Heads in the Cloud

A variety of resources for science - space, plate tectonics, global energy budget, winds and currents, climate, biogeochemical cycles, the atmosphere. Animations, pictures, and resource links.

The Khan Academy is an organization on a mission. They're a not-for-profit with the goal of changing education for the better by providing a free world-class education to anyone anywhere. All of the site's resources are available to anyone. It doesn't matter if you are a student, teacher, home-schooler, principal, adult returning to the classroom after 20 years, or a friendly alien just trying to get a leg up in earthly biology. The Khan Academy's materials and resources are available to you completely free of charge.

The Open Educational Resources (OER) Commons is a collection of resources including open textbooks, lesson plans, and other materials. The thousands of items available can be searched by grade level and subject. All materials are available according to the different types of Creative Commons license. Teachers can work collaboratively in the wiki to create new materials; tagging and social bookmarking are features of the site.

One of Jane McGonigal's games -this is an alternate reality game where students have the opportunity to think and communicate about what a world without oil would be like. The original game occurred in 2007 with over 1500 participants engaging and responding. However, students can still use the game. Lesson plans for teachers are available through the Learn About link. Teachers may choose to go through the whole series of ten lessons or use just one.

Some of these activities could be good for the classroom. Writer's Block lets kids read a story starter and complete it with their own ideas. Watch and listen to animated stories. Review books.Best for younger elementary students.

Watch a video of a cow's eye dissection. Check out the interactive diagram. Read through the information about the parts of the eye. Learn about other activities or download instructions for your own real-life attempt at dissection.

"Discover and apply principles of genetic inheritance by studying the inheritance patterns of fruit flies in a virtual environment. You will work on a virtual lab bench from which you can order fruit fly mutants from a web merchant, mate the flies in an incubator, anesthetize flies for observation, examine flies under a microscope, and analyze the data from offspring to determine patterns of inheritance. Your task is to propose hypotheses, design experiments, and analyze and interpret the data from these experiments."

A great way to have kids dig a little deeper about historical topics, events, and persons! When you create a box you have spaces for 6 persons or things in one box. You can create multiple layers. When you click on one of those images, it comes to the forefront as one side of a cube - as you click on the different sides of the cube you learn a little more about the significance of the item. So I may see a picture of someone on the original side, but the rest of the cube gives me more information such as an image of a document, the student's own writing, a video, or a weblink. As you explore all of the cubes in the box, you can see the evidence build up. In this way the students can prove what they think happened. The box in the link below shows items relating slavery/abolition. http://museumbox.e2bn.org/creator/viewer/show/34

Lessons for a variety of grade levels - many addressing interdisciplinary themes or global issues. Videos for HS. Links and information regarding economic data. The site also links to a personal finance game made up of a series of missions. The game is geared toward MS and HS. http://www.genirevolution.org/

Great 21st century subject-specific skill maps for teachers to understand - created in partnerships with the leading national teachers' organization for each subject. ICT skill maps put in context of specific subjects as well. Guides for state leaders, policymakers and/or district and school leaders examining topics like assessment, curriculum & instruction, professional development, and learning standards in a 21st century Skills framework.

"SMILE's learning activities, tools, and services are available to all but are designed especially for those who teach school-aged children in non-classroom settings (like museums, zoos, aquaria, and afterschool or outdoor education programs). SMILE is dedicated to bringing the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) activities developed by informal science organizations around the country to the wider informal educator community, while encouraging that community to both use and contribute to SMILE's growing collection."

"MapMaker Kits offer K-12 students the opportunity to work with key mapping concepts at a variety of scales and to see the world in new ways. Unique large-scale maps allow students to immerse themselves in the exploration of dynamic environmental and cultural aspects of the world. MapMaker Kit activities engage students in the manipulation and analysis of a variety of geographic information sets, helping them build skills in critical thinking, the representation of data, and mental mapping."

Fun way to engage your audience. Requires texting, so school policies will dictate whether you can use this with students in the classroom. You could also try using it outside of the classroom. Live poll results can be featured within your PowerPoint, which is very engaging. Adults also enjoy this so using it at parent nights can be a clever way to show your teachers/admin understand technology while making sure they are keeping their focus on you and not checking their Facebook pages on their phones. Faculty might also like to see the possibilities of this tool. It is free within certain parameters. I have the paid version only because I needed it for a particularly large group - if you choose this option, be aware that the next year's charge is automatically placed on your cc after one year.

Make a customized word cloud with different shape templates. The one about is an example - a maple leaf shape with the lyrics of "O, Canada!" Other fun with images like writing in flowers or putting your name on a baseball jersey. Enjoy!

In this game, you get to visit China. As you explore the environment, you can interact with everything around just by clicking. You can engage in conversation, completing tasks, or try on different jobs. All of the work involves repetition with words and sentences in pinyin. You can also see the character writing and English translations, and you are always able to tailor the amount of support you need. In addition you can hear audio (native Chinese speakers!) for single words, complete sentences and entire conversations. There is a space where you can record yourself saying the same words and listen to both recordings to see if your pronunciation is improving. Along the way there are tips on grammar & syntax to help you recognize things like the difference between addressing someone formally or informally. The places you can visit and the encounters you have also give a taste of Chines culture. You can learn about money at the bank in the airport. Across the street from your hotel in Beijing there is a center where they talk about calligraphy and Chinese literature. Overall, the software addresses how to speak in many very practical situations. There is a ledger for your money and energy so you have to be active in the game to earn more. It is fun and makes you want to explore. I really think middle school would be best for this, but the content on some of the literature was in a pretty high range. This could be worked through as assignments or individually paced.

Excellent source for videos and free publications about online safety. Useful for support when talking to kids or parents. The games on the site are generally multiple choice quizzes with some animation, but might be a nice review for a presentation.

Interactives, webcasts, and access to the raw data from the Cassini mission.