Oxygen on the playground... a cute video

While reading the blog The Whiteboard Blog, I found this charming little video that explains some of the reactions of Oxygen with other elements. I know for me it will solidify some of those concepts.

Kids will love it!

Students remember facts and concepts more easily when related to a story or some more memorable event.

Below is another video I found online about Oxygen.

This also makes me think about how in today’s school environment, facts are not the major component of education. 

Or, I should say, in my opinion they are not.

Students, with the wealth of all information at their fingertips, do not need to memorize tons of facts to spout back to the teacher on a test.

Students need to know why the facts are important, why they are relevant to their lives, now and in the future.

How are you “testing” your students knowledge… by what they can do with a fact or by the fact alone?

Let us know your lessons, assessments, and ideas? Leave a comment.

Technorati Tags: oxygen,science,chemicals,facts,concepts,education,The Whiteboard Blog

Learning the names of the states & more…

David Warlick of 2 Cents Worth always has interesting and thought-provoking ideas.

Please take the time to read David’s full post on this subject. In brief, he says

The bottom line of this ramble is that students armed with answers about science, technology, engineering, and math will not be able to compete or contribute to a global economy. It will be students who can can observe their environment, understand it, and inventively find ways to participate and contribute.

So we need to be teaching our students more than “just the facts, M’am.”

Students need to be challenged to take the facts, understand the meaning of these facts, create something new from the facts, and develop insights from learning these facts to contribute something of value to the world around them, not matter how small or big that world is.

A student does not have to be a grad student, a college senior, a high school senior, a middle school student, or even a fifth grader to create something of value to his world.

EVERY student at EVERY AGE can contribute to his world.

What are your students contributing to their worlds?

[As always, in my author quotes, the underlines, color changes, and bold type is mine, not the author’s!]

Technorati Tags: contribution,learning,education,David Warlick,2 Cents Worth,facts