Group items tagged

Scientific calculator that is great for the IWB. Also the site hosts a lot of other calculator types worth looking at.

Scientific calculator that is great for the IWB. Also the site hosts a lot of other calculator types worth looking at.

"It is a common view that "if only someone could break this down and explain it clearly enough, more students would understand." Khan Academy is a great example of this approach with its clear, concise videos on science. However it is debatable whether they really work. Research has shown that these types of videos may be positively received by students. They feel like they are learning and become more confident in their answers, but tests reveal they haven't learned anything. The apparent reason for the discrepancy is misconceptions. Students have existing ideas about scientific phenomena before viewing a video. If the video presents scientific concepts in a clear, well illustrated way, students believe they are learning but they do not engage with the media on a deep enough level to realize that what was is presented differs from their prior knowledge. There is hope, however. Presenting students' common misconceptions in a video alongside the scientific concepts has been shown to increase learning by increasing the amount of mental effort students expend while watching it."

Looking at the New Directions for school leadership and the teaching profession discussion paper, the only evidence presented to support the assertion that Victoria's education outcomes are not improving is the report "Challenges in Australian Education: results from PISA 2009: the PISA 2009 assessment of students' reading, mathematical and scientific literacy" Specifically the New Directions paper focuses on reading literacy, where in 2009, 14,251 students were given a two-hour pen and paper comprehension test. To get an idea of what types of competencies the reading test is assessing we can look at the sample test , with questions range from comprehension about a letter in a newspaper, the ability to interpret a receipt, comprehension around a short story, an informational text, and interpreting a table. While it doesn't seem unreasonable to want our students to be able to accurately perform these kind of tasks, these tests are not a true or accurate representation of the skills and competencies our students need in today's technology driven world.

found a stress test on the internet, so please begin here to assess how stressed you may be. If, after taking this very scientific test, you determine that you are moderately stressed, check out some of the following links and have fun!

"What does it mean to "unlearn" and what should we "unlearn"? The world is full of examples of once regarded "truths" that needed to be "unlearned": Pluto as a planet, doctors "unlearning" to use a scalpel to perform certain surgeries, world is not flat, etc.  In fact, a review of the scientific discoveries for 2012 reveals laundry list of some recent "unlearning" in the science community."

The Macaulay Library is the world's largest and oldest scientific archive of biodiversity audio and video recordings

The Creativity Post is a non-profit web platform committed to sharing the very best content on creativity, in all of its forms: from scientific discovery to philosophical debate, from entrepreneurial ventures to educational reform, from artistic expression to technological innovation - in short, to all the varieties of the human experience that creativity brings to life.

When research is widely available and effectively communicated, people can put it to use in their everyday lives. Making education research more accessible helps both teachers and ed tech developers make informed decisions based on the scientific evidence of how people learn. In this post the author shares suggestions gathered from researchers, developers, and educators at a recent Research Summit on how to increase access to academic research, and communicate it more clearly to the public.

"an online initiative aimed at creating a Pokemon card type resource but with real creatures on display in full "artistic" wonder. Not only that - but we plan to have the scientific community weigh in to determine the content on such cards, as well as folks who love gaming to try and design interesting ways to use the cards. Then to top it all off, members of the teacher community will participate to see whether these cards have educational merit. Best of all, the hope is that this will all occur in a non-commercial-open-access-open-source-because-basically-this-is-good-for-you-your-children-and-your-planet sort of way."

CSIRO, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, is Australia's national science agency and one of the largest and most diverse research agencies in the world.

The mission of DOK is to become and remain the most advanced library in the world. Using creativity, technical innovation, and advancing scientific understanding, DOK endeavors to be an indispensable source of inspiration

Teachers can access a variety of classroom resources regarding the various scientific education projects, events and services operated by CSIRO. Links are present to related sites run by the organisation

"The Symphony of Science is a musical project headed by John Boswell designed to deliver scientific knowledge and philosophy in musical form. Here you can watch music videos, download songs, read lyrics and find links relating to the messages conveyed by the music. "

A site for the scientific users set up by the inspirational E.O. Wilson. The EOL is managed by a partnership of natural history institutions in the United States. The content results from collaboration with a multitude of institutions and individuals from across the world. The website has become more sophisticated in offering anyone, expert or not, the opportunity to contribute.

"We live in an era where the answer to almost any fact-based question is no further than a Google search away, but Scientific American highlights a study suggesting subjects forced to get something wrong before being told the answer learn it better."

An article by Andrea Kuszewski in Scientific American. It's a research based look at why traditional teaching methods suck the creativity out of us and the hard work each of us needs to do to escape the effects as we grow into adulthood.

CREST is a programme for schools run by Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation that aims to promote Creativity. By adding creativity to our science lessons we can move past boiling water and encourage students towards serious scientific and technological discovery.

Insights drawn from neuroscience not only provide educators with a scientific basis for understanding some of the best practices in teaching, but also offer a new lens through which to look at the problems teachers grapple with every day. By gaining insights into how the brain works-and how students actually learn-teachers will be able to create their own solutions to the classroom challenges they face and improve their practice. see video