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Tesla - Master of Lightning - PBS
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): electricity (60), energy (130), industrial revolution (20), inventors and inventions (71), motion (49), radio (20)
In the Classroom
Add intrigue and mystery, to your science unit on electricity, motion, or inventors as you study the life and accomplishments of Nikola Tesla. Excellent lesson plans include a concrete understanding of potential energy, mechanical energy to electrical energy. Use on an interactive white board to begin your unit or create a "Who Dunnit" with electricity or radio. Follow the structure of ideas presented to create an online "famous scientist" wiki, blog or PowerPoint to add to your class website. Use a Socratic seminar to debate which scientist should get credit for the induction motor, radio, and even the Industrial Revolution. Use the readings for older students, advanced readers, or gifted students, as they are far above the reading level of elementary and early middle school students. In language arts, writing topics could include "What a shock electricity is in my life" and "Will the true inventor of electricity please stand up?" The ideas and resources are electrifying!You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Evil Mad Scientist - Evil Mad Science
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): creativity (91), inventors and inventions (71), scientific method (47), STEM (266)
In the Classroom
Inspire creativity and original thinking with Evil Mad Scientist. Use as inspiration or examples for student projects in art, science, or music, research, or applied creativity. If you share a link with students, you may want to link to a specific post or use Readability Test Tool, reviewed here, to provide a "clean view" of the post. Evaluate projects together on the IWB to help students identify characteristics of creativity and talk about how the ideas may have come to be. Use this site during a unit on scientific method so students connect the discipline of research with the creative results. What kind of experimenting took place? What principles of science? Compare the inventions available in the Shop with inventions from the Industrial Revolution. How is today a different environment for inventors (or is it?) Begin your own Evil Mad Scientist blog to feature your students' creativity or slightly irreverent ideas in a safe and school-appropriate environment, almost as an STEM graffiti wall.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Inspire My Kids - Mike Stutman and Kevin Conklin
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): behavior (43), bullying (49), character education (76), disabilities (29), diversity (38), identity (28), school violence (10), service projects (17), tolerance (9)
In the Classroom
Share stories from the site on your interactive whiteboard or projector when learning about character traits such as sportsmanship, perseverance, and responsibility. Use the site as a resource when problems arise in the classroom such as bullying, intolerance, or special needs awareness. Have students use resources from the website as models for writing their own articles or enhance learning with the challenge to create a podcast. Use a site such as podomatic, reviewed here. Use the stories as models for writing activities and essays. Your students could also draw inspiration from this site to create values comics. Have students create printed comics (or rough drafts) using Printable Comic Strip Templates, reviewed here, or exchange paper for a digital online comic with one or two characters. Use ToonyTool, reviewed here. Students can create an online comic strip by using Make Beliefs Comix, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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CurriConnects Book List - Inventors and Inventions - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): book lists (161), inventors and inventions (71), reading lists (80)
In the Classroom
Build student literacy skills, reinforce what students are learning about Inventions, and help students build the important reading strategy of connecting what they read to prior (classroom!) knowledge. Share this link on your class web page or wiki so students can select independent reading books to accompany your unit on Inventions. Don't forget to share the list with the school and local libraries so they can bring in some of the books on interlibrary loan. CurriConnects are a great help for teachers who have lost school library/media specialists due to budget cuts.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Museum of Obsolete Objects - MoooJvM
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): inventors and inventions (71)
In the Classroom
Use as a introductory video into science and technology. Identify the science understanding and concepts needed to change the technologies. Brainstorm other technologies that could be added to this list from the various decades. Brainstorm together using a tool such as Mindmeister, reviewed here. Challenge cooperative learning groups to investigate a specific decade and determine what was a new invention then but is no longer used today. Have students create slideshows using Slides, reviewed here. Display these on a blog or wiki for students to review and comment. Assign students to do a written or recorded interview of those who have used these old technologies to find out how life has changed before and after the technology.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Young Scientist Lab - Discovery Education & 3MYoung Scientist Lab
Grades
K to 8tag(s): inventors and inventions (71)
In the Classroom
This is also a fabulous link to share on your class website for students to access both in and out of the classroom. Use the many great activities to bring home basic science concepts such as collisions and motion in the activity "Cushion It!" Help students make real world connections that may interest them in a science career. Use the innovation activities as part of a unit in inventors and inventions. This site has something for every age level. This is a fabulous site to save in your class favorites for students to explore on their own in a blended classroom or for distance learning. Enhance learning by challenging cooperative learning groups to research a specific science topic and create a multimedia presentation to share with the class about their topic. Give students a choice of tools to use! Some tool suggestions are (click on the tool name to access the review): Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, Vevox, Animatron, Renderforest, and Canva Inforgraphic Maker. Alternatively, have students create a simple online posters using PicLits, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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ALA Kids Games, Puzzles and Other Fun Things - American Library Association
