Interactive Web Sites... Science, Music, Computer Science, Reading, News, Games

Well, I certainly enjoyed checking out these interactive web sites! I tested several objects--cork, metal key, rubber ducky--to see which ones would conduct electricity and, thus, turn on a light bulb. I watched an animation of how the continents were formed, saw the muscles involved in blinking the eye, and viewed the changes in a forest as time passed. I played with chords and a pop-up piano. And I played a variety of games which were fun and which focused on academic content. And that was just with three of the eleven sites in this week’s post. I’ve listed several sites with notes on their content. Enjoy!


Learning by Seeing: Fun Visualization Tools That Educate by Jim Moulton
http://www.edutopia.org/online-visualization-tools
Formerly a classroom teacher and currently a consultant and blogger, Jim Moulton recently shared some web sites which provide a variety of tools for learning.

http://www.learningscience.org

• categories of “learning tools” are short and long web interactive lessons, short and long web visual lessons, web sites, science data, science imaging, short and long science as inquiry, science hardware, and science software
• “tools to do science” allow you to create a graph, use a time, print a ruler, print graph paper, …
• the National Science Education Standards (NRC, 1996) are used as the framework
• free, organized by ages
• excellent virtual projects
  
  
  
  

http://www.musictheory.net

• lessons, trainers, and utilities

• lessons… 37 lessons in 7 groupings, including scales, intervals, and chords
• trainers… 10 trainers in 3 groupings, including key, guitar, and chord
• utilities… chord calculator, staff paper generator, and matrix generator

• has a pop-up piano
• some sections are tutorial, others are exploratory

http://www.playingwithtime.org

• shows how the world changes over a given period, sometimes faster, sometimes more slowly than normal
• activities and projects that illustrate time, including instructions for creating time-lapse sequences
• movie clips illustrate how a variety of things change over time… some actual footage, some animation… some instructive, some fun, all interesting
• links to organizations, essays on time, time-lapse photography, and museums

ClassroomNews, October 2007, lists new resources on the Internet…

Google Earth looks at the stars
http://earth.google.com

• vs. 4.2 allows users to view the sky
• provides information about stars, planets
• includes imagery from Hubble Space Telescope
• virtual tours through galaxies

Computer science lessons and materials
http://csta.villanova.edu

• materials for teaching computer science in K-12
• lesson plans, learning modules, code segments, presentations
• must be a Computer Science Teachers Association member to download its resources
• materials have been reviewed by educators

Reading web site for young children
http://www.rif.org/leadingtoreading/en

• designed to help develop reading skills of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers
• interactive stories, games, music
• babies and toddlers, preschoolers, and grown-ups
• children’s stories, nursery rhymes, coloring and doodling pages
• Grown-Ups… articles, advice, videos

Blog from Sally Ride Science for teachers
http://www.sallyridescience.com/blog

• introduces new topics for discussion, using experts
• one thread was “Should Pluto Be a Planet?” and entries debated the merits of reclassifying Pluto as a “dwarf planet”
• another thread followed educator-astronaut Barbara Morgan
• current thread is careers in science

Other good sites for children include…

http://www.PBSkids.org

• kid-friendly, many resources that can appeal to kids, music, games, coloring
• interactive games that reinforce academic concepts
• ideas for parents, resources for teachers
• math games are great and focus on concepts like finding patterns and measurements
• games incorporate characters from shows

http://www.TimeforKids.com

• online component of Time For Kids magazine
• organized by grades
• news that’s interesting to children
• great resource for non-fiction material
• helps them stay abreast of current events
• has good content-area vocabulary
• games, homework helper
• worksheets, lesson plans, and graphic organizers

http://www.4Kids.org

• games that reinforce academic skills in different content areas
• interactive games in formats that are familiar to kids
• links to educational and fun web sites