Through the Open Culture blog I just learned that more than 80,000 of Albert Einstein's documents and drawings are now available to view for free at Einstein Archives Online. The archives include not only his scientific work but also his images and documents from his travels and thoughts on the world in general.
Applications for Education I haven't had much time to look at the Einstein Archives yet (I'm boarding a plane in two minutes), but I think that it has the potential to be a great resource for science, math, and history teachers who their students to research the development of Einstein's ideas over the course of his life. After I get more time to browse the archives, I'll update this post.
The Science of Gardening is a superb collection of interactive graphics and videos about gardening that I learned about from Mark Dunk on Twitter. Produced by Exploratorium, Science of Gardening has three basic categories; Feed, Control, and Bloom. In each category there are multiple videos and interactive graphics for students to explore.
In the Feed category students learn about dirt, compost, and seeds. The "garden variety" interactive reveals to student the origins of some common plants like corn, squash, onions, and carrots. Students can also take a video tour of a garden and learn what it takes to create good soil.
In the Control category of Science of Gardening students learn about like hybridizing plants, biodiversity, growing plants in a greenhouse, and take a look at a giant pumpkin competition.
Finally, in the Bloom category students explore pollination, the attraction of flowers, and see that a garden can grow just about anywhere when it is cared properly cared for.
Applications for Education As spring approaches in the Northern Hemisphere (just a week away now) I'm sure many of us will be thinking about the blooming plants around us. Some of us may even have students planting gardens at home or at school (the alternative ed school in my district does that). The Science of Gardening could be a good resource to build a science lesson around that students can relate to outside of the classroom.
Thinking back on my undergraduate studies there is one class that instantly comes to mind whenever someone asks, "what was the most difficult class you had to take?" for me the answer is Anatomy and Physiology. Why I was taking that class is a long story, but it confirmed for me that I was definitely not going to medical school. I don't know if the following resources would have helped me with my studies back then, but they certainly wouldn't have hurt to try them.
Healthline Body Maps provides interactive three dimensional models for learning about human anatomy. Body Maps has male and female models. The models have eight layer views, from skin to skeletal, that you can select. You can hold your mouse pointer over any part of the model to view a body part's name and then zoom to more detailed information. For example, if I place my mouse on the stomach I can then click through for a more detailed view and to see how the stomach is connected to other body parts. To rotate the model just click and drag the model to the left or right.
BioDigital Human offers interactive 3D models of human anatomy. You can turn on and off different views according to which body systems you want to view. The models can be rotated 360 degrees and the labels have an audio play-back option. The video below offers an overview of BioDigital Human.
If you are going to use BioDigital Human in your classroom, there are two things to keep in mind. First, the models are 100% anatomically correct. Second, you do need to have your browser updated to the latest version possible to experience all that BioDigital Human has to offer.
In Sponge Lab Biology's Build a Body students construct a human body system-by-system. To build a body students drag and drop into place the organs and bones of a human body. Each organ and bone is accompanied by a description of the purpose of that bone or organ. The systems that students can build in the Build a Body activity are the skeletal, digestive, respiratory, nervous, excretory, and circulatory systems. Build a Body also has a case study menu in which students can read about diseases, disorders, and and other concerns that affect the human body. In each case study students are given a short description of the concern followed by a question that they should be able to answer after completing the Build a Body activity.
Anatomy Arcade is a collection of games about human body systems. The collection is categorized by both body system and game type. The games most frequently appearing in the Anatomy Arcade are jigsaw puzzles, matching games, and crossword puzzles. There are also a few interactive games. The Anatomy Arcade was developed by a science and physical education teacher in Melbourne, Australia.
Get Body Smart has number of tutorials and quizzes divided into eight categories of anatomy and physiology. Each category is divided into subcategories where visitors will find quizzes for each topic. The tutorials and quizzes are best suited to use in advanced high school anatomy and physiology courses.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System provides nearly 200 video animations and explanations of injuries, diseases, and body systems. The animations, like this one of a balloon angioplasty, are concise which makes them good for general reference purposes.
