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Teacher Resources
Our Teacher Resources page is a compilation of tools for science educators. Access classroom activities, get the scoop on special offers, and find materials that will enhance your lessons here. You will find a variety of types of resources including links to web sites, attachments to download, and information on how to take advantage of great opportunities. Resources are sorted by scientific discipline.
To use the Search tool, just enter the text you want to search for into the Search Text field. You can also select a scientific discipline and grade level for your search. Click on the Search button when you are ready to launch your search.
Agriculture
Arc Lesson Library
Lesson 1, Agricultural Security
Lesson 2 - Asessing the Impact of Coal Mining and Mercury Hazards on Wilderness Areas in Colorado
Lesson 3, Dust Bowl
Lesson 4, The Great Migration
Lesson 5, Oil in Arabia
http://edcommunity.esri.com/arclessons/arclessons.cfm
The following are all from the Food, Land, & People section of the web site.
Teach free is a Web site, funded by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, that provides preschool through 12th grade educators with high-quality educational materials that supplement the curriculum. Resources can also be downloaded for use in the classroom—teachfree.com
The Caretaker’s All tool kit for grades 5-8, has been revised and reprinted. This environmentally-based tool kit tells the story of good “caretaking”. The two main points addressed by this curriculum are stewardship and animal husbandry. Students will learn about 5 different environmental issues, in the 6th lesson they learn how to apply the principles learned in their own community.
Enriching Family Mealtimes - A growing body of research shows that regular family mealtimes have a positive impact on all aspects of a child’s development – physical, mental, behavioral, social and educational. This kit provides school leaders, health professionals, and parent volunteers the tools needed to promote family mealtimes in their schools or youth organizations. Contents include “how-to” tips, advice, simple recipes, shopping lists, conversation starters plus many other resources. Materials are available for viewing and download at www.family-mealtimes.org.
What's in Chocolate? Biodiesel? - Ever wonder how chocolate is made or what goes into it? How about meatless burgers? Biodiesel? ADM has built a Web site that explains how oil seeds, wheat, corn and cocoa are processed into the things we use every day. The interactive site includes food, animal nutrition and fuels. Check it out…
Fifty Ways to Eat Your Oysters - Who says food safety is boring? Thanks to Dr. Carl Winter at UC Davis, you can hear such musical treats as '
Dr. X and the Quest for Food Safety. - Who knew food safety was so much fun? If you liked the singing food scientist, you'll love Dr. X from the FDA. A scientist super hero, Dr X is featured in five separate videos, corresponding to the five instructional modules in the Science and Our Food Supply Teacher's Guide. Total length is 46 minutes. Check it out…
Food for an Aging Mind - Feel like your aging brain isn't what it once was? Here's help. Scientists know that certain nutrients and other key chemical compounds are essential to human brain function. Serious deficiencies in some of these, such as vitamin B12 and iron, can lead to impaired cognitive function due to neurological, or nerve fiber, complications. Free pdf on nutrition and brain function…
Hot Stuff - You may think the chile pepper is a relative newcomer in American ag, but fact is, George Washington cultivated hot chiles on his farm in
Watching Corn Grow - More exciting than Dr. X? How about watching corn grow? Seriously. At LivingHistoryFarm.org there is a wealth of information about farming over the years, plus a time-lapse video of corn growing over the course of the season. Check it out at www.livinghistoryfarm.org
Speaking of Corn - Need a refresher course on how corn is turned into ethanol? Most
Astronomy
10 Brightest Stars
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, College
The following is a catalog [and description] of the ten brightest stars that grace the celestial sphere, As seen from our corner of the galaxy, these are lighthouses of the heavens and can be enjoyed even from the heart of metropolitan areas.
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/brightest_stars_030715-1.html
400 Years of the Telescope
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, College
A new web site, accompanying the PBS television
special "400 Years of the Telescope," offers
background information, classroom and family
activities, and practical tips for everyone who is
teaching about the development of telescopes,
the history of astronomy, or the exploration of the
universe. You are invited to discover its features at:
http://www.pbs.org/soptv/400years/
Information on the site includes:
* An Introduction to Telescopes
* Getting Your Family Involved with Astronomy
* The Expanding Universe Explained
* The Astronomy of Many Cultures
* How Astronomers Search for Intelligent Life in Space
* Science Fiction With Good Astronomy
* Telescopes of the World (a table and database)
* Frequently Asked Questions about Galileo
* Video Clips of Interviews with Noted Astronomers
* An Activity for Observing the Cycles of Jupiter's Moons
* A Glossary of Astronomical Terms
* Teaching Ideas for 14 Key Topics Related to the Show
* A "Toolkit" for Demonstrating Ideas in Optics
* A Guide to the Changing Role of Women in Astronomy
and many other resources and tools.
Information on the site was put together by the
educational staff of the Astronomical Society of the
Pacific (a 120-year old educational organization
which has developed outreach materials on astronomy
for a wide range or projects) and Interstellar Studios,
the production company that made the TV special.
Both the TV show and the web site are among the
key outreach projects of the International Year of
Astronomy in 2009, celebrating the 400th anniversary
of Galileo turning the telescope toward the heavens.
http://www.pbs.org/soptv/400years/
Astronomy Education Review (AER), the web-based journal/magazine about astronomy education and outreach. There is no charge for reading or downloading the full articles in the journal.
When you go to the AER site, you will see that the next issue is already under way. You can find the full issue by clicking on “back issues”
AER actively solicits interesting papers and articles on all aspects of astronomy space science education and outreach. The journal gets between 130,000 and 270,000 hits per month from every state of the U.S. and over 90 other countries. All papers are refereed and a set of guidelines for contributing to AER is available on the web site.
We are also delighted to announce that, as of 2009, AER will become a journal of the American Astronomical Society. The transition should be seamless and we continue to accept papers and announcement for publication in either the last issue of 2008 or the first issue of 2009. More information about the change of publishers will be available in the months to come.
aer.noao.edu
Podcasts of Astronomy Talks Available
Audio recordings of ten public lectures by noted astronomers are now available as free MP3 downloads at the web site of the nonprofit Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP).
