Friday, April 17, 2009

Designs on DaVinci


Doing DaVinci, a new interactive website with a companion weekly show, contains historical and scientific information about Leonardo DaVinci, as well as games and surveys. There are also video clips and information and interviews about the expert builders who brought DaVinci's machines to life, from his notes and diagrams.

One of the more interesting web applications on this site is Leonardo DaVinci's Personality Quiz. Several colleagues in our PLN, professional learning network, tried it out. We found it enlightening, as well as entertaining. This quiz would definitely capture the interest of students and teachers. It could be used as a lesson starter, sometimes called the anticipatory set.

This website contains timelines, samples of DaVinci's machines and a host of other applications that could be used by teachers of any subject.

The draw to DaVinci, as the ultimate Renaissance Man, remain his great and varied interests. Try out the website, quizzes, model-building and dramatizations. The companion television show will air each Monday throughout the month of April.



Image Credits:

Wikimedia.org
DaVinci Notes of Geometry of Flower
The Babe in the Womb