Science Learning Centres - Christmas related Science

Since it is almost Christmas, I would like to offer a link to some seasonal fun from Science Learning Centres who have blogged 12 Christmas activities in the science classroom on 5th December 2011.

Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure Careers

If you are interested in careers in hospitality, leisure, travel or tourism it is worth having a look at www.uksp.co.uk . This website produced by People First offers information and guidance on career options within these industries. This includes online tools and interactive activities covering: information about careers choices, employers, training opportunities, career routes and progression and skills and personality tests (coming soon).

Copyright permission for use of our Royalty Free Pictures and Royalty Free Photographs

The copyright-free-pictures website offers a wide selection of free pictures for non-commercial internet use. The website clearly lays out the terms and conditions to their use such as a maximum of three to be used on any one URL or website and there must be a link back to the copyrigh-free-pictures page.

A new view of the world - Cartograms

The Worldmapper website provides almost 700 density-equalising maps realting to different topics. These cartograms re-size the territories according to the variable being mapped. So if you want to compare areas by transport, tourism, production, disease or many other categories, these maps can show you relative densities and provide a poster summarising the data. The site offers a range of variables to compare the countries.

Making a Simple Movie

I have previously commented on xtranormal.com which enables you to create a movie by complex scripting of words and actions. A much more simple movie maker is Devolver Moviemaker users can add backgrounds, select characters and write text to be displayed in speech bubbles for the characters. In this software you can select from limited movement but it is very simple to use. The simplicty could make this a fun tool, particularly for students learning a language, wishing to display their skills or knowledge in a fun way.

These films can then be emailed or embedded in a website or blog. Below is a very simple one to indicate what they can do.

Creatve Commons & Searching for Resources

Search By Creative Commons is not a search engine but works like a search engine offering access to search services provided by other organisations.This site is particularly helpful in identifying websites, resources and links that make use of the Creative Commens licensing which can be used to make it easier to share information and resources withing copyright rules and is particularly useful in education.

More detail can be found about Creatve Commons licenses on their website.

Free Images

The Pics4learning website provides thousands of images which have been donated for the use of teachers and students. The pictures cover a wide range of topic areas and are worth looking at if you need pictures to support or or enhance your teaching resources.