Nothing has made getting smarter easier than the advent of the personal computer and the inception of the internet, and the last decade has seen a huge crop of deep and deeply interesting educational opportunities present themselves online. From toddlers learning their ABCs to adults looking to advance their knowledge of infinitely complex subjects, there is simply no topic left unexplored by the virtual world at large.
Whether you’ve got children to keep on their toes over the warm, lazy months, or you’re looking for a way to effectively spend your own sunny afternoons, here are five cool education tools to check out in summer.
Sure, Wikipedia may seem like almost too obvious a choice to lead our list of educational tools, but it is a learning source that is too often taken for granted. Comprised of millions of pages of information on everything from ancient history to modern science, Wikipedia has more information to offer than any other source in the world, giving you every reason to lose yourself in its neatly linked pages any time that you have a chance!
Besides being instantly available via a browser on any PC, smartphone, or tablet computer, custom made apps for operating systems like Google Android and Apple iOS give you a customized Wikipedia experience that you can easily take with you while on the go, making it the perfect companion to a lazy summer afternoon on your deck!
Aimed at kids, but serving as a wonderful resource for curious people of all ages, Wonderopolis.org is a website that has something new to offer every single day, making it a fantastic place to spend some time, especially during the brain-numbing off-school months of summer!
Taking an approach to science that acknowledges the sheer wonder of the universe, Wonderopolis aims to get kids excited about the secrets of the world around them, making learning fun, and helping to keep them sharp even where there are no teachers to hold their attention. Besides offering oodles of information about just about everything under the Sun, Wonderopolis also features social features that encourage discussion, sharing, and teamwork in problem solving – all aspects of the experience that are sure to get your digitally-savvy youngster excited about learning.
3. Audio Books
The summer season means that you’ll be spending more time than ever performing yard work, giving you an excellent opportunity to fire up your MP3 player and lose yourself in your headphones for a few hours. In order to give your outside alone time an extra edge, consider switching out your regular tunes for an educational audio book or lecture series. Besides providing you with riveting entertainment for as many hours as you have to spare, you’ll also find yourself walking away from your listening time with a head full of new facts and data.
Given that they can be indulged without the use of your hands or eyes, audio books are an excellent tool for learning on the go, even on the busiest of summer days!
It’s Australian-only but what a cool concept! It lets you search through 100,000 University courses.
Sometimes the best way to learn is by doing, and that makes DoSomething.org a very good choice for teens who find themselves with time to kill over the summer! Focusing on a different call-to-action every week, each of them aiming to provoke some form of positive social change, DoSomething.org is similar to Wonderopolis in its ability to get young people excited about learning about the social landscape which they find themselves a part of, helping to create our future politicians, activists, and generally good-hearted citizens.