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 MoreNational Geographic Education Beta
I wrote last month about the Science videos on the National Geographic website, well now National Geographic Education has totally revamped and greatly expanded its free and enormous educational offerings online, with a new (currently beta) site : www.NatGeoEd.org.
The site is loaded with topical materials for K-12 educators, but it also has lots of content for families and students. An enhanced search tool allows users to find content tailored to their needs. The site offers National Geographic’s iconic maps, photos, videos, and thoroughly researched material on almost any subject possible in the realm of geography, science and social studies
You can customise the view of the site to suit the needs of teachers, parents or students, changing the focus of different elements of the page, which is a nice idea.
A new interactive map will introduce students to mapping and GIS concepts through thematic data layers and will enable users to create their own maps. Users can now customize the highly popular printable black-and-white outline maps with drawing and labeling tools. There are also Downloadable and Printable Worksheets. Use the graphic organizers in their collection to help students with problem-solving, decision-making, studying, planning research, brainstorming, and writing.
The National Geographic Education site is currently running as a beta site, feedback is actively encouraged to help them refine the site before its final version is launched. Not everything is up and running right now, and only some of the content is available. But definitely worth keeping an eye on the site, and offering feedback where you can.
Read MoreJapan Earthquake Data in Google Earth
I’m a little late to blog about the terrible events in Japan over the past 10 days, but the story is still continuing and my thoughts go out to all those affected by the earthquake and Tsunami.
If you use Google Earth then the US Geological Survey have produced an interesting plug in which shows real-time and historical information on earthquakes around the world – including all the aftershocks in Japan. It also shows plate boundaries and their direction and speed of movement. You can download the KML file here.
Thanks to Bill Belsey for showing this to me at the T2T conference.
The US Geological survey have also produced a PowerPoint slide which explains what happened in the Japan Earthquake which would be useful for teachers. Download it here. Also check out their list of Tsunami resources.
For images of the aftermath of the Earthquake/Tsunami then the excellent Big Picture site has some powerful images that could be used in class discussions or assemblies.
You can also see some interactive Before/After shots of various places in Japan via this special ABC News site.
And of course, if you can please donate to one of the charities helping the relief effort such as the Red Cross.
Read MoreGoogle goes off-road with Street View
Google Street View has got to be one of the most amazing projects available on the internet. It still amazes me that from my home computer I can tour cities like Rome or New York and move around as if I was there. But on the whole the places you could see were only those accessible from the road, since their special camera cars could not get everywhere. Although you could take a look at the penguins in Antarctica, which was great (check out the icon on the map).
So after two years of work, Google have now unveiled a new batch of locations that have been captured on screen using a specially adapted tricycle. The trikes allow them to access areas where cars aren’t allowed, such as backstreet alleys, piers and forest trails. The first batch of images include shots from France’s Château de Chenonceaux in Civray-de-Touraine, the National Botanic Gardens in Dublin and the gardens of the San Diego Art Institute in California.
It’s these off road locations, such as Kew Gardens in London for example. that might be of interest to teachers – as it opens up more areas that can be visited for virtual field trips. Hopefully more nature reserves and other parks will be added in the future.
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KML Factbook – world data visualisation tool
The CIA World Factbook is an amazing bank of information useful to educators helping students gather facts and information about foreign countries. For geography teachers it should be an essential bookmark.
For some students, the CIA Factbook will be difficult to use, and the information is presented in a very dry way. Which is why the KML Factbook will be a welcome tool. It’s basically a mashup of the CIA site with Google Earth.
The KMLFactbook utilizes data available from the CIA World Factbook to let you select different sets data about the world and see 2D and 3D graphs of the data by country on either a 2D Google Map or via the 3D Google Earth plugin. You can also generate a KML file to view the data directly within Google Earth.
In the example above the death rate from HIV/AIDS has been superimposed over each nation.
Geography teachers – here’s another one to bookmark!
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Global Data Visualisation Tools
Here are two similar tools that will be of interest to Geography teachers, which provide different ways of getting information about national statistics.
