While searching this evening, I discovered some more cool stuff for science animations. Even more importantly, I figured out how to get around needing the network for some of them. My school's network is continually slowing down, going down etc...making the use of video/animation from the network a shaky thing. I found that most of the stuff from NASA can be saved to any where you'd like by just using Mozilla! That little tid-bit makes me sooooo happy as I start into the planets and go a little nuts showing what the MERs are doing, and how they came to be.
Back to the new animation page. Some of these would make good starter ideas to get kids thinking and more importantly to me, questioning. Of course some are lacking, while others are impressive. The Cassini animation was interesting as I try to stress how huge things are in space and how long it takes to get anywhere outside our orbit. ESA has done much for NASA. They're animations of the MERs are impressive and since they're done for NASA, spending your tax dollars, it's free to be used by any teachers...as long as they receive credit. Pretty simple there.
On top of that, I also found that Hubble Space Telescope(HST) has hundreds of thousands of pictures it's taken since it's launch in 1990. Also free to use. NASA and it's more up to date portion called Jet Propulsion Lab(JPL) have some great things out there that can be used to supplement instruction, generate interest and get kids thinking. Nothing I've seen so far is anything that should usurp the teaching process, but can be used to get kids involved.
Also, I've found two freeware programs that convert and save videos and animations to your computer...I'm just a little hesitant linking to them as the seem to be in the gray area of legality. I'll do some more research and see where they stand. For now I'll just stick to the safe bets at NASA and Mozilla.
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Understanding the reasoning behind the utility of animation (especially in science education) but not how to use it, looked through the Cassini site and searched a little on my own. The idea of adding movement to graphics amazes me as to how much clearer a picture one can get about orbits and what not. I find myself showing my age, but I recall using an orbital sun/earth/moon model in my Jr. High science class. It had the sun in the middle the earth and the moon on an arm that could be rotated around. During the earth's orbit, the moon orbited around the earth and I remember thinking as I saw this "so this is how it looks" (or something thereabouts). Crude compared to what is available today but it certainly helped me make sense of palnetary movement. I can only imagine how your students' understanding can be enhanced with animation.
Looking further, I used your NASA reference and went to the Goddard Space Flight Center's Scientific Visualization Studio:
http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/
There were quite a few stills and animation links, a lot of which pertained to weather phenomena. I tried for a few minutes to figure out how to engage the animated images but with no luck (I probably need to go back to your instructions!). Still, I am left impressed with what this type of media has to offer. Ironically, dr. Ferdig grouped us according to our interests (I think), but I am surprised at how many different things I have learned (or at least considered) from these blogs!
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