Still from a rainy St. Patrick’s Day film.
My iPhone made this video from shots I took on March 17, 2016 — better job of editing than I could have done.
Should I let iPhone make more movies?
Rain and hail on St. Patrick’s Day 2016
March 6, 2018
1 Comment | 
Humor, Technology, Video and film, Weather | Tagged: Humor, Technology, video, Weather | 
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Posted by Ed Darrell
Should teachers make videos for classroom use? Economics edition
January 15, 2016Mary McGlasson teaches economics at Chandler-Gilbert Community College in Arizona.
She makes videos for use in class, and out of class, and by others, on key economic concepts. I’ve used her videos in economics with great results.
Recently she was recognized with a teaching excellence award; she wrote: “The kind folks at the League for Innovations at the Community College asked each Roueche Award recipient to create a 1-minute video, so here it is. Mine’s a bit of a fail, because it’s 1:25… hope they like it anyway!”
Good on Mary McGlasson.
You want to see the real stuff? It’s all there on McGlasson’s YouTube channel. Here are a couple of examples.
Scarcity and Choice
Resources
Congratulations to Mary McGlasson — and thanks! Economics teachers, go see what she’s got.
Can you do better? Can you adopt these methods for different subjects? Please try.
1 Comment | Classroom technology, Economics, Education, Teaching, Video and film | Tagged: Classroom technology, Economics, Education, Mary McGlasson, Teaching, video | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
History of physics, in four minutes
November 22, 2014
Isaac Newton and a friendly bird, on the verge of discovery; still from the film, “Physics,” by Asa Lucander.
History teachers, physics teachers, you should use this film.
In amusing animation — perhaps a throwback to earlier animations, but good and amusing — produced by Åsa Lucander @ 12foot6, for the television Science Club series on BBC2, hosted by Dara O Briain (who does the narration).
Physics – Short animation, which was part of the Science Club series on BBC2 hosted by Dara O Briain,
© BBCDirected by: Åsa Lucander @ 12foot6
Produced by: 12foot6
Art&Design: Åsa Lucander
Additional Art: Marc Moynihan
Stop Motion & Compositing: Julia Bartl
Animation: Kim Alexander, Marc Moynihan, Anna Fyda, Barry Evans, Lucy Izzard, Simon Testro, Phoebe Halstead, Michael Towers
Sound: Laura Coates
For my money, this should be a valuable classroom tool. In four short minutes the film covers most of the really great advances in physics, suitably for world history or U.S. history. It’s clear enough in its presentation that physics students should find it a useful review. Or more likely, they’ll understand what we’ve been trying to teach them, for the first time.
Science gets left out of history courses way too easily. Here’s a quick way to stick it back in.
Tip of the old scrub brush to Fast Company, where I found the film and details. Fast company also created this 3 second excerpt, in MP4 format, which you may find useful somewhere:
Leave a Comment » | History, Physics, Teaching, Video and film | Tagged: Åsa Lucander, Dara O Briain, film, History, Physics, Teaching, video | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Can videos make you teacher of the year? Paul Andersen’s Montana science videos
November 25, 2012There’s a great story here — maybe more than one.
For “Origin of Species Day,” November 24, the anniversary of the 1859 publication of Charles Darwin’s most famous book, Paul Andersen sent out this Tweet:
Who is Paul Andersen? He’s Montana’s Teacher of the Year (for what year, I don’t know). He teaches science in Bozeman, at Bozeman High.
Plus, he’s produced 224 videos, most of them on science issues. They’re short, they’re informative, and they work. Salman Khan, not yet — but here’s one more piece of the great big puzzle, how do we marry education and technology.
Where does he offer continuing education for teachers on how to produce videos? Why isn’t Texas paying big money to him to get him to do that, to teach Texans how to use YouTube to teach?
Andersen’s on the right path, and he’s running hard. Teachers, are you paying attention?
(By the way, I’d quibble a bit on his history — I think Darwin did a fair deal of experimentation on evolution, breeding pigeons for a decade, among other things. But Andersen’s use of stickleback evolution is very good; the little fishies have been observed to speciate in the wild, and then to duplicate that speciation in captivity, thereby confirming what was observed out in the lakes. Thank you sticklebacks!)
Very quickly this gets into serious territory.
Look, I’m an out of the loop teacher in Dallas, Texas — and for all its money and size and importance, Texas is mostly a cultural and educational backwater. It’s not that there aren’t great people in education here, or no great resources — we are shackled to an ancient political system that puts more value on fealty to not-quite-superordinate ideas than on cutting edge education, or mass educational attainment. There is a powerful anti-intellectual stream in Texas politics that believes a hobbled education system will not threaten the political, social or cultural order. Too many Texans take great solace in that, covertly or overtly.
