• 20 hours of battery life. (Available on the 60GB model.)  Imagine what 20 hours of battery life means for you and your students while you are out on a field trip, collecting data in the field, or using the iPod as a content delivery tool for your students while they are away from the classroom.

• Playlists. Finding and viewing or playing music, video, image files, audio books and podcasts on the iPod is simple.  With the touch of one button, you and your students can easily navigate files by artist or author, book, song, movie, or playlist. Yes, playlists make it very easy to organize songs, videos, and podcasts on your iPod. But just imagine the possibilities of being able to use the playlist feature to set up mediated step-by-step instructions for lab or field experiments, develop a unit of instruction that includes imagery, video, audio, and e-books. Or have your students use playlists to set up a series of informative scientific resources needed to carry out various phases of the scientific method or scientific inquiry approaches they are using for a particular exploration. Click here to see how Joanna Seymour uses the iPod in digital science experiments.

• Video. The iTunes store makes it easy to buy music videos and commercial free ABC and Disney television shows for your iPod. You are probably thinking, “How can those shows benefit my science class?” Those videos probably don’t, but with Apple’s iLife and the free MoviesForMyPod application by Digigami or Windows MovieMaker and QuickTime Pro 7 for Windows, you can develop your own iPod library of video clips. Do you already own scientific video on videotapes or DVD’s? After obtaining appropriate copyright clearance from publishers, you can convert existing materials into iPod formats using a digital to analog converter, like the Pinnacle Studio Dazzle Digital Video Creator 90 (DVC 90) or PyroLink AV, or if you are a Windows user try Video-2-iPod. Remember, it is a federal crime to unlawfully duplicate copyrighted video materials.  You should strictly adhere to all copyright regulations and obtain written permission before using any of the conversion techniques discussed in this article.  The authors of this article do not support or suggest piracy of video, audio, or imagery. With these tools, you can personalize learning by placing life-like representations of various life cycles, development stages, systems, and simulations in your student’s hands.  The ability to pause, rewind, and fast-forward video allows your students to review information and concepts that they might be struggling with or skip over content that they have already mastered.  Think about the many uses your own iPod video library could provide! You could provide video clips representing correct lab set-up procedures, dissection techniques, field experiments, microscope recordings, and probe data collection.  Get your students involved by having them create videos in iLife or MovieMaker for Windows depicting scientific processes used in lab and field experiments, create video documentaries about a scientific topic, record information discovered during field trips, or save and categorize images and videos collected during scientific observation and then using QuickTime Pro 7 to create footage that can be shared between individuals and groups of students when learning about science units throughout the year! Do you want to take your classroom projects worldwide? Create a classroom vodcast and publish it to iTunes!

• Click here for an interactive tutorial on creating a video project in iMovie HD. 
• Click here for a tutorial on converting an existing QuickTime video to a format that the iPod will accept.

• Podcasts For simplicity sake, you can consider a podcast as being an internet-based version of a radio program heard on traditional radio, but it is actually much more! Podcasts can be easily downloaded from an Internet connection anywhere in the world and be taken anywhere on an iPod, handheld, or laptop computer.  Teachers and students can carry podcasts with them anywhere and listen to them while multitasking, (e.g., exercising, doing household chores, and commuting to and from school.) Podcasts can be categorized and archived so that listeners can play them time and time again.  In addition, they allow users to quickly progress through audio content by using the fast-forward and rewind features. Therefore, users can review information that they may be struggling with, skip irrelevant information and use the pause button while jotting down notes, performing another activity or moving on to complete another task, only to return to the exact place they left off.  The most appealing feature of podcasts for science teachers and students has to be the fact that there are a large variety of field0-specific podcasts available for FREE!

• Click here for an annotated list of  Free Podcasts and podcast directories related to Science.

• In addition to the consumer advantages of podcasts for the science classroom, the concept of podcasting provides teachers and their students with a global framework that allows for the publication of thoughts and ideas!  Consider having your students create their own podcasts. In the newly released book KidCast Podcasting in the Classroom, Dan Schmit shares the following project ideas that connect to science standards on pgs. 111-113:

• Experience the ideas, work, and perspectives of scientists in the field through amateur and professional podcasts.
• Collaborate and contribute with other podcasters in the discourse of scientific challenges and advancements.
• Explore and explain the subject matter of science to outside audiences as a product of their own explorations.
• Catalog scientific observations associated with inquiries and experiments in the classroom.
• Draw connections by discussing the impact of scientific pursuits on the daily lives of individuals in society.
• Learn the fundamentals of digital audio technologies including acoustics, digital sound compression, and networked distribution of content.
• Explore the history of science to highlight the people, achievements, and turning points that have helped shape history.

• Schmit also provides “cast starters” which are show ideas to get your classroom started on their way to developing science podcasts.  Some of his ideas include:

• A Science career-cast in which students interview scientists and discuss what it is like to work as a scientist, how scientists prepare themselves for their careers, and what advice scientists might offer students considering a profession in the field of science.
• Scientific Turning Points in History. For this podcast, Dan suggests having your students look at history through the lens of science to see the role that scientific breakthroughs have played in solving problems, creating new challenges, advancing society, and altering the cultural landscape.
• Out of this World. Schmit discusses having your student’s podcast about a popular topic.  He suggests “infinity and beyond” space podcasts in which students become “spacecasters” and discuss issues such as proposed missions back to the Moon or to Mars, lessons of the Hubble telescope, history of space travel, the future of astro-tourism, or any of the thousands of topics related to space exploration.  The opportunities are endless!
• Collaborative Problem Solving. This idea involves students comparing local findings about scientific problems with other classrooms from all over the world. This activity is meant to draw students together to collaborate about science, to do science, and to learn science. In his book, Dan provides an overview of a specific collaborative podcast based on a water quality experiment.
• Pet Talk. This idea could be used for a classroom of young students.   A podcast designed by children that focuses on pets can teach students about the fact that pets are more than just animals. Schmit believes that a podcast focused on pets can help students think and study about the concepts of a pet’s role in the family, and a child’s responsibility for being a good friend, as well as learn lessons about biology, animal science, nutrition, psychology and ethics.