These talks were recorded at Foothill College in the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture Series. They are made available through a kind donation to the ASP by a donor with a strong interest in education who wishes to remain anonymous. Each hour-long lecture on some exciting development in our study of the universe is followed by an extensive question and answer period, in which the speaker gives further details and personal glimpses about the topics under discussion.
Audio tour of solar system
Bill Nye, The Science Guy, takes you on an audio tour of the solar system, keyed to the Sagan Planet Walk.
The Sagan Planet Walk is a walking scale model of the solar system, extending 1.2 km from the center of The Commons in downtown Ithaca, NY to the Sciencenter, a hands-on museum featuring over 250 exhibits.
The exhibition was created in memory of Ithaca resident and Cornell Professor Carl Sagan by the Sciencenter in 1997. Professor Sagan had been a founding member of the museum's advisory board and was instrumental in developing the institution's educational philosophy.
Blog on the Universe
I am the Center Director for the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education, a non-profit. We are working very hard to get word out on the new "Blog on the Universe" which is "dedicated to helping teachers of science and math make science an adventure.” Every week it provides powerful teachable moments for the classroom and home.
PLEASE take a look at the recent blog post called "Apples and You" which powerfully addresses the fragility of the atmosphere, climate change, and what teachers can do in the classroom. Each post is a self contained powerful lesson. If you read this post, you'll see the depth of content, a commitment to what teachers need, and the passion behind this effort. Then read "About This Blog".
It's a wonderful free resource for teachers. The site includes Resource Pages on the nature of the universe, human exploration, the nature of science, and resource lists for teachers, parents, and community leaders.
The URL: http://blogontheuniverse.org
Exploratorium, Make a scale model of the Solar System and learn the REAL definition of “space.”
MULTIMEDIA, NASA, explore thousands of images and dozens of videos and print products created by NASA¹s Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn.
saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/index.cfm
Here you will find all kinds of information relating to all 88 constellations.
www.dibonsmith.com/constel.htm
This set of six posters tell the story of how our understanding of the universe has changed over the past 100 years. Each poster mimics the front page of a newspaper from a key era in this history. Articles describe the discoveries and ideas that have lead us to our current state of knowledge. The Cosmic Times web site (http://cosmictimes.gsfc.nasa.gov/) has accompanying lesson plans and a teacher guide which provides background to all the articles. For your students, there are also two newsletter versions of each poster, each at a different reading level and downloadable from the web site.
Displaying the posters will spark interest in science and science history, while the lessons re-enforce science concepts and explore the historical and social context of this history.
You can request your poster set by going to our "Information for Educators" page http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/features/educ_info.html and following the links to the order form.
Also available from our order form is the WMAP Inflatable Universe Teaching Ball (aka the WMAP Beach Ball). This 12-inch inflatable beach ball portrays the oldest light in the universe. This light was emitted by hydrogen gas 380,000 years after the Big Bang, long before stars and galaxies formed. The patterns in this light trace minute variations in the early gas density (a part in 100,000) and provide valuable information about the age, shape, and composition of our universe. This full-sky map was produced from data collected by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) between 2001 and 2006. Because of their bulk, please limit your request to 1 per customer.
Take Bill Arnett`s multimedia tour of the Solar System. `The Eight Planets are a collection of information about our Solar System intended for a general audience with little technical background.
Electromagnetic Spectrum 2 - Online exploration: Star Light, Star Bright explores the nature of the electromagnetic spectrum. In this activity students will identify the different properties of waves and the relationship that exists between energy, wavelength, and frequency. Students will correlate images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and other astronomical instruments to the wavelength, color, and temperature information that can be found in the spectrum. Students will draw conclusions based upon data displayed in graphs.
Format(s) available: Online interactive
Grades: 6-9, but the material can be adapted for use in other grades at the teacher's discretion
Educator Guide: See online teacher pages.
http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/eds/overviews/explorations/slsb.php.p=Teaching+tools%40%2Ceds%2Ctools%2C%3EElectromagnetic+spectrum%40%2Ceds%2Ctools%2Ctopic%2Cems.php
These activities comprise a series of 20 practical math applications in space science. Students looking for additional challenges in math and physical science are encouraged to use these as potential extra credit problems. The problems are authentic glimpses of modern engineering issues that arise in designing satellites to work in space. Each word problem has background information providing insight into the basic phenomena of the sun-Earth system, specifically space weather. The one-page assignments are accompanied by one-page teachers guides with answer keys.
Eyes in the Sky II Seeks Grade 9 to 12 Science Teachers
Eyes in the Sky II is a long-term professional development program that prepares high school science teachers to use NASA data and visualizations along with other geospatial information technologies. Throughout the program, teachers and students investigate both global and local environmental issues. The program includes four parts: 1) a 12-week online Web course, consisting of three 4-week modules; 2) a 7-day face-to-face summer workshop held onsite at a NASA research center; 3) one year of classroom implementation, ending with a virtual student showcase; and 4) an ambassador program for providing professional development for other teachers in participants' schools or districts.
Grade 9 to 12 science teachers will benefit from this program. Through participating, teachers will: 1) become proficient using NASA data and geospatial analysis tools; 2) receive a $1000 stipend for completing the online course and the 7-day summer workshop; 3) receive an additional $1000 stipend as compensation for delivering professional development as an Eyes in the Sky II Ambassador; 4) equip their students with geospatial technology skills that are in increasing demand in the workplace; and 5) obtain optional graduate credit through Northern Arizona University.
For more information about the Eyes in the Sky II program, including the online application visit http://serc.carleton.edu/eyesinthesky2/index.html. Applications are due by January 15, 2010. We expect this will be a popular program. As there are a limited number of openings available, first consideration will be given to early applicants. If you have further questions, please contact Carla McAuliffe (Carla_McAuliffe@terc.edu) or Erin Bardar (Erin_Bardar@terc.edu).
