News
|
Feb 2025: Erosion Notes
Basic notes for kids who lack access to the regular classroom Link to Playlist
|
Jan 2025: Landscape Notes
NYS Landscape notes for the "old" Regents exam Link to Video
|
Dec 2024: Spanish Language Biology Videos
I was looking to help a ELL kid in Biology and was grateful to find these Spanish language videos by the Amoeba Sisters. We need more stuff like this. Link to YouTube Channel
|
|
Oct 2024: Mapping Notes Videos
Lecture notes on contour maps, drawing profiles, lat/long and time zones. Link to YouTube playlist
|
Sep 2024: Minerals Notes Videos
Lecture notes on minerals. Link to YouTube playlist
|
July 2024: Drone Wave Footage
I've been thinking about capturing this beach drone footage for a long time, came out pretty cool. Link to DRONE page
|
|
May 2024: Drone Camera, 500 ft History of Earth Timeline
Earth is sooooooooo old compared to humans, every timeline I've ever made seemed too small to accurately show it. So I had my Project Based Science class construct a 500 ft long timeline and I filmed this video with the drone. Link to DRONE page
|
May 2024: Video Course now on YouTube
|
May 2024: Drone Camera, Earth-Sun-Moon to Scale
I've wanted a drone for school for a while because I knew I could do stuff like this with. I'm really psyched with how this turned out. The Sun is HUGE... Link to DRONE page
|
|
March 2024: Classroom Infrared Camera
I'm really excited to finally get an infrared camera. for my classroom This should be standard equipment in all science classrooms in 2024. So cool, the kids love it so far. Link.
|
March 2024: Drone Test Footage
I wrote a grant to get a drone to use with my classes. (big thanks to the Chatham Education Foundation!) I just need to learn how to fly this thing. The first day was a relative success, here's footage of one of the test flights. Link.
|
March 2024: Non-Science
PERSONAL: A creative endeavor of mine is making stuff from old wood and other salvaged materials. I pull 100+ yr old lumber out of dumpsters and make stuff with it. It's far from easy, but I like the problem-solving involved and being able to flex my artistic side. I recently started framing my own photography which has been really cool. Link to milkcrate salvage page.
|
|
May 2023: How Kodak Exposed US Nuclear Testing
Another great Veritasium video. I showed this in class as an aside when teaching radioactive decay, the kids really liked it. It's got the Cold War, government conspiracy, nuclear testing, X-ray film, wind patterns, increased cancer rates - a whole bunch great jumping off points, It spurred great class discussions. Link.
|
April 2023: Relative vs Absolute
My 9th grade Earth Science students always struggle with relative vs absolute, terms which are commonly used on the NYS Regents exam. So I filmed this video using common everyday situations to help get the point across. It's really helped them. Youtube link is here.
|
Mar 2023: Edpuzzle
I've been really liking Edpuzzle this year and have been using it in a variety of ways. I like that I know that students watched the full video (love the no skipping feature!) and that I can ask pointed questions to help direct their focus. An essential part is that students get immediate feedback when the correct answer is given. That's huge for their learning. One main use for me has been test review, which has traditionally been assignments that WAY too many students copy from others, a big issue I've battled mostly unsuccessfully my entire career. Edpuzzle really thwarts the copying issue. To make it easier, I often just video my hard copy review packets with my phone and then upload it. See preview above. (Unfortunately, your district needs to have a paid subscription to Edpuzzle)
|
|
Jan 2023: Capillary Action Demo
I'm really seeing the effects of Covid with my students. They were struggling more than usually with capillary action. So I made this video to supplement my other capillary video from a few years ago. It's direct and to-the-point and helps get the point across.
|
Dec 2022: Above the Clouds Time Lapse
I've always loved seeing the tops of clouds on flights. This video is a calming time lapse above the clouds. I recommend viewing it a 2x speed.
|
Sep 2022: Permeability Lab
I've created a lot of labs, demos, activities, and experiments over the years. And I think they're all pretty darn good (or at least light years ahead of what my HS Earth Sci teacher did with our class). But the one that all students and ES teachers in my school keep coming back to as their favorite is the Permeability Lab. I made this video as an introduction/directions for students. And while the video may seem direction-intensive and teacher-focused, the lab itself is very student-centered. And that's why they like it. The lab is a pain to set up, is super messy and hard to grade, but it's consistently the favorite lab of the year. I redid this last year in a more streamlined manner and it's even better,
|
|
May 2022: Cold Weather Skateboard Wheels Experiment
I recently found some lost footage from this Applied Physics experiment which set out to answer the question "Does cold temp affect the rolling of my skateboard?". So I was finally able to finish this video. I love doing experiments in class that answer real world problems - that's the basis of science, right?
