40th anniversary of the first Moon landing

by James

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Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fleur-design/

This month sees the 40th anniversary of the first manned mission to land on the Moon. On July 20 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on the Moon, as Michael Collins orbited above in the Apollo 11 Command Module.

It also seems as if one of the long-standing issues concerning the first landing might have been resolved. There has always been debate over whether Armstrong omitted an ‘a’ from his famous first words as he stepped onto the Moon’s surface. Without saying ‘a man’, man and mankind have much the same meaning in the words: “One small step for man. One giant leap for mankind”.

It had been argued that Armstrong failed to say what was intended, or that the ‘a’ was perhaps lost in the static of the radio transmission. The latter seemed to be confirmed in 2006 when analysis showed that there was time in Armstrong’s speech for an ‘a’, but the most recent evidence claims that the ‘a’ was definitely never spoken.

Although incorrect grammatically, it is suggested that the omission was intentional by Armstrong to make the phrase more poetic, and that he draws a distinction between ‘man’ and ‘mankind’ by using rising and falling pitch for each word respectively. Guess it comes back to the old adage that it’s not what you say, but how you say it….

Aside from the linguistic debate, I’ve always found the Moon landings fascinating. What must it feel like to look back at Earth from the surface of the Moon, or similarly after the mission, to stare up at the Moon in the night sky and think that you have been there? It’s not really surprising that many of the Apollo astronauts had difficulties adjusting to life back on Earth when they returned.

To mark the special occasion (and also probably the last post of the year before you all break up for the summer!), here are some fantastic Moon-related clips from HVG. It was very difficult to decide which clips to post due to the number of Moon/Space-related clips that can be found in the gallery. Have a look for yourself by taking out a free 30-day trial and using the search function at the top of the page. Most of them can be found in the KS3 Science (‘Earth, Space and beyond’ substrand) and Key Stage 1&2 Science (QCA Unit 5E: Earth, Sun and Moon) modules.

The two sample clips I have chosen are from KS3 Science. The first (actually located within the ‘Reflection’ theme of the ‘Energy, electricity and forces’ substrand) shows how a mirror left on the Moon by one of the Apollo missions is still used today to measure the distance from the Earth to the Moon.

Title of clip	Mirror on the Moon
Curriculum location	KS3 Science  >  Energy, electricity and forces  >  Energy transfer and electricity  >  Section: Reflection  >  3.1a energy can be transferred usefully, stored, or dissipated, but cannot be created or destroyed
Description	A report looks at how the distance between the Earth and the Moon is measured accurately using a laser and a mirror that was placed on the moon by Apollo 11 astronauts in 1969. The report includes original images and photographs taken on the Moon’s surface and an interview with a scientist who describes and explains how the mirror on the Moon and the laser telescope are both used to calculate the distance between the Earth and the Moon accurately.
Duration	2 minutes 18 seconds

 

With it being the 40^th anniversary, the second sample clip had to be one that included some of the original footage from the Apollo missions. This video of an astronaut experimenting on the Moon demonstrates that Galileo’s prediction that in a vacuum, a hammer and feather would fall to the ground at the same rate, was correct…

Have a great summer break !

Title of clip	The hammer-feather drop
Curriculum location	KS3 Science  >  Energy, electricity and forces  >  Forces  >  Gravity and resistance  >  3.1b forces are interactions between objects and can affect their shape and motion
Description	NASA astronauts, on the moon, perform a demonstration to prove Galileo’s thought experiment that a feather and a hammer will fall with the same acceleration, in a vacuum, regardless of their mass. On Earth, air resistance will effect the fall of the feather.
Duration	35 seconds

 

Tennis and KS3 Science

by James

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Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/georgio/

With Wimbledon in full swing (excuse the pun), I thought I’d post a KS3 Science sample clip with a tennis-related theme. The clip would serve (sorry, really not trying!) as a useful introduction to the respiratory system topic and begins by showing an examination of the trachea and bronchi using an endoscope.