I don't even know how to describe this one. You'll just have to go to it and check it out!
Take your entire community on a Journey through the Universe:
http://journeythroughtheuniverse.org
Look at the Universe, Advanced Level
http://filer.case.edu/~sjr16/advanced/index.html
Look at the Universe, Basic Level
http://filer.case.edu/~sjr16/index.html
NASA Mars Website
http://marsoweb.nas.nasa.gov/hirise/hirise_images/
Meteor Showers Web Site
Animation Slide Show on meteor showers and how to view them.
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/meteor/meteors_dw.swf
NASA Design a Mission
Extra-Credit Problems in Space Science -- Grades 7-9
These activities comprise a series of 20 practical math applications in space science. Students looking for additional challenges in math and physical science are encouraged to use these as potential extra credit problems. The problems are authentic glimpses of modern engineering issues that arise in designing satellites to work in space. Each word problem has background information providing insight into the basic phenomena of the sun-Earth system, specifically space weather. The one-page assignments are accompanied by one-page teachers guides with answer keys.
Math Applications
Additional Video Learning Clips Added
More than 50 educational video clips have been added to the Videos section of the NASA Educational Materials site.
Educational video clips are short segments about aeronautics, Earth science, space science, space exploration and other NASA-related topics. Designed for students in grades K-12, these short videos are ideal for supplementing teaching ideas in the classroom.
Use the Find Teaching Materials tool at the link below to select Video Learning Clips and the appropriate grade level.
http://search.nasa.gov/search/edFilterSearch.jsp?empty=true
NASA Educational Materials
K, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, College
The Educational Materials section of NASA's Web site offers classroom activities, educator guides, posters and other types of resources that are available for use in the classroom. Materials are listed by type, grade level and subject. The following items are now available for downloading.
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/kidsclub/flash/index.html
Science@NASA, the Earth Science Education Update is a free monthly email newsletter containing information from NASA’s Earth Science Education Program. Past issues are archived here back to 1995. There is a link to subscribe.
Allsortsofactivities arefound here in Spanish and English.
spaceplace.nasa.gov/
Space Place Newsletters old and new are availble at: http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/educators/news/index.shtml
This NASA story discusses new findings regarding low altitude ozone (tropospheric) and how it is a significant factor in warming the
www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2006/troposphere_ozone.html
There’s a lot of extra info and a great help section for using this amazing free software.
worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/
Cosmic Times: Inquiring into the Nature of the Universe - The first installment of our new curriculum support materials is now available. Cosmic Times explores the evolution of our understanding of the nature of the universe during the last 100 years. Cosmic Times will consist of a series of 6 posters, each of which looks like the front page of a newspaper. The articles on each poster discuss key events in the development of our understanding of the universe.
Each poster is accompanied by teacher notes and a set of lessons, appropriate for upper middle school and high school. The lessons teach the physics and astronomy concepts central to the discoveries, and include interdisciplinary lessons relating the material to social and literary skills.
The 1919 edition of Cosmic Times is now available on-line. This issue features the eclipse expedition which verified Einstein's prediction of the bending of light. The Lessons elucidate eclipses, Einstein's theory of gravity, and the other events occurring at the time.
Are you a K-12 teacher of STEM disciplines?
Are you looking for a way to enhance your instructional skills, meet your professional development goals, or find new and exciting resources to use in your learning environments?
Then NASA's Electronic Professional Development Network (ePDN) is for you!
NASA's Learning Environments and Research Network (LE&RN) and the Georgia Institute of Technology have teamed up to create the ePDN, a new initiative dedicated to preparing teachers to engage their students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) through the use of NASA-developed learning materials and resources.
The ePDN Offers:
* Free certificate programs (52 hours) in robotics, mathematics, Earth/space science, and technology integration.
* Flexibility to take individual courses within a certificate or the entire certificate program, both for CEU credit.
* Resources that teachers can use in the classroom or for personal development.
Applications are now open for the Robotics certificate, which begins in January, 2010. To apply, please visit http://www.nasaepdn.gatech.edu/certificates.php
For more information on the ePDN, visit http://www.nasaepdn.gatech.edu/
Don't miss out on these great opportunities!
Mark Fischer
Executive Director
National Space Grant Foundation
101 Constitution Avenue NW, Suite 650 East
Washington DC 20001-2133
202-536-3030
202-536-3089 (fax)
http://www.spacegrant.org/
Close up pictures of the Orion Nebula taken by our beloved Hubble Space Telescope—absolutely stunning!
www.space.com/scienceastronomy/060111_orion_news.html
Includes an expand animated world map showing exactly where it is in real time relative to national boundaries and cities. You can also see an orbital path diagram on a link from the heavens on this site.
www.esa.int/esaHS/ESAI2X0VMOC_iss_0.html
"Seeing in the Dark," a dramatic new PBS special by award-winning journalist and author Timothy Ferris, premieres at 8 pm September 19th on most PBS stations (check local listings for exact dates and times.) It explores the delights and rewards of amateur astronomy and chronicles the contributions that amateurs are making to the science and art of astronomy. The program was produced in state-of-the-art high definition and features beautiful images and animations that range from the planets to depths of space. Accompanying the show is a new interactive web site which is now ready for visitors.
Among the many things you can do at the web site are:
1. View or print "Your Sky Tonight", a chart of any part of the sky, showing planets, stars, and deep space objects, as seen from any location and time you wish to set.
2. Watch introductory "how-to-videos" with Timothy Ferris on getting started with the hobby of astronomy.
3. Take a photo of any object in the northern sky using the Seeing in the Dark Internet Telescope and have it sent to you by e-mail (restricted to students).
4. Read more about the astronomers featured in the show and get basic background information about the astronomy it covers (including such topics as planets around other stars, the exploration of Mars, and how light serves as a cosmic time machine).
5. Explore a series of class-room tested, hands-on activities for students in grades 2 through 12, ready for teachers to use (even if they don't have a strong background in astronomy).
