- Animations - Explanatory animations are helpful aids as we learn about new, or complicated, concepts. If "a picture is worth a thousand words," how much more valuable is a series of moving pictures, or drawings, which "show us" what the words mean?
For example, when we talk about the deglaciation of North America, we are learning what happened when the glaciers receded. What did that look like, over a period of years? Words on the pages of textbooks are fundamental, but explanatory animations - like this one created by the University of California Santa Barbara - deepen our understanding.
In this section of Learning Tools, you will find a whole series of explanatory animations to help you better comprehend a wide array of subjects. Click on "Animations," above, to access the index.
- Audio Clips - Reading a brilliant speech, given by someone like Winston Churchill, is interesting but misses the magic of its delivery. Studying the transcript of a famous radio broadcast - like that of the Hindenburg disaster - is less impacting than hearing the reporter's words in his own shocked voice. This section of Learning Tools provides you with an array of audio clips, including some very rare broadcasts.
- Audio Collection - Our goal is to ultimately record every story on the web site. Audio versions of the following stories are currently available.
- Online Games - What would it be like to build a pyramid, trade with Vikings, run a cotton mill in Victorian Britain or reconstruct fossilized bones? Is it possible to write your name with Hieroglyphics, Cuneiform or Runes? This section of our Learning Tools will help you expand your knowledge with on-line educational games.
- Video Clips - Experts who investigated why the space shuttle Columbia exploded, not long before its scheduled landing, tested their theory in a simulation which was recorded on video. NASA has added that video to its web site. A host of other video clips are also available on-line. This section of our Learning Tools will help you find some of the best.
- Virtual Field Trips - When it isn't possible to make trips to foreign countries - to visit the scenes of important events - virtual field trips can provide reasonable substitutes. If you are too far away from traveling inside your own country - to visit battlefields, museums, art galleries or other similar places - "going there" on-line at least helps you get a sense of what "being there" might be like. That's what our virtual field trip section is all about. We hope you enjoy it!