Category Archives: YouTube
HBO’s The Weight of the Nation
This full four-part HBO documentary series is online in full on the HBO Docs YouTube Channel. Although aimed at a US audience, the messages are universal. The website for the series has lots more related short clips and resources that might be of use in class.
For more resources on Energy in Human Diets, go to the Option A: Nutrition and Health resources.
Part 1: Consequences
Part 2: Choices
Part 3: Children in Crisis
Part 4: Challenges
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My Rant
Kudos to HBO for making this available on YouTube worldwide.
For what it’s worth, I think all TV production companies should be hosting their documentaries – especially those on important social and environmental issues – online for free. At the very least, make episodes available for a minimal ($1?) purchase fee on iTunes.
I bet most people wouldn’t choose to download media illegally if access was easy and affordable. It reminds me of this cartoon from the Oatmeal.
“Covalent Love” winner of Science Idol
Congratulations to James Mustapic, winner of Tomcfad’s Science Idol 2012 competition in New Zealand. For students in the UK, there is a similar competition underway: Geek Pop 2012. Have a go!
I was fortunate to meet Tom McFadden in Kyoto University yesterday, and have written up some thoughts on Educational Hip-Hop: Creativity and the Curriculum on i-Biology | Reflections.
Get inspired!
Four Fundamental Forces in Six Videos [Crash Course]
Here’s Hank, giving a run-down of the fundamental forces. Might be useful for a flipclass intro or review for older students.
Strong Force
Super Slo-Mo Slinky Drops | Veritasium [video]
I haven’t posted Veritasium for a while, so here’s a great video building on his slinky drop experiments. Go full screen and HD, then wrap yer brain around the explanations.
Fruit Fly Development: Cell by Cell [Nature Video]
Drosophila melanogaster
Wow. Two papers published in Nature Methods have outlined a new technique which allows researchers to track development of embryos (in this case Drosophila melanogaster), in real time. By taking simulataneous multi-view microscopic images of the developing embryo, individual cells can be tracked in real time. The methods are described in more detail at Nature News here.
Have a look at the amazing results below, as a fruitfly embryo develops into a larva, ready to hatch. The two views are the dorsal (upper side) and ventral (lower side) view of the same embryo. See if you can pick a cell and watch its path of development.
Think about how this links to IB Biology topics of cell division, cell specialisation and embryonic development. How does a stem cell know what type of cell to become? If you look closely, there’s a scale bar in the bottom-right. Take a snapshot and calculate the actual length of the embryo.
For more reasons to love fruit flies, check out my mini-review of Fly: An Experimental Life by Martin Brookes.
Image source: Drosophila melanogaster, from Wikipedia.
Using YouTube to make quick lab videos
I made these lab videos easily using my iPhone (other smartphones will do the same), and sending the video directly to YouTube. YouTube’s editing tools make it easy to annotate the video, so pop-ups appear to explain what is happening and highlighting areas for students’ focus. This is ideal where you want to record, upload and annotate videos quickly and easily.
There are four great things about producing videos this way:
- With GoogleApps, all students and teachers have a YouTube account, which they can sync with their phone or have ready on their laptop. They could also record the video from their laptop webcam.
- If videos are pretty straightforward there is no need to spend time importing into iMovie or MovieMaker, editing and then uploading to YouTube.
- You can make quick edits and corrections to annotations on the ‘live’ video. You don’t need to re-upload the video.
- YouTube also has an online video editor for making more complete edits and putting clips together.
This next one was made very quickly and uses the YouTube video editor tools to mash two short clips together. By this point I’d got hold of a retort stand and created a super-adjustable iPhone camera triunipod – patent pending and soon to be available at an exaggerated cost from the Apple store ;>
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Applications beyond lab videos:
Students could make their own explainers or video clips for class, such as lab report methods, annotated sports performance clips or notes on a speech or presentation they (or a peer) have given. Teachers can use it (like I have above) to make vodcasts for students who can then repeat or look back at work in class. In this example, students have carried out these reactions in class, but I will be away the following class. This gives them an opportunity to see the reactions again with some annotations to help them through the theory work.
Limitations
- Having a lot of students online uploading at the same time can impact bandwidth.
- Students may need help in setting up their school YouTube accounts and assigning permissions and privacy settings – you would need to be aware of appropriate student-created content.
- Although quick and easy to use, it is unlikely to look polished enough for a publications class or professional piece of work. It will be fine for simple tasks focusing on content or explanation.
If you want even more power to edit on the phone, I like this free app called Splice. It has enough features to get you putting clips and photos together, with transitions and themes, and will upload directly to YouTube (though it can take a while to render).
Science Stunts for Parties
Richard Wiseman is a psychologist and author of Quirkology, the Curious Science of Everyday Lives. He also has a YouTube channel loaded with illusions and tricks. As dinner-party season approaches, here are some collections of little science tricks to impress your granny. Be careful with flames.
Stephen Fry’s Planet Word
What is language? Is communication the same as language? How have we evolved the ability to form and use language and what sets us apart from other species?
In this new BBC documentary series, Stephen Fry explores our origins of language. A good link between the sciences and languages (perhaps even history) as areas of knowledge in TOK.
More information and the discussion page here: TOK – What is Language?
i-Biology 