6. Browse through a gallery of beautiful color images of the cosmos, taken by the astronomical photographers who contributed to the show.
7. Find a star whose light left on its journey toward us in the year you were born.
8. Discover some fun projects and games for families who want to do astronomy together (both indoors and outdoors).
9. Watch the amazing special effects videos from Seeing in the Dark on your computer.
10. Browse through links to some of the best web sites for learning more about astronomy, and finding an astronomy club near you.
Planet 10 is great for exploring the solar system from the view of the sun or each of the planets, and there is a world builder to design a planet based on physics, chemistry, biology and orbit information great for the end of the earth science year. But there is also Astro-Venture: Design a planet at astroventure.arc.nasa.gov/. You select the type of star and 6 characteristics of the planet – including the presence of plate tectonics. There are geology, biology and other sections to help the fledgling planet designer understand what would be necessary for a planet to support human life.
http://www.solarsystem.org.uk/planet10/
Podcasts of Nontechnical Astronomy Talks
6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, College
Podcasts of Nontechnical Astronomy Talks Available Without Charge Audio recordings of twelve public lectures by noted astronomers are now available as free MP3 downloads at the web site of the nonprofit Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP): http://www.astrosociety.org/education/podcast/index.html
These talks were recorded at Foothill College in the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture Series. They are made available to the public through the kind support of a donor with a strong interest in education who wishes to remain anonymous. Each hour-long lecture on some exciting development in our study of the universe is followed by an extensive question and answer period, in which the speaker gives further details and personal glimpses about the topics under discussion.
Among the talks now available are:
* Dr. Jill Tarter (SETI Institute): "Better Searches for Signals from Extra-terrestrial Civilizations"
* Dr. Geoff Marcy (U. of California, Berkeley): "Hunting for Earth-like Planets Among the Stars"
* Dr. David Morrison (NASA Ames Research Center): "Asteroid Impacts and the Evolution of Life on Earth"
* Dr. David Grinspoon (Denver Museum of Nature & Science): "Climate Catastrophes in the Solar System"
* Dr. Bruce Margon (University of California, Santa Cruz): "Results from the Hubble Space Telescope"
* Dr. Dale Cruikshank (NASA Ames): "The Planet Pluto: Maligned but Not Forgotten"
* Dr. Alex Filippenko (University of California, Berkeley): "Dark Energy and the Runaway Universe"
* Dr. Frank Drake (SETI Institute): "Estimating the Chances of Life Out There"
A few talks are also available as video files (instructions can be foundon the same page.)
These lectures are co-sponsored by:
+ NASA's Ames Research Center
+ The SETI Institute
+ The Foothill College Astronomy Program
+ The Astronomical Society of the Pacific.
http://www.astrosociety.org/education/podcast/index.html
Replica of the Voyage Model Solar System on the National Mall in Washington, DC, available for permanent installation in your community:
http://voyagesolarsystem.org
http://voyagesolarsystem.org/facebook
An annotated list of resources for helping students and the public to understand and appreciate the Moon is now available on the web site of the nonprofit Astronomical Society of the Pacific at:
http://www.astrosociety.org/education/family/resources/moonguide.html
The guide -- for educators, amateur astronomers, and everyone who would like to know more about the Earth's only natural satellite -- covers our scientific understanding of the Moon as a world, the appearance of the Moon in our skies, and tips for observing the Moon through binoculars or small telescopes. It also suggests a few ways to learn more about the Moon in popular culture and historical events.
(This resource list is part of a series of guides for educators from the 120-year old Society, which is dedicated to improving the public understanding of astronomy and advancing science literacy. See all their materials at: http://www.astrosociety.org/education.html )
spaceweather.com/
The Solar System Ambassadors Program
K, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, College
The Solar System Ambassadors Program is a public outreach program designed to work with motivated volunteers across the nation. These volunteers communicate the excitement of JPL's space exploration missions and information about recent discoveries to people in their local communities.
There are almost 500 Ambassadors in 50 states, Washington DC and Puerto Rico bringing the excitement of space to the public. Ambassadors are space enthusiasts from various walks of life who are interested in providing greater service and inspiration to the community at large.
The Solar System Ambassadors Program builds on and expands the outstanding efforts undertaken by the Galileo mission since 1997. Because of the success of the original Galileo Ambassadors program, JPL missions exploring Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Asteroids, Comets, Earth, the Sun and the Universe now come together to expand the program's scope to the Solar System and beyond.
The Solar System Ambassadors Program is sponsored by the JET PROPULSION LABORATORY in Pasadena, CA, an operating division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and a lead research and development center for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
To arrange for a Solar System Ambassador event in your community, click on the Meet the Ambassador link on the top navigation bar, select your state or territory and review the entries. Ambassadors furnish short biographical statements for the purpose of detailing their areas of interest and expertise. Following the biography is a list of past events conducted by the Ambassador to further aid in decision making. Inquiries about an Ambassador's availability should be made by sending an email directly to the individual.
Check the "Calendar of Events" section as well to see if an Ambassador event will be occurring in your local community. For a listing of Solar System Ambassadors by name, visit the Directory of Ambassadors.
Applications to become a Solar System Ambassador are accepted once a year during the month of September. Successful candidates begin their one-year, renewable term of service the following January 1. The Announcement of Opportunity and application form will be posted on this site on September 1.
