FunScience Summer!

There's a whole lot of new FunScience content in the works this summer!

FunScienceDemos

FunScienceDemos is a YouTube channel with over 160 scientific demonstrations about every topic that young science learners ought to know before they reach high school.  The subtitled videos are translatable into virtually any language, and every month, students, teachers, and parents from over 200 countries and regions across the world tune in for some learning.  This summer, Dr. George Mehler and Jared Hottenstein are filming new demonstrations about area within life science, physical science, and Earth / space science,  as well as other STEM-related activities.  The channel currently has almost 78,000 subscribers, and we hope that it will grow to 100,000 subscribers within the next couple of years!

FunScienceProductions

FunScienceProductions is one of the newest branches of the FunScience overall project.  A team of student workers is in the process of writing and recording 28-minute TU TV episodes based on the same concepts explored in FunScienceDemos.  At the time of this writing, 5 of the episodes have been completed, and many more are on the way!

FunScienceSupport

FunScienceSupport is a website that supports FunScienceDemos by providing resources such as readings, activities, assessments, and simulations to science educators across the globe.  These resources are based on many of the same topics addressed in FunScienceDemos and on national (U.S.) science education standards.  Since the resources are located on Google Docs, they can quickly and easily be translated from English to almost any language by using the Translate feature.  There are also free, open-source textbooks available to read, download, and use!  The FunScience team is working to add more resources to the site this summer.  

FunScienceToons

FunScienceToons is a developing YouTube channel that will house 85 educational cartoons about scientific topics that are crucial to understand before reaching high school.  The animations will feature children - friends or siblings - who educate one another about the given subject through a friendly, investigative conversation that is rich with questions and curiosity.  Research has shown that peer-to-peer learning and inquiry-based learning are effective educational tools, so the writers sought to infuse these methods into their scripts.  The dialogue also models kindness and honesty, showing kids that they don't have to 'act cool' to fit in.  The videos have English captions which can be translated to other languages.  Over the summer, writers, animators, and voice actors are working hard to create this fun series.  The first animation, "Earth Spins and the Day Begins,"  is available to watch here!

FunScienceHistory

FunScienceHistory is another new project that uses important historical documents from the Library of Congress to teach the history of science. This project is geared towards students from 4th through 9th grade. The mission is to create educational content that teaches children a cohesive story about how we have the knowledge that we have today.  The lessons answer questions such as: How and when was electricity discovered?  How did microscopes develop from eyeglasses to the very advanced technology we have today, such as the transmitting electron microscope? This project is scheduled to complete at least 20 videos that explore these questions and many others. Each video will be scripted with thorough research and animated with the same characters as in FunScienceToons.  The first video, Day and Night, is available to watch here!