Saturday, February 12, 2011

Youtube time.

So, like a lot of teachers, I see the value of using youtube every now and then in a classroom. Here's a few educational-ish science videos that I might end up using at some point in my classroom. If you know of any good ones, feel free to share.

MIT lectures:

MIT has put a number of lectures on youtube. They're amazing to watch. This one is on electromagnetism.

Feynman videos:

Feynman's way of describing physics is poetry.

Doodling in Math:

This girl, through simple doodling, points out mathematical patterns and concepts in a way that is approachable and fun.

Nurdrage:

This chemist does cool little chemistry demos.

The Sounds of Space:


The Voyager probes listened in on the radio signals coming from the various planets it passed. Weird, semi hypnotic noises are the result.

The Khan Academy:

This guy made thousands of ms-paint lectures from his closet, and now has Bill Gates throwing money at him. I've actually used a few of these videos to cram for the WEST-E, so while I don't think they are a suitable substitute for classroom teaching, they might be a useful resource for certain, select kids. This is his intro to motion video.

Biovisions:

This animation company teamed up with Harvard Biologists to create what can only be described as porn for cell biologists. And eye candy for the rest of us. It's a beautiful inside view of the inner workings of a cell, and is incredibly useful for understanding certain functions.

Cordyceps Fungus:

One of the creepiest things I can think of, this fungus takes control of ant's brains, then uses them as a spore distributor. Straight up x-files. Probably good for a fun end on a lesson on fungus.

Now, for more humorous/not quite as relevant, but fun stuff:
World of Chemistry:

This humorous video from the UK features people as elements at what appears to be an office party, reacting accordingly to each other. It does slightly hint that Carbon and Hydrogen are gay for each other, so I don't know if it would be ultimately appropriate for certain classrooms. Still very funny.

Symphony of Science:

Auto-tuned Carl Sagan. 'Nuff said.

Filming Earth from Space:

A couple of grad students sent a video camera up on a balloon. It captured the curvature of the Earth. All for under 300 Euros. Very cool citizen science.

Look Around You:

Spoofs of British Educational videos from the 90s. Hilarious.

And a bit of a personally inspirational one, Taylor Mali on what Teachers Make.

Slam poet on teachers.

Anyway, if anyone reading this has any suggestions of cool or useful channels, I'd be glad to hear from you. Also, any online tools that are useful not only for science demos, but general classroom aides (flash card makers, etc.) are appreciated as well.

-P.

2 comments:

  1. Sweet. It'll be great to see how you're doing at your school job and hearing what you wanna teach and how!

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  2. Thanks Nei! I can't wait to get in there full time. :)

    ReplyDelete