Technology Review: Veritasium

VERITASIUM is a YouTube network focusing on science education topics.

This popular video series features experiments, interviews, demonstrations, and discussion focusing on everyday science topics. The channel features dozens of their favorite videos exploring science and engineering topics for those new to the network. Viewers can also choose from video collections that focus on science misconceptions, science experiments, and science songs. The developer has also created playlists on topics such as inertia and radiation.

Librarians will find these engaging STEM videos to be an effective way to motivate science students. Weave them into the science curriculum.

To visit the website, go to https://www.youtube.com/veritasium.

App Review: Slavery at Monticello

SLAVERY AT MONTICELLO is an app that tells the stories of people who lived and worked in Thomas Jefferson’s agricultural businesses.

After an introduction, users can explore the app through sites, people, or themes.

The “Discover Sites” section allows users to explore the stable, Hemmings cabin, textile workshop, stone house, storehouse for iron, nailery, blacksmith’s shop, joiner’s shop, coal sheds, and beyond Mulberry Row.

The “Meet People” section provides insights by more than a dozen people who worked for Thomas Jefferson from weavers and woodworkers to runaway slaves and the slave owner. Timelines visualize the lives of each person.

The “Explore Themes” section explores key themes including family and separation; labor, trade, and economy; life after Monticello; living and working conditions; racial identity; resistance and punishment; and studying slavery at Monticello.

Animations, stories, slideshows, and other approaches are used to share primary source documents and information related to each topic.

In addition to the major sections, users can also use a map to zoom-in on the historical site and explore various sites.

Librarians will find this to be an effective tool for discussing the history of slavery and Thomas Jefferson’s connections to the issue. History teachers will find that the format is attractive and easy to use with students. Immerse youth in the app through role playing activities.

To download the app from the App Store or Google Play, go tohttp://app.monticello.org/.

Book Review: By the Numbers

BY THE NUMBERS: 110.01 COOL INFOGRAPHICS from National Geographic Kids is packed with amazing statistics, facts, and figures.

The book begins with an introduction to infographics and a table of contents providing quick access to specific types of visuals such as word clouds, heat maps, and timelines. Each two-page spread contains an attractive infographic containing facts, graphs, charts, word clouds, maps, photographs, timelines, diagrams, or other types of engaging images. Featuring measurements, trends, statistics, and other kinds of data, this book will bring numbers alive to middle grade readers.

Covering a wide range of subjects, each reader will find topics of interest to explore. Woven throughout the book are interviews with people who work with numbers ever day as part of their jobs.

Librarians will find this book to be a great way to connect infographics with math and information literacy. Create a display containing this book along with others featuring infographics. Provide youth with tools for creating their own infographic projects.

Published by National Geographic Kids on October 13, 2015.