New (& Improved) Math & Science SmartBoard Mini-Movies

New Drag and Drop Graphs

I'm very excited to announce three new amazing mini-movies that will allow teachers to really engage their students in lessons on representing data. With these mini-movies, you'll be able to dynamically create three types of graphs: a bar graph, a line graph, and a circle graph. Input your own data into a table, press DONE, and then have your students come to the interactive whiteboard and drag bars, lines, and pie pieces into the correct spots. Once they are finished, have them click the CHECK button to get immediate feedback.

You'll find these new drag and drop graphs in the math mini-movies section of misterteacher.com.

Updated Basics of Geometry Resources

Check out the new basics of geometry student activities. These interactive activities feature play and pause SmartBoard mini-movies that allow students to learn the concepts at their own pace. The mini-movies are also perfect for downloading and using in your interactive whiteboard lessons.

• Lines
• Line Segments
• Rays
• Parallel Lines
• Transversals
• Perpendicular
• Intersections

Life Science - Drag and drop food webs and food chains

The newest additions to the science mini-movie library are drag and drop food webs and chains. Teach your students about the flow of energy through a food chain as well as the meaning of words like producer, consumer, herbivore, and carnivore by having them drag organisms to the correct place on the food chains and webs.

• Food Chain 1
• Food Chain 2
• Yellowstone Food Web
• Aquatic Food Web

Celebrate African American Heritage

Teach your students about the experiences and contributions of African Americans slaves with the web-based unit Slavery in America from misterteacher.com. Each page is printable, making it easy to teach your students about the lives of slaves, negro spirituals, the Underground Railroad, and how African Americans eventually got their freedom.

Bugscope: Exploring the Microscopic World of Insects

Imaging Technology Group, an association of imaging specialists and microscopists at the University of Illinois' Beckman Institute, has found a way to make collecting bugs for a school project more interesting than ever before. The group created a special project known asBugscope for K-12 students. Bugscope provides classrooms with free access to a scanning electron microscope (SEM) that can be used to study insect specimens at high-magnification.

What's cool about the Bugscope project is that it is available to everyone in the world. The SEM isn't brought into the classroom. Instead, the classroom is brought to the SEM through a live one-hour web session. During the session, students have full control over the interactive microscope. They can magnify, adjust contrast and brightness, control the focus, and explore preset views setup by the Bugscope team.

Bugscope sessions can be displayed on multiple computers, projectors, and interactive whiteboards. Only one user can operate the microscope at a time, but students can login and view the session on up to 20 different computers at once.

The Bugscope team, which includes several microscopists and an entomology student, are available online via instant messaging so that students can ask questions throughout the session. When the session ends, images and chats are saved and can be viewed later by both students and teachers.

Scheduling a Bugscope Session

There is no cost to participate in a Bugscope session. However, you must schedule a session prior to participation. You can do this by filling out the application form on the Bugscope site. If you are interested in seeing how a Bugscope session works before you apply, you can login as a guest and view an upcoming Bugscope session.

Once your application has been accepted, you can setup a Bugscope session and mail in the specimens you want your class to examine (That's right--it's up to you to send in the bugs!) The Bugscope team will then schedule a demo that allows you to get a feel for the microscope controls before the actual session begins.

Guest post from education writer Karen Schweitzer. Karen is the About.com Guide to Business School. She also writes about online degrees for OnlineDegreePrograms.org.

New Drag and Drop Mini-Movies on misterteacher.com

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New Drag and Drag Drops

The majority of the SMARTBoard mini-movies on misterteacher.com are defined by their simple interactivity. Push a button and watch a concept come alive through animation. It's time to introduce a new generation of interactivity: drag and drop mini-movies. These new animations allow teachers and their students to drag multiple items across the screen of an electronic whiteboard, push a button, and get instant feedback.

In the weeks and months ahead, watch out for tons of math and science drag and drops (food webs and some AWESOME DRAG AND DROP GRAPHS!). Right now though, check out a few examples from the first bunch that has been added to the site:

• Ordering Decimals
• Ordering Fractions
• Ordering Integers

By the way, if you're planning to teach fractions and decimals soon, there are almost 30 new mini-movies on comparing and ordering fractions and decimals. Also, there are several new worksheets:

• Finding the Circumference Practice Page
• Classifying Triangles Lesson
• Classifying Quadrilaterals Lesson

Coming up in the weeks ahead:

• A SchoolTube movie that tells how to use the mini-movies in the classroom.
• More Worksheets
• More and more drag and drop mini-movies.

Science Resources: Science Mini-Movies Properties of Light Thermal Energy Forces

Social Studies Resources: Slavery in America Waves of Immigration Constitution WebQuest