Worldwide Telescope September 14, 2009
Posted by Michael Stokes in : Astronomy , comments closedThis is a must have for star gazers and teachers of such. Microsoft is offering this to you.
Turn your computer into a virtual telescope, and get a front-row seat to the greatest show ever produced. Use the WorldWide Telescope to see the best images from the world’s finest ground and space-based telescopes. See thousands of images interwoven for an amazing, holistic view of the universe. Discover the cloud remnants of a supernova explosion from a thousand years ago, or move forward in time to see what future astronomers might observe. You can also access hundreds of terabytes of sky, earth, and planet data.
Pan and zoom around the night sky, and observe the stars and planets within context of each other. View the entire solar system in three dimensions, with light and shadows created from the sun. Watch planets orbit around the sun, and watch moons orbit around planets. Right-click an object to access additional information on the Web, and search for the facts and images you want. View guided tours, or even create your own.
Take control of the Hubble Space Telescope or your choice of other motorized telescopes, including the Chandra X-ray Observatory Center, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and others. View the planets and moons where they are now, where they were in the past, and where they’ll be in the future.
Watch pre-recorded night sky tours, guided by world-class astronomers and educators from some of the most famous observatories and planetariums.
Create and record a night-sky tour, or have students create their own. Share them with each other through e-mail.
Moon Dust on Earth January 8, 2009
Posted by Michael Stokes in : Science , comments closedSledgehammer-toting scientists are “bustin’ rocks” to make the finest possible simulated lunar regolith (a.k.a. fake moondust) in support of NASA’s return to the Moon. Get the full story.
Big Full Moon December 10, 2008
Posted by Michael Stokes in : Astronomy, Earth Science , comments closedNot all full Moons are the same. This Friday’s is the biggest and brightest full Moon of the year. No, you can not see Neil Armstrong’s footprint. But go ahead and look: The full Moon of Dec. 12th is the biggest and brightest full Moon of the year. Check out the full article from NASA Science.
National Science Foundation Multimedia Gallery September 10, 2008
Posted by Michael Stokes in : Science , comments closedThe National Science Foundation’s Multimedia Gallery features nearly 100 videos and webcasts on a wide range of science topics, including a fossil that might represent the first vertebrate to emerge from the sea; turning forest-industry waste into fuel and textiles; “superglue” produced by aquatic bacteria; a house built on a “shake table” (earthquake research); teaching robots to swim; 14 engineering challenges for the 21st century; solving a crime scene mystery; a 60-second history of the universe; earth’s deep-time archives; dinosaurs; and more. The video clips are searchable by keyword or phrase. National Science Foundation Link
SKYGUY
Posted by Michael Stokes in : Astronomy, Earth Science , comments closedSKYGUY – Do you or your kids have questions about space or astronomy? Ask the SkyGuy! Tom Vilot from Boulder Colorado has created a very cool site that present answers to astronomy questions in high-quality, entertaining short videos. So if you’ve been wondering… Why are galaxies shaped like a swirl? What is a solstice? Or how many stars are out there? Ask the SkyGuy here This came from Bob Rankin and the Internet Tourbus.
Science + Gaming = WOOHOO! May 26, 2008
Posted by Daniel Rivera in : Astronomy, Chemistry, Earth Science, Gaming, Innovation, Life Science, Physical Science, Science, Teaching & Learning, Technology, Video , comments closedSpore is a retail game that hit store shelves on September 7th, 2008.
A Nucleus of Learning: the 3D Cell Explorer May 19, 2008
Posted by Jeff Giddens in : Life Science, Science , comments closedScience teachers:
The cell is the most basic structural and functional unit of all known living organisms. In fact, it is the smallest unit of an organism that is classified as living. It’s the building block of living things. If students are going to understand how life “works” on our planet they’ll eventually have to delve into the realm of cells. Recently, Richard Kassissieh, an open source developer and former chemistry teacher who is the Director of Information Services at Catlin Gabel School in Portland, Oregon, was kind enough to share his new cell biology site, the 3D Cell Explorer with me. I’m glad he did! I can easily envision Biology teachers everywhere lining up to use it. If you’re teaching anything about cellular functions or know of students who are trying to gain a better understanding of the subject, speed on over to Richard’s site. The 3D Cell Explorer has instructional videos that explore topics such as:
- the cell membrane,
- mitochondrion,
- mitosis,
- meiosis and more.
This site provides a great means of demystifying the workings of living systems by helping students visualize what’s going on at the cellular level. As such, the 3D Cell Explorer deserves to be added to your technology integration toolbox. Combined with other, rich resources such as NASA’s Virtual Lab and stunning images from winners of Nikon’s Small World Photomicrography Competition, pupils are sure to be hungry for more. By the way, for even more techno-robust resources, swing by Richard’s blog!
Next Stop, GWAP May 15, 2008
Posted by Jeff Giddens in : Collaboration, Emerging Tech, Gaming, Innovation, Media, Science, Software, Teaching & Learning, Technology, Thinking, webtools , comments closedHere’s an interesting premise: have people all over the world play fun, web-based games in order to make computers more intelligent. It’s a win-win situation that’s well worth exploring. There are some pretty excited folks behind this innovative approach–scientists from Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Computer Science (people like Luis von Ahn of CAPTCHA fame, Mike Crawford, Mike Brotzman, Edison Tan, and graduate students Severin Hacker, Edith Law, and Bryant Lee). The group has dubbed their project GWAP (Games With A Purpose). The games at GWAP are designed to be fun for human users. While humans are playing the games at GWAP they are building computers’ capacity to do useful things like identify objects or pieces of music. The games are:
- ESP, which displays images to two players who each try to guess words that the other player would use to describe the image
- Tag a Tune, in which players describe songs so that computers can search for music other than by title
- Verbosity, a test of common-sense knowledge that will amass facts for use by artificial-intelligence programs
- Squigl, a game in which players trace the outlines of objects in photographs to help teach computers to more readily recognize objects and,
- Matchin, a game in which players judge which of two images is more appealing, is designed to eventually enable image searches to rank images based on which ones look the best
Consider how this strategy could be adapted for research and education. Making a game out of a normally tedious process or concept might just be a highly productive means of increasing involvement and understanding. For example, Fold-It is harnessing the power of this technique by inviting others to participate in collective protein folding.
With an ever-growing number of web 2.0 resources and other interactive tools popping up, educators should consider allowing pupils to use technology resources to explore content in similar ways.
Fly Me to the Moons of Saturn May 14, 2008
Posted by Daniel Rivera in : Astronomy, Media, Science, Video , comments closedSpace and stellar exploration is simply fascinating for most kids. Carolyn Porco is the leader of the Imaging Team on the Cassini mission to Saturn, and she shares with us some images from the Cassini voyage to Saturn, focusing on its largest moon, Titan, and on frozen Enceladus, which seems to shoot jets of ice.
TED talks encompass some of the most fascinating lectures from a wide range of subjects. Engage your students with these inspiring and jaw-dropping presentations from some of the most amazing people on our planet.
Hear Here: ASHA May 13, 2008
Posted by Jeff Giddens in : Audio, Health, Science , comments closed
The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), a professional, scientific, and credentialing association for audiologists, speech-language pathologists, and speech, language, and hearing scientists wants everyone to know that May is Better Hearing and Speech Month. If your pupils are studying sound and its properties, this would be a great time to research the mechanics of how humans hear. Have your students drop by the ASHA site and explore topics such as: