Twitter, Facebook and RSS are great ways to discover new educational resources. Here are five new things that I’ve discovered using them this week:

1) Aurasma – This app works with smart phone and tablets to, in real time, turn static images or even objects into videos, games and interactive experiences. You just point your phone at something and you can then see additional content about it. David Mitchell, Dughall McCormick and Simon Widdowson have been exploring ideas for using this in the classroom this week. Watch the Youtube video below to see it in action:

Click here to view the embedded video.

2) Nasa Images – Bill Gibbon tweeted this link to the ‘Astronomy Picture of the Day‘, which has some amazing images that you could use in your classrooms.

3) Wiki Races – Kristian Still mentioned this game which involves racing from one Wikipedia page to another unrelated one by clicking on links throughout the site. It could be played by groups of pupils at their own computers or as a whole class game with the students suggesting which links would be best to click on. Of course, the idea could also be played without a computer at all… can your pupils explain how to get from ‘Dinosaurs’ to ‘Cardboard’ by listing other related topics?

4) Great Plant Hunt – Simon Cobb mentioned a great new site which claims to be ‘the UK’s biggest school science project’. The site develops children’s understanding of the natural world and has a huge collection of linked resources for teachers.

5) Sites4Primary – This relatively new blog has a huge list of great (free) resources for primary teachers already. Visit it at www.sites4primary.com.

Have you discovered anything exciting this week?

Let Nature Feed Your Senses is an England-wide project to provide farm and nature reserve visits for children, older people, people with disabilities, and others who have difficulty visiting the countryside. The visits are supported by the Big Lottery and Natural England and are tailored to suit different ages and abilities.

www.letnaturefeedyoursenses.org

For more information and to get an idea of who has already enjoyed one of our farm visits, visit the website where you will also find all the contact details you need to arrange a visit to a farm near you. Here’s a video report from the BBC which gives more information about the project:

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to be able to attend the recording of one of this year’s Royal Institution Christmas Lectures. These lectures have been inspiring children and adults alike since 1825. They were initiated by Michael Faraday at a time when organised education for young people was scarce.

As the Royal Institution site explains… “In this year’s Christmas Lectures, Prof Sue Hartley will show you plants as you’ve never seen them before. They are complicated, cunning, beautiful and with plenty of tricks up their sleeve. And what’s more, we humans are dependent on them in ways you’d never imagine. As well as much of our food, our drugs, medicines and materials are all by-products of this epic 300 million year war.”

I thoroughly enjoyed watching the recording of one of the lectures. It was full of practical demonstrations, amazing facts and Sue presented it with a huge amount of enthusiasm for the subject. It was one of the most enjoyable Science lessons I’ve ever had and I can’t wait to watch it all over again on TV!

If you would like to see the lectures yourself, they are on More4 from 21st to 25th December at 7pm. Find out more here.

]]> http://www.teachingnews.co.uk/2009/12/royal-institution-christmas-lectures/feed/ 0 http://www.teachingnews.co.uk/2009/10/the-potato-story-2/ http://www.teachingnews.co.uk/2009/10/the-potato-story-2/#comments Tue, 13 Oct 2009 10:23:28 +0000 markwarner http://www.teachingnews.co.uk/?p=3286

The Potato Story site is a great place to learn about life cycles, healthy eating, growing food and much more. The site has videos, games and quizzes for children to use, as well as resources for teachers and parents.

The site allows for cross-curricular links through ICT (Exploring simulations), literacy (with VAK opportunities including drama) and numeracy (measuring, collecting and presenting data).

There is also a ‘Potato Story’ bus which is available to visit schools to help them learn even more. If you would like to invite the bus to visit your school, enter your details on this form.