To learn more about implementing these curriculum ideas and podcasting into your classroom, you can purchase Dan’s book KidCast:Podcasting in the Classroom from FTC Publishing (http;//www.ftcpublishing.com/kidcast.html).

• Click here for a free tutorial on creating a podcast using Apple’s GarageBand.
• Click here for a free tutorial on creating a podcast using Audacity and a Windows computer. 

If you or your students will be creating podcasts or oral classroom materials “on the fly” with your iPod, you should consider purchasing an add-on voice recorder, such as the Griffin iTalk or the Belkin iPod Microphone Adapter.

Audiobooks and e-books. Provide your students with the ability to read about science on audiobooks. Having the ability to carry audiobooks on the iPod’s increases the chance that assigned reading will get finished. Audiobooks and e-books have also been proven to help students who have difficulty with reading and comprehension.  Again, as with the podcast, these books offer the flexibility of being able to skip through the text, return to a previous place in the text, and bookmark a text so that readers can return to it again.  In addition, if students are using audiobooks or e-books on a handheld, laptop, or desktop computer  equipped with applications such as Microsoft Reader, Palm Reader, or Adobe Acrobat Reader, they have the capability of creating notes and comments, and highlighting key points.

Students and teachers alike can download e-books and audiobooks from many sources.  Here is a small list of places on the web where you can find e-books and audiobooks related to science:

MANYBOOKS.NET (Science Category)

This site provides approximately 2,280 FREE downloadable e-books on the topic of science. There appears to be a book for every audience.  The collection includes a nice array of topics including, but not limited to, theoretical perspectives, texts, and biographies to name.

http://www.manybooks.net/genre.php?code=SCI

iTunes Music Store

iTunes offers a large variety of periodicals and non-fiction titles on the topic of science.  Audiobooks on the iTunes Music store typically cost between $0.95 and $30.00. You can access the Apple music store by clicking the Music Store icon in your iTunes program.

Perhaps you or your students would like to create their own audiobooks or enhanced podcasts. Use these resources to learn how!

• Click here for a tutorial on how to create an audiobook or enhanced podcast for your classroom on a Macintosh computer.
• Click here for a tutorial on how to create an audiobook or enhanced podcast for your classroom on a Windows computer.

Move over Cliff Notes! SparkNotes have arrived! SparkNotes are mediated study guides that can be downloaded and taken anywhere on your iPod.  Topics range from study guides on Math, Science, Social Studies, English and History for grade school and high school students, to Test Prep guides for College students.  In addition, SparkNotes provides free reference tools, message boards, and downloadable speeches.

Photos. As you have already learned, you can use photos to enhance podcasts and create audiobooks. However, you can also use them in their simplest form by just loading them onto the iPod and creating slideshows.  As the instructor, you can set up a series of photos to demonstrate the progression in a system or procedure. You could also use photos, slideshows and playlists to set up different classifications on the iPod.  You could also just import photos randomly into the iPhoto Library and then synch them to the iPod and have students classify them in order to reinforce previously taught lessons. Photos on the iPod also provide new ideas for assessment.  Because you can randomize the order in which photos are played in a slideshow, you could hand out iPods loaded with certain photos and have students use the pictures to answer specific test questions about them.  This could also be accomplished using the iPod’s sound capabilities or an enhanced podcast (i.e.,if you are studying a unit on North American Bird calls you could load sounds randomly into an iPod library, create a test list (playlist) and shuffle it on each iPod so that no list is the same. Then, give the iPod’s to the students, have them plug-in their ear buds and away they go! They can work through the assessment at their own pace, repeat sounds if necessary, and there is less likelihood of cheating because the order in which the sounds would be played could be randomized with the iPod shuffle feature!)

Additionally, students can engage in group work focusing on the use of scientific images to create a slideshow, enhanced podcast, vodcast or flashcard type self-assessments and games.  You may want to consider getting an iPod AV Cable that allows you to hook up the iPod to a TV or other composite video or audio device so that your students can share their creations with you and their peers on the big screen!

If you really want to get photos integrated into your science classroom, try getting an iPod camera connector, which allows you to transfer photos directly to your iPod from your digital camera! This device would come in very handy when your students are out on a field trip, or when they are participating in fieldwork or completing lab assignments.

Calendar and Contacts. In your science classroom, you can use the calendar feature to share assignment due dates, lab times, test dates, etc. with your students.  You can also get a little more creative and have your students use it to monitor, and document time sensitive data, and share information in ongoing experiments that involve observation, change over time, etc. You could use the contacts feature in conjunction with Apple’s address book to build a glossary or index of terms that would be used in a particular lesson, lab, or unit.

World Clock. Are you working with your students on the concepts of time zones, world time, or weather? Use the world clock to check the time and scroll between as many time zones as necessary.  Clock faces appear in either white or black to indicate night and day in different time zones.

Screen Lock. Use the screen lock feature to enable a student or group of students’ iPods to be password protected to keep their work from being copied by others.  

Stopwatch. Use the built-in stopwatch to time experiments, tests, quizzes, games, etc.