Google Street View

I hope people have checked out the new "street view" on google maps. I looked at my house and found that I was a "google celebrity"..... I was snapped outside my house washing my car! It is absolutely amazing (and a bit scary) that Google have driven down most streets in Australia (and a few other countries) and taken 360 degree panoramic photos that give you the feeling you are really there. Australia was added on august the 8th and Google have plans to "street view" the globe. You can read about how they did it here.

Science Week 2008

Celebrate science week! This is a sample of what my school is doing, all organised by Ms Lara Lang, science teacher and cake maker extrodinaire!

Science Week at Cabra

Day Activity
Monday Quiz for home classes in the morning – prizes to be won!
Lunchtime Demos on the Aq Lawns – feat. The Science of Popcorn Van der Graff generator and Mythbusters playing in Lab 2 at lunch.

Tuesday Quiz for home classes in the morning – prizes to be won!
Lunchtime Demos on the Aq Lawns – feat. The Science of Slime Make a foaming cupcake in Lab 2.

Wednesday Quiz for home classes in the morning – prizes to be won!
Lunchtime Demos on the Aq Lawns – feat. The Science of Sherbet Watch “dragon’s breath” demonstrations in Lab 2.

Thursday Quiz for home classes in the morning – prizes to be won!
Lunchtime Demos on the Aq Lawns – feat. Rockets and blow up hydrogen balloons Enter the Paper Plane making competition and compete for prizes!

Friday Quiz for home classes in the morning – prizes to be won!
Lunchtime Demos on the Aq Lawns – feat. a pluck dissection and a human skeleton Look at strange stuff under microscopes and watch a human dissection movie in Lab 1

Colouring-in Competition (year 6 & 7) winners displayed and awarded prizes on the Aquinas lawns at lunchtime.

Check out our channel on youtube !!

Teachers Learning

On Thursday (14/08/08) I had the pleasure to run several computer sessions to enthusiastic teachers, part of the AGQTP to enhance teachers learning. Teachers at the session were introduced to Stellarium, one of my favourite free software simulations and if you want to get some ideas about how Stellarium fits with SACSA Earth and Space Strand click here. Even if you are from somewhere else on the planet the document has plenty of good ideas about how your students could use Stellarium to explore the heavens.

We did things like researched the dates of solar eclipses and went to that date to view them (see picture above), discovered how close Comet McNaught came to Earth and watched the planets revolve around the Sun to work out how long their year is.

On a second session we investigated some Cool Tools like Dipity and Glogster, and on the third session we trialled the podcasting rubric by marking two podcasts. Judging by the smiles on the faces of the teachers listening to them, they were thoroughly entertained.

If anyone has any further suggestions on how to use Stellarium or worksheets for students of any age level, leave a comment on this post and we will work out how to share your thoughts or worksheets.

Thanks to Lara, Linda and Mary and all the attentive teachers.