Space Things

I was very pleased to discover that the videos for this weeks blog posts had to do with space. I just so happen to be amused by all things that are not in or on this world. I watched Total Solar Eclipse which was an animated description of what happens when the sun and the moon cross paths. I also watched a video on global warming the greenhouse effect. Instead of being animated, it was a real example of what happens when global warming occurs.

Using videos can be a very useful teaching tool in the classroom. You could show short videos (like the podcasts available on itunes) of topics that you may be teaching your class at the time to your students to help the get a better understanding of what's going on. For example, on a normal basis, a teacher would explain how an eclipse happens and you can see the different stages in your text book. This video explained and showed each of the stages of an eclipse as it happened.

I think it is important to choose videos that are interesting and short to the point. Too much information may confuse students and watching too many videos may mix them up. The global warming video was not as interesting as the eclipse one because I felt like there was too much information being given. The video is geared toward 9-12th graders, but I think 11th or 12th graders would get more out of it.