Activate your students' minds',

What is EDHeads?
Edheads is an animation/simulation application which provides free educational activities for your classroom.
Edheads helps students learn through educational games and activities designed to meet state and national standards. Edheads partners with various school systems in the United States, which help them research, design and test activities every step of the way!
Not only do teachers and students appreciate the free activities, Edheads has been recognized by almost every major award on the Web for their excellent educational content!

So how can Edheads be incorporated into the classroom planning?
Here is an example of the Edheads tool being used for the planning of a science or Technology lesson for year 5 students.

TechnologicalDesign
Students can revise an existing design used to solve a problem based on peer review. Following this students then explain how the solution to one problem may create other problems.

Scientific Inquiry
Students can evaluate observations and measurements made by other people and identify reasons for any discrepancies. Then using their evidence and observations to explain and communicate the results of their investigations. Following this students could explain why the results of an experiment are sometimes different

Reflection:
I recently completed a unit on weather for my students on prac. Throughout this unit I included a guest speaker (weatherman) and provided a kit for the students to analyse how clouds are formed. This was a lot of fun1 Following this the students then wrote a report for their local paper to advise of their new information on the formation of clouds.

However, after investigating the tool 'EdHeads' I am wishing I knew about this tool before this unit of work. What a great tool for analysing and predicting the weather. Here, I would have wanted the children to use their evidence from their cloud data tool to explain their findings by creating their own Edhead design. This is a great rich task in completing a unit and i know the children would have had a lot of fun so they would be engaged throughout the whole unit.

Below I have posted the URL for an Edhead activity...However, a child's imagination and peer collaboration, in my mind, is where this tool really has an advantage.

http://www.edheads.org/activities/weather/frame_loader.htm

References:
http://www.edheads.org/activities/weather/frame_loader.htm