Football

"Football is not about life or death. It is more important than that."

Bill Shankley, former manager of Liverpool Football club.

Well it's rolled around again... FOOTBALL (most certainly not soccer!) fever.  I wonder what surprises the FIFA World Cup 2010 has got in store for us?  There have been the usual dramas and injuries leading into these finals, Thierre Henry's "Hand of Frog" didn't go unnoticed by anyone, oh except of course the ref!

Injury has dashed numerous players (and their fans) World Cup dreams, the English and German teams will be the most affected without Beckham, Ferdinand, Ballack, Adler, Traesch and Westermann.  Before it all kicks off, take a trip down memory lane and have a look, a cheer at these top 50 World Cup moments from The Daily Telegraph.

So how can we encorporate the Football World Cup into our science lessons?  Here's a few suggestions...

1) Analysing distance-time graphs, produced by ASE in 2001
Students will look at actual video footage from an FA Cup 4th round match between Manchester United and West Ham United.  It is a little dated as it was played back in 2000, however, there are 6 different stages and students should make a note of the key point for each stage.  The accompanying key point worksheet is here.

2) video "The Science of Football" 
Encourage your students to improve their science knowledge and football skills (with a lot of practice!) after viewing this engaging video on the science of football.

3)  Article "The physics of football" by Physics World 
Senior Physics students may like to read this article which discusses the spin, velocity and forces as a football is kicked with a curve.

Finally, you must have seen the Nike Football "Write the future" adverts.  I like this overwhelmingly positive review on the Nike Football ads from the soccerbible.com

"Starring some of the world’s best players, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Didier Drogba, Wayne Rooney, Fabio Cannavaro, Franck Ribery, Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott, Patrice Evra, Gerard Pique, Ronaldinho, Landon Donovan, Tim Howard and Thiago Silva... this epic football journey unfolds through a match of goal line clearances, game-winning tackles and lightning footwork that literally send a ripple effect across the world."

Have a fantastic month cheering on your team. Enjoy the excitement, tension and tears of joy. Relish in that sense of camaraderie and the community feel of it all during the most watched sporting event in the world.

Eurovision Song Contest

The Eurovision Song Contest...it's tacky, cheesy, the outfits are horrendous, hairdoos over the top, the music is catchy - in a very irritating way and the songs are usually awful but boy do we love it!  Growing up in Ireland in the 70's and 80's, my family would gather together to watch the annual "Eurovision", not at all for the music but to fall over ourselves laughing at the outrageous commentary from the extremely popular Terry Wogan.  His acidic, sardonic comments and ability to take the absolute mickey out of the hosts and presenters was wonderfully irreverant.  His predictions of the usually extremely politically biased voting was just spot on.  Sir Terry Wogan, as he is more correctly referred to has been replaced (no that's impossible!) succeeded by an almost equally witty man Graham Norton.  Incidentally, both men were born in Ireland, there must be something in the water.

Actually, the one good thing to come out of the Eurovision Song Contest was ABBA, and that was back in 1974!

The final of The Eurovision Song Contest for 2010 is being held is Oslo this weekend, Sat 29th May.  What a laugh!  It'll be on Sky TV and broadcast around the world as it is one of the most popular non-sports programmes.  Tune in and join in the fun :-)

So, back to the classroom, students love singing, give some of these suggestions a go but even better, get your students to make up their own songs, record them on their mobiles or a laptop and edit using the free download Audacity, see instructions on how to use Audacity here.

The first two were written by an old colleague of mine, they are great for acid/base equations

"nitric acid nitrate
sulfuric acid, sulfate
hydrochloric makes chlorides
they're the salts acids make"
to the tune of Happy Birthday

"carbonates make CO2
and a salt, water too
carbonates make CO2
with all acids"
to the tune of London Bridge

a very popular, cute song on photosynthesis from Peter Weatherall

and a bit of rock n'roll here which is catchy and worth a listen when introducing the elements to junior students

but more easily recognisable is that famous Tom Lehrer song, written in the 50's, great when introducing the Periodic table, I have embedded the song below but personally, I prefer the flash version here

Click here for the link to a pdf with the lyrics for "The Atoms song" which is sung to the tune of the Adams family (and check out the old toothpaste ad at the end of the credits!)

You'll recognise a familiar tune here as John Otway's sings his "Bunsen Burner" song on "Top of the pops" for his 50th birthday. (yes the quality is terrible!)

There's Monty Python's Galaxy song, always guaranteed to bring a smile to the face of even the gloomiest student (perhaps recommended for older students, preview it first).

and continuing the outer space theme, "Why does the Sun shine" by Lou Singer and Hy Zaret in 1959.

and finally, one of my all time favourite songs "A wonderful world" sung by Louis Armstrong but what you're looking at here is the extremely clever and creative shadow puppet effects created by Raymond Crowe,
just perfect when teaching light.

there are many, many more, the list goes on... feel free to comment and recommend your favourites. 

Have a great weekend, I'll be in hysterics at a "Sing Star" party as we enjoy another Eurovision commentary.

internet privacy

internet privacy...ha!...now there's an oxymoron for you! In light of the ongoing Facebook fuss regarding privacy here's ten tips on how to adjust your Facebook privacy settings and a couple of You Tube videos that I stumbled upon during the week. Show them to your students - today! It gets the message across to them, loud and clear.

