Visual learning in school : Stephen Hawking

Ridles of Time & Space

Stephen Hawking comic book

illustrator: Michael Lent/ Brian McCarthy

https://www.comixology.com/

Now we can learn about the life and times of famed physicist Stephen Hawking in a comic book (May 2013). Students will read about the cosmologist they admire in a different way. A comic book. They love comic books.

The series Stephen Hawking: Riddles Of Time & Space will provide a glimpse into "the man, the myth and the legend,"

But this is not all about visual learning and Stephen Hawking. The scientist is very inspirational.

Reading The Guardian last month, on September, I watched an incredible video about Stephen Hawking.

So, I think it would be interesting to share it with you! As you know, from time to time, I like to share some resources I find surfing on the Internet.

Credits: Institute for Theoretical Physics in Ontario, Canada

Brief introduction:

Stephen Hawking is an English theorical physicist, cosmologist, and author born in 1942. He is the Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at Cambridge University.

At the age of 21, while studying Cosmology at the University of Cambridge, he was diagnosed with  Amiotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

Despite his debilitating illness, he has done ground-breaking work in Physics and Cosmology, and his several books have helped to make science accessible to everyone.

Alok Jha is a science correspondent at the Guardian. He write news and comment, he presents the Science Weekly podcast.

In this video, he explains some of the biggest ideas of Hawking. For example, why black holes are doomed to shrink into nothingness then explode with the energy of a million nuclear bombs, and rewinds to the big bang and the origin of the universe.

Stephen Hawking

credits: Jemal Countess/Getty Images

http://www.mirror.co.uk/science/

Education:

So, do you want a better digital resource that this video animation? It's a wonderful resource to talk about Stephen Hawking's ideas in the classroom!

As I wrote on Videos in the Classroom : The Higgs Field, students love videos in school curriculum. They learn more watching to a video than hearing thousands words.

Another digital resource is infographics. Infographics are also excellent educational visual resources. An infographic synthesizes knowledge. Like this infographic about Stephen Hawking: everything students need to know. Amazing isn't it?

credits: New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/

Some thoughts:

The old approach to school curriculum was teachers lecturing to students with lessons centered around a textbook.

Now, under a new curriculum being rolled out the last academic years, educational digital resources (videos, apps, games, infographics) and new tools (tablets, smartphones and other devices) have replaced textbooks, and student-centered debate, inquiry and discussion is the main focus.

There are great educational digital resources that teachers can include into school curriculum. Students evolve well their skills if we use technology to enhance learning.

Teachers value is not in the information stored in their head. Not anymore. Teachers must have the ability and creativity to adapt new resources to the curriculum to produce a desired outcome. 

"My goal is simple. It is complete understanding of the Universe, why it is as it is, and why it exists at all."

Stephen Hawking

G-Souto

03.10.2013
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Visual learning in school curriculum  Stephen Hawking by G-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.