Interactive Periodic Table

If you and your students use the chemistry periodic table, I think you may find this interactive periodic table (http://www.touchspin.com/chem/asppages/index.asp) quite useful. Don't, however, just mouse over the table. Be sure to read the FAQ to learn about all the information available.

This photo shows part of the table (http://www.touchspin.com/chem/DisplayTable.html).

Do More Than Point-and-Shoot with Your Digital Camera

Many of us are using digital cameras nowadays. We take photos very quickly with our point-and-shoot cameras. And the pictures are good. But, sometimes we want them to be more than just good. Digital Photography Tutorials (http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials.htm) provides free tutorials on the basic operation of cameras, tips and techniques, and advanced topics.

The basic tutorials include exposure, lenses, filters, depth of field, autofocus, raw files, pixels, file types, histograms, white balance, and other topics. Tips and techniques provides information on using Photoshop, masks, resizing, and color management. Diffraction, sensor sizes, night photography, and photo stitching are found in the advanced topics.

The explanations are easy to understand. Diagrams and photos help to illustrate the tutorials.

Check out this series of tutorials to help you better understand your camera, how it works, and how to use it.

Image: http://flickr.com/photos/dnorman/230439461/
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

Cell Phone Spam

This is an unusual blog entry for me... no web 2.0 tools, no software instructions, no classroom teaching techniques, no recommendations for professional development. Instead I simply want to point you to another blogger's instructions for blocking cell phone spam. If you haven't been annoyed by it yet, you probably will be soon. So, with thanks to David Pogue, the technology columnist for the New York Times, click here to read his blog entry about how to block cell phone spam.

Image: http://flickr.com/photos/kb35/369380644/
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

Digital Media in the Classroom: Digital Camera

I worked with a great group of teachers and administrators this week as we talked about using digital media in the classroom. Their students will be involved in some activities and projects this next year which should be fun in addition to helping them learn!

I used a wiki which lists some useful resources with the group. One section has some good ideas for planning activities and projects which use technology. Copyright is frequently a concern when creating web pages, brochures, and other types of reports, so I added some information about that, too. Another section includes information just for digital cameras: project ideas, suggestions for using cameras, and applications to use with digital photos.

I will add information about other digital media to this wiki, probably later this summer. However, I'll share the wiki--as it is--with you at this point. What else would you add to the wiki about planning lessons using technology and about digital cameras?

Visit the wiki at http://digitalmediaandtools.pbwiki.com




Image: http://flickr.com/photos/nirak/1383079775/

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en