|
February 2022: Norway Landslide
Here's a wild video of a 2020 landslide in Norway. The slow rate of land movement makes it especially gripping. 
|
October 2021: Capillary Action Time Lapse
I originally filmed this video to help teachers teach capillary action. It's even more helpful now that so much learning is remote these days and I see it's getting a lot of views. It does a pretty good job showing the basics and capillary action is pretty cool to see in time lapse. Check out the Groundwater page for more. |
|
November 2020:
Let's all get ourselves into good mental shape to help deal with the Covid winter. Go outside, exercise, eat well, limit screen time, etc. We can do this! |
September 2020: Ice Caves
I've always loved seeing inside and under glaciers and so do students. This short video of glacial ice caves in Alaska is very well done.
|
August 2020: Remote Teaching
I never really thought remote learning would extend into the 20-21 school year, but here we are. Here's a video I made showing how to make videos for your students fairly easily at home. I hope it's helpful.
|
|
June 2020: Whew!
Thanks for all the emails and words of encouragement and appreciation through all of this. It was a lot of work but it felt good to help out teachers and students during these unprecedented times. For years I've advocated for the use of at-home learning using on-line resources (to supplement in-person instruction) but this was not what I had in mind. Fingers crossed for schools to reopen in some sort of normal fashion in Sept. Please contact me with any questions. Have a good summer! |
March 2020: Coronavirus Help for Teachers & Students
This Coronavirus is definitely scary. With all the recent school closures I've decided to give free access to all schools closed due to the virus. Please head to this page and follow links to get a free access code for you students. Be careful out there everyone! |
Jan 2020: June 2019 Regents Exam ANSWERS EXPLAINED
After the runaway popularity of my first answers explained video, I set out to make one for the June 2019 exam. Man, it's an unbelievable amount of work and time, but I'm happy with how it came out. 
|
|
Dec 2019:
The Review Book is Dead! 
Man, kids certainly do hate review books! It's understandable - they're tedious and boring. But for so long, they were really the only way to review for standardized test. The genesis behind my online video review course was me wanting to improve the review experience for students - make it easier, more efficient and less terrible. With all humility, I have to say I think I've made significant progress on all 3 fronts. So it makes sense for teachers to provide access to this resource for their students. Click on over to the School subscription page for more info and discounted rates for schools.
|
January 2019: New Online Earth Science Review
I finally finished my new series of review videos. I've taken the review concept of my original review videos from 2009 and really took the time to rebuild them from the ground up. These videos are more thorough and cohesive. I created an online course for purchase and I also created a FREE mini-course as well, both on Teachable.com. Head over to the Review Page for the details. |
February 2019: Thanks!
Thanks to all who've enrolled in the review course! It's been great to hear all the positive feedback so far, and it's cool to see people latch onto this new style of learning that's an alternative to the traditional teacher lecture, textbook, worksheet methods. Click on over to the Review Page for more info. |
|
November 2018: The Ingenious Design of the Aluminum Beverage Can
I know how crazy it sounds to say "This 11 minute video on the aluminum can blew my mind!", but it did just that. It's refreshing to see the push for including more engineering in science courses, and this video can help give students an appreciation of the complexity of a seemingly simple everyday item. Big thanks to engineerguy for making the video. It's been added to the Applied Physics page. |
September 2018: Make the Reference Table Cool Again!
OK, so the reference table we use in NY State is not the most exciting thing in the world. So to make it a little more fun, I've come up with the Make the Reference Table Cool Again challenge The idea is that students make their own videos that somehow incorporate the reference table. Admittedly, there's not a whole lot of learning here, but it will help make Earth Science a little more fun for students, and that goes a long way. Here's one that I put together (how many locations do you recognize). |
June 2018: Outstanding Earth Science Teacher Award
This past weekend I headed down to Lancaster, PA to accept the Eastern Region's Outstanding Earth Science Teacher Award at the NAGT banquet. It's a big honor for me and it's nice to have my work recognized. A big thanks to everyone at NAGT, especially Steve Lindberg and Michael Passow. 