Before showing the video, you could ask the pupils to discuss the functions of the lungs and what the inside of a windpipe or trachea might be like, and to feed their ideas back to the class. After the video, you may wish to discuss any differences between their ideas and the accepted ideas about the lungs.

The clip goes on to show a game of tennis in order to illustrate that the size of a tennis court is approximately equivalent to the surface area of a human’s lungs! You could discuss this with the class, asking how such a large surface area is achieved and why it is important for gaseous exchange.

Good luck Mr Murray!

Title of clip	The respiratory system
Curriculum location	KS3 Science  >  Organisms, behaviour and health  >  Life processes  >  Section: Circulatory system  >  3.3a life processes are supported by the organisation of cells into tissues, organs and body systems
Description	An examination of the structure of the human lung. A doctor uses an endoscope to explore a person’s lung, he describes how the air passages continue to bifurcate the deeper he journeys. Two people play tennis on a clay court; the size of the court is approximately equivalent to the surface area of a human’s lungs.
Duration	33 seconds

 

Incorporating HVG clips into your presentations, and drinking cockroaches!

We’ve had a query about linking to HVG clips so that they can be displayed within PowerPoint presentations. The best way to do this is to copy and paste the hyperlink to the relevant clip into your slide, and then click on it once you get to the right point in the presentation. You just need to make sure that you are logged-in to HVG in the background. If you aren’t logged-in already you will be taken to the HVG login page and then go through directly to the clip once you have entered your login details.

As promised previously, here is a sample clip from the new KS3/Go Science! module. Despite the considerable ‘yuck factor’, this has to be one of my favourite clips from the module.

The clip shows part of a simple investigation into human behaviour. Children of differing ages are offered a drink of juice containing a dead cockroach. Young children will drink the juice if the cockroach is removed, but adults will not. The video would make an interesting introduction to the topic of investigating behaviour as it shows a psychologist and one of his experiments.

If you do use this clip in the classroom, you might want to warn your pupils that it is quite shocking, and that they may wish to look away at times while it is showing. To link back to the ‘Investigating human behaviour’ theme, it would then be interesting to find out if any of them were motivated to watch the clip more closely as a result of the warning?

The part of the clip that I find most disturbing is that the psychologist lets the children continue to drink the juice after they have clearly demonstrated their willingness to do so. Surely he could have stopped them – the youngest child nearly finishes the whole cup! Or perhaps that is just my particular cognitive level of perceiving the situation manifesting itself…

Title of clip	That’s disgusting – or is it?
Curriculum location	KS3 Science  >  Organisms, behaviour and health  >  Behaviour  >  Section: Investigating human behaviour  >  3.3e behaviour is influenced by internal and external factors and can be investigated and measured
Description	A series of clips show people of different ages being asked to drink a glass of apple juice with a cockroach in it. The experiment demonstrates how learnt behaviour and emotional response changes as we grow older. An expert in the field explains how a person’s cognitive level of perceiving a given situation improves with age until a threshold is past – in this example around the age of seven.
Duration	1 minute 45 seconds

 

New KS3 Science module launched

We’re pleased to announce the launch of a new KS3 Science module, with over 350 video clips, each with its own set of teacher notes (in the process of being uploaded to the site). Spread across four topics (‘Energy, electricity and forces’, ‘Chemical and material behaviour’, ‘Organisms, behaviour and health’, and ‘The environment, Earth and universe’), and then organised into substrands and themes, the new module is structured in line with the new KS3 Science Programme of Study.

The clips have been sourced to accompany Heinemann’s popular ‘Go Science!’ series, though they can be used in conjunction with any KS3 science scheme of work. Each set of teacher notes contains a link to the Go Science! books, along with detailed learning objectives, notes on the video clip, and suggestions for how it can be used in the classroom.

You can view the new module by taking out a free trial here, or look out for the sample clips that we’ll be posting in the coming weeks.

