I love taking online tours of places that I'll probably never travel to in person. http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/gal102/americabyair/ gives a tour, and several activities and stories about the National Air and Space Museum. This is a great place for students to visit and hear first hand stories about people and their air travels.
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/03/blue-whales/brower-text shows several pictures of the blue whales that were followed for the National Geographic show that was filmed in 2009. The pictures are accompanied by an article written by a man who followed the whales. Many students would be able to dive into the ocean and follow these whales in a virtual world, achieving something they wouldn't do in their lifetimes.
http://sites.asiasociety.org/education/islam_in_seasia/ has an interactive map and several other educational activities for students who are studying the Islamic religion. It was interesting to click on the different years and watch how Islam spread from 632 to the 1800s. This may not be an early elementary link, but for 5th, 6th, middle or highschool grades, this website would be great.
The most important thing from reading someone else's blog post is that there will always be links others know about that you don't. The internet is a huge resource, and when others take the time to record good resources, we should take the time to visit a few and see if we could use them in our classroom.
These are quite the diverse links! :-) I played with some of the interactive maps on the Islam in Asia site (I can see how that is definitely a site geared for older students, but it is very informative and also has pre-made lesson plans, which I love). I didn't do much on the whales website; it seemed like that was more for fun and less comprehensive as far as lesson plans go.
ReplyDeleteI got completely sidetracked on the airlines website, playing a game where I matched the baggage to the traveler. It looked like there were loads of interesting activities on that website. I was surprised to learn that in the 1960s-70s, it took about 5-6 hours to go from NY to SF, whereas now it takes over 8 hours due to some "hub" changes which, ironically, were implemented for "efficiency." :-)
That is one of the best parts of the internet, we can visit places that we would not be able to visit. For me I think that the National Air and Space site is by far one of the coolest that I have ever been to. I love space and airplanes But, I have a fear of flying. I know thats strange but thank goodness for the internet.
ReplyDeleteI really liked your first link about the Air and Space Museum. I have actually been there before, and the tour does a pretty good job of giving a sense of what it is like to be there. This is a really good way to take your students on a kind of "field trip" without having to go out of the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI love the Air and Space Museum site! This will be a fun topic and a great "field trip".
ReplyDeleteI think it is great that students can visit places across the country from the comfort of their classroom. I really enjoyed how you had all the links along with your information, it was easy to read about the site and then go browse it. I love National Geographic they have so many great movies, shows, and information to pull from as a teacher.
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