Cool online stuff for teachers and students. What’s on the Web? Cool online stuff for teachers and students.

Why use online resources? Limited classroom resources Expand the walls of your classroom Connect to the “real world” Unique opportunities otherwise unavailable Work with real-time (or near real-time) data Just a few examples…

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. This page links to online math manipulatives. Click the link at the bottom of the page to access the actual site. There was no direct link to this page – I had to search for it. http://www.nctm.org/standards/content.aspx?id=24600

Every major museum has a web presence, and many also have teaching materials. Here their teaching materials are organized by topic, grade level, or resource type. http://www.amnh.org/learn-teach

This site allows virtual reality tours of Mars based on photographs taken by the Mars rovers. As the videos are constructed by pasting together hundreds of photographs, some of the apps are slow to load but a lot of fun if you’re patient. http://www.marsquestonline.org/

This sight lets any school have access to a scanning electron microscope. Work your way through the tour links at the bottom of the page and you can see what other classrooms have done. If you dig deep enough, you’ll see the scanning electron micrographs created as well as the interactions between the teacher and their students with the bug scope scientists. http://bugscope.beckman.uiuc.edu/

This is a virtual fieldtrip of Jamestown, one of the earliest colonial settlements in North America. It includes original source documents such as letters of indentured servitude. Rather than having a teacher talk about indentured servitude or reading about it in a book, think how much richer the discussion would be if students actually read the original source documents describing the number of years an individual indentured themselves for, and to whom, in return for passage to the New World. There’s lots to explore here including virtual-reality tours of the fortress and various buildings. http://www.virtualjamestown.org/

If you recall our discussion about scaffolding and the example scaffolds for using documents, maps, audio recordings, etc. from the National Archives, you’ll remember that all the examples came from the Library of Congress. This site is huge – there are millions of digitized artifacts! The best use of this site is to follow the teacher’s link to pre-assemble collections of artifacts, as finding one individual thing to use in your lesson can be daunting. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/

Telecooperative & Telecollaborative Projects

What is telecollaboration? Projects that involve students in doing related activities in different places and at different times, then viewing others’ similar products, data, or activities online. Harris, J. (1999). First steps in telecollaboration. Learning & Leading with Technology, 27(3), 54-57.

What is telecooperation? Projects that require online interaction between or among participating classrooms, often over an extended period of time, and they require active and ongoing coordination to be successful. Harris, J. (1999). First steps in telecollaboration. Learning & Leading with Technology, 27(3), 54-57.

Why use telecollaboration or telecooperation activities? Exposes students to different opinions, perspectives, beliefs, experiences, and thinking processes Encourages the comparison/contrast of similar information collected in dissimilar locations Encourages communication with a real audience Expands global awareness Harris, J. (1999). First steps in telecollaboration. Learning & Leading with Technology, 27(3), 54-57.

Just a few examples…

Journey North engages students in a global study of wildlife migration and seasonal change. K-12 students share their own field observations with classmates across North America. In this way, they participate in tracking the coming of spring through the migration patterns of monarch butterflies, bald eagles, robins, hummingbirds, whooping cranes — and other birds and mammals; the budding of plants; changing sunlight; and other natural events. Find standards-based lesson plans, activities and information to help students make local observations and fit them into a global context. http://www.learner.org/jnorth/

ePals is an online connecting point for teachers who want to engage their students in virtual pen pal projects with students around the world. Such projects make writing relevant and real for students as compared to being told to write a story about what they did over summer vacation which will only be read by the teacher. Clearly, ePals would also support all kinds of social studies learning as well. http://www.epals.com/

http://www.allexperts.com/ http://ciese.org/askanexpert.html Ask an expert sites can be used by students to find answers to questions that go beyond the expertise of teachers or the resources available in the school library. http://ciese.org/askanexpert.html

Global Grocery List is a long standing project that generates real, peer collected data for student computation, analysis, and conclusion-building within the context of social studies, science, mathematics and other disciplines. Students are given a shopping list for which they collect prices from their local grocery store. They then compare the availability and cost of various items across areas of the country and around the world. Sizes of samples on the grocery lists are given in both metric units and standard measurements. Currency can be changed. http://landmark-project.com/ggl/index.html

ScI-Journal is THE place on the Web for science reports written by school and college students! This is a good example of an Electronic Publishing (Information Collection and analysis) for older students. When students understand their work will be published on the web, their level of motivation as well as the quality of results rises dramatically. http://www.sci-journal.org/index.php?c_check=1

This project is a math-oriented project that could span across most any grade level. Students create a set of clues that challenge other students to use mathematical operations to determine a specific number. This would also encourage logical thinking and help students refine writing skills. http://www.kidlink.org/kidspace/start.php?HoldNode=899

A great project for literary development A great project for literary development. Students participate in a collaborative writing experience, writing scripts for three different one-act mysteries. Super teacher support and scaffolding for students. http://nschubert.home.mchsi.com/education/pir/