Here is a short documentary created by the USGS about the 1964 Alaskan Earthquake. Remember that this is the largest US earthquake in our recorded history. The video is mostly in black and white, but that is because it much of it was recorded just after the event. The video show a bunch of images of the uplift that occurred. Your students will also learn about the subduction zones that cause the Alaskan earthquakes. One of the things I really like is that the video demonstrates how scientists conduct experiments and observations by using core samples.
This is an excellent video about how the absence and reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone affected the Yellowstone food web and even change the behavior of rivers. Now you might be wondering as I did, how in the heck can wolves change the behavior or the Yellowstone rivers. The images in this video are very beautiful and your students will enjoy this short video. If you are teaching some ecology in your science classroom then this video is for you.
In this science video Bill Nye discusses the three states of matter. He discusses the differences between solids, liquids and gasses. You can always expect Bill Nye the Science 3-to explain the scientific principles so that every student can understand.
Here is another TEDed lesson on how our noses smell and detect odor. This is a cartoonized video with a great story track. This science video goes through the different parts of the nose and some parts of the tongue as taste and smell go hand in hand. The video also discusses the difference between certain animals and our human noses. One of the interesting science concepts that is discuss is why some people lack a sense of smell. Some of those scientific concepts I hadn't ever been taught in school.
Ted-Ed, does an excellent job teaching scientific concepts visually and easy to understand for students of all ages. In this particular science video, we see how a mosquito behaves, a little bit about the history of mosquitoes, and the possible side effects from a mosquito's bite or sting. The information is great and I think your students would enjoy knowing what are some possibilities if we were to actually eliminate all mosquitoes in the world.
If you are teaching a science lesson on parasites, then this video would be a good one to introduce the blood sucking mosquito.
This post isn't so much about a single video, but a Youtube channel worth subscribing to. I taught 7th grade earth science for 12 year before moving on into tech and math. One of the methods of getting my students involved and enjoying my class was to perform experiments and then have brainstorming activities where students asked and answered questions. I tried to do a little science activity everyday that would only take about 5-10 minutes just to either introduce a concept or simply to get my students excited to learn about science. In fact when I moved to the High School to teach Math, I had the opportunity to teach some of my former 7th grade students. They mentioned all the time how much they liked my class. I would have some fun and simply ask them, "if you had fun and enjoyed the class, tell me something you learned." Very few students actually mentioned a single topic, but instead mentioned some of their favorite science experiments. I encourage science teachers everywhere to make sure you show, demonstrate, and create thinking activities that go beyond the textbook.
Now on to this particular post. I would like to promote SteveSpanglerScience Youtube channel. He has well over 100 science demonstrations and activities that don't cost much and many are very simple to do. In this particular science video, SteveSpanglerScience demonstrates how to create a square bubble. I thought Spongebob was the only one could create square bubbles, but apparently it is possible. SteveSpanglerScience does an excellent job describing the process and give a materials list.
When you are teaching a unit on Astronomy, inevitably you are going to get into a discussion with students on the possibility of life outside of our own solar system. In this Veritasium video, Veritasium asks people on the street whether or not they believe in aliens. The responses are great to listen to. The discussion of the video is more about the knowledge of how vast a galaxy really is. If people understood how far a light year actually is, it would be less likely that anybody would believe in the alien types that visit the Earth. In the video they show a scientist who has discovered 8 exo-planets himself and his ideas on the concept of extraterrestrial life. Also part of the video they discuss a few methods of how scientists are discovering these exo-planets.
Veritasium delivers another great video about science. In this video the question as to whether there is actually gravity in space is answered. The video discusses that astronauts are not actually floating in space but in reality they are falling as well as the International Space Station. They never hit the Earth though because they are also moving forward at an incredible speed. Gravity does affect objects in space but because of motion, objects can maintain an orbit. Veritasium does a great job explaining this through visual connections that might help you as a teacher get rid of some of the scientific misconceptions out there.
Subject: Science (Astronomy and Physics)
Grade Level: 4-12
Time: 2:22
If you are teaching physical science and have often tried to come up with a great explanation about why objects hit the ground at the same time if they are dropped from the same height and time, then Veritasium once again does an excellent job with this explanation The video first starts off with him asking people off the street about which ball will hit the ground at the same time. After listening to their ideas he then performs the experiment. He takes it one step further when he asks the people why they think both objects hit at the same time. Some of their scientific ideas are pretty funny to listen to. Try showing this video to your students asking them questions along the way. Or even better yet try the experiment with them, adding different sized and weighted objects.
No matter what your political beliefs about what causes climate change, you still need to show your students this video. This is an officially NASA released video of global temperatures over the last century. The temperature differences are huge.
