This past week I was overwhelmed with the links for simulations. After hours of watching I had to get away. I took a few days of web-free time. Simulations are great but where do they fit in with my teaching? I was approaching it from the wrong end- looking for a video that I could use before I selected my content goal. As I look now I want simulations for the cell unit for sure. This is one unit that is so hard for students to get excited about. So many kids are visual learners and without the opportunity to really see organelles and DNA it really does not interest them.
For simple animations:
http://www.sumanasinc.com/webcontent/animation.html the science in focus page has some timely animations with tutorials
For interactives:
http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/index.html
http://www.biologyinmotion.com/index.html this has cartoons with explanations
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/hotscience/int_biol.html
http://www.biozone.co.uk/links.html there are extra links for all the different science topics
http://www.nclark.net/Cells At the bottom of the page are Links, many are very specific animations and interactives
I will be adding simulations to my guiding principles for using technology in the classroom. While many are amazing, some are too complex and distracting to use. The simulations that I select must
* enhance my learning goal (this is a must)
*give visual when no other visual works as good
*further explain what we have learned
*provide a good intro or end review
*not require serious class time to explain how to use
*give visual when no other visual works as good
*further explain what we have learned
*provide a good intro or end review
*not require serious class time to explain how to use
I envision using one good simulation that works with the unit content and posting several on the blog/wiki for students to access that need extra help. I already know that my 20 week biology class will not have extra time in class to do the "fun stuff". I will have to keep it concise.
I was interested in the online labs. I may select one to use as a prelab to what we do in class. That will take some more searching.
Sandy, thanks for sharing the links, I hadn't come across most of these animation resources, I found them really useful and bookmarked them all.
ReplyDeleteSandy, I think you raise some interesting thoughts about simulations. Sure, students like to see things that are active, but we have to make sure they see the big picture idea behind them. One of the things I have to keep in mind is one of my guiding principles from middle school: The students are not mentally what they might look like. Even with tenth grade students, their in depth comprehension is still limited. Many of the simulations are developed for undergraduates and advanced undergrads at that. Good to keep the big goal in front of you as you select web resources.
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