Over the past week, I have been exploring our world through this wonderful program Celestia (Thank you to @MitchSquires for the link). It had me thinking about the possibilities of exploration and how that can be used to develop inspiration, focus and interest in the curriculum.
Celestia allows you to travel through space, orbiting the Earth, the planets in our solar system and a multitude of stars. A visually stunning program which excites the mind into thoughts of astronauts, star wars and that need to discover something for the very first time.
I was trying to imagine how my own excitement could be extracted in a class setting from a large group of both boys and girls. Firstly, I believe that this type of program reaffirms the need for Web2.0 and other technologies in the classroom. We all know, and witness everyday that students learn best when they construct their own understanding, when they take what they know and the challenge themselves. A unit on space is a fantastic way for students to challenge what they know, to explore the world as we know it as well as their own way of thinking. "We came out of the cave and we looked over the hill and we saw fire. And we crossed the ocean and we pioneered the West and we took to the sky. The history of man is hung on a timeline of exploration and this is what's next." (Aaron Sorkin in The West Wing) If we are to really prepare our students so that they can advance our world, challenge the unknown and be fulfilled, educated people we must give them opportunities like this everyday.
Celestia allows you to travel through space, orbiting the Earth, the planets in our solar system and a multitude of stars. A visually stunning program which excites the mind into thoughts of astronauts, star wars and that need to discover something for the very first time.
I was trying to imagine how my own excitement could be extracted in a class setting from a large group of both boys and girls. Firstly, I believe that this type of program reaffirms the need for Web2.0 and other technologies in the classroom. We all know, and witness everyday that students learn best when they construct their own understanding, when they take what they know and the challenge themselves. A unit on space is a fantastic way for students to challenge what they know, to explore the world as we know it as well as their own way of thinking. "We came out of the cave and we looked over the hill and we saw fire. And we crossed the ocean and we pioneered the West and we took to the sky. The history of man is hung on a timeline of exploration and this is what's next." (Aaron Sorkin in The West Wing) If we are to really prepare our students so that they can advance our world, challenge the unknown and be fulfilled, educated people we must give them opportunities like this everyday.