The Solar System Ambassadors Program is sponsored by the JET PROPULSION LABORATORY in Pasadena, CA, an operating division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and a lead research and development center for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
The Science@NASA Podcast. It’s “SuitSat,” an empty spacesuit thrown overboard from the International Space Station. Using a simple police scanner or ham radio, you can listen to SuitSat when it orbits over your hometown.
science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/26jan_suitsat.htm?list79057
Space Weather Site
K, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, College
You may have read about the viewability tonight of the crescent new moon quite close to Venus, just after sunset in the western sky; check out the details and a sky map at: http://spaceweather.com/
Time-honored mnemonic for remembering the spectral sequence, invented by Henry Norris Russell when astronomy’s leadership was all male, is “Oh Be A Fine Girl
www2.wwnorton.com/college/astronomy/astro21/sandt/startypes.html
Spectroscopy Basics Interactive - Alpha Centauri, the closest star system to Earth, is home to three stars, one of which is so tantalizingly similar to our sun that many experts speculate that its solar system might contain habitable planets. But Alpha Centauri is about 4.3 light-years, or 25 trillion miles, from Earth. It would take a spacecraft over 25,000 years, more than 300 lifetimes of an astronomer to reach it. When astronomers want to investigate Alpha Centauri, other nearby star systems, or even more remote objects like galaxies, they cannot rely on space missions. Instead, they resort to the primary scientific method of their discipline, a light analysis technique called spectroscopy. In this interactive, learn the basics of spectroscopy and use the technique to reveal the composition of four different cosmic objects.
A supernova in the news expelled a large amount of mass before collapsing into a black hole. Let your students explore space and then experience the pull of a black hole's gravity as they practice their spelling in the following interactives! Grades 4-9. It's a little heavy on content, yet a simple spelling game. You decide for yourself:)
spaceplace.jpl.nasa.gov/en/kids/blackhole/index.shtml#
This Dynamic Planet map and web-map resource
This could spark some interesting conversations with students about impact craters and events, solar system relationships, and more. One excellent resource to supplement might be the "This Dynamic Planet" map and web-map resource by the Smithsonian Institution and the USGS - see lesson on web site and search on "This Dynamic Planet."
http://edcommunity.esri.com/arclessons/arclessons.cfm
Tonight’s Sky and much more - Scientists plan to study other forms of radiation leaving the hottest planet, HD149026b, later this year. Prepare your students with an introduction (or a review) of the electromagnetic spectrum and then let them use visible light to explore space! Both the HubbleSite and Amazing Space websites are excellent space resources! I love Tonight’s Sky.
amazing-space.stsci.edu/
TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE OF MARCH 29, 2006, the satellite images in this edition of the Envirocast® Bulletin show the shadow of the moon cast upon the Earth seen crossing the Atlantic, Africa and
USING EARTH TO EXPLORE MARS, (suggested by Theresa Schwerin, IGES), Dr. Josh Bandfield and Brian Grigsby from the Arizona State University Mars Education Program compare and contrast Earth and Mars. Seminar highlights ways to familiarize students with planetary processes and landforms by integrating non-Earth examples. Includes a Mars mission update.
institute.nsta.org/JPL/webseminar5.asp
Atmospheric Science
New Podcast Series for Educators from NSDL
Educational podcasts allow teachers an easy way to keep current on research and materials to use in their teaching. The podcast series developed for Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears <http://beyondpenguins.nsdl.org> has teaching tips, interviews with scientists, and other ideas for bringing polar science into the classroom. These podcasts are produced in partnership with the National Science Digital Library (NSDL).
Check out this month’s 10-minute podcast, /The Lowdown on Climate Change/
<http://beyondpenguins.nsdl.org/issue/column.php?date=March2009&departmentid=professional&columnid=professional%21podcast
<http://beyondpenguins.nsdl.org/issue/column.php?date=March2009&departmentid=professional&columnid=professional%21podcast>>
..
Researcher Dr. Andy Monaghan from the National Center for Atmospheric Research gives a brief overview on climate change, recent effects of climate change in Antarctica, and ways we can reduce our impact on climate.
Other episodes in this podcast series feature researchers and educational experts from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Exploratorium.http://beyondpenguins.nsdl.org/podcast/index.php
Great for the newsletter!
Exciting brand new weather site for teachers & weather enthusiasts. Try
http://theweatherwiz.com
Weather forecasts out two years including average temps and precipitation
for entire world. All this free of charge.
A weather educational site for enthusiasts was uploaded yesterday. Go to
"Wiz School."(IT IS A WORK IN PROGRESS. MANY UPDATES TO FOLLOW). It
includes the forecast computer program links such as Nam,Gfs etc., how to
use these sites and actually forecast the weather.
I ran the most successful school weather program in the United States. This
is an offshoot of that program. Graduates from that program include:
Executive V.P. of Accu-weather, Code writer for the GFS model. Director of
hurricane research of the National Weather Service, Director and Head
Scientist of NCAR, Lead forecaster of Manned Space Flight Center, NASA,
College professors of Meteorology plus many radio and TV weather
personalities around the country. This might be very interesting for you
"weather enthusiasts".
Best,
Jim Witt
http://theweatherwiz.com
By the Exploratorium in
(Suggested by David Robison,
earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Laboratory/PlanetEarthScience/GlobalWarming/GW.html
From NASA, this site offers images captured by NASA's satellites showing ocean wind speed and sea surface height as they related to the development of Hurricane Floyd in September 1999.
www.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/slideshows/hurricanes-200606/index.cfm
I work for the Outreach Committee at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Right now, our committee is working to promote our website, learnmoreaboutclimate.colorado.edu. We would like to be involved with the Colorado Association of Science Teachers to attend and participate in monthly events that CAST sponsors. Our website includes videos and resources for educators about climate change, and we're interested in any involvement in your events, from setting up a booth or previewing our videos/website or distributing resources to educators. Please let me know how we can get involved and what events CAST is sponsoring in the future. Feel free to contact me anytime. Thanks so much!
National Geographic has Science topices ofinterest.
www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0506/feature6/multimedia.html
See this description of a new daily high-low temperature activity:
Curious about the spatial pattern of these high and low temperatures, I created a geodatabase of the January 2009 extremes, other data, and a lesson in the ArcLessons library, ready for everyone to analyze it, on: http://edcommunity.esri.com/arclessons/lesson.cfm?id=408
blogs.esri.com/Info/blogs/gisedcom/archive/2009/03/06/investigating-temperature-extremes-in-the-usa-with-gis.aspx
SciJinksWeather Lab- grades 4-8 learn about weather thru interactive games, illustrated text, and fun facts: http://scijink.gov
The Dust Bowl. Hot, loopy solar gases. Killer Katrina. Combining dramatic images of Earth and space weather with the challenge of an old-fashioned slider puzzle, the new "Slyder" game on the SciJinks Weather Laboratory website will capture the attention of any middle-schooler--and maybe even their parents and teachers. Players pick from a rich variety of captioned images, including photos from the ground, photos from space, and artist's renderings. After picking a difficulty level (3x3, 4x4, 5x5 grids), the player slides the scrambled tiles around to make a whole picture again.
scijinks.gov/weather/fun/slyder
Weather Topics
Visit this website for indexed, alphabetized weather topics, from acid rain to Zulu time, in an easy to read format, with many graphics and animations. Scroll down to "Learn about weather, climate."
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/wresources.htm
Biology
What you want to know about vascular plants, mosses, liverworts, hornworts, and lichens of the
Information resources and updates for the life sciences information community. Free access to resources such as the Nomenclature Glossary for Zoology and the Zoological Record Thesaurus. Find useful information collected from outside sources, with links to current science news stories, relevant web sites and more. Browse by organism, subject and/or geography.
Biology Teacher's Lesson Plans web site and wanted to let you know about it. It's www.Biology4Teachers.com and has lesson plans, powerpoints, games, and more. The site was the idea of an Arizona high school biology teacher so the activities on our site are what she uses in her classroom. We're looking for more lesson plans and powerpoints to add to the site so please feel free to forward any on if so inclined. Also, we'd like to know if you could add us to your Teacher's Resource page.
There is a Web page for biology that comprises documents that can be copied. All the teacher documents were created on Microsoft WORD. There are sections on management of the resources, tips, games, puzzles, lesson plans, links and references, labs, and national standards.
With flash animations. They sell the animations for teaching purposes but you can view them free on the net.
This website offers a comprehensive approach to the subject of fighting disease as well as overall wellness. Students can play interactive games covering issues like genes and heredity, physical fitness, disease prevention, and seeing the truth behind deceptive ads.
In this game you are to take on the job as a Cell Division Supervisor. Are you familiar with the different phases in the cell cycle? If not, maybe you should pay extra attention to the image of the cell cycle in the introduction.
With spring just around the corner – I wanted to remind you that Denver Botanic Gardens has some great programs to offer schools and teachers this spring (and winter)!
For teachers wishing to bring their class to the Gardens, space is filling fast for the busy months of April and May. There’s a variety of guided and self-guided programs to choose from – here is just a few:
- Journey to the Rainforest (grades K-5) – Explore a rainforest ecosystem and learn why it’s important. (February and March)
- Pizza, Pencils and Plants (grades K-3) – Discover the many ways that plants are used by people. (February to April)
- Jurassic Gardens Discovery Backpack (grades K-3) – Explore the world of dinosaurs, the habitats they lived in and the plants they ate. (April 19-September 30)
- Celebrating Wildflowers Week (grades K-3) – Discover the wonders of Colorado’s native wildflowers (May 18-22)
If a field trip doesn’t work this year, why not bring the Gardens to your school instead? The Cultivation Cruiser outreach programs brings plants, unique activities and planting projects directly to your classroom for what is sure to be a memorable and educational experience. We offer seven different programs for grades PreK-12 – click here for a complete description of all programs.
For teachers looking for new ways to teach about plants and/or incorporate plants into your daily curriculum, we’re offering a series of Professional Development classes for teachers. All classes are available for recertification credit. Here is a brief description of what’s available:
- Building a Spring Schoolyard Garden –Plant a cool season garden with your students that you can harvest before school’s over. February 21, 2009.
- Tree-by-Tree, The Mile High Million – Learn how to take advantage of the teachable moments that trees provide. March 7, 2009.
- From Fossils to Flowers, an overview of Plant Evolution – Travel through time and learn about each major evolutionary group of plants. April 25, 2009
- Incorporating Plants in the Classroom – Discover fun ways to include plants in your math, reading and writing curriculum. June 16, 2009.
- Teaching Plants from Root to Seed – Explore fun activities that you can use to teach plant structure and function. July 21, 2009.
For a complete description of our Professional Development classes, please see the attached file.
For a complete listing of all school and teacher programs, please visit our website. If you’re interested in signing yourself or your class up for a program, please contact our registration coordinator at registrar@botanicgardens.org or 720-865-3580. For Professional Development classes only, you can register online. Spaces fill fast, so call soon to reserve your spot.
This looks like a good book if you need to have information to justify teaching evolution.
Now Available!!! Scientists Confront Intelligent Design and Creationism.
15 ANSWERS TO CREATIONIST NONSENSE, Scientific American, find rebuttals to such statements as: 1. Evolution is only a theory. It is not a fact or a scientific law. 2. Evolution is unscientific, because it is not testable or falsifiable 3. If humans descended from monkeys, why are there still monkeys? 4. Mutations are essential to evolution theory, but mutations can only eliminate traits. They cannot produce new features.
FROM THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES this Web page is designed to provide easy access to books, position statements, and additional resources on evolution education and research. These materials have been produced by the
Here is a site you might want to shoot to other teachers. This site lets you pick two faces and blend them to see how their average face would look. Might be good for heredity/genetics.
Dear Science Educators and Professionals:
We have new, free materials on biomedical topics. These print and online resources include:
A new edition of The Chemistry of Health that includes:
a full-color booklet featuring chemistry basics short "Meet a Chemist" profiles a companion poster an extensive online resource, ChemHealthWeb (http://publications.nigms.nih.gov/chemhealth/), with downloadable chapters, chemistry A-Z glossary, molecule gallery and chemistry-related puzzles and games.
Two full-color classroom posters available at
http://publications.nigms.nih.gov/order/pubdescriptions/chemhealthwebposter.html and
http://publications.nigms.nih.gov/order/pubdescriptions/findingsposter.html.