ShowWorld lets you select subject such as GDP or Deaths from Aids, and watch the countries on the map change their size where the size of each country will represent the data for that subject –both its share of the total and absolute value. It’s quite an interesting way of visualising the world.
For example, here’s how Malaria looks:
Also worth a visit is Worldmapper which is a collection of world maps, again where countries are re-sized according to the subject of interest. There are now nearly 700 maps available on the site.
Many are also available as PDF posters which can be printed off.
Read MoreWeather Forecasting Resource
Here’s a really clever little resource for geography that lets students produce their own weather forecast by dragging symbols onto a google map. They can even customise it with their own logo.
When they’re done, you can then run the presentation on an IWB and the screen will sweep around the map just like on the professional weather forecasts.
You can access the weather map here : http://www.watbot.co.uk/ria/wxforecast
Read MoreIcelandic Volcano Links
The big news over the last few days has been the massive smoke and dust cloud caused by the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull. Big news stories like this provide a topical hook for many lessons – especially science and geography.
Here are some links to resources that could be used when discussing the ash cloud and its effects with students:
Here are some resources from DoHop.com, including an Interactive Map of the Ash Cloud
This page explains the effects of volcanic ash on jet engines and airplanes. And the BBC also explains the damage it can cause.
The UK Airspace has been totally closed to air traffic since Thursday morning. Here’s what the UK Airspace should usually look like, taken from the BBC’s Britain from Above programme:
Could be used to start a discussion about our reliance on air travel and environmental impact.
Nasa has been posting satellite images of the ash cloud over Europe:
And there are some very useful maps from the BBC as well.
As always, The Big Picture have produced some amazing images of the Volcano erupting, as well as a satellite image of the ash cloud over the UK. Some excellent images here.
As an interesting discussion point, it’s worth considering the CO2 emitted normally by the Aviation industry compared to the CO2 emitted by the volcano. Add to that the Co2 saved by halting flights for several days. Interesting graphic here (Thanks @Kisa for the link)
Watch the volcanic eruption in Iceland via webcam from a safe distance :
Here you can see a live feed of photos from a camera located in Þórólfsfell, which has a view over the river Markarfljót and the glacier Eyjafjallajökull where the eruption is:
For information on what a volcano is and how it forms, here are some other links;
BBC’s animated Volcano page, and live update page
National Geographic – Inside a Volcano Video
Heinemann – How Volcanoes Form Video
Interactive Volcano Explorer from Discovery Channel – explore and build your own volcano
Michigan Technological University Volcanoes Page -
Which are earth’s active volcanoes?–Smithsonian Institution Global Volcanism Network
How Volcanoes Work –NASA SDSU
An interesting page is the Active Volcano Map – Using the Google API to explore current active volcanoes around the world.
To schools starting back on Monday after the Easter break, I hope you don’t have too many disruptions due to staff and students not able to get back for the new term. To all of those stuck overseas (including a few of my colleagues!) I hope you all get back soon!
You can follow what people are saying about the volcano on Twitter using the brilliantly named #ashtag hashtag 
and also #icerupt #ashcloud and #volcano
Update 19th April – More amazing pictures from the volcano added to the Big Picture today. Some jaw-dropping lightning shots.
Read MoreFour Links
Four quick links to share, rather than blitz 4 new posts.
1. Hunkins Experiments: Loads of ideas for Science experiments you can do in the home or in the classroom. Good for inspiration. Worth a look.
2. Wonder Boards – IWB’s in action: A summary of several of the main IWB’s on the market. Mainly a case study of each board being used in a different school rather than weighing up the pros and cons of each system, but take a read anyway.
3. Florida Citizens for Science – Stick Figure Contest: A quick head’s up about a science competition that may be fun to try with your students. Create a stick figure cartoon about why Science is important (for under 12s) or about the truth behind a false argument (for over 12s)
4. The Big Picture – Alasksa’s Mt Redoubt: On March 22nd, 2009, Alaska’s Mount Redoubt, began a series of volcanic eruptions spewing dust and ash over a large area. The Big Picture continues it’s excellent series of images with a set covering the eruption. If you want some up-to-date images of volcanoes for geography or for an Earth Science lesson, then there are some very impressive ones here.
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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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