On another note, who has caught onto the fever accompanying the new doodle (Google's term for its events and holiday specific logo's) the interactive Pac man to celebrate 30 years since the launch of the familiar smiley face. How cool is that!  It's very, very addictive, takes me back to my youth!

If you're a techie yourself, a zip folder of the files to download, thanks to azabani are here.  The sound doesn't work so here is a tip from dwelc at google support on how to get the sound working

"I downloaded the GooglePacman.zip, and extracted it. At first, the sound didn't work. Then, you have to go to the Flash Control Panel at http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager04.html, then press "Edit Locations", then "Add Location", then "Browse for Folder", then select the folder you extracted the files to. After that, the sound worked fine for me!"

and finally, have a look at macek's redesigned "insert coin" option here

Well as someone twittered a couple of days ago, "they can't ban Google in schools" so keep a look out for Pac man addicts in your classroom.

water hydrant...

Have you heard that phrase from Mitchell Kapor "Getting information off the internet is like taking a drink from a fire hydrant!"  How true!

As a link from my previous post on the iPad here is a long list of online textbooks and bare essential online resources that I recommend from Science and Chemistry teachers, note that I use the term "textbook" very loosely.  I shall post another blog on superb video clips, relevant songs, excellent interactives that help students to visualise particles on a microscopic scale, contextual resources etc.. Well here goes, don't drown in it all...

Chemistry specific online textbooks

W.W. Norton & Company. Chemistry The Science in context, 2nd edition  Paid registration is required for the ebook however the quizzes, flashcard, animations & interactives are freely available.

Chemguide, Jim Clark  This is very text orientated but is easy to follow with good explanations and simple images.

An introduction to Chemistry, Mark Bishop  There are powerpoints, animations and tutorials all as a part of this e-book.

McGraw Hill Online Learning Center Another good online textbook with wonderful visuals showing microscopic images of particles in solution and quizzes that give immediate feedback.

Re:act Nuffield Advanced Chemistry contains text, audio, quizzes, suggestions for investigations and encourages students to submit questions for the authors to answer.

Pearson Prentice Hall Chemistry: The central science has multiple choice quizzes with instant feedback and good videos to accompany the text

Avogrado Chemistry Choose a chapter from the drop down menu and after reading the text students can try the interactive activities and quizzes which have instant feedback.

IB Chemistry interactive syllabus 2009 An excellent summary with useful images and animations on the usual Chemistry topics that are assessed for the International Baccalaureate as well as most other syllabus's.

To view molecules in 3D, Chime is what you'll want to use, download Chime for free from here http://www.umass.edu/microbio/chime/getchime.htm  Chime will show up in a browser, usually Internet Explorer for all .pdb files (protein database)

3D Virtual Chemistry library set up by Imperial College, London, UK contains 150 molecules relevant to most curriculums.

Get students to make up molecules using Chemsketch, then convert them to a .pdb file to view in 3D, download Chemsketch for free from here http://www.acdlabs.com/resources/freeware/chemsketch/ It is pretty straightforward to use, if needed there is a user guide here http://bbruner.org/obc/chemsket.htm

Students can design their own molecule and upload it to Hull University website

For something quick and easy that required no additional programs use this....molecule 3d.

                                        

Finally, from a Chemistry point of view, it's also useful to download the RSC Chemistry font here, once downloaded move the folder to Start -- Control Panel -- Font

 Chemistry plus Biology and Physics textbooks

Vision Learning An excellent site that relates science to real life and contains many interesting anecdotes, interactive activities and glossaries that are available in both English and Spanish

Physics

Fear of Physics, there is a good range of videos, text and help for students who need some help with their physics

PhET simulations, go there...use these activities, they are superb!

PhysicsLAB from Mainland school, Florida has excellent, easy to understand text with clear diagrams and some animations

Physics for you, endless creative and original resources from Professor Messer to accompany the very popular quality textbook of the same name.

Science online textbooks

Skool, UK Choose either Key Stage 3 or 4 from the top of the webpage. Key Stage 3 (11 - 13 years of age) or Key Stage 4 (14 - 16 years of age) contains excellent tutorials followed by end of topic quizzes.

BBC Bitesize Revision quick tutorials, excellent images, animations and audio which can be followed by a test which gives instant feedback.

Active Science there are some good resources here to download and some good interactive games.

Teachers domain, as recommended on one of my previous blogs.  There are just superb videos, animations, worksheet, additional teacher information here, register as a user (for free) and download resources that are relevant to your curriculum, tell your colleagues in other subjects about it too.

School Science this one is a bit of a resource bank, it'll take you some time to work through it, once again, sift through what is useful for your students

Woodlands Junior School, Kent Well done to Mandy Barrow who has put together a range of interesting revision activities in an engaging and easy to use manner for 11 - 14 year olds

PBS Teachers Science concepts are linked to everyday experiences via the usual multimedia, spend some time here and pick and choose what interests you.

Scholarnet, Online Learning Paid registration is required however there are some free demo versions available with online text and animations to reinforce understanding

This is just the tip of the iceberg, I have many url's on specific topics to recommend which I'll post up to my Delicious account when I have a minute or 20.

The beauty of the internet is that it is a library at our fingertips, you surf the net to get information about something which leads you to ask yourself more questions so you continue surfing to find out about a (usually) related topic and so it...it's a vicious cycle....a spider web....domino effect which is very addictive....