The latest issue of Findings magazine at http://publications.nigms.nih.gov/findings/issues.asp. This issue features Marc Zimmer, a biochemist who studies glow-in-the-dark proteins, and Lola Eniola-Adefeso, a chemical engineer who studies methods to improve heart disease drugs.
Like all of our offerings, these printed and online resources focus on medically relevant life sciences and are free of charge. Printed materials are available individually or in classroom sets. They are also downloadable from http://publications.nigms.nih.gov/order/classroom.html.
Here is a sampling of our products:
Findings magazine, which profiles vibrant scientists and includes puzzles and games. Each semi-annual issue introduces students not only to cutting-edge research, but also to the varied personalities, hobbies and backgrounds of the researchers, who serve as role models for future scientists. Our new "Ask a Scientist" online feature allows students to submit relevant scientific questions to researchers profiled in the magazine. Subscriptions are free.
Award-winning booklets on topics including cell biology, genetics, chemistry, pharmacology, structural biology and computational biology. Several of the booklets are enhanced with additional online content.
Interactive games and crossword puzzles that teach science.
Scientific image galleries containing downloadable photos, illustrations and videos.
Video and audio interviews with scientists.
A monthly electronic newsletter that highlights recent scientific advances. Subscriptions are free.
These materials are produced by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), part of the National Institutes of Health. They are not copyrighted and you are free to excerpt content from them to use in the classroom or on a class Web site.
For the latest NIGMS news and information, follow us on Twitter or become our Facebook fan!
If you know of other people or organizations that would be interested in these free educational resources, please forward this message to them. We also encourage you to include information about our free materials in relevant listservs, Web sites and newsletters.
If you have any questions about NIGMS science education materials, please contact me at alisa.machalek@nih.gov or 301-496-7301.
2009 is the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin: one of the greatest scientists ever. The founders of the Beagle Project intend to celebrate his life, work, and legacy by building a sailing replica of HMS Beagle, the ship that took
In 2009 the replica will be launched and set sail in
The voyage will be crewed by established and aspiring young scientists, it will revisit the landfalls made by
Using satellite communications and an interactive Web site, students in labs and classrooms around the world will be able to follow the voyages and participate in experiments and life aboard the replica Beagle.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) offers an interactive Web site for the primary grades: Cool Science for Curious Kids, here. HHMI also offers BioInteractive, which provides virtual labs and other interactive activities.
Take a virtual trip through the human body’s major players: the brain, skeleton, heart, and digestive tract. Find out the various parts that make each up, see them in action, and even build your own skeleton!
An educational video game jointly developed by the Federation of American Scientists,
Defending our Bodies
Play the Immune System Defender Game Enter the blood stream and see if you can defeat a bacterial infection!
Infective agents that cause disease can spread in many ways, including by air and in food and water. Click on the following link to play the part of decision-maker in an attempt to provide a village with healthy drinking water and the village school with a more hygienic environment. This site is excellent for connecting American students to conditions in other parts of the world.
Water Alert! Voices of Youth, UNICEF
The Inner Life of a Cell is an 8-minute animation that illustrates unseen molecular mechanisms and the ones they trigger, specifically how white blood cells sense and respond to their surroundings and external stimuli. This project was developed from a grant by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to Robert Lue who directs life sciences education at Harvard.
Here is a neat interactive web site to help students under cellular scale. It is from Utah State University.
http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/begin/cells/scale/
Journey North is a free, Internet-based program that explores the interrelated aspects of seasonal change with online programs about the natural world. “Gray Whales,” “Bald Eagles,” and “Hummingbirds” begin in February.
Watch videos of biology in action. See clips of T-cell invasion, electroplating, SDS separation of proteins, agarose gel electrophoresis for separation of DNA and RNA. What does PCR detect? Learn the process of PCR (polymerase chain reaction). What do you do in a darkroom?
For more advanced topics, such as bacterial infection of fruit flies, or isolation and transplantation of stem cells in mice.
Lemur Biology Website is a professional, multimedia website that provides students with text, pictures and video clips of lemur behavior and ecology. It introduces them to the area of conservation biology and provides them with insight into how such work is conducted by providing information on the authors on-going research. It also provides a real-world example of how habitat destruction is impacting the health and disease ecology of living primates. The website also provides critical links to other lemur resources and provides a literature review so that they can view primary materials.
It includes:
1. An overview of the authors¹ on-going project on lemur biology and behavior in
2. An overview of the research area and other lemurs at the research site.
3. Information on ring-tailed lemur conservation biology.
4. Information on ring-tailed lemur behavior and ecology.
5. A list of lemur-related educational resources and web sites.
6. A unique ³did you know² section on each web page that provides the student with interesting data on lemur biology and behavior.
The American Society for Microbiology produces this daily, 90-second podcast series designed to increase public understanding and appreciation of microbiology and the life sciences. The podcasts highlight the process of discovery, historical changes in research, and a variety of scientific careers in industry, academia, and government. Recent features addressed efforts to eliminate tuberculosis, the use of HIV drug therapies to treat malaria, and the effectiveness of old-fashioned dish washing. Archived programs are available in a searchable database.
These programs address the dynamic processes of cell respiration found in the Mitochondria; the TCA cycle (Krebs cycle or Citric Acid cycle) and the Electron Transport System (Electron transport, proton translocation, and Chemiosmotic Phosphorylation). Structure of the mitochondria and functions of Coenzymes (NAD+) are provided in dynamic form. Glycolysis is included as a separate process in respiration found outside of the mitochondria. Images and flash movies are provided as downloadable files.
Attention Biology teachers:
Mark Little received the following information from Dr. Kirstie Saltsman at NIH.
Subject: Free NIH resources
My institute, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, is the basic science arm of the National Institutes of Health. My office publishes a suite of educational booklets and other materials, all of which are freely-available online and in print. We frequently receive positive feedback from science teachers about our publications and we'd like to increase awareness of their availability among your members.
