Wednesday Weekly Website–Dead Bird Mystery

 

Dead Bird Mystery

Review: Strange Dead Bird Mystery is a wonderful activity by University of Montana. According to the site “The online activity uses a mystery format and narrative structure to attract all students into solving science questions, even those who are not typically engaged by science. The science mystery is in the format of a second-person fictional narrative in a realistic setting. The reader is a character in the story, and makes decisions that influence the outcome of the story. The mystery gets students to think logically, to evaluate facts critically, and to pose and prove/disprove hypotheses -- without realizing they're doing it!” If you have more than one learner, group them together as a team to solve the mystery or you can let them compete against each other. This activity provides information about American wetland but you can still use it if you are living in another part of the world. If your learner likes the activity you can perhaps adopt it for your local habitat by trying to solve the mystery of “fallen leaf” or “buried rocks” or any “spotted birds” you may find on a walk. This activity is available in both flash and HTML versions and has no music.

Suitable for ages: 7-13

Wednesday Weekly Website–Maps Tools For Adventure

 

Maps Tools For Adventure

Review: Maps tools For Adventure is a joint venture by National Geographic and The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. This is actually a travelling exhibit but apart from the exhibit the site alone is the best I have come across on the topic of maps.  Teaching about key math concepts can feel dry but not with Maps Tools Of Adventure where maps are presented as “tools of adventure” . There are six excellent games to play and a wealth of ideas in the educators’ section. As the kids work their through games they are introduced to topics such as map keys and legends, Layers of information on a map, GIS (Global Information System), different kinds of maps etc at the same time learning about how maps are used in everyday life, how to follow directions, reading skills, endangered animals and Egyptian Pyramids etc. In the official unit study on mapping skills you will find tips on introducing mapping skills to younger children and working your way through to more complex skills. For bigger kids try engaging lessons and activities like Spice World, Geography of Pizza, Mapping the human journey etc. Check out the related links for additional goodies. Overall a great resource which in itself can be enough when teaching maps and geography.

Suitable for ages: 5-15

WWW – My Life As An Elk

 

My Life As An Elk

 

Review: The National Museum of Wildlife Art site has this interactive story that teaches learners about elk life. Learners take on the identity of a newborn elk calf and make choices throughout the story about what the calf does. Students learn what a newborn elk calf looks like; how it lives with its mother as it grows; what it eats and who its predators are; and ends with a tale of the elk herd migrating. Students can choose to read the story with vocal narration or without. There is no music (but a lot of loud screeching sounds probably made by elks) You will need to allow twenty to thirty minutes for reading this story. You can take this activity even further e.g. after children have read this online story, ask them to prepare a presentation about what they learned. For their presentation, they can maintain the identity of the elk they "became" in the interactive story and describe the consequences of the choices they made online as well. Consider offering students the option of going into more detail about one aspect of the story instead. For example, there is a great deal of information about the difference between antlers and horns, which would cover enough material to be its own presentation. In this way, students can benefit from more of the information offered on this site than they can individually explore.

Suitable for ages: 5-10