Hi! It’s Thursday, January 12, 2012 and time for Social Sciences at ClickSchooling!
Recommended Website:
Spitzer/Caltech
Age Range: 9 and up (approximately, with parental supervision)
My son recently posted a video on his Facebook page explaining why Pluto isn’t a planet anymore. (Once a homeschooler, always a homeschooler.) It was on YouTube, but the source was The Spitzer Science Center (sponsored by NASA and CalTech).
They have a series of free multi-media videos called “Ask An Astronomer” that include brief explanations to complicated stuff by scientists. The videos use animations to illustrate the explanations. Other titles inc lude:
- Where is the center of the universe?
- Why is the sky blue?
- Why aren’t there any green stars?
- Infrared: More than your eyes can see!
- What happens when galaxies collide?
- What’s between the stars?
- What will happen to Earth when the Sun dies?
- How do you discover an asteroid?
- How can we see a black hole?
- What is a Brown Dwarf?
And many more!
If you poke around the rest of the site you’ll find other cool videos and podcasts as well.
You may wonder why I decided to feature this science resource on “Social Sciences” day at ClickSchooling. It’s because the downsizing of Pluto was historical, and I like to encourage cross-curricular connections. Sometimes students will resist a subject like science, for example, but be fascinated by an important event in history that gently leads them to an enjoyable exploration of science. The content of this website has that potential.
And while you’re exploring, you’ll be covering a variety of “subjects” including language arts, math, science, history, social studies and more. It’s all connected! :)