As a nation, we are engaged in a series of great education experiments, using our children as testing subjects, as guinea pigs. How does video fit into making education work better?
Here we’ve got Paul Andersen and his science videos.
Despite my grousing about his not being in Texas, he is active in national circles where the serious questions get asked about how to use video, and other technologies.
A YouTube Education Summit on October 18 and 19 got Andersen out of Montana, where Andersen ran into C. G. P. Grey, another guy who uses video.
Grey responded with this ode to a “digital Aristotle“:
Links and other information Grey offered:
Some thoughts on teachers, students and the Future of Education.
The book kid me is holding in the video is The Way Things Work. If there’s a bookish child in your life, you should get them a copy: http://goo.gl/QdreHAlso I don’t think that the idea of Digital Aristotle is sci-fi, but if you *do* want to read the sci-fi version, I highly recommend The Diamond Age: http://goo.gl/uvbx6
Thanks to YouTube EDU for bringing me out: http://www.youtube.com/education
And Angela for arranging the whole show: http://www.youtube.com/aresearchbug
And Jessica for her amazing note artwork: http://www.youtube.com/seppyca
Full credits and more info at: http://cgpgrey.squarespace.com/blog/digital-aristotle-thoughts-on-the-future-…
CGPGrey T-Shirts available from DFTBA: http://dftba.com/product/10m/CGP-Grey-Logo-Shirt
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/cgpgrey
Google+: http://plus.google.com/115415241633901418932/posts
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greys-Blog/193301110697381
Andersen replied, questioning how well a digital Aristotle can work, since it takes Aristotle out of the equation:
Links Andersen promised:
Paul Andersen reflects on Digital Aristotle, his trip to the YouTube Edu summit, and the future of education
Digital Aristotle: Thoughts on the Future of Education:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vsCAM17O-M60 Minutes episode on Sal Khan:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7401696nClassroom Game Design at TEDxBozeman:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qlYGX0H6EcBlended Learning Cycle:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-apJDi7cx9o
Game on, ladies and gentlemen. Which one is closer to being right?
There you go, from evolution, to evolution of teaching and education. What’s the selection tool for quality education? Which species of learning will survive to reproduce?
Your thoughts in comments, please.
More:
- Bozeman Biology site at YouTube
- BozemanScience.com is Andersen’s homepage and portal
- Anderson’s post on the YouTube meeting
- C. G. P. Grey on five historical misconceptions; good stuff, basically
- The difference between Khan and Austin (ideasandthoughts.org)
- Being a part of the digital Aristotle (doctormo.org)
- Gamifying Classroom Learning (slideshare.net)
- 7 Great YouTube Channels for Science (educatorstechnology.com)
- If social media is like high school, should high schools monitor social media? (o.canada.com)
- 7 Outstanding YouTube Channels for History Teachers (educatorstechnology.com)
- 8 Great YouTube Channels for Math (educatorstechnology.com)
- Billings West High government teacher feted as Montana teacher of the year (missoulian.com)
- Happy Origin of Species Day! (November 24) (timpanogos.wordpress.com)
- Bozeman home to two 2012 Rhodes Scholars (missoulian.com)
- Area teachers star in teacher training videos (amarillo.com)
- Stickleback evolution explained at the Genetic Science Learning Center, University of Utah (HHMI support)
- “Stickleback genomes reveal path of evolution,” Nature Magazine
- HHMI Lectures: Fossil record of stickleback evolution
6 Comments | Charles Darwin, Darwin, Education, Education assessment, Education reform, Evolution, Video and film | Tagged: Aristotle, Charles Darwin, Digital Aristotle, Education, History, Origin of Species, Science, Teaching, video | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Secret life of books, captured on video
February 23, 2012Yeah, we sorta knew that:
Explanation at YouTube:
After organizing our bookshelf almost a year ago (http://youtu.be/zhRT-PM7vpA), my wife and I (Sean Ohlenkamp) decided to take it to the next level. We spent many sleepless nights moving, stacking, and animating books at Type bookstore in Toronto (883 Queen Street West, (416) 366-8973).
Everything you see here can be purchased at Type Books.
Grayson Matthews (http://www.graysonmatthews.com/) generously composed the beautiful, custom music. You can download it here: http://itunes.apple.com/album/awakenings-single/id496796623
Leave a Comment » | animation, Books | Tagged: animation, Books, video | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Comet Lovejoy danced too close to the Sun — but defied death!
December 17, 2011Great pictures from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory.
A newly-discovered comet, Comet Lovejoy, orbited dangerously close to the Sun for a ball of ice. Experts predicted it would be the last trip for the little planetoid.
But, then Lovejoy zoomed out from the other side of our home star. Amazing.