Happy Easter

by James

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Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22863752@N06/

Hopefully you’ve all had a great term and are now making the most of the holiday and warmer weather – it’s bright sunshine here in Oxford!

We’ve had a busy term again on the HVG blog and so I thought that I would summarise what we have covered, and highlight once more some of the great example clips that we have posted over the last few months. You can also see them all together on our YouTube channel.

The good weather this morning is quite a contrast to the cold and snow that we were experiencing at the beginning of January when we made our first post of the New Year. It included a clip from the primary literacy section of the gallery about how cold weather affects people, wildlife and landscapes around the world.

The first KS3 Geography clip that we posted looked at how volcanoes form, and has been our most popular example video of the year so far.

We celebrated Chinese New Year at the end of January, looking at the superstitions and traditions behind the festival. Hopefully the Year of the Ox is proving to be fruitful and prosperous for everyone, although I’m not sure if Chinese astrology takes credit crunches into account

It was the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns next. We posted another literacy example clip telling the story of Tam O’Shanter, one of Burns’ most popular poems, and which also explains how the Cutty Sark got its name from a petticoat!

In February, one of my favourite clips from the gallery (‘The Mystery of Little Red Riding Hood’s Ice-cream‘!) featured in a post about insulators and keeping things cool. We also posted a KS3 Geography clip about the effects of oil spills as a huge slick off the Irish coast made the headlines, thought to be from a Russian aircraft carrier.

March 1st was St David’s Day. Our post featured an example clip showing the natural beauty of Wales, and suggested plenty of resources to mark the day in the classroom. We included two primary science example clips in the next post about the Earth, Sun and Moon – very useful if you are trying to explain how the planetary bodies interact with one another as part of Unit 5E of the QCA Science Scheme of Work.

We marked St Patrick’s Day on March 17th by exploring who St Patrick was and the legends that exist around him, along with resource ideas and another KS3 Geography clip showing the fantastic landscape and scenery of Ireland. This was followed by an artistic example clip about the four seasons and discussion of when Spring starts, and we wrapped the term up last week with a post to mark April Fools’ Day – did we manage to catch any of you out?!

Have a good break and see you again in the new term, when we’ll have news of new primary and secondary modules. In the meantime, here is a taster (excuse the pun!) of one of our new primary maths problem solving clips. Try to concentrate on the questions!

Title of clip	Question of chocolate
Curriculum location	Primary Module C  >  Maths problem solving  >  Block E  >  Year 4  >  Section: Tables practice  >  Derive and recall multiplication facts up to 10 × 10, the corresponding division facts and multiples of numbers to 10 up to the tenth multiple
Description	A series of five chocolate based arithmetic problems that require either multiplication and division operations to answer: chocolate eggs travel along conveyer belt in factory; chocolate eggs halves in row upon row of moulds; green sweets covered by liquid chocolate on wire rack and then decorated with pistachio nuts when solid; chocolate blocks travel along factory conveyer belt; foil-wrapped chocolates coins dropping off conveyor belt.
Duration	1 minute 57 seconds

 

Please note that these are example clips provided through our YouTube channel and do not reflect the actual quality of clips in the gallery

St Patrick’s Day

by Stephen

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‘Beannachtaí na féile Páraic’ or ‘Happy St Patrick’s Day’!

This Tuesday, 17th March, is St Patrick’s Day, the annual feast day that celebrates the patron saint of Ireland. The festival is a national holiday in Ireland, but is also widely celebrated (if not officially) in many parts of the world, particularly the USA.

Saint Patrick was born in Roman Britain (Wales), and was captured by Irish raiders at the age of about sixteen. He was taken as a slave to Ireland where he lived for six years, before escaping and returning to Britain. After his ordination he returned to Ireland as a missionary. Key dates in Saint Patrick’s life can’t be fixed with certainty but it is likely that he lived from approximately the end of the fourth century (c. 385AD) to the middle of the fifth century (c. 460AD). The day we now celebrate as his feast day is believed to be the date of his death.

