A list of free, online science videos suitable for adult learners

Science teaching colleagues,

You may recall that there is a group of adult basic education science teachers here who, led by Susan Cowles and me, have been looking at free, online science videos that might be appropriate for adult basic education, adult secondary education and/or transition to college students. We have put together a document for you that we would like to get your feedback on. It's organized by: 1) twenty-two science video collection sites, and 2) by science topic: Animals, Astronomy, Botony (Plants), Chemistry, Earth Science, Human body, health and disease, Microscopic view of the world, Nature, Nutrition, Physics, Science history, and Zoology  You will find the draft list at https://docs.google.com/document/d/19F-_A7T-HcwwCCctxDoGFN0fyrryfKE1I_jG6-sLt1g/edit#

Please look at it now and post your comments here.

1. Are there good, free, online science videos for adults that we missed? If so, let us know what they are and if possible give us a web address.

2. Does this list look useful to you?

3. How would you use this list in teaching science?

Please do not distribute the list yet. After we have made revisions I will post a link to the final list, and you can distribute it then. For now, this is for your review only,

If you think you might be interested in joining this group and reviewing science videos in 2014-2015, please let me know.

In a few days I will post here the second product of this group, reviews of ten videos from this list. Stay tuned.

Questions and comments are welcomed!

David J. Rosen

djrosen123@gmail.com

 

 

Comments

As of Wednesday morning, August 27th, 35 people have read my announcement about the draft list of free science videos. Not bad for the last days of summer. About a half dozen have downloaded the list. I expect that between now and September 10th many more will read it, and I hope download it.

  • If you haven't downloaded the draft list, please do so right away. It will only be available until September 10th.
  • When you do download it, look at both categories: the web-based collections of science videos, and the individual videos by topic. Think about what videos are not there that we should consider adding. Think about how it is organized. Is this the most useful way for science teachers to access these? Think about what else you would like to see added.
  • As far as I know the LINCS Science CoP is the only adult basic education focused discussion space for adult education teachers of science. If you want a place to discuss science teaching for adults, this is it. And now is the time. Please post your comments now about the draft videos list to show your colleagues here that you appreciate the (volunteer) work they have done on your behalf, for this community! Don't just read or lurk. Please join in the discussion now. As an added incentive, if I see particularly insightful or helpful comments, with the permission of the author I may add them to the list,  and would of course credit her or him.

I look forward to seeing your comments here.

Thanks,

David J. Rosen

djrosen123@gmail.com

David J. Rosen

Hello, David and others,

This has been an impressive amount of work by volunteer reviewers of these science videos (and other videos that didn't make the cut).  As David says, it will be interesting to see how people use videos in teaching and learning.   It will also be useful to have suggestions for other videos to review!  As many of you begin the instructional year, we hope you'll have a chance to check out these resources, try them with learners, perhaps have learners evaluate the videos, and then write back to us!

Thanks!  Susan