See it for yourself:
How surprising was this? Look at this earlier piece, inviting people to watch the end of the comet:
A wonderful fail, no?
See also:
- Movies at NASA sites (looking like they were shot for “CSI: Miami” with that yellow filter) and the NASA press release
Comet Lovejoy Plunges into the Sun and Survives
Dec. 16, 2011: This morning, an armada of spacecraft witnessed something that many experts thought impossible. Comet Lovejoy flew through the hot atmosphere of the sun and emerged intact.
“It’s absolutely astounding,” says Karl Battams of the Naval Research Lab in Washington DC. “I did not think the comet’s icy core was big enough to survive plunging through the several million degree solar corona for close to an hour, but Comet Lovejoy is still with us.”
The comet’s close encounter was recorded by at least five spacecraft: NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory and twin STEREO probes, Europe’s Proba2 microsatellite, and the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. The most dramatic footage so far comes from SDO, which saw the comet go in (movie) and then come back out again (movie).
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory caught Comet Lovejoy emerging from its scorching close encounter with the sun. [Entrance movie:Quicktime (22 MB), m4v (0.8 MB)] [Exit movie:Quicktime (26 MB), m4v (0.8 MB)]In the SDO movies, the comet’s tail wriggles wildly as the comet plunges through the sun’s hot atmosphere only 120,000 km above the stellar surface. This could be a sign that the comet was buffeted by plasma waves coursing through the corona. Or perhaps the tail was bouncing back and forth off great magnetic loops known to permeate the sun’s atmosphere. No one knows.
“This is all new,” says Battams. “SDO is giving us our first look1 at comets travelling through the sun’s atmosphere. How the two interact is cutting-edge research.”
“The motions of the comet material in the sun’s magnetic field are just fascinating,” adds SDO project scientist Dean Pesnell of the Goddard Space Flight Center. “The abrupt changes in direction reminded me of how the solar wind affected the tail of Comet Encke in 2007 (movie).”
Comet Lovejoy was discovered on Dec. 2, 2011, by amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy of Australia. Researchers quickly realized that the new find was a member of the Kreutz family of sungrazing comets. Named after the German astronomer Heinrich Kreutz, who first studied them, Kreutz sungrazers are fragments of a single giant comet that broke apart back in the 12th century (probably the Great Comet of 1106). Kreutz sungrazers are typically small (~10 meters wide) and numerous. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory sees one falling into the sun every few days.
At the time of discovery, Comet Lovejoy appeared to be at least ten times larger than the usual Kreutz sungrazer, somewhere in the in the 100 to 200 meter range. In light of today’s events, researchers are re-thinking those numbers.
This coronagraph image from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory shows Comet Lovejoy receding from the sun after its close encounter. The horizontal lines through the comet’s nucleus are digital artifacts caused by saturation of the detector; Lovejoy that that bright! [movie]“I’d guess the comet’s core must have been at least 500 meters in diameter; otherwise it couldn’t have survived so much solar heating,” says Matthew Knight. “A significant fraction of that mass would have been lost during the encounter. The remains are probably much smaller.”
SOHO and NASA’s twin STEREO probes are monitoring the comet as it recedes from the sun. It is still very bright and should remain in range of the spacecrafts’ cameras for several days to come.
What happens next is anyone’s guess.
“There is still a possibility that Comet Lovejoy will start to fragment,” continues Battams. “It’s been through a tremendously traumatic event; structurally, it could be extremely weak. On the other hand, it could hold itself together and disappear back into the recesses of the solar system.”
“It’s hard to say,” agrees Knight. “There has been so little work on what happens to sungrazing comets after perihelion (closest approach). This continues to be fascinating.”
Author:Dr. Tony Phillips| Production editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA
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2 Comments | Astronomy, NASA, Science | Tagged: Astronomy, Comet Lovejoy, NASA, Science, video | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Economics videos to accompany your class
October 31, 2011Mary McGlasson at Chandler-Gilbert Community College in Phoenix, Arizona, has created a series of more than 30 YouTube videos explaining basic economics. Like this one:
Econ teachers, can you use these on your class websites? What do you think?
1 Comment | Economics, Education, Technology, Technology in the classroom, Video and film | Tagged: Economics, Education, Instructional Video, Mary McGlasson, Scarcity, Technology, video | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Drive-by Christian Broadcasting Network School of Law for Government Infiltration
July 18, 2011Do we need to add anything?
1,929 views when posted here.
Leave a Comment » | Humor, Politics, Video and film | Tagged: Humor, Michelle Bachmann, Politics, video | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
7 Billion: Are you typical? Year-long Nat Geo special reports
March 13, 20117 Billion: Are you typical?
Vodpod videos no longer available.
