There are a lot of better presentations on the water cycle available, and I actually remember the friction episode from abc's old Saturday morning cartoon, Science Court, more than this water cycle trial, because I didn't know what friction was before I saw their amusing skating-rink illustration. In any case, as much as Science Court is made up of rough-draft-quality drawings, silly gags (watch for the defense lawyer's incident with the legal scales, the stenographer's never-exactly-typing stenography, and the awkward professor), and quirkiness that often enough falls flat (which explains the show's short-lived existence pretty well), it also explains basic concepts of the legal process and science to children in a unique way. I'm not sure how engaging it is across the board, but I know my aversion to the show's animation quality, which at the time surprised me (They were able to get away with that and put it on television, rather than going back to the drawing board?), actually got me to watch it out of a sickened curiosity and pick up a couple kernels of knowledge from it, as a result! I wish more of the episodes were available online because I would probably not have chosen this one to share otherwise. Alas, today we have this introduction to a potential "edutainment" (such a ridiculous word!) tool:
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
More Ancient Television
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Tough Love
Can you call to mind the number of elementary school kids and middle school students you know, or have known, who have something against math, geography, economics, science, or otherwise "tough" subjects? The number shoots up into the stratosphere, doesn't it? Well, what can the well-meaning do to encourage love of these demonized subjects? Here you have some of my ideas:
Cool Math for Kids - This was big back in my day!
Learn about Personal Finance with DebtSki!
Investment Games: Option 1: UpDown, Option 2: Virtual Stock Exchange, Option 3: The Stock Market Game, and Option 4: YoungMoney
Test Your Map Know-How
A Great Variety of Geography Quizzes (including rivers, lakes, mountains, landmarks, etc.!)
Geosense, a Geography Game (competitive)
Geography Bee (10 questions a day)
Crayon Physics - Very addictive and overall wonderful! (I'm still researching other great science games around.)
Don't worry, I'm really hooked on this series so you'll see more links to games and resources here in the future! And remember, as I said at the outset, there's no harm in indulging in "child's play" when we're apparently supposed to be stuffy adults! Cheers!
