Free Online Materials at CK-12.org

http://www.ck12.org/browse/


This site contains online learning materials.  I browsed chemistry.  The chemistry heading has 8 headings and each heading has a number of concepts.  Each concept has 1 or more modalities.  Clicking on a modality brings up something to read, often with pictures, and sometimes with youtube videos and even some questions at the end.

Biology has 9 headings and many more concepts than chem.  They also have physics, life science, and physical science.  The material I looked at is clear and appealing to the eye.

This site would be an excellent reteaching resource for students identified as in need of help by formative assessment.  It could also serve as an online textbook type resource.

Link Medley

Sharing some good reads with you:

• Tweet to Learn (Scientific American Blog Network)
• Research on students' use of cell phones (The Innovative Educator)
• Professional Development: Whose Job Is It?  (Education Week)
• Chromebooks vs iPads (Jamie Reaburn Weir)
• The Teacher's Guide to Copyright and Fair Use (Edudemic)
• A Physics PLC: Collaboration at a Distance (Learning and Physics)
• 4 Tips for Transitioning Your Classroom to Digital Media (TeachThought)

More on Connexions

http://cnx.org/

In addition to full books Connexions has modules such as the physics of music or how a police radar works.

For example, accelerated 1D motion can be found here:  http://cnx.org/content/m13834/latest/

It features clearly written material with plenty of diagrams.

Overall the site appears to be a gold mine for any teacher interested in flipping.  Remember that flipped materials don't have to be videos, they can be readings as well.

Free Online Textbooks at Connexions

I've been searching for free online textbooks of sufficient quality.  I found this:  http://cnx.org/

College Physics is high quality.  http://cnx.org/content/col11406/latest/

Grade 10 chem is pretty good.  http://cnx.org/content/col11303/latest/

There are 169 pages worth of links to free online books in Science and Technology alone.

The College Physics book contains quality exercises for immediate reinforcement but not enough for drill and practice or problem sets.

General Chemistry I is incomplete.  Combined with General Chemistry II there is almost enough for a full book (with no problems/solutions).

I recommend that teachers visit this site and if they like a book, link to it for their students.  That way, students always have access to a textbook if they have internet access.


I'm going to keep searching for a trove of problems with solutions and explanations to supplement my own.

What is a 21st-Century Learner?

Here are three videos that have been shared with me.  Each one attempts to describe how 21st-century education must be different that 20th- (or 19th-) century education.  Enjoy!

What is 21st-Century Education? (2:10)



The Voice of the Active Learner (2:18)



Social Media in Education - Teaching Digital Natives in 2011 (4:10)

Google Sites or Blackboard?

A question I get quite often is, "What should I use to manage my class website?"  Whether you want to get away from using a complicated tool like Expressions/SharePoint/FrontPage, or your school site is discontinuing the program you've always used, or you're just looking to improve and/or simplify your communication with students and parents, you have several tools that you can use.  In addition to a number of freely available options, the district supports two choices:  Google Sites and Blackboard.  How do you decide which one you should use?

It depends on what you want your class website to accomplish.  Take a couple of minutes to look at this presentation that I've put together.

The evaluations here are of course my own.  If you have more questions, please let me know.

Google Custom Search

As you are planning for second semester, you might consider including a customized Google search on your class website.  With this tool, you can specify which sites are searched and which are ignored.  For example, if you know several good websites for U.S. History resources, you can set up a custom Google search box on your class website that only searches those particular sites.  It's pretty easy to do; there's help available at Google Support; or you can just get started at www.google.com/cse.