Since it’s National Science Week 15-23 August, have a look at the RiAus website – “Australia’s national science channel, promoting public awareness and understanding of science”. Always something interesting and “accessible for all Australians”. Includes videos, articles, links, blog, In Class livestreaming sessions (eg. astronaut Chris Hadfield and Prof. Brian Cox), science/art exhibitions. Includes free guides to uni courses and careers – Ultimate science guide and Ultimate engineering guide.
A week in science – short video newsfeed each week. Great stuff eg. The secret life of apples; Science fiction prediction; Waking up before your alarm: http://riaus.org.au/series/week-in-science/
Blog: http://riaus.org.au/articles/type/blog/
Webby Awards 2015 – Science
Winner: If the moon were only 1 pixel: a tediously accurate scale model of the solar system.
People’s Voice: BBC Earth. Shortlist: Global climate change: vital signs of the planet; WIRED Science; Interactive history on the origins of HIV.
http://www.webbyawards.com/winners/2015/websites/general-website/science/
Top 15 most popular science websites (Aug 2015)
Based on Alexa Global Traffic Rank. 1. HowStuffWorks 2. NASA 3. Discovery 4. LiveScience 5. ScienceDaily 6. ScienceDirect 7. Space 8. Scientific American 9. Nature 10. PopSci
http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/science-websites
Makerspace ideas
Orbotix Ollie – racing, spinning and flipping robot controlled from an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch – $150 http://www.sphero.com/ollie/
Orbotix Sphero – robotic ball controlled from an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch – $200 http://www.sphero.com/sphero-sprk/
Parrot MiniDrone Rolling Spider – ultra compact drone controlled from a smartphone – $150 http://www.parrot.com/au/products/rolling-spider/
Parrot MiniDrone Jumping Sumo – a responsive bot which jumps, rolls, zig-zags, circles and takes turns at 90° – $240. Parrot have a new range of camera-enabled mini-drones coming soon.
http://www.parrot.com/au/products/jumping-sumo/
Lego robotics – object oriented programming – $500 per kit
http://www.teaching.com.au/catalogue?catalogue=MTA&category=MTA-WEDO-ROBOTICS
http://shop.lego.com/en-AU/Robotics-ByCategory
Raspberry Pi – mini programmable computer board – $60 http://raspberry.piaustralia.com.au/
Makerspaces and coding in schools
3 interesting articles from the current edition of principals’ journal Education Today:
“Lauriston FabLab is transformative” 2015, Education Today, Term 3.
*Established one of the first FabLabs in Australia in 2014
*FabLab@School program from Stanford University – focus on transformative learning
*Many cross-curricular opportunities – house design; model of an eye, art, history
*3D printer, 3D mill, laser cutter, programming and more traditional tools
*Skills of problem-solving, self direction and collaboration – very relevant to workplace skills
http://www.lauriston.vic.edu.au/about/lauristons-fablab-school
https://tltl.stanford.edu/about/fablabatschool
“ScopeIT education” 2015, Education Today, Term 3.
*Scope IT Education – provides courses, instructors, lesson plans, assessment, Macbooks, equipment, internet, weekly 40 min. lessons for 10 weeks (NSW Stages 1-3 – primary school)
*Teaches coding (Scratch, WordPress, HTML, Javascript, Python, iOS apps), 3D printing, electronics, robotics, digital citizenship
*Entered into partnership with Aust. Primary Principals Association
http://www.scopeiteducation.com.au/
“Coding in schools building up a head of steam” 2015, Education Today, Term 3.
- Importance of coding as a component of STEAM teaching– Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Maths
- #WeSpeakCode Microsoft conference at UTS in Sydney in May 2015 – 7000 students had to create a flappy bird game
- Microsoft Asia Pacific study – only 32% of Australian students had an opportunity to learn coding in school (lowest figure for all countries surveyed)
- Two-thirds of Australian students said they wanted to know more about coding
- By 2022 a deficit of 12-15 million jobs in STEM fields
- Kodu – games programming for kids; free download http://kodu.en.softonic.com/
- Blockley – by Google; educational games that teach programming https://blockly-games.appspot.com/
- Grok Learning – coding courses (and competitions) for high school students https://groklearning.com/
- Code.org – many courses for different ages and levels https://code.org/