With Michael Passow of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
|
|
May 2018: Google Site
The Google suite can be a very useful tool for education. But it's only as good as the content being shared. I was resistant at first but I've found my Google site to be a great tool for my students this year. And it's very easy and fast to put together (and I don't use those words lightly in the realm of technology.) I think what I've built is a good example of how a Google site can benefit students. Here's a link to it. |
April 2018: S and P Wave Shadow Zones
I've found that students really struggle with P and S wave shadow zones. I understand their difficulty - the diagrams typically used are visually confusing. To help students make sense of the diagrams, I pulled out 2 old globes and drew in how the shadow zones would look. Here's a video that teachers can use in class or for homework assignments. I also added it to the Plate Tectonics page. |
March 2018: DIY Classroom Safety
I think the March 14th Gun Violence Walk-Out is definitely valuable. However, I wanted to do something that could help protect me and my students from a school shooter. So I got out some tools and made a simple device that could help secure the classroom door in the vent of an attack. Here's a video showing how it works and how to make one for yourself. |
|
March 2018: Glacier Time Lapse
I just added two excellent time lapse videos that show glacial motion. One consists of clips from the documentary film Chasing Ice; the other is a one-year time lapse of the Jorge Montt Glacier in Chile. Both drew comments of "Oooh, cool..." from students, which is always a good sign. Find them on the Erosion or Time Lapse pages. |
February 2018: Applied Physics Page
I am starting to build a page for Applied Physics, the other course I teach. This course is designed for high school seniors who don't have the math skills for a traditional Physics course. And let me tell you, teaching Physics while limiting the math is quite a challenge. So early on I decided to focus on physics in the real-world and conducting open-ended investigations/experiments. And with all modesty, I have to say that it's lead to some pretty cool experiments and activities. It's still very much a work-in-progress but check out the Applied Physics Page. |
February 2018: Capillary Action Time Lapse
As I was setting up my Permeability Lab I quickly set up to film time lapse of the capillary tubes. It came out pretty good. Check it out here. I also included it on the Groundwater and Time Lapse pages. And so it can be used to present NGSS phenomena, I have a version that is just the raw footage without commentary. |
|
December 2017: How to Find Mineral Percent of Igneous Rocks Using the Igneous Rock Chart
I put this together as a reference for my students when they're working at home. Not exciting, but a usable resource for a basic earth science skill. Video link. |
November 2017: Profile Practice
To accompany the popular How to Draw Topographic Profiles video I made last year, I came up with a way for students to practice drawing profiles on their own. Two practice maps, an answer key overlay and a step-by-step video are on the Profile Practice page for students to download. |
November 2017: STANYS Conference
I knew presenting 4 different sessions here would be an incredible amount of preparation. And I was right. But I'm definitely glad I was able to present some of my ideas directly to other teachers. Thanks for all the positive feedback. More info on the Conferences page. |
|
November 2017: AMTNYS Conference
It was encouraging to have such a receptive crowd of math teachers for my HW Videos presentation. Check out an overview of the HW video concept here. |
November 2017: Physical Science Page is Up
This page will continue to grow and will probably be huge one day, since there are so many great videos out there. Check it out here. |
October 2017: NJ Science Convention
Thank you New Jersey! It was great to have such enthusiastic crowds at both of my sessions. I made playlists that include all the clips I showed during each presentation. Here are the links to the playlists for HW Video and Using Self-Made Videos as Teaching Tool. |
|
September 2017: Flying through a Hurricane
This shows how hurricane weather data is collected and the surprising calm of a flight right through a hurricane. Find it here. |
September 2017: Hurricane Irma Time Lapse
This time lapse video, filmed from a satellite at 22,000 feet altitude, shows the movement of 3 hurricanes over 6 days. Pretty incredible. This is a great tool to teach so many aspects of weather. Check it out here. |
August 2017: Hurricane Harvey
This video from the NY Times shows the difficult-to-fathom scale of the flooding with before and after video of the same location. For future reference, it's been added to the Weather page. |
|
June 2017: NYS Regents Lab Practical Review
While I'm not really in this for the boring state-test stuff, I do believe in efficient and effective learning. And it's always been difficult for students to review for the hands-on lab practical part of the NYS regents exam. So I filmed 4 videos that review the basics. Video can never replace hands-on review of skills like these, but it's the next best thing for when students are not in the classroom. Check out the playlist. |
May 2017: Using YouTube Videos in the Science Classroom
In order to promote the use of videos as a teaching tool, I compiled clips of some great science YouTube videos that can help teachers bring the real world into the classroom. This is just a small taste of some of the great videos that are out there. Check them out: YouTube in the Science Classroom |
May 2017: 360 Video - Offshore Wind Turbine
I'm working on building Environmental Issues and Energy Resource pages, but they're both far from finished. For now check out this cool 360 degree video of the first offshore wind farm in the US from the NY Times. Be sure to click and drag on the image to take advantage of the 360 video technology. I love the interactive nature of it and how real it feels. |
|
April 2017: Professional Development
I never really aspired to be a PD presenter. But in order to promote the use of video as a teaching tool - something I strongly believe in - I've started to present some PD sessions. I've done a string of them within my own district recently, and I just presented 3 different sessions at the Suffolk County (NY) STANYS Spring Conference. This has lead me to beef up the Trainings page. I've added a Video Video Best Practices page too. |
April 2017: Resources for 20,000 Hertz Podcast
I put together a student direction sheet and quiz for the very cool Space episode of the sound-centric podcast 20,000 Hertz. Check it out at the bottom of the Astronomy page. 
