September 16, 2013 // Volume 4 Issue 2
In this issue:
Golf: A SuperMath Game
Padlet
Colonial Williamsburg Electronic Field Trips
Virtual Field Trips
Take a Seat - Make a Friend (Video)Professional Development Newsletter Archive
Golf: A SuperMath Game
Students play golf and try to beat par. Students quickly discover that to become an A golfer, i.e., beat par, they need to go beyond estimation of angles and unit lengths for hitting the ball to measurement. They also quickly come to realize that they must use part of unit lengths, which integrates the use of fractions and decimals. Skills covered include: estimating length and angles, measuring lengths and angles, deciding when to estimate vs measure, use of ruler and protractor, use of decimals, averaging, types of angles, (optional) converting fractions to decimals and adding signed number. This activity can also be used to encourage collaboration and communication among a team of student golfers.Web site link: http://www.mesc.gov.ws/ssn1/Golf/golf.htm
Padlet
Padlet used to be called Wallwisher, but it got a makeover and a name change recently. It’s essentially a virtual board with sticky notes that can be easily moved, shared and embedded. There are several views, including something that looks more like a scrollable blog and it’s easy to both personalize the experience and organize notes. The privacy and moderation settings make it easy for students to become members of a board where a teacher can post resources and encourage them to do the same.Web site link: http://padlet.com/
Colonial Williamsburg Electronic Field Trips
Teach American history with the new Electronic Field Trip season. These live, interactive lessons explore the Bill of Rights, the three branches of government, 18th-century trades and the Continental Army, the complicated relationships between slaves and their masters, Civil War ironclads, and the War of 1812.Check out the 2013-14 schedule.
Virtual Field Trips
1. Arctic Adventurehttp://www.polarhusky.com/
Free to the entire K-12 community, this programming uses the allure of Arctic dogsled expeditions and Arctic research as the vehicle through which K-12 teachers and students gain an understanding of natural and social sciences while they experience the cultures of the Arctic. Since 2000, these adventurous learning expeditions have circumnavigated the Arctic to observe, experience, and document traditional ecological knowledge and collect previously unknown in-situ environmental realities–while collaborating with K-12 students and teachers in state-of-the-art online learning environments. Standard-aligned curricula are also available.
2. Global Trek
http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/globaltrek/
This adventure from Scholastic looks like Expedia or Travelocity, but is created for students eager to explore the world … from their computer. Student can choose from a list of countries and will be asked to keep a travel journal to write about different topics during their online trip.
3. Google Lit Trips
http://googlelittrips.com/GoogleLit/Home.html
Google Lit Trips are free, downloadable files that mark the journeys of characters from famous literature on the surface of Google Earth. At each location along the journey, there are placemarks with pop-up windows containing a variety of resources including relevant media, thought-provoking discussion starters, and links to supplementary information about “real world” references made in that particular portion of the story. According to their creator, Google Lit Trips “three-dimensionalize the reading experience by placing readers ‘inside the story’ traveling alongside the characters; looking through the windshield of that old jalopy in The Grapes of Wrath or waddling alongside Mr. and Mrs. Mallard’s duckling family in Make Way for Ducklings.”
4. Hershey’s Factory
http://www.thehersheycompany.com/about-hershey/our-story/making-our-chocolate.aspx
Sometimes students just want to explore something cool, like chocolate. Thanks to step-by-step videos on its chocolate-making process, Hershey’s gives students a fun virtual field trip … even if it’s minus the smell and taste of chocolate!
5. Le Louvre
http://www.louvre.fr/en/visites-en-ligne
Take a virtual tour of the Louvre to experience a 360-degree panoramic view of many of the museum’s halls. The virtual tour web page offers different departments and architectural views of the museum. Tours currently include Egyptian Antiquities, Remains of the Louvre’s Moat, and Galerie d’Apollon, as well as many other rooms included in the museum (some are even closed to the public!).
6. Mt. Everest
http://www.airpano.com/360Degree-VirtualTour.php?3D=Everest-Nepal
From recent panoramas and photo galleries, to travel logs and fun facts, students can make their very own virtual climb of Mt. Everest.
7. Museum of Natural History
http://www.mnh.si.edu/panoramas/
This comprehensive virtual tour allows visitors using a desktop computer (Windows, Mac, Linux) or a mobile device (iPhone, iPad, Android) to take a virtual, self-guided, room-by-room walking tour of the whole museum. Students can browse a list of past exhibits, which is included on the ground floor map. Visitors can navigate from room to room by clicking map locations or by following blue arrow links on the floor that connect the rooms. The desktop version includes camera icons to indicate hotspots where the visitor can get a close-up view of a particular object or exhibit panel.
8. Panoramas of the world
http://www.360cities.net/
View high-definition panoramas from anywhere in the world, including snowy mountain tops and deep sea coral reefs, at 360 Cities, which contains one of the internet’s largest collection of uploaded panoramic images. Students can access to navigable views of cities, natural landscapes and much more. The site also offers tools for people to create their own panoramas. For more specific panoramas, check out the Seven Wonders of the World. This website has panoramic views of all Seven Wonders of the World, which include the Colosseum in Rome, The Great Wall of China, Petra in Jordan, The Taj Mahal in India, Machu Picchu in Peru Christ Redeemer in Rio, and Chichén Itzá in Mexico.
9. Space
Moon: http://www.connectionsacademy.com/blog/posts/2010-05-26/Take-a-Virtual-Field-Trip-to-the-Moon.aspx
Mars: http://quest.nasa.gov/vft/
Take your younger students to the moon with these up-to-date, interactive resources from the Connections Academy Blog. Older students can explore Mars through NASA’s downloadable virtual field trip, an immersive multimedia application developed to support student and user exploration of areas on Earth that have been identified as analog sites to regions on Mars. Analog sites are those areas that share some common traits with sites on Mars and have been identified based on their significance and importance to NASA.
10. White House
http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/inside-white-house/interactive-tour
“Inside the White House” is a good idea for older elementary and middle school students learning about government, as well as any civics or American history class. Students can watch videos or take an interactive tour through the West Wing, the South Lawn, the East Wing, and the Residence. There is also a slide show of the presidents and other historical information.
Source Material
Take a Seat - Make a Friend
SoulPancake hits the streets to see what happens when two strangers sit in a ball pit... and talk about life's big questions.
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