Science in a Hurry

In the more than 150 years that Scientific American has been publishing, their mission has always been to explain a wide range of topics in science and technology to the educated layman. But their material (both print and on the web) is still usually too complex and/or too long for most teachers to use in their classroom.

That’s where 60 Second Science comes in.

60Secondscience

The site is written as a blog with frequent posts about current events and issues in science, many accompanied by professionally produced podcasts. Each entry addresses a single topic using straightforward language and, of course, taking a minute or less. You can subscribe to the podcast through iTunes or any other service that uses RSS feeds.

The reading/listening level of the materials is certainly high school but science teachers at other levels may find some features they can use to present news and information to their students.

Overall, a good site that attempts to make science understandable to all of us non scientists.

Tags: Science & Math by tim
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Touring Asia

Following on the mapping theme of the previous post we have a great site that ties into both Geography Awareness Week (November 11 – 18) and Google Earth.

Asia

My Wonderful World, a project led by the National Geographic Society, offers seven days of activities to help kids learn about the people and cultures of the Asian continent. Each day on Asia: Continent of Contrasts includes one or two activities including videos, games, and five different Google Earth KML files. Download the Earth files, double-click on them and the program will open with an overlay to offer some information about Asia, complete with images, videos, and links to more information

As always, you will need to have Google Earth installed and a broadband connection to take advantage of these resources. And when you finish with Asia, don’t forget to explore more of what My Wonderful World has to offer.

Tags: Around the World by tim
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Putting Data on the Map

The World Bank has a new information web site that could be a great research tool for students studying other countries. Geo.WorldBank.org is a mashup of Google’s world map with data from the bank’s projects and other statistics. The map shows a variety of icons spread all over the world, color coded to the income level of the people, with stars indicating active projects.

Map

Click on an icon to get an overview of the country or region. The information box for each will usually have a tab for general demographic and economic data as well as one for recent news stories. In each information box you can also create a printable report on the country using the data.

While the site also allows you to subscribe to an RSS feed of the news items, keep in mind that they come from the World Bank itself, not from a journalistic source, so there could be a bias in the reporting.

Despite that, this site is worth a look, both for the amount of information available and the ease with which it can be found.

Tags: Information & Current Events by tim
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