"Space" episode of 20K Hertz
|
April 2017: Weathering Page is Up
It's not the most photogenic of topics, but there are some good videos up on this page. We're still looking for some good cave videos though so if you know of any send them our way. Link to the weathering page is here. |
|
April 2017: VantaBlack
This material absorbs 99.965% of all light that hits it. Check out the Sci Show video on the Astronomy page. |
March 2017: Stuff in Space added
This website shows all the man-made objects in orbit around Earth. Check it out on the Astronomy page. |
March 2017: "Space" episode of 20,000 Hertz Podcast
The folks at the sound-centric podcast 20,000 Hertz tour our solar system asking the question, "What would it sound like on this planet?" Very cool idea that they execute quite well. Check it out at the bottom of the Astronomy page. |
|
March 2017: Waterfalls
While working to build the Weathering page, I was unhappy with the videos I found on waterfall formation. So I put together a very basic one myself just to get the point across. While very simple, my students always like the animation. Link. |
Feb 2017: Sand Lab
I've made semi-major revisions to this lab that greatly improve the overall student experience. I'm excited about how this mini-sand unit has grown - there are some really good activities and resources related to sand. I even made a "How to Do the Sand Lab with Your Class" video to help other teachers see how the lab works. Check it all out on the Sand Lab page. |
|
Jan 2017: Bowen's Reaction Series
We just added three videos explaining Bowens R.S. to the Rocks & Minerals page. |
Dec 2016: Rocks/Minerals Page Expanded
We've expanded this page to include over 50 videos, including 18 teaching videos from Professor Christian Shorey's (Colorado School of Mines) excellent Earth Explorations series. We've also added more quarrying/mining videos and broke them out into its own section. |
Oct 2016: Groundwater / Water Resources page is up. Though groundwater may not seem to be the most photogenic of topics, we've collected links to some good water-related videos here, from A Billion Gallons a Day about NYC's water system, to slo-mo water drops to a really cool permeable pavement demo (!). We're still on the lookout for a really good video of one of those plexi-glass groundwater models though. Look for videos on dams to be added soon. Link to the page is here.
|
|
Oct 2016: Time Lapse page is up.
I love time lapse as a teaching tool. Our collection is a bit random for now, but there are some really good ones. Look for more to to be added as we move toward 2017. The time lapse page link is here. |
Sep 2016: Mapping page is up and running. Maps as a topic doesn't really lend itself to good videos, but we found some videos that will enhance your class. The AR Sandbox is super cool. The Mapping page is here.
|
July 2016: Building a Time Lapse page.
Time lapse videos open up a whole world when teaching science. And there are some great ones out there. We've only just started building the page, but here's a taste: Alexis Coram's great Northern Lights TL video (click on photo below) 
Northern Lights time lapse
|
|
June 2016: Weather Video page is up
It's surprising how few good weather videos there are, especially for some of the nuts-and-bolts stuff we teach (such as fronts). So we're still searching, but the videos we have up now are good. Check them out here. |
June 2016: More Sand stuff added
We've just added a recent NY Times article and a few additional videos (toward bottom of the page) |
June 2016: Sand Lab
For years I've wanted to develop a lab where students take a close up look at sand. It snowballed a bit to include videos, articles and interactive stuff. I did it for the first time this year and was pleasantly surprised with how students took to it. The lab itself is very hands-on and more hands-on is always good. Check it out here. |
