Internet Based Projects

Internet based projects can be a wonderful tool to get students engaged in their learning.  There are a wide range of projects available today.  Two that I am familiar with are The Globe Project (http://globe.gov/) and The Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education (http://www.ciese.org/currichome.html).  Both involve a variety of studies that focus on the use of real-time data collected from around the world.  The major discipline heading these projects is Environmental Science.  Other examples include genetics, physical science, and engineering. A key benefit of such projects is that they allow for collaboration on research with students, teachers, and other professionals at a global level.  Pretty cool!  Other beneficial aspects of such projects are that they are authentic, project and inquiry based, as well as standards driven. One of the downfalls of the programs I am familiar with is that they are science and/or math based instead of being fully interdisciplinary.  This is not to say that other types of real-time projects do not exist.  Another challenge is that most projects have a research window which may not coincide with your teaching of the content.

Below are a few more links that offer listings of many internet-based projects:
http://hmsc.oregonstate.edu/visitor/sites/default/files/education-programs/docs/Using-Real-time_Data.pdf
http://www.ciese.org/nationalprojects.html
http://www.k12science.org/curriculum/national.html

animoto

Animoto is a great tool for anyone including students in the classroom.  It is wonderful site that allows the quick and easy production of short videos.  Simply upload images and/or video clips and the program will create a fast moving, high interest video out of the images.  The images can be in the form of pictures and power point slides.  The video is set to music which can either be selected from the site or uploaded and text can also be integrated.  There is a nice short video that shows what they do as well as many samples on their website: http://animoto.com/.  It is free to get started right away creating the short videos (30 seconds) and longer videos can be produced on a pay basis.  If you scroll to the bottom there is an education link to click on.  I have applied for the classroom use but it takes a few weeks to get a response and I'm not sure if the classroom account allows for the creation of longer videos or if there are any other perks with that type of account.  I have tried animoto out with pictures of my family and it is pretty cool:)  I have not yet used it in my classroom but would like to try it when we are discussing environmental issues.  I think the videos have the most potential for issue/cause related content.  Powerful images set to music can be persuasive.  It would also be interesting for students to create one about themselves at the beginning of the year to introduce themselves.   

online interactive science tools all in one spot

I came across a website full of resources for science classrooms…http://www.learningscience.org/.  It contains links to a wide variety of learning tools including interactive websites, gizmos, real-time data, and a bunch more that provide opportunities for students to engage themselves in learning science content.  The great thing is that the tools featured on this site are evaluated by science teachers as well as other scientists.  I’ve used many of the websites named on their site in my own class (before finding them at learningscience.org) and they are awesome.  This helps me to trust the panel’s approval of the links that they post.  Also, it is free to access the site along with most of the tools presented.  The organization of the site makes it very easy to find tools specific to a topic.  The site first organizes the tools by major scientific branches including sections for both inquiry and the nature of science.  From there categories are further broken down by both grade level and standards taken from the National Science Education Standards.  Teachers (and anyone else who is interested) are invited to share links for review to keep the site growing with good and useful tools.