As a teacher I get increasingly frustrated with the amount of time my students waste searching for answers on the Internet. It’s hardly surprising, given the volume of information available. I liken it to putting a student in the middle of the largest library in the world, asking them a question, and then expecting them to come up with an answer in minutes from a suitable book.
Even Google, with all its massive search potential, is proving relatively ineffective at throwing up the needles in the haystack. In a recent copy of ‘Wired’ magazine the legendary Will.i.am talked about the need for information filters – we need to make searching smarter and less of a hit-or-miss process.
As a result of recent experiences I have decided to start putting together a range of simple videos to answer specific questions. I’m calling the video series ‘Science Revision – What Is …..?’, and the first video simply describes the difference between speed and velocity – how many times do students fail to understand this?
When asking questions on the internet students are invariably directed towards sites such as Wiki Answers – sometimes the responses given are appropriate, but at other times the responses are completely at the wrong level or utterly lame.
I am hoping that my short videos will answer many of the basic questions being asked by students – in fact, I’m hoping that they will be asking me questions and so giving me the opportunity to respond!
To have a look at the first video either click on the image above or on the link below.
Until next time,
Graham
Science Revision – What is the difference between speed and velocity?