Grades
K to 5tag(s): puzzles (143)
In the Classroom
Use these activities for reluctant readers and students who don't see the point of using anything but online readings. Teach students about the good "old" library (before Google was invented.)Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Intro to Learning Skills: Module 1: Self-Assessment - Red Rocks Community College
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): learning styles (18), psychology (67)
In the Classroom
Any teacher may want to use the site as a lead-in to the school year to help students develop stronger study skills. Have students complete the self-assessment then find their "match" for peer tutoring. Inspire student project ideas and options from the multiple intelligence information. Consider having students a clas wiki presenting the same curriculum content via various different "intelligence" channels.Comments
I had my sixth graders do this inventory as we started the school year. It helped them find "study buddies" for study hall times at school. This eased their adjustment to middle school and the heavier homework load.Thinking, PA, Grades: 5 - 10
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Thinkport - Maryland Public Television and John Hopkins University
Grades
2 to 12tag(s): museums (44), patterns (62), reading comprehension (142), timelines (50), writing (316)
In the Classroom
Use these tools for any subject area and for any content. Be sure to look at the sample activities that are great to use as is or can stimulate thinking into your own projects. Use the timeline as an introduction to the first year by discussing their summer activities, major events in a students life, inventions or technology that made a difference in their life, events in their favorite book, and more. To understand content in perspective, create a timeline to be sure students understand why some events happen at particular times. For example, our understanding about biology greatly changes after the invention of the microscope. A great sample activity to Create your own Museum is the celebration of neighborhoods which can create a greater understanding about different people. Create a museum for each different kind of biome that showcases what would be found there. Create a museum for a time period in history but created by a specific group of people. View each of the museums and note the differences in what is portrayed using the lens of that various segment of the population. Create writings or blog posts portraying the differences in the museums and why these differences exist. Even young students can make a simple timeline of their own life of the life cycle of a butterfly to build the concept of linear representation of time.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Do Try This at Home: Invention at Play - Smithsonian Museum of National History
Grades
K to 6tag(s): biographies (93), collaboration (87), creativity (91), design (81), inventors and inventions (71), problem solving (226)
In the Classroom
Create a link to the site on classroom computers for students to explore the games. Share the site with parents on your classroom website or blog as a resource for using play as a learning tool. Share the site at conferences or parent meetings as a resource for developing learning skills through play. Include the inventor biographies as a resource for students when researching inventors.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Explore the Cosmos - The Planetary Society
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): inventors and inventions (71), nasa (30), planets (112), space (213)
In the Classroom
Make this site a link on your class web page during a unit on space or all year round. Gifted students and those with a passion for space will find endless discoveries. Include this site as a research source when assigning projects about space or the planets. If you have more able students in upper elementary or middle school, use this site as a differentiated alternative for them to research at a higher level. Inspire students to read in content areas by sharing space-related "current events" articles from this site. These selections would work well on interactive whiteboards for practice using highlighters to find main idea, context clues, and other comprehension skills. No whiteboard? No problem! Use your projector and eMargin, reviewed here, to highlight and annotate as a class. If you assign portions of the site to the entire class, you may need to assign "reading buddies" for weaker readers and they can use eMargin together. Challenge students to narrate space image galleries (search for the blog entry on the "New Flickr collection of historical NASA photos") or design and explain their own devices for space exploration on Thinglink, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Great Inventions, Great Inventors - edinformatics.com
Grades
4 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): inventors and inventions (71)
In the Classroom
Find information for science and technology reports on this site. Allow students to view the dates of many of the inventions to determine what scientific principle was just known to push technological thinking. For younger students, create a timeline of inventions to enhance learning and determine the impact of science, economy, and society on inventions. Use a site such as Sutori, reviewed here, that can include images, text, and collaboration. Ask older students to choose an invention and research other forms of that model, alternatives before and after, and what we are using today. Discuss environmental impacts, how the invention changed society, and other impacts.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Madlibber - Sean Huber
Grades
2 to 12In the Classroom
Create a Madlib using Madlibber and share it with your class using your interactive white board and projector to reinforce curriculum topics such as types of plants or famous inventors. Either show the students how to make one about the curriculum topic, or have students operate the board/computer while others suggest words to fill in the blanks in one you have prepared. Madlibs can be used in so may ways: teaching parts of speech, reviewing for a quiz, introducing a new subject, or even as a "Cloze" reading story. Use this site as a station on one of the computers in your class. Put the direct web address (URL) for your Madlibber on your class web page, since some of the public Madlibbers may not be appropriate for your students. Give extra credit to those who work outside school to create classroom-appropriate madlibbers for others to use as review (and share the direct links on your class web page).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Wilbur and Orville Wright Papers - Library of Congress
