TeachersFirst - Featured Sites: Week of Jan 22, 2012
Here are this week's features. Clicking the tags in the description area of each listing will present a list of other resources with this topic. | Click here to return to the Featured Sites Archive
CIESE Tele-Collaborative Classroom Projects - The Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education
Grades
1 to 12
1 Favorites
0 Comments
This site provides several collaborative science and engineering projects with various start dates. Projects are available for a full range of grade levels. The target grade level is...more
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This site provides several collaborative science and engineering projects with various start dates. Projects are available for a full range of grade levels. The target grade level is listed with the project. Some projects at the time of this review included: The Global Sun (grades 5-8), Bucket Buddies (grades 1-5), Human Genetics (grades 6-12), Home Lighting in Developing Countries (grades 9-12), and several others.
tag(s): animals (281), engineering (119), genetics (76), light (52), plants (145), scientists (62), sun (69), water (102)
In the Classroom
Use these collaborative projects to teach students more about science and engineering. Even though some of the start dates have passed, teachers can still access the information and lessons. Many projects offer the future dates. If you choose to participate during the time frame or not, you can use the materials to collaborate with a class in the same school or in another state.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Mind42 - IRIAN Solutions Vienna
Grades
1 to 12
1 Favorites
0 Comments
Mind 42 is an easy to use mind mapping (or concept mapping) tool. You create the format and easily add links, notes, to do lists, images, or even a Wikipedia ...more
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Mind 42 is an easy to use mind mapping (or concept mapping) tool. You create the format and easily add links, notes, to do lists, images, or even a Wikipedia article. Import the result into documents or perhaps a Skype conversation. Bring mind maps/concept maps to a new level!
tag(s): concept mapping (17), mind map (26)
In the Classroom
This free organizational tool can be used in classrooms at every level. Teachers can use this tool to help organize learning units and share the orgnanization on screen so students see how pieces fit together. Share the unit map with other teachers, students, or parents, to highlight goals, objectives, learning tasks, assessments, and resources. Share before your unit and expectations become very clear. Use as a yearly overview for parents showing units with resources at the beginning of the year at Open House. Let parents see the multiple ways their child will be assessed through the year. Students can use this tool for direction in problem based learning situations. Use this tool in science for collecting data, experiments, or science fair outlines. Use the tool in writing class to make writing guides for narrative or expository writing. In reading, use for predictions, sequencing of stories, inferences, or organizing genres of books each student has read. Have students map multiple ways to solve a single problem in math class. Have students keep daily requirements or schedules with readily available resources as links. Let students enjoy taking notes from content based classes. Have a student scribe create the notes each day and share with the class. Have student groups map the current unit before the test as a review activity.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Science (and more) to Music - Dr. Lodge McCammon
Grades
4 to 12
3 Favorites
0 Comments
This site offers many songs related to math, social studies, and science concepts. Science concepts include water & pollution, scientific inquiry, changes in matter, and much more....more
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This site offers many songs related to math, social studies, and science concepts. Science concepts include water & pollution, scientific inquiry, changes in matter, and much more. Math concepts range from order of operations to quadratic and exponential functions. After choosing a topic, you can listen to the song online, download the mp3, view lyrics, and possibly view an accompanying video. (Not all topics include the video.) Some topics also include a teacher guide with lesson suggestions. This site does mention that you can create your own videos. However, at the time of this review, that feature was not working.
