Elev8ed.org is a site for students to submit videos that:
- Offer new ideas for what education could be, and/or
- Inspire others to transform education, and/or
- Propose actions to improve education in the community.
Ask your students to check it out and see if they are interested in participating. There are lots of sample student productions to view.
Population Connection is hosting a video contest for high school students that challenges students to create a public service announcement that illustrates the impact of population reaching seven billion as it relates to environmental and global issues. Students can win cash prizes, the deadline for entries is coming up on March 1, 2011. If at least 10 students submit videos, they will send the teacher a set of free classroom resources. Contest information and forms are available at World of 7 Billion.
JeopardyLabs allows you to create a customized jeopardy template without PowerPoint. The games you make can be played online from anywhere in the world. You can build your own jeopardy templates or browse other jeopardy templates created by other people. It's free, without login requirements.
Looking for information about a hypothesis or chromotography? Or maybe the scientific method or how to build a wind tunnel? The Science Buddies website is full of reference materials and Project Ideas, particularly for free science fair ideas. There are:
Making Tracks Challenge provides downloadable nature guides and species lists for hiking trails throughout the United States. It offers resources for students to make their own educational nature trails on school grounds or in nearby communities and the site will automatically generate an illustrated field guide for their site. It has more than 2,000 species in the database already but users are encouraged to suggest additions. There are also inquiry-based trail activities and short nature films.
Why not invite a geneticist to visit your classroom? You can search the Genetics Education Outreach Network (GEON) to find a genetics professional in your area. GEON members include scientists, clinicians and counselors who are eager to work with K-12 students and teachers.
Nearly 650 members of the genetics scientific and counseling community have volunteered to be a part of this unique resource for K-12 students and teachers. These human genetics professionals and advocates volunteer their time on National DNA Day as well as throughout the year to assist science teachers in increasing understanding and awareness of the Human Genome Project and genetics among students and the general public.
Imagine a mini-magaZine you make yourself. Now make it smaller – from a single 8 ½ x 11 sheet of paper to make an 8 page booklet that fits in the palm of your hand. You'll be amazed how much entertaining science can be packed into a zine and shared with the world! After three rounds of reading, laughing, and learning a lot of science, a panel of six judges selected the winners of the Year of Science 2009 Science Zine contest –a contest sponsored by the Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science (COPUS) and the Small Science Collective. More than 250 submissions were received from all over the world. The contest grand prize winner was Chen Dou (age group 13-17) from Gaithersburg, MD with the zine “Meeting a Giant Octopus.”
Want to start a zine project at your school? The basic steps are:
1. Choose a topic/theme.
2. Design it! (here's a template)
3. Fold it! (easy instructions)
4. (Optional) Combine the zine with technology. Because these are standard one-page works, they are easy to post to the class blog or wiki. Or, use the zine as a prep for a digital story project using applications such as iMovie.
Examples of student-made zines can be found on the Small Science blog.
