Tool #8

Now this is the most user friendly and potentially helpful tool in my opinion. In the 21st century, we are bombarded by so much information from across the world, we need to bring this information to the classroom. Very often our students in Title 1 schools have little exposure to the news and what is happening outside their community. Video streaming brings the world to them, is an entertaining way to teach and allows them to see and hear experts in infinite areas.

I chose 2 videos from blinkx and clicked on environment. The first is an expert downplaying the exposure of oil to the environment and the impact to the Gulf. The second is about a recent, smaller oil spill off the Chinese coast. One can immediately see the difference in the cultures of the two countries and how they tackle the spills, look at the environmental damages as well as try to protect workers cleaning up the spills. Certainly, we have much more background knowledge about the Gulf spill as we have been living it over 100 days now. I can see a wonderful Science lesson full of comparing and contrasting in many ways just from listening to these two videos.
Ex:
Safety precautions for cleanup crews
Environmental impact and government regulations and concerns
Climate (temperature) impact on disbursement of oil
Long term environmental impact
Economic and social impact to areas
Politics and the oil spills