tag(s): africa (137), area (52), atoms (42), bill of rights (28), branches of government (62), cells (80), civil war (134), constitution (87), elements (32), equations (119), exponents (35), factoring (25), factors (29), functions (52), inquiry (24), integers (22), matter (47), nutrition (134), oceans (147), order of operations (28), quadratics (26), rainforests (18), ratios (47), songs (44), sound (74), volume (34), water (102), world war 2 (149)
In the Classroom
Play songs related to math, social studies, or science concepts in class to supplement current lessons. Download and play the tunes on iPods or mp3 players in a listening corner. Have younger students sing along with the songs (reading the lyrics). ESL/ELL students will benefit from such an alternate presentation of concepts, as will any who have strong musical/rhythmic intelligence. Give students copies of song lyrics, and have them create their own songs. After listening to a song, have students create their own song relating to current classroom topics. Suggest some familiar tunes so students do not have to start from scratch. Create a video of the songs and share using a site such as SchoolTube reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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We Use Math - BYU Mathematics Department
Grades
6 to 12
2 Favorites
0 Comments
This site is a non-profit website dedicated to answering the question, "When Will I Use Math?" The site describes the importance of mathematics and many career opportunities available...more
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This site is a non-profit website dedicated to answering the question, "When Will I Use Math?" The site describes the importance of mathematics and many career opportunities available to students who discover mathematics. Although there is a store and social links on the site, it is worth the visit for the information provided. The Careers link provides an extensive list of careers that use mathematics along with the approximate salary scale. Clicking the title of the career leads you to a biography of someone with this career, their education, math required and used in this career, potential employers, and other facts. Other interesting sections of the site include How To Succeed (tips for being successful with math) and Did You Know? (tidbits and trivia related to math). There is also a link for teachers with other math resources, and information about math competitions. A blog on the site offers other math problems and information.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): biographies (93), careers (139), statistics (114)
In the Classroom
Challenge students to create a list of jobs requiring mathematics and see how many they can find that are provided on the site. Ask students to estimate average salaries of jobs listed on the site and compare to actual salaries. At Take Your Child to Work Day time, have students use this site to explore the connections between math and the careers they visit. Share this site with students when studying careers.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Bounce - ZURB
Grades
6 to 12
1 Favorites
0 Comments
Bounce allows you to upload from your computer or grab an image from the web to share with others. Make "bouncing around" on the web easier and more directed by ...more
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Bounce allows you to upload from your computer or grab an image from the web to share with others. Make "bouncing around" on the web easier and more directed by guiding people to what you want them to see. Once you grab or upload an image (screenshot), you can add notes and comments. Share via email or using the url on the page. Free registration is required to be able to share links, view projects, and collaborate.
tag(s): images (262)
In the Classroom
Create a detailed and guided "web quest" for students. This way they cannot be confused about what they should be looking for on a page; they can simply look for your comments and find their information. Help special education students and others keep track of and organize what they have found on the web for research projects. This would be an excellent tool for showing and teaching reading comprehension. Assign students a web article or story and have them notate it with their pre reading questions, main idea sentences or summaries of what they have read. They can share their links with you as an assignment submission or for others to view. Use Bounce for students to critique or analyze bias or misinformation on websites as part of an information literacy unit. Students could also use a picture of an animal or plant and add the taxonomical information to it in science class and create a "web trail" of insects using Bounce as an alternative to an old fashioned insect project. Collect and annotate from all over the web!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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authorSTREAM - authorSTREAM.com
Grades
4 to 12
0 Favorites
0 Comments
authorSTREAM, an internet based presentation maker that is based on PowerPoint formatting, is easy to use and offers some very useful and unique features. Offering more than the basic...more
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authorSTREAM, an internet based presentation maker that is based on PowerPoint formatting, is easy to use and offers some very useful and unique features. Offering more than the basic PowerPoint creation greatly expands its value. Special features of authorSTREAM include the ability to make public presentations, download presentations as FLV, MP4, AVI, and WMV files, present live to an online audience anywhere in the world, and the ability to create a "channel" or collection of all your online work. With this application, you can add YouTube videos and sound narration directly to your presentations. Of these features, perhaps the two most unique are the ability to download in different formats. Using this, you can create a movie to be played on a television or create a file that can be shared by all of your audience on iTunes, since MP4 is iTunes language! With private presentations -- or even public ones -- you can protect access with a password. Also, this program has an add-on in PowerPoint that allows you to search web content directly from the application.
tag(s): multimedia (43), slides (45), video (258)
In the Classroom
Have you been contemplating a "flipped classroom" teaching style where you do the activities and hands-on things during class and the students listen to the information and lectures outside of class? This is a great tool for a flipped classroom or any use of sharable media. You can create your notes and lectures in PowerPoint, adding video clips and narration, download as an MP4, and then share with all of your students through iTunes. This greatly enhances the opportunities for extended thinking and active time in the classroom. More simply, try recording yourself giving an informational presentation, saving it here, and sharing with students via your website or wiki to access from home as a review tool or a catch-up for absentees. Have older students create their own presentations and share with the class and teacher via iTunes. Students who are normally very shy and uncomfortable can feel safe "presenting" in front of the class! High school students can also share links to their best work as part of a digital portfolio or college application. Art students can create online portfolios with narrated artist notes. Student-made book talks can be shared on iTouches in the library/media center. Link to them by QR code! Teachers at any grade level can share back to school night information with parents unable to attend.Edge Features:
Parent permission advised before posting student work created using this tool
Includes Interaction w general public/ public galleries with unmoderated content
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Premium version (not free) includes additional features or storage
Products can be embedded
Products can be shared by URL
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