Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Something very cool: The Coriolis effect.

As many are getting the idea of now, I've dabbled in a YouTube Channel and am also now creating online Teacher PD courses for ClassCover's Relief Teacher Association.  My research takes me some interesting places as I try and find ways to make my online courses as engaging and useful as my live presentations.  In my wanderings I came across Derek Muller (who did his PhD in making educational science videos) and his "Veritasium" YouTube channel.  While I'm not a science teacher, some of his videos have inspired me to test my limits when making video for my courses.

It never ceases to amaze me the lengths some people go to on Youtube to make engaging educational videos and Mr Muller has surprised me again with this project on the coriolis effect.  I so want to use this in my classroom!

Which way does the water go down the plug hole in the different hemispheres of our planet?  Is the coriolis effect real or is it a myth?  This is a pretty cool way to find out....

You need these two videos:




I synchronised them by having 2 browser windows open and some clever clicking.  The Veritasium video (top) needs to be on the right and the SmarterEveryDay video (bottom) on the left.

Otherwise you can use this ready made page (which I found out after I actually watched it using 2 browser windows...):

http://www.smartereveryday.com/toiletswirl

That is a very clever and very engaging way to produce a pair of educational videos don't you think?  It's not something I can use in my courses but it's an excellent example of a high quality and highly effective engagement strategy. 

So why did I post this one?  Well, I juat HAD to share this because it's pretty cool in and of itself as a classroom activity but I guess what I'm trying to do by exposing people to this one is to encourage them to be just as inventive with their engagement strategies in their classrooms.

I hope you all get some of the inspiration from this that I did!


Did I mention that I REALLY want to use this in one of my classrooms?

Regards,

Mel.

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