M that learning! Science and Engineering of the Winter Olympics 2014 The National Science Foundation has partnered with NBC Learn (the educational arm of NBC News) to release the “Science and Engineering of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games”--the latest installment in the Emmy Award-winning "Science of Sports" series. This enlightening 10-part video collection, narrated by NBC Sports' Liam McHugh, delves into the physics, engineering, chemistry, design and mathematics behind the world’s foremost sporting event: Physics of slopestyle skiing: Nick Goepper Engineering the half pipe: Shaun White Engineering competition suits: Shani Davis Injury and recovery: Lindsey Vonn Science of ice: J.R. Each episode is available cost-free to teachers, students and the public at NBCLearn.com and NSF websites (nsf.gov, Science360). "These stories demonstrate the interplay between sports and engineering, in areas from robotics to medical treatments," said Pramod Khargonekar, NSF’s assistant director for engineering.
Mobile Learning: 50+ Resources & Tips I believe mobile devices will transform education. This is why I created a free ebook, Effective Mobile Learning: 50+ Quick Tips & Resources with helpful tips and several resources to help support this trend. One reason is because mobile devices are designed in a way that forces the teacher to give control to the learner. Mobile Learning Free Ebooks Mobile Learning Posts/Presentations I’ve Given Mobile Learning LiveBinder of Resources Mobile Learning Mindmap of Implementation This mindmap is full of case studies, schools, teachers, free ebooks, and more to show real examples of mobile learning at its best.
NSDL.org - National Science Digital Library Claim Evidence Reasoning By far, the biggest shift in my teaching from year 1 to year 7 has been how much emphasis I now place on evaluating evidence and making evidence-based claims. I blame inquiry. Not inquiry in the generalized, overloaded, science teaching approach sense. Just the word. Even now, when I hear the word "inquiry" I still think mainly of asking questions and designing experiments. We were very busy and very engaged and learned very little. There are a few structures I've been using to help shift the focus on the class to analysis and argument. Claim-Evidence-Reasoning (pdf and pdf) is a framework for writing scientific explanations. As part of their lab handout they get a prompt that looks like this: As the year goes on I remove most of the scaffolds until ultimately the students just get a prompt or question. I've been happy with it. I like frameworks a lot. The key to implementation is that the structure of the class really has to be designed around C-E-R. I've been happy with the results.
Build Plane In The Air