In Man as Industrial Palace Henning Lederer brings this famous drawing to life. In the two minute video viewers will see how the human body's internal systems work together to process food and produce life. The video is embedded below.
The Super Bowl is coming up this weekend and many classrooms will have students buzzing with their predictions for Sunday's game. This provides a good opportunity to incorporate math and science with sports. Below is a re-publishing of a review I wrote two years ago about NBC's Science of Football lesson materials.
The Science of Football is a series of ten videos from NBC Learn explaining and demonstrating math and science concepts as they relate to football. The Science of Football could be a good way to get students who enjoy sports, but don't necessarily enjoy math and science, interested in learning math and science. Lessonopoly offers lesson plans corresponding to each video to support your use of the videos in your classroom.
Here are some resources for incorporating other sports into math and science lessons.
Exploratorium's Sports Science site contains many pages on which students can explore the math and science of team sports as well as the individual sports of bicycling and skateboarding. The bicycling section has a calculator that students can use to calculate the aerodynamic drag and propulsion power of a bicyclist.
Sport Science on ESPN.com has couple of videos that are relevant as school winds-down and kids turn their attention to Little League baseball and softball. In MLB Vision Sport Science evaluates how quickly a player has to respond to a baseball thrown ninety miles per hour. Then to answer the question, can you really keep your eyes on the ball? Sport Science attaches an eye tracking device to Nomar Garciapara.
In Hitting a Softball Sport Science explains the scientific and mathematical differences between hitting a baseball and hitting a softball.
Sport Science: Distraction looks at whether or not all of those waving, screaming fans behind a basketball hoop actually make a difference in whether or not a player makes his or her free throw. You could turn this into an active survey in your school's gymnasium. Have your students shoot some hoops without distraction and tally their average rate of success. Then have them test out distractions like waving, playing music, or yelling to see if there is a change in the success rate.
Well Home's Energy in Sports infographic goes well with another resource that contains mathematics and science lessons in the context of sports. ESPN's series Sports Science looks at the mathematics and science involved in various athletic feats.
Healthline Body Maps provides interactive three dimensional models for learning about human anatomy. Body Maps has male and female models. The models have eight layer views, from skin to skeletal, that you can select. You can hold your mouse pointer over any part of the model to view a body part's name and then zoom to more detailed information. For example, if I place my mouse on the stomach I can then click through for a more detailed view and to see how the stomach is connected to other body parts. To rotate the model just click and drag the model to the left or right.
Anatomy Arcade is a collection of games about human body systems. The collection is categorized by both body system and game type. The games most frequently appearing in the Anatomy Arcade are jigsaw puzzles, matching games, and crossword puzzles. There are also a few interactive games. The Anatomy Arcade was developed by a science and physical education teacher in Melbourne, Australia.
Get Body Smart has number of tutorials and quizzes divided into eight categories of anatomy and physiology. Each category is divided into subcategories where visitors will find quizzes for each topic. The tutorials and quizzes are best suited to use in advanced high school anatomy and physiology courses.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System provides nearly 200 video animations and explanations of injuries, diseases, and body systems. The animations, like this one of a balloon angioplasty, are concise which makes them good for general reference purposes.
Sport Science on ESPN.com has couple of videos that are relevant as school winds-down and kids turn their attention to Little League baseball and softball. In MLB Vision Sport Science evaluates how quickly a player has to respond to a baseball thrown ninety miles per hour. Then to answer the question, can you really keep your eyes on the ball? Sport Science attaches an eye tracking device to Nomar Garciapara.
Well Home offers an interesting infographic showing the energy expended by athletes performing various athletic tasks. I've seen other infographics like this and usually they only mention calories. Well Home's infographic mentions calories as well as watts and speed measurements. Well Home's infographic could be printed and displayed in health, physical education, and or mathematics classes.
