For my fifth podcast reflection I listened to Tech Chicks Tips. On their website I listened to podcast 81: TCEA 2011 toward the top of the page. In the podcast Helen and Anna talked about their time at the Texas Computer Educators Association conference. This podcast was packed full of online resources (free and with a fee). There is no way that I can talk about everything that Helen and Anna mentioned. So if you are interested just go check it out!
One of the websites that they talked about was Google Art Project. This takes advantage of Google street view, which takes pictures as you walk down the street. Google Art Project allows anyone to take virtual tours through museums around the world. When you navigate to the site you can choose which museum you want to go to. Then you can either walk through the museum or choose individual pieces of art to look at up close. The individual pieces have such wonderful resolution that you can practically touch the paint. In the classroom teachers could take their students on virtual tours of any museum, and it would not cost them a thing.
Another tool that I really liked was Google Body Browser. This tool is also free. The only thing that you need is a web browser that supports WebGL. If you go to the Google Body Browser site it gives you links to WebGL browsers. In Body Browser you can look at different layers of the human body. This includes muscles, organs, and even bones. This tool could be used in a science lesson to help students visualize and learn the different parts of the body and where they are.
Print, Cut, and Fold was another site that the ladies talked about in their podcast. On this site you can download PowerPoints that have templates on them. These templates can be printed, cut, and folded into many different things. They have templates for mini-books, flap books, pyramids, dioramas, and many others. Before printing kids can add in clip art and text to tell their own story. These templates can be used to review writing topics or topics in other subjects.
A final site that I liked was called Qtopia. This site contains thousands of educational and motivational games for kids, and it’s free! For example one game is a racing game. Students answer math questions in order to play for a certain amount of time. When that time is up they have to answer another question to continue. This game asked routine questions, but also more challenging questions and shows the students how to work them. These questions are not multiple choice, so the student has to come up with his/her own answer.
These are just some of the interesting resources and sights that Helen and Anna talked about. There are so many good resources on their site under podcast 81 that I really encourage everyone to check out.
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