Tag Archives: Jeremy Stone

Alberta’s Wonderville and Ireland’s The Frog Blog

Humphrey Jones and Jeremy Stone, science teachers at St. Columba’s College, Dublin, Ireland created and maintain The Frog Blog. And, in one of those crazy ways that the web and social media connect us all, on March 31, 2011 they posted about Wonderville (http://www.frogblog.ie/2011/03/wonderville.html?spref=tw).

Shockingly, Wonderville is a science education online website designed by the folks at the Alberta Science Council and I’d never heard about it even though I live in the province next door. It took a pair of blogging science teachers from Ireland to point me in that direction. From the March 31, 2011 posting on The Frog Blog,

Wonderville is a brilliant website containing some amazing interactive resources to support science teaching. This award-winning site aims to encourage exploration and curiosity, while helping kids discover how much fun science can be. There are over 30 interactive games covering many different science themes including “thing created using science”, “things in our world and beyond”, “things you just can’t see” and “things and how they work”. … (There is a great feature too – as you explore the site you pick up puzzle pieces along the way and a counter on top of the page records your progress – brilliant for young kids!)

As you might expect, there’s a lot of information about nanotechnology at Wonderville. I have looked at the material briefly and it seems they are trying to communicate to a range of ages. I saw one video which was encouraging kids to embark on a ‘nanotechnology’ career and an animation (highlighted by the folks at The Frog Blog) suitable for grade school.

From the Wonderville website About page (http://www.wonderville.ca/information/about-wonderville/),

Wonderville is a fun, interactive destination for kids to discover the exciting world of science. This award-winning site encourages exploration and curiosity, while helping kids discover how much fun science can be.

Who provides wonderville.ca?

Wonderville is brought to you by the Science Alberta Foundation, a non-profit organization committed to increasing science literacy and awareness. SAF develops engaging resources that bring math and science to life and foster an enthusiasm for science and technology.

Games

Adventure through the wide selection of more than 30 games at wonderville. Building science knowledge has never been so much fun! These exciting games, designed with leading learning techniques, will have kids learning challenging concepts without even knowing it.

Activities

Need a way to bring more science into your kid’s life? Look to our activities section. We have a wide selection of science crosswords, word search puzzles and printable activity sheets that will turn science into a fun adventure at home!

Videos

For kids wondering how they will ever use science, there are videos that explore real-life applications of science concepts. Many videos provide an exciting behind the scenes look at science-based careers for those kids exploring a world full of fascinating careers.

Comics

Laughing at our comics is a great way to learn engaging science facts. Kids will be able to not only better understand a topic but also see how science is present into their everyday lives.

The Science Content

While having fun with wonderville’s games, activities, videos and comics, kids will be presented with interesting science facts. Of course, all of these facts are vetted by experts to ensure accuracy.

What is the cost to use wonderville.ca?

Free! There is no cost to use all of the amazing resources available on wonderville.ca. This site is made possible by grants from SAF sponsors and donors.

As for The Frog Blog itself, they have adopted an eclectic and fun approach to science education and, if you should go there, you may want to peruse a number of the postings. To whet your appetite, here’s the Nano animation mentioned earlier,

I got curious about the name of the school, St. Columba,  so I went looking for some information about that saint. From the Catholic Encyclopedia (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04136a.htm),

He was not only a great missionary saint who won a whole kingdom to Christ, but he was a statesman, a scholar, a poet, and the founder of numerous churches and monasteries. His name is dear to Scotsmen and Irishmen alike. And because of his great and noble work even non-Catholics hold his memory in veneration.

There you have it. Irish science teachers rock!