SHORT VIDEOS
FOR CLASSROOM USE, BY THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
[On June 10,
2011, Buffy Cushman, Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow, posted
this.]
Did you know
that the National Science Foundation - a federal agency that funds scientific research
- produces short videos intended for use in our K-12 classrooms? These videos, created by the Office of
Legislative and Public Affairs, highlight the cutting-edge science,
engineering, and researchers that NSF funds. Most of the videos are five minutes
or less. They could
easily be used as "bell-ringers" to stimulate interest, or as
supplementary materials for topics you're covering. They can also provide
inspiration for your students and expose them to careers and ideas that you may
not have time to delve into deeply.
A few of the
video series include:
Profiles of
Scientists and Engineers:
these are great for letting students see the variety of careers a major in a
STEM discipline could open up for them. They showcase how incredibly cool some
of these careers, and the people who do them, can be!
Chemistry
Now: produced in
partnership with NBC. Learn to celebrate the International Year of Chemistry,
these videos answer fun and relevant questions such as, How do molecules
interact in the foods we eat? How were new compounds discovered? What are the
cutting-edge scientists working on now?
Green
Revolution: a look at
the science behind clean fuels and green technologies, and how they will make
our lives better in the future.
The Science
of NFL Football: this
series pulls together NFL football players, NBC's high-speed cameras, and
NSF-funded scientists' content expertise to explain scientific principles like
projectile motion, Newton's laws, the Pythagorean Theorem in the context of
throwing, catching, blocking, and scoring.
And these are
just a few of the series! Others include the Science of the Winter Olympics, Changing Planet, and Science of Speed.
To explore all
the video series, go to http://science360.gov/series/
and/or
http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/.
But I know, it
can be overwhelming to look at all this content at once! That's why we created
this Facebook page for Learning360. To follow our page, hit the
"like" button at
http://www.facebook.com/NSF.Learning360.
For the non
Facebook-users (or in case you don't want to miss anything), you can sign up to
receive an email each day that new content is posted. To sign up for the email
service, go to
http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=NSFLearning360
. You'll just need to verify your email address by clicking on the link one
time, then you'll be set to go.