Earlier today, courtesy of the facebook incarnation of Hoagie's Gifted, I was introduced to the new OK Go video for "This To Shall Pass." As I understand it, this video was created for the internet and is not the "official" video. In any case, it's got one of the best Rube Goldberg machines I've ever seen:
AJ and I are collectors of videos of Rube Goldberg machines. I was fascinated by them as a child and drew endless plans for them, some of which are still floating around my house. AJ found one a few years ago and has been similarly intrigued. Here are some of our favorites:
Mythbusters takes on Goldberg in their Christmas show:
We also like the Goldberg-esque devices that turn up in the Wallace and Gromit series of films. Our favorite is from the opening of Curse of the Were-Rabbit. You can see it at Gizmodo, which lists the top ten Rube Goldberg machines to appear on film.
Do you have any favorites we've missed? Have you tried any of your own? Tell us about them in the comments!
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Mathalicious
Lately, I've been trolling homeschooling sites looking for ways to supplement what AJ's learning (or not learning, as the case may be) in school. This morning the site Homeschool Recess posted a link to a site called Mathalicious. Mathalicious is aimed at middle schoolers. What attracted me was this statement on their splash page:
Content is organized by subject area (e.g. "fractions and decimals" or "probability and statistics") and can also be sorted into one of three levels: "middle school math," "algebra I," and algebra II." This is not curriculum, but individual lesson plans that could be an after school project or a supplemental exploration in class or in a gifted program. All of them use math to explore some real world question. For example, in the most recent project posted, mathalicious looks at calculating the area of a TV screen and other screens, explains aspect ratios and theories of Pythagoras, etc. It includes detailed worksheets and files to use with geometer, a geometry software program.
Check it out!
Here, we’re guided by a simple philosophy: Math isn’t something you learn, but a tool you use to learn about other things. Our mission is to help transform the way math is taught and learned by focusing not only on skills but on the real-world applications of math, from sports to politics to video games to exercise.
If you’re a teacher, parent or student, we invite you to use our content in your homes and classrooms. So poke around. Have some fun. Get some smart.
Content is organized by subject area (e.g. "fractions and decimals" or "probability and statistics") and can also be sorted into one of three levels: "middle school math," "algebra I," and algebra II." This is not curriculum, but individual lesson plans that could be an after school project or a supplemental exploration in class or in a gifted program. All of them use math to explore some real world question. For example, in the most recent project posted, mathalicious looks at calculating the area of a TV screen and other screens, explains aspect ratios and theories of Pythagoras, etc. It includes detailed worksheets and files to use with geometer, a geometry software program.
Check it out!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Administrative post: Please ignore
Technorati is having trouble finding this blog. Hopefully this will do the trick:
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Teaching Art
As we're facing the elimination of art and music education in our school district next year, I've been looking for ways to teach it at home. Here are some art lesson plans from the Denver Museum of Art aimed at K-5.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
A modest proposal
At the risk of looking like a sock puppet for the New York Times, here's an interesting proposal about the ideal elementary school classroom, a day based on immersion rather than memorization and rote exercises, a schedule that can only be supported in a less test-dependent environment. What do you think?
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