Files in your classroom.