7 Billion: Are you typical? Year-long Nat Geo s…, posted with vodpod
I could see a bell-ringer in there somewhere. Who do you think ought to see this thing? What classes in public schools should see it, for what purpose?
I hope the year-long series lives up to the video. I hope there are a lot more videos to go along with it. As a piece of persuasive rhetoric, it does make a decent case for subscribing to National Geographic for a year. How’s that for rhetorical criticism?
2 Comments | Bell Ringers, Demographics, Economics, Education, Geography - Economic, Geography - Physical, Geography - Political, Government, History, Video and film | Tagged: Bell Ringers, Demography, Economics, Education, geography, Government, History, National Geographic, video, Warm-ups | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Sputnik – part of the series, “Cold War”
February 17, 2011BBC’s 24-part series on the Cold War included an entire segment on Sputnik. Kenneth Branagh narrated this episode.
Sarah Palin, you can start your education here. On YouTube, it’s broken up into five parts, each less than 10 minutes long.
Cold War, Sputnik, Part 1
Sputnik, Part 2
Sputnik, Part 3
Sputnik, Part 4
Sputnik, Part 5
1 Comment | 1957, Cold War, History, Sputnik, TAKS, TEKS, U.S.S.R. (Union of Soviet Socialist Repbublics), Video and film | Tagged: 1957, Cold War, Documentary Film, History, Sputnik, TEKS, video | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Sam O’Hare’s brilliant film, The Sand Pit
October 18, 2010You can learn a lot just by observing.
Sam O’Hare’s observations, captured with his Nikon D-300, can teach you a lot.
Or, you can sit back an enjoy the images. Spectacular stuff.
A day in the life of New York City, in miniature.
Winner: Prix Ars Electronica Award of Distinction 2010
Original Music: composed by Human (humanworldwide.com), co-written by Rosi Golan and Alex Wong.
Geography bell ringer?
2 Comments | Geography - Economic, Geography - Physical, Music, photography, Urbanization, Video and film | Tagged: Cool Stuff, geography, Music, New York, photography, Sam O'Hare, Urbanization, video | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Annals of DDT: Remembering Rachel Carson
October 8, 2010From America.gov, the real story of Rachel Carson, in less than two minutes:
More:
- Source of the film, at America.gov (with higher quality video).
- Slides on the impact of Rachel Carson’s work
- Excerpt from State Department book on Carson
- Film by Samuel Hudnut and Justin Tibbels, winner of the Silver Medal at the 2006 National History Day contest; sponsored by the Maryland Humanities Council; high school kids can tell an accurate story featuring Rachel Carson in under ten minutes, professional film makers should try to do as well. Also see this 2008 NHD entry.
- Deltoid, “The worst crime of the 20th century – Whodunnit?”
1 Comment | DDT, Environmental protection, History, History images, Natural history, Rachel Carson, Science, Video and film | Tagged: DDT, Environmental protection, History, History images, Natural history, Nature, Rachel Carson, Science, video | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
More Billy Blob: Bumble BeEing and the Butterfly Effect
August 16, 2010Also from Billy Blob (as the Space Probe cartoon posted here on August 15), “Bumble BeEing, Part 1: The Butterfly Effect.”
How to categorize such a cartoon: Philosophy? Science of Chaos (from which we get the hypothetical “butterfly effect”)?
Education? Religion?
Leave a Comment » | animation, Cartoons, Chaos, Philosophy, Video and film | Tagged: animation, Billy Blob, Butterfly Effect, Cartoons, Chaos, film, Philosophy, video | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Finch meets guitar
March 17, 2010Totally safe for work (in that way), but you may want to turn down your sound, unless you work with a lot of Hendrix fans.
Hey, I’ve used weird things for picks, too.
Tip of the old scrub brush to Happy Jihad’s House of Pancakes.
Leave a Comment » | Art, Humor, Music, Video and film | Tagged: Art, Guitars, Humor, Music, video, Zebra Finches | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Rap at the White House: Alexander Hamilton
November 22, 2009An Obama guest, Lin-Manuel Miranda, pushes the envelope on gangsta rap, and history teaching:
You can’t use that in the classroom, teachers? Why not?
More:
Wikipedia notes of Miranda:
He is working on a hip-hop album based upon the life of Alexander Hamilton, entitled The Hamilton Mixtape.[5] He recently performed “The Hamilton Mixtape” at the White House Evening of Poetry, Music, and the Spoken Word on May 12, 2009. Accompanied by Alex Lacamoire. [12]
Tip of the old scrub brush to Slashdot.
4 Comments | 1787, A Good Story, America's founding, Economics, History, History and art, History Methods and Tools, Music, Video and film | Tagged: Alexander Hamilton, America's founding, Economics, History, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Music, Rap, video | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 