The Tech Savvy Science Teacher: December 2013

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Multiple home pages for your browser

There are a few sites that I like to have open as soon as I turn on my computer. You can set your browser to automatically open up at number of sites you want. Thanks to Tim Moynihan and Wired Magazine, I have some clearly written directions to share with you.

How to do it in Chrome
1. Visit the Chrome Preferences menu.
2. Under “Settings,” find the “On startup” entry.
3. Check the button next to “Open a specific page or set of pages.”
4. Click the “Set pages” link next to that text.
5. Enter the URLs for all the pages you want to launch at browser startup.

How to do it in Firefox
1. First, open all the pages you want in separate tabs in a single browser window.
2. Visit the Firefox Preferences menu.
3. Under the “General” tab, click “Use Current Pages” under the Home Page section.

How to do it in Safari
1. Once again, open all the pages you want in separate tabs in a single browser window.
2. Select “Bookmarks” from the top menu bar and click “Add Bookmark Folder.”
3. Name the Bookmark Folder whatever you want.
4. Select “Bookmarks” from the top menu again and click “Add Bookmarks for These Tabs.”
5. Select the Bookmark Folder you named in step 3.
6. Select “Preferences” from the top menu bar.
7. Next to “New windows open with:” select “Choose tabs folder…”
8. Select the Bookmarks Folder you created in step 3.

How to do it in Internet Explorer
1. Open all the pages you want in separate tabs in a single browser window.
2. Visit the Tools menu (gear icon) and select “Internet Options.”
3. Under the “General” tab, click “Use current” under the Home Page section.

Monday, December 23, 2013

RSS Feeds

I was having some trouble with the RSS Feeds for my blog, but it is finally fixed now. If you want to sign up for feeds please visit: http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheTechSavvyTeacher

If you aren't familiar with RSS, it stands for Real Simply Syndication. Basically it's a way to collect all of the posts from the blogs you read in one place. There are many different applications you can use for it. I was a big fan of Google Reader, until Google did away with it this year. Now I use Feedly and it works well.

What RSS reader do you use?

PhET Science Simulations

If you haven't used the PhET simulations with your class, you are missing out! These are great simulations for all areas of science. I love them because there are some times when setting up an actual lab is not possible and these simulations provide students with the experiences to understand the concept.

PhET was Java based, but are not moving into creating simulations that run on HTML. What does that mean? They will not run on machines that don't have Java such as iPads and Chromebooks. Even better, there is a page where other teachers have submitted their lesson plans and worksheets that go along with these sims; so everything is practically done for you!
They are even in the process of developing a Teach with Sims page to help you out more. You can check out the prototype that they have already developed.

What other computer sites do you use in your classroom?