Tag: science

Where in the World Can You Find Over 100 Historical Maps? Google Earth, Of Course.

I enjoy maps, always have. Maps tell us where to go and where we’ve been. I also enjoy history, it’s kind of hard to teach 20 years of social studies without developing an affinity. Now comes the good part, Google Earth Voyager is now showcasing a new interactive tour with over 100 historical maps and overlays hand-selected by David Rumsey from his private collection of over 150,000 maps. Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Maps are organized by time, place and scale. When selected, the maps appear as an overlay on Google’s 3D globe.

Like a growing number of Google Voyager offerings, this one has embedded information and multimedia. Be sure not to miss the excellent embedded video on the origins of David Rumsey’s map collection and the importance of maps. This entire tour has something for nearly every grade level which makes it a reference worth bookmarking.

Let me know what you think of this collection.

Remember ThingLink

While putting together a information for a chemistry research project I rediscovered the magic of ThingLink. ThingLink brings your graphics to life quickly and allows for a media rich digital resource. If you haven’t used it or have forgotten about it, now might be a good time to take a look.

ThingLink Chemistry Resources

Screen Shot of ClassLink

Cold Day Science

Another cold day in Wisconsin!  Dangerously cold weather has kept us all inside but just because you’re not in school is no reason to stop learning.  I’ve always wondered what happens to things in the bitter cold and have been fascinated by crystals so when suggestions of blowing bubbles when its cold started showing up on the internet I just had to try.  Below is a little video that documented my efforts.  By all means, try this at home but make sure you are bundled up and don’t stay out too long.

I’ve added the tools I used to the video.  This project gave me good reason to learn how to use Soundzabound from WiMediaLab.org to incorporate royalty free music.  If you are from Wisconsin and have yet to use the resources of WiMediaLab.org, I would highly recommend it.

Watch and wonder as the bubble blown starts to crystallize.  You can actually see the crystals forming around the bubble.