Saint Patrick was one of the earliest Christian missionaries in the British Isles, and although his work is not recorded in detail, his legacy is important for the example it set for others to follow.

There are many legends surrounding Saint Patrick. One of the best known is that he supposedly banished snakes from Ireland. One interpretation of this legend is that ’snakes’ were symbolic of the Druids at the time. Personally, I like to think that Saint Patrick simply asked all the snakes who wanted to stay to raise their right hands…

The Scoilnet Irish education portal has lots of resources relating to ancient Ireland. The BBC Religion site has more information on Saint Patrick, including a Radio 4 programme by Ian Hislop. The History.com website also has a wealth of relevant resources including a history of the feast day, video resources, and an ‘All Things Irish’ quiz. I’m sure a Google search will also reveal plenty of leprechauns, shamrocks and blessings.

If you’d like to practice your Irish, below is a video explaining how to say ‘Happy Saiint Patrick’s Day’ in Irish.

And below is a video clip from Heinemann Video Gallery illustrating the beauty of the Irish landscape. This clip is from the Secondary Geography section of the service:  Key stage 3 > Unit 20: Comparing countries > Section 7: Are there differences within each country? > Learning Objective: to identify regional differences that exist within a country.

St David’s Day

by James

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Dydd Gwyl Dewi hapus! (Happy St David’s Day!)

Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nikonvscanon/

This Sunday, March 1st, is St David’s Day in Wales. St David, or Dewi Sant as he is called in Welsh, is the patron saint of Wales. St David lived in the sixth century and travelled widely on pilgrimages, including to Jerusalem where he was made an archbishop. He eventually settled at Glyn Rhosyn (St David’s) and established a  religious community which became influential throughout Wales and the Christian world. He is alleged to have performed several miracles, one of the most famous being when he caused the ground to rise up whilst preaching so that he could be heard by a greater number of people!

The Welsh rugby team could mark the national festival by winning their Six Nations match  against France on Friday evening, and equalling the record currently held by only France and England of nine Six Nations matches without defeat. Of course, in the interests of maintaining sporting impartiality on this blog, we must also wish England good luck for their match against Ireland on Saturday

In the meantime, here is a video and a few resource suggestions that you might find useful if you are planning to do anything on St David’s Day in the classroom. The video is from the KS3 Geography Unit 1: Making connections section of the gallery, and is designed to assist students with describing the geographical context of an area. It is easy to see why Wales is renowned for its beauty, with magical castles and fantastic coastal and mountain landscapes.

Elsewhere on the web, and primarily for Key Stage 1&2 pupils, Activity Village has a range of printable resources, including colouring pages, craft ideas, and puzzles. If you want to give your students a challenge they could also attempt to do the electronic St David’s Day-related jigsaw puzzles!

For an overview of the life of St David and the background to the national day I would recommend the National Museum of Wales page, or that of Woodlands Junior School for the children to look at themselves directly.

Finally, try Newsround’s St David’s Day Quiz – after doing a bit of research for this post I was able to get 5 out of 6 correct, but slipped up on whether St David was a vegetarian or not?!

Title of clip	The Beauty of Wales
Curriculum location	Geography (secondary)  >  QCA  >  Key stage 3  >  Unit 1: Making connections  >  Section 2: How is our place connected to other places?  >  Learning Objective: to describe the geographical context of the local area
Description	A series of images to give a broad perspective of the landscapes and scenery of Wales: clouds billow over silhouetted peaks of Snowdon; clouds shadows traverse rocky outcrops on Mount Snowdon; Green Bridge of Wales (natural archway formed by coastal erosion), Pembroke Peninsula; Skokholm Lighthouse perched high over coastal cliffs; ruins of Cardiff Castle surrounded by moat, the Welsh flag flies from the tower; flock of sheep grazing in meadow; government and other buildings on Cardiff’s waterfront; Severn Bridge spanning between England and Wales.
Duration	1 minute 56 seconds

 

Please note that this is an example clip provided through our YouTube channel and does not reflect the actual quality of clips in the gallery

What is the impact of an oil spill?

Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/therebel68/

The last few videos that we’ve posted have been examples from our primary modules so it seems like time for another KS3 Geography clip. There are lots of clips in the gallery relating to environmental issues, and one of the stories making the headlines yesterday was a huge oil spill off the coast of Ireland. Estimates of the amount of oil spilt range from 500 to 1000 tonnes, making it the largest oil spill in the waters around Britain since the Sea Empress ran aground in 1996 off the coast of south-west Wales.

The spill is thought to have happened as a Russian aircraft carrier was refuelling at sea, although the Russians have yet to admit that one of their vessels is responsible. It is about three miles long by three miles wide and is expected to reach the southern Irish and Welsh coasts in about sixteen days time. It’s too early to say what impact the slick is likely to have on wildlife as weather conditions might cause it to break up at sea, but it could result in severe losses among breeding birds and marine animals such as dolphins and seals.

Although still a considerable spill and potentially very damaging, this recent incident is unlikely to cause environmental damage on a scale that has occurred from other leakages in the past. The consequences of the Prestige oil tanker sinking off the Spanish coast in 2002, for example, were terrible. The ship’s cargo of 70,000 tonnes of oil had a massive impact on marine wildlife and the fishing industry in the region, as well as causing a political and diplomatic rift over who was to blame:

Title of clip	Oil spill from the Prestige
Curriculum location	Geography (secondary)  >  QCA  >  Key stage 3  >  Unit 14: Can the earth cope? Ecosystems population and resources  >  Section 5: What are the effects on the environment of this resource issue?  >  Learning Objective: to collect, record and present evidence
Description	A report on the environmental disaster caused by an oil spillage from the sinking Prestige oil tanker: 70,000 tonnes of oil spilled into the sea; local fisherman help navy cadets to clean the coastline of oil; 60 percent of the region is dependent on fishing for its livelihood and the area is rich in wildlife; the slick covers an area of 20 square miles and is still expanding; Greenpeace describe the clean-up operation as inadequate; mussel fishing boats have been ordered to stay in port, the owners are promised some compensation for the loss of earnings.
Duration	2 minutes 10 seconds

 

Please note that this is an example clip provided through our YouTube channel and does not reflect the actual quality of clips in the gallery

How do volcanoes form?

It has been a while since we posted an example KS3 Geography clip. Some of the most popular search terms that people use to find our blog relate to natural disasters, earthquakes and volcanoes. I have written about my experiences with earthquakes and typhoons whilst living in Taiwan before, and there was also a post about KS3 Geography Unit 2: the restless earth – earthquakes and volcanoes, which included a clip on volcanoes in Ecuador and Montserrat. 

Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/11304375@N07/

One of the new sets of clips that we have created for the 2008 KS3 Geography Programme of Study make up a topic entitled ‘A hazard – Two volcanoes’. The topic focuses on Mount St Helens in Washington State, and Mount Kilauea in Hawaii, two very different types of volcanoes in terms of their origins, effects, and responses. The differences are explored in the detailed teacher notes and worksheets that accompany the clips, and you can view all of the videos here by taking out a free trial of the video gallery.

This example clip is one of them and explains how and why the majority of volcanoes form at plate boundaries because of plate tectonics and the process of continental drift. Other volcanoes occur in the middle of plates and these are caused by ‘hot spots’ in the Earth’s surface, where hot rocks from the Earth’s core rise up through the mantle and crust. As a plate moves across a hot spot over millions of years, a line of volcanoes is formed.

