“Earth: the Operators’ Manual” iBook Series

I have recently finished more iBooks! The latest set of 3 books act as a supplement to the Earth: the Operator’s Manual textbook and videos, as well as the ETOM: Energy Quest USA  and ETOM: Powering the Planet video series also sponsored by the ETOM crew. For those who don’t know, the ETOM series was first a series of textbooks written by Penn State’s Richard Alley, and later picked up and modified into a documentary-like series by PBS.

The new iBooks I created can be found here on the Pennsylvania Earth Science Teacher’s Association (PAESTA) website and can be downloaded the same way as my other iBooks (Controversies in the Hydrosphere and Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill): Open the website on your iPad using the Safari browser, click download, and click “Open in iBooks”. The PAESTA website contains a description of my projects:

“In 2012, PBS showed three hour-long videos, hosted by Penn State Professor of Geosciences Dr. Richard Alley, addressing the challenges of climate change and proposing sustainable energy solutions.  The three videos are summarized on the ETOM website: “Earth: The Operators’ Manual dispenses with politics, polemics or punditry; instead, it presents an objective, accessible assessment of the Earth’s problems and possibilities that will leave viewers informed, energized and optimistic. Powering the Planet offers case studies of nations such as Brazil, China and Denmark that have begun the transition away from fossil fuel, and Energy Quest USA showcases positive steps being taken in five very different U.S. communities: Alaska, Kansas, Fort Worth (Texas), Baltimore (Maryland) and Portland (Oregon.)”

This trio of iBooks includes a collection of video segments from each video, along with supporting links to social media resources, and an appendix that contains a link to the full-length video found online.  Each video segment can be viewed by students individually on iPads or shown by a teacher in a classroom with an iPad connected to a LCD projector.  Ranging from two-to-seven minutes in length, each video segment can serve as a starting point for classroom discussions and writing prompts.”