Science at your fingertips
“Science at your fingertips” is an expression that conveys easy accessibility of science information. But with Internet technologies, information can be literally at your fingertips…with just a mouse-click away.
And while most public high schools in the Philippines are not properly equipped with the computers, Internet connectivity and training for online science, it does not hurt to explore the possibilities.
After all, in an article on the students of San Francisco Unified School District, the interactivity helps a lot. In fact, the educational partnership between an outreach program and the school has been “turning kids into comet makers and earthquake predictors.”
In the said school, the students are going online to answer questions such as “What is a comet and what are they made of?” and “How do fossils come about?” They use a model Berkeley educational outreach program designed to link the digital divide and allow better science understanding in high school students.
Interactive University has 11 projects, one of which is “Integrating Science, Teaching and Technology”. The latter partners with four campus units and San Francisco schools for inquiry-based digital science materials meant for the classrooms.
Through this partnership, the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory, the Center for Particle Astrophysics and the Center for Science Education at Space Sciences Laboratory have produced imaginative and engaging science classes, emphasizing earth and space sciences.
Then they conducted a summer program called Summer Step-Up, which invites 1200 incoming ninth-graders to a virtual university of online tools. Since then, as many as eight teachers in four schools use the online materials used during Summer Step-up in the classroom.
Here are some more examples of online materials which you in turn can use to aid your science lessons.
Biology
Giant Panda Cam – watch Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, endangered Giant Pandas
Shark Week - information on endangered shark species
Planet Earth – animals inhabiting the Earth
Expedition Borneo – a unique look at one of the most interesting animal habitants on the planet
Blue Planet – underwater life
Sink or Swim! – learn about fish buoyancy
Skeleton exercise – drop-down label exercise
Chemistry
Diffusion
Osmosis
Solubility Applet
Periodic Table
Pressure Chambers
Osmosis Simuation
Explain it with Molecules -- Interactive Molecules
Physics
Virtual physics lab (NTNU)
Gravity Flow
Electromagnetic Wave
Space and Time (Special Relativity)
Double Pendulum
Shoot the Monkey
Freefall Lab - Earth, Moon and Mars
Doppler Effect
Planet exams - Sorting the planets by position , Sorting the planets by size , Sorting 'space objects' by size , Matching the planets to their descriptions
Discovering the Titanic - a video coverage of how Titanic was discovered in the North Atlantic, with the MIR subs, and the physical toll of the dive captured on camera
Sources:
“Activities.” Retrieved November 10, 2008 from
http://www.questacon.edu.au/activities/
Ainsworth, Diane. “Interactive science catches on in Bay Area schools.” Retrieved November 11, 2008 from http://berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/2000/11/15/interacs.html
“Chemistry.” Retrieved November 10, 2008 from
http://www.edinformatics.com/il/il_chem.htm
“Exploring Animals.” Retrieved November 10, 2008 from
http://dsc.discovery.com/guides/animals/animals.html
“Index of KLB School-Interactive Science Exercises.” Retrieved November 11, 2008 from
http://www.klbschool.org.uk/interactive/science/interindex.htm
“Physics.” Retrieved November 10, 2008 from
http://www.edinformatics.com/il/il_physics.htm
(Published 24 November 2008, Smart Communications, Inc.)
