Symphony of Science - Scientific Knowledge and Philosophy through Music! This site is simply AWESOME!

Symphony of Science could be one of the coolest sites I have found in a while.  The site was created by John Boswell, who was heavily influenced by the Internet Legends The Greggory Brothers (Double Rainbow All The Way Across the Sky Music Video) and DJ Steve Porter (who created the awesome Rap Chop Music Video).   Symphony of Science features 11 full length music videos heavily influenced by the classic PBS Series Cosmos with Carl Sagan.  Many of the videos and the words to the songs are remixed episodes from Cosmos, Ted Talks and more.  To quote Mr. Boswell on the site: 

"The goal of the project is to bring scientific knowledge and philosophy to the public, in a novel way, through the medium of music. Science and music are two passions of mine that I aim to combine, in a way that is intended to bring a meaningful message to listeners, while simultaneously providing an enjoyable musical experience."

Did I mention this site is AWESOME?  The Music Videos are so well done and really engaging.  I shared them with an 8th Grade Science teacher of mine yesterday who was actually talking about Quantum Theory.  He immediately included the video from Symphony of Science called "Quantum World"  about Quantum Theory in his presentation for discussion today. 

Here is the Quantum Theory Video from Symphony of Science.

 

You can visit Symphony of Science at:  http://symphonyofscience.com

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The Mason Dixon Report - An "1861 Civil War Cable News Show!"

The Mason Dixon Report is an awesome site containing 7 video "News Reports" covering an "in depth look beneath the surface of the Civil War."  I saw this posted on Glenn Wiebe's History Tech Blog HERE!

The Mason Dixon Report re-imagines the events of the Civil War through "live" news reports, on air debates, editorials and more.  Once I started watching the first video, I couldn't turn away.  These videos are very well done and incredibly entertaining.  They cover the "stories" with such a serious demenour it makes the videos almost comical, but always educational and entertaining.

These videos would be a great extension to your Civil War Curriculum, could provide as an opening activitie to help activate and develop prior knowledge for your Civil War Lessons, or simply just provide another resource for your visual learners to explore the Civil War.  As I was watching this, I thought to myself "This is how I would love to explore the Civil War!" 


You could even use these videos as models to create your own Civil War News Reports in class. 


Check out the Mason Dixon Report at:  http://masondixonreport.com/

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