Friday, April 12, 2019

Useful Information In and Out of the Classroom 4/12/19

Here are some interesting sites that I’ve found this week, thanks to my PLN. As a teacher, I feel we have to keep up to date concerning research in our field and current issues in the education system. I hope some of these inspire you, inform you, and even have you asking questions. Thank you for coming by and visiting!

Note: Each resource is labeled with a level and subject area to make it easier to use.

Levels:  E: Elementary; M: Middle; H: High; G: General, all levels; SN: Special Needs; T: Teachers

Subject Areas: LA: Language Arts, English, Reading, Writing; M: Math; S: Science; Health; SS: Social Studies, Current Events; FA: Fine Arts; Music, Art, Drama; FL: Foreign Language; PE: Physical Ed; C: Career; A: All

Project Noah – “Turn your students into citizen scientists in three simple steps!
Project Noah was created to provide people of all ages with a simple, easy-to-use way to share their experiences with wildlife. By encouraging your students to share their observations and contribute to Project Noah missions, you not only help students to reconnect with nature, you provide them with real opportunities to make a difference.” (L:T;SA:S)

Solve Me Puzzles – math puzzles (L:T;SA:M)

Truss Me – “Designed by a true rocket scientist, Truss Me helps you learn to design truss structures while having fun! At each challenge, design trusses that are light and strong and you will earn precious golden nuts.

Truss Me utilizes state of the art simulation techniques used by aerospace, mechanical, and civil engineers to provide the most realistic behavior for your trusses. If well designed, your trusses will resist as they would in real life*. If your truss has flaws, the structure will fail realistically*!

Truss Me works well with dynamic problems as well, so you can build from bridges, roofs, and cranes to impact problems involving crash of spacecrafts into the ground!

As an instructor, you can teach your students how to design trusses using the freestyle mode. In this mode, you can design an arbitrary truss, e.g. a bridge, roof, crane, or even a spacecraft, and show visually the difference between tension and compression. You can also explain the difference between failure under tension and compression. Then, you can use the challenges to organize a truss design competition, in which students would compete to achieve the maximum score at each level. Truss design competitions utilizing Truss Me! have been carried out at top schools in the U.S and abroad!” (L:H; SA:C,M,S)

The weird and wonderful metamorphosis of the butterfly – a TEDed talk; In order to become a butterfly, a caterpillar’s body dissolves almost completely and is rebuilt from its own juices. Butterflies are just a few of the 800,000 insect species that transition from larvae to adults through complete metamorphosis. But how exactly does this process work? Franziska Bauer explains how these squishy larvae emerge as armored, aerodynamic, and nimble adults. (L:T;SA:S)

Original photo by Pat Hensley








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