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): aviation (38), flight (31), inventors and inventions (71), wright brothers (15)
In the Classroom
Students doing research on the Wright brothers will find this site invaluable. Have students work in cooperative learning groups and research a specific topic found at this site. Exchange paper and pen notes by having students to take notes with an online tool like Simplenote, reviewed here. Have them share the info they learned with their small group. Tell students to be sure to save the URL to share their notes and questions. Simplenote allows you to access and update across all devices. Enhance learning by challenging students to modify their technology use and create a multimedia presentation using a tool such as Zeemaps, reviewed here. Zeemaps allows students to create audio recordings AND choose a location (on a map) where the story takes place. Alternatively, students could use Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, reviewed here, to enhance their learning and transform technology use by creating an interactive poster for their presentation.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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CurriConnects - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): book lists (161), independent reading (86), reading lists (80)
In the Classroom
Share CurriConnects as links on your class web page or wiki or share them with school and local libraries where students can select books to accompany what they are studying. Explore the many ideas TeachersFirst offers for using CurriConnects in your classroom. Be sure to share these lists with ENL/ELL teachers for reading selections to build student vocabulary and understanding of curriculum.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Yulia Brodskaya - Yulia Brodskaya
Grades
K to 12tag(s): design (81)
In the Classroom
Art and design teachers will enjoy sharing the innovative ways Yulia Brodskaya uses design elements and color with cut paper. Her art is especially useful for explaining unique ways in which artists use line in their work. Share the art on this site as a whole-class lesson on a projector or interactive whiteboard. A few videos show the artist creating her work and as an animation. Be sure to take time to view Yulia Brodskaya's earlier work and to discuss how a signature style can mature with practice and perseverance. This site is excellent for enrichment. Include it on your class web page for students to access both in and out of class.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Inventors and Inventions Resources - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): inventors and inventions (71)
In the Classroom
This collection includes resources for all grades. Each review includes several classroom use ideas. These are excellent tools to use to study science, social studies, and more! Explore the activities suggested. Share sites on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Provide the link on your class website for students to access both in and out of class.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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How Stuff Works - Howstuffworks, Inc.
Grades
4 to 10tag(s): independent reading (86), questioning (32), trivia (18)
In the Classroom
Use this site as an "activator" to introduce a new science unit or lesson on a projector. It could also be a great way to introduce informational speeches/videos and how to write them. The videos on earth and life science topics provide a great launchpad for further class discussions. Participate in the poll of the day. Use the trivia and facts section for interesting ways to get kids thinking in class. Use this site for students to "show and tell" something they have learned. Use the information presented here to understand better how science is applied in our everyday lives. This activity would work well for individual or pairs of students in a lab or on laptops. Introduce this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Then have students explore this site independently or in small groups. Ask students to visit the site and give them a choice for how to share the information they learned by creating a multimedia presentation using Canva Edu, reviewed here, a video using Adobe Express Video Maker, reviewed here, a podcast using Podcast Generator, reviewed here, or a blog post using edublogs, reviewed here. Use this site as an anticipatory set or "activator" to introduce a unit or lesson on a projector or interactive whiteboard. Be sure to include this site on your class web page for students to access both in and outside of class.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The 50 Worst Inventions - Time Magazine
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): inventors and inventions (71)
In the Classroom
Challenge students to create a list of useless inventions or to invent one of their own. Display the slide show on your interactive whiteboard or projector and discuss if students agree with a product's placement on the list. Generate a list of characteristics that would keep an invention OFF this list! Have students create commercials advertising their new product (or the one they researched). Enhance learning by challenging students to create a video commercial. Modify classroom technology use by usingFlexClip, reviewed here. FlexClip is designed to allow you to create short animated or explainer videos to share on YouTube and other social media sites. Share using a site such as SchoolTube, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Green Revolution - National Science Foundation
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): conservation (83), environment (239)
In the Classroom
Use these videos as a great introduction to green energy and replacements to fossil fuels. Share the videos on your interactive whiteboard or projector. After showing a video, have students research the use of the various green energies around the country and the world. Research energy use and especially the difference between residential and commercial demand. Have cooperative learning groups view one of the videos and complete some basic research on the topic. Have the groups create a multimedia presentation to share their findings. Challenge students to narrate a picture using a tool such as ThingLink, reviewed here. Be sure your students check out the City Car. Research the various types of green designs on cars to find the advantages and disadvantages of each. Great discussions, projects, and research are all possible through use of these videos.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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