Exploriments – science and maths simulations.
Exploriments are simulation-based interactive learning resources for enhancing understanding in Chemistry, Physics and Maths in an experiential manner. They can be used by both students and teachers. Exploriments provide a highly interactive, exploratory, and engaging experience.
Topics covered include forces, motion, projectiles, electricity, chemical formulae, graphing and algebra. Some of the activities are available for free – with the rest available on subscription. You will need to register with the site to access the free resources, which are spread throughout the site – usually one or two free resources per section.
Each resource is accompanied by instructions on how to use it, as well as comprehensive text which describes the theory behind the simulation and any necessary formulae. Resources need Shockwave to work.
Take a look at : http://www.exploriments.com/
Smart board users should also take a look at the Smart Exchange where Exploriments have put up a few notebook files that they’ve created.
Hat tip to Dave Andrade for the link.
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Free Images from EduPic – Science, Maths and more
Edupic is a great resource for images that will be of interest to science and maths teachers, amongst others.
Created by William Vann EduPic Graphical Resource was launched in September 2006 as a source of free images for teachers and their students. Now with over 6000 different photographs and education illustrations, EduPic is used everyday all over the world.
The images on EduPic are “free for use by educational professionals and the students they serve without permission.” Students may use the images on EduPic for any educational purpose, even in published and distributed works, such as a student created website or conference poster.
It’s a great source of clipart drawings and photographs – and it’s well worth investigating.
Go take a look at : http://www.edupic.net/sci_gr.htm
Thanks to Ian Bean (@SENICT) forthe link via twitter.
Read MoreGoogle Chart/Graph Tool
This has been doing the rounds on Twitter recently, I think it’s been around for a while but I’ve missed it previously.
Google has produced an online chart editor that lets you create charts and graphs and then embed the resulting image into your blog/website etc.
There’s lots of options to play with, and you can tweak your graph to your hearts content.
Go take a look at : http://imagecharteditor.appspot.com/
Science and Maths Videos from Brightstorm
Brightstorm is a beta site which hosts a large number of Science and Maths videos. There are over 2500 videos on the site covering many different aspects of High School Science and maths.
From what I can see, the videos consist of teachers giving lecture-style presentations with occasional graphics. This makes them good for revision, although they may not be the most eye-catching or exciting videos. Each video comes with an accompanying transcript of the audio which is a useful feature. Firstly it makes the video more accessible plus a teacher could copy/paste the text into a worksheet and create a comprehension activity related to the video.
Videos are grouped by topic, plus US teachers/students can search for videos linked to the major textbooks.
Some of the content is free, and some needs to be paid for. The Maths and Science videos are free—these 2,500+ videos cover every topic in Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, Precalculus, Trigonometry, Calculus, Biology, Chemistry and Physics. The paid content includes additional tools such as a Maths Homework Checker and test preparation programs which include practice quizzes, downloadable materials and full-length practice exams.
Check it out : http://www.brightstorm.com
What do you think of Brightstorm? Leave a comment and let me know.
Read MoreMathematics eToolkit for any Interactive Whiteboard
The Everyday Mathematics eToolkit is a collection of maths tools which you can access via your browser. It has a variety of different manipulatives for demonstrating a variety of maths concepts along with pen, text and line tools. There is also stopwatch, timer, and a calculator along with various backgrounds and other tools.
The fact that it runs in a browser makes it a very useful tool for users of IWB’s where their own packaged software is pretty limited, it also makes it platform independent so it’s useful in schools with several different types of board installed.
It’s very similar to the McGraw Hill Virtual Manipulatives that I wrote about last year, in fact it looks like a reskinned / updated version of the same resource.
It’s an interesting site, and well worth a look, visit The Everyday Mathematics eToolkit here.
Thanks to Jonathan Wylie over at The Education Technology Blog for the link
Read MorePrimary Maths Learning Clips
Learning Clips is a growing bank of resources for teaching Primary (Elementary) maths. Some resources are free
Free Learning Clips can be accessed here. You will need to register, but it’s free. Additional resources are available by subscription. The resources are ideal for KS1 and KS2 for use with Interactive Whiteboards and include video, interactive activities and some worksheets. If you just want to take a look, you can access resources without a login on a time-limited basis. If you register, these free resources are not limited.
Many activities come with a flash video alongside which sets the scene, and a further video provides a plenary. The main interactive activity can be made full-screen. You can search for resources by Year and Unit, or via Topic list. More free examples can be found here.
Some resources can be used in conjunction with Promethean ActivExpression voting handsets to allow for polling and assessment.
If you teach primary maths then the site is well worth a look and worth adding to your list of maths bookmarks.
Read MoreKS2 SATs Bootcamp
It’s that time of year again and the SAT’s tests are close. For help with KS2 SAT’s revision resources, check out Sats Bootcamp.
The site contains Science, Maths and Literacy Bootcamps – each page listing different sections of the curriculum with suggested links to useful resources to help revise those areas. There’s no unique content on the site itself, but it does provide a handy index page of useful links to sites elsewhere on the internet.
It might be a little late to incorporate the whole site into this years revision programme, but bookmark it for next year. Italso just provides some useful links to use in class at any point in KS2 – so well worth checking out.
Read MoreScience and Maths outside the classroom
As it’s the school holidays, and we really should be thinking about turning our computers off, and stepping outside into the fresh air, here’s an excellent set of resources to help teachers make use of the outdoor classroom to support maths and science teaching.
King’s College London has launched a brand new, free CPD resource for KS3 science called Thinking Beyond the Classroom which brings together three strands of King’s well-known research in science education: Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education (CASE), Assessment for Learning and Science Beyond the Classroom.
You can browse the project materials at Thinking Beyond the Classroom website
The unit is supported by ten activities fully trialled and tested in schools. The activities support and encourage observation, group work and discussion and are easily carried out in school grounds, parks and local open spaces. The CPD unit includes video-clips of the activities being used by KS3 students in an inner city location and the unit is designed to show how teaching strategies used in the classroom can be transferred to the outside.
Thinking Beyond the Classroom was developed by Melissa Glackin, a science education tutor on King’s PGCE course.
Visit the Thinking Beyond the Classroom website
Read MoreSubtangent – words and numbers starters
I wrote yesterday about an anagram generator which could be used as a lesson starter. This reminded me of a great little website called Subtangent who provides several flash games including a few which mimic the letters and the numbers rounds from the Countdown TV show. The site was produced by Duncan Keith, a Maths teacher from England.
Click to access the Letters and Numbers Game
For Literacy lessons – choose a mixture of vowels and consonants and then see who can make the longest word from the letters provided.
For Maths lessons – see who can get the closest to the target number using combinations of numbers provided. This is a great mental warm up activity.
Games can be played online or downloaded for offline use. There are other fun games on the Subtangent site – some can now only be played offline to reduce site load – but they are easy to download and play.
A downloadable freeware version of the numbers game can be downloaded from CSF software. This version is great as it also provides the answers!
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About Me
Danny Nicholson : Educator, Science teacher, ICT Consultant, PGCE lecturer, Author and Web2.0 / SMART Masters/ Interactive Whiteboard Trainer. Contact me for any training requests. 
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