Tech Table
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
November 6, 2013
Justin: Welcome to MPA’s TechTable. I’m Justin.
Diana: And I’m Diana.
Justin: And we’re your hosts. We’ll be serving up a heaping spoonful of all things tech.
Diana: We promise: it’ll be easy to digest. Hi, Justin.
Justin: Hi, Diana. It’s Wednesday.
Diana: That’s right.
Justin: Today we’re talking about educational websites. It’s web Wednesday. We always talk about websites and things on the web. These are educational sites. If you have kids, or even yourself honestly, I think these could be interesting if you are a hobbyist.
Diana: Yes. We spend a lot of time on the internet for fun. A lot of us do.
Justin: Who?
Diana: Oh, not me. People in general.
Justin: I know that you do.
Diana: But yeah, there’s a lot of fun things you can do to waste time but you can also learn stuff.
Justin: I must admit I found myself watching Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin which was great because I’m trying to relive some of…honestly, those classic specials. They’re great, great music. And they’re really a lot more educational than the stuff that they put on TV these days.
Diana: They’re layered with all sorts of great messages and stories.
Justin: The Association of Library Service to Children, which is a division of the American Library Association, puts together a phenomenal list of websites for kids. You can find that at this address.
Diana: GWS.ALA.org
Justin: A lot of people these days don’t even use a library. Unfortunately. We need to remember to do that.
Diana: I love the library.
Justin: Absolutely. You do.
Diana: The smell of the books as you walk in is so special.
Justin: Oh, it is. It is. And a lot of our libraries are in need of people using them to stay relevant. I think that we should do that. You can visit this website, which also to note, in that address that Diana just gave there is no w-w-w. So don’t use w-w-w. Just GWS.ALA.org. You can find a list there of great websites for kids. These are pretty cool. There’s American folklore and that site contains retellings of American folktales, Native American myths and legends, tall tales, weather folklore, interesting, ghost stories from all 50 states in the USA including famous characters like Paul Pecos Bill, Daniel Boone. That sort of thing. It’s stuff that we grew up with that we read out of books.
Diana: I hope the kids are still reading them at school. I don’t know.
Justin: I don’t know if they are but you can find it at that website. And then the Smithsonian. Have you been to the Smithsonian?
Diana: I have not.
Justin: Yes, I have. I’ve been to one museum of the Smithsonian compound. It’s very cool, very cool.
Diana: You’ll have to take me sometime.
Justin: Absolutely. It’s in Washington. The National Museum of the American Indian is another website that you can go to and find some educational but interesting things for kids. Part of the Smithsonian Institute, of course, this museum is devoted to the protection and study of the life languages, literature, history and the arts of Native Americans. So that’s pretty cool.
Diana: Good, good.
Justin: And then, this is one that I said might appeal to adults as well.
Diana: All about birds.
Justin: That’s right. There are a lot of people who love to watch birds.
Diana: Bird watchers, people that are bird enthusiasts can learn all about birds on this website. It’s created by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Justin: Very cool. So bird names, species, locations and history…
Diana: Birdsongs, videos.
Justin: Yeah. Some cool stuff there. There’s a ton of things out there, educational smart things to make your kids smarter. Maybe to make you smarter. What’s that web address again Diana, that I can find this list?
Diana: GWS.ALA.org.
Justin: Great. Until next time.
Diana: Take care.
Justin: TechTable is brought to you by MPA of Bloomfield, Iowa and God’s Country Radio. You can visit us online at at askMPA.com.
Diana: If you have questions or comments please send them to questions@AskMPA.com. That’s questions@AskMPA.com.
Justin: Thanks for listening.
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