Our educational materials are available via our School Resources page: http://www.nigms.nih.gov/Publications/Classroom/
If your organization works to foster increased representation of women in science please don't overlook our semi-annual magazine, Findings: http://publications.nigms.nih.gov/findings/. We typically feature a woman scientist in each issue.
These programs address the dynamic processes of photosynthesis that are found in the chloroplast: The light reactions (cyclic and non-cyclic of Photosystems I & II) and the non-light limited reaction of the Calvin Cycle. Structure of the chloroplast is included and the many images and flash movies are provided as downloadable files.
A dynamically changing storehouse of information. Each plant or group is a printable page that contains a snippet of information. Growing plants is a neverending quest for the proper plant for the site. The data is meant as a guide and not an absolute. Most information is based on growing plants in Plant Hardiness Zone #5. The database currently contains 1,631 plants/groups with 6,570 photos. You can easily query the database by using the search page. "Botany 101" a botanical pictionary contains an additional 320 pictures and definitions for a 2172 terms.
Here is a fun and easy citizen science activity to do with your students.
Feel free to contact me with any questions.Kirsten Meymaris
www.budburst.org
Join thousands of others in gathering valuable environmental and climate change information from across the country with Project BudBurst (www.budburst.org). Project BudBurst is a national field campaign for students, families, and other volunteers designed to engages the public in making careful observations of the phenophases such as first leafing, first flower, and first fruit ripening of a diversity of trees, shrubs, flowers, and grasses in their local area. Participants contribute to a better understanding of how changing climates impact plant species at a local level. For the 2009 field campaign, a number of new features have been added to the Website intended to enhance the Project BudBurst experience.
Project BudBurst is co-managed by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, Chicago Botanic Gardens, and the University of Montana and is hosted on Windows to the Universe Web site. For more information, please visit the Project BudBurst Website (www.budburst.org)
As you may know, on Sunday, April 26, the federal government declared a public health emergency due to the Swine Flu (swine influenza A H1N1) in order to more readily provide support for ongoing state efforts. At this time, there are no confirmed cases of swine influenza in Colorado. That being said the media focus on the Swine Flu epidemic in Mexico may lend itself to drawing in student interest in the subject.
There is currently a very nice thread going on through the NSTA Biology listserv. I have forwarded some articles about pandemics that were posted through the list. Additionally there is a very nice 13:00 minute piece from NOVA's ScienceNow series on the 1918 Flu Pandemic that can be found at the following URL:
http://www.pbs.org/video/searchForm/?q=1918
Also the CDC site has created a page devoted to updating the public on swine influenza A H1N1. This page can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/index.htm
Based on the popular Understanding Evolution Web site, UnderstandingScience.org was developed to provide a fun, accessible and free resource to accurately communicate what science is and how it really works. Classroom activities are available for levels K-16, and the site includes a variety of teacher resources to help engage and excite students while they explore the process of science.
http://undsci.berkeley.edu/
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/
The Wildlife Experience is proud to announce its newest outreach program, “A Dose of Gross”, is now available for booking! In this inquiry based, hands-on class, students discover that the apparent gross physical traits and behaviors of animals are actually adaptations for survival. In this class, students will get to smell a skunk, take an animal scat quiz, dissect owl “puke” and meet one of Colorado’s most disgusting snakes! Scholarship funds may be available to schedule this exciting outreach class. For more information, please contact Dan Zimmerer, School Programs Coordinator at 720-488-3373 or dzimmerer@twexp.org.
The Wildlife Experience museum has Scholarship Funds available for school programs! These funds are available for both field trips to the museum (including transportation) as well as for our outreach programs. We offer inquiry based, hands-on programs on animal classification, animal adaptations, animal habitats and the water cycle. For more information, please contact Dan Zimmerer, School Programs Coordinator at 720-488-3373 or dzimmerer@twexp.org
Chemistry
Marbling with shaving cream classroom activity.
The Atlantic/Pacific rule for decimal places.
Symbols Galore
Clue: All questions have to do with the symbols, so first write out the symbols before you answer the questions.
1. Seventeen of the elements have symbols that START with a vowel, whether one letter of two. Which set has the most items; those starting with A, E, I, O or U? The one that has the most has 8 elements. Can you name them?
2. What feature do these 14 elements have in common, exclusive of all the other elements? (boron, carbon, fluorine, hydrogen, iodine, potassium, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorous, sulfur, tungsten, uranium, vanadium, and yttrium?)
3. What feature do these ten have in common, exclusive of all other elements? (Sodium, potassium, silver, iron, tungsten, mercury, tin, gold, lead, and antimony)_________
4. Consider the 111 IUPAC element names and their symbols: Iodine has it, but not fluorine, Iron has it, but not manganese. Sodium has it, but not magnesium. Neon has it, but not krypton. Barium has it, but not bohrium. Einsteinium has it, but not rutherfordium.
And only Europium and gold have it twice! What is the property?
5. How many element names honor famous chemists/and or physicists? Cite as many as you can by listing the symbol and the person. (See if you can find 12 with a new periodic table)
6. This is the toughest and best one. What property do the elements aluminum, calcium, cobalt, indium, lanthanum, manganese, meitnerium, molybdenum, scandium have in common that is NOT shared by barium, cadmium, copper, gold, lead, mercury, seaborgium or silicon?
Answers: (1) The answer is A, name the 8.
(2) Their symbols have just one letter in them. The others have two.
(3) The first letter of its symbol is NOT the first letter of the element's name. (They come from Greek, Latin, or Nordic root names)
(4) The property is having a vowel in its symbol, instead of all consonants. Eu and Au have two vowels. 48 have at least one vowel, while 63 have only consonants. Only 4 of the post
Uranium symbols contain a vowel.
(5) Cm, Fm, No, Rf, Bh, Rg, Es, Md, Lr, Sg, Mt, Gd (Curie, Fermi, Nobel, Rutherford, Bohr, Roengton, Einstein, Mