This month we review three interactvie and engaging websites covering a range of subjects from Chemistry to English, General Science, Social Studies and, well, just about everything.
Name: Virtual Chemistry
Address: http://www.chem.ox.ac.uk/
Purpose: Online Chemistry resource utilising multimedia.
Virtual chemistry is one of the most comprehensive science websites on the web. Put together by super smart people at Oxford who decided to make a three-dimensional simulated laboratory for teaching chemistry. By using multimedia tools, Virtual Chemistry provides an enormous online chemistry resource that is easily accessible.
The site is based around a large amount of video recorded reactions between various chemical elements. The Live chem segment allows you to choose from over 14 salts and mix any of them with any of the 22 reagents. The site shows a video of the reaction within a test tube, as well as what happens when the mix is heated. Live chem also provides users with information concerning the reaction and what’s being mixed.
The site also contains a flash version of the periodic table with full details on all elements and roll over pictures, as well as a pre-university chemistry course and a section on superconductors. The site is full of various tutorials and quizzes on varying chemistry based subjects. Virtual Chemistry also provides numerous links to other interactive chemistry sites and is certainly worth an afternoon look around.
Name: TED: Ideas worth spreading.
Address: http://www.ted.com/index.php/
Purpose: Videos of the engaging and though provoking TED conferences.
TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design and is a multimedia website based around the annual TED conference in California. The sold out TED conferences attract over 1,000 attendees each year and sell out over a year in advance. Each year 50 speakers take the stage for a 18 minute talk on their field of expertise. The conference covers topics that are very much at the forefront of what the world is thinking – but are not just secluded to the environment and price of oil. Over the years the likes of Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Tony Robbins, Dr Jane Goodall and Richard Branson have taken the stage at TED conferences
The website focuses on the videos from the conferences presentations and houses them for the world to see and experience. The themes of the presentations range from technology, business, science, and global issues to entertainment, culture, design, the arts and a specialised features section.
TED is a fantastic resource for stimulating debate and higher order thinking in classrooms. Although the speakers are professionals in their fields, they are essentially presenting ideas – albeit on a higher education level – that have often been disagreed with or gone against the flow.
Although interactivity with the website is very low, the videos are of a highly engaging and unique nature. TED proves to be a fantastic partner to any 2Touch IWB, allowing you to watch the videos and at the same times make notes down the side of the board with a traditional marker.
Name: I know that.com
Address: www.iknowthat.com
Purpose: A unique website full of highly interactive and educational games
A highly interactive website based around getting students up to the board. Although the website contains many activities for primary and intermediate students, there are snippets of good material for the basics of subjects you may be covering.
Science:
Numerous activities involving basic chemistry, biology and physics can be accessed. The basics of the atom (neutron, proton, electron), photosynthesis/plant cells, gravitational forces and the basics of sound waves.
English/ESOL:
Very basic activity for testing punctuation skills and the basics of the English langauge.
Social Studies:
Activities that test knowledge of countries and where they lie on the map.
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