Title of clip	How volcanoes form
Curriculum location	Geography (secondary)  >  KS3 Geography POS 2008  >  A hazard
Description	The formation of volcanoes explained in geological terms: an animation depicts Iceland on the mid-Atlantic ridge, a great fault lying between the Americas and Africa; the Earth’s surface is divided into plates; the plates move across the Earth’s surface causing continental drift; an animation shows a cross-section of the Earth, each layer is described and named, the theory of plate tectonics is introduced; an animation demonstrates the constructive and destructive elements of plate tectonics and how volcanoes are formed along plate boundaries; an animation of ‘hot spot’ volcanoes forming on the Pacific plate, Mount Kilauea, Hawaii being a good example.
Duration	4 minutes 47 seconds

 

Please note that this is an example clip provided through our YouTube channel and does not reflect the actual quality of clips in the gallery

For auld lang syne

For the last post of the year I thought that I would take a look back at some of the topics that we have covered on the blog since we launched it in April. We’ve tried to post example videos from the gallery on topical subjects and with so much going on in the world there has been plenty to write about…

The terrible earthquake that occurred in the Sichuan province of China in May was one of the first subjects that we posted clips on. More than 90,000 people were killed or are still missing from the disaster, and around 5 million lost their homes.

As fuel prices soared to £5 a gallon for unleaded petrol in the UK and tax on fuel hit the headlines, we also posted a video that looked a thousand years into the future and at what might happen if carbon emissions and global warming aren’t curtailed.

In June we uploaded several Key Stage 3 geography clips to give an idea of what is available in the gallery for this subject. There was a post on people who live in the shadow of active volcanoes in Ecuador and Montserrat, a clip on population pyramids, and another on Britain’s overseas territories.

The fire and subsequent destruction of the Weston-super-Mare pier at the end of July was very saddening. We posted this video as a tribute to the heyday of piers during the Victorian era.

One of the highlights of 2008 has to be the Olympic Games in Beijing. Awesome venues and incredible opening and closing ceremonies took the spectacle of the Olympics to a whole new level. Britain had its most successful Olympic performance for a hundred years, winning nineteen gold medals to finish fourth in the medal table. We posted several videos on the Olympics, including this one about a mechanical device used by the ancient Greeks to ensure that the start of each race was fair. China hosting the Games also provided the perfect opportunity to delve deeper into this fascinating country and so we uploaded clips looking at its geography, culture, and the one-child policy.

Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shajahanmoidin/

As the summer drew to a close and many people went away for the August bank holiday, we posted a couple of clips exploring the environmental impact of tourism. Then it was back to school and the start of the new year.

Our most popular post of 2008 has been this one on World War Two, written at the beginning of September for the 69th anniversary of the start of the conflict. The rest of September saw posts about the human impact on the rainforest in Brazil, the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, and a history clip on the invasion tactics of the Vikings.

We discussed the Teachers TV survey of favourite school-based movies in October, with ‘Dead Poets Society’ eventually being the winner, followed by ‘Kes’ in second place, and ‘The Breakfast Club’ in third. There was also a post on animals in Autumn, and we participated in Blog Action Day 2008 with clips examining the nature of poverty. The month ended with a post about Divali and a spooky one for Halloween.

Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mountaineerpics/

November was another busy month, starting with Bonfire night, and Barack Obama’s historic Presidential election victory. We remembered the fallen with clips for Remembrance Day, and there was a further post with one of my favourite videos from the gallery about Christmas charity shoe box campaigns.

All in all, quite a packed few months. We hope that you have found our posts interesting and that the example videos have been useful in school, and provided a flavour of what Heinemann Video Gallery has to offer. Thanks for visiting our blog and best wishes for a happy New Year.

Title of clip	New Year Celebrations
Curriculum location	Primary Module A  >  Festivals
Description	Images of New Year celebrations from around the world: Trafalgar Square as the clock strikes midnight; Tower Bridge with fireworks; Chinese New Year firecrackers and dancing dragons; bonfires and New Year’s food in a bento box, Japan; Sydney Harbour Bridge with lit boats; Times Square, New York.
Duration	1 minute 58 seconds

 

Please note that this is an example clip provided through our YouTube channel and does not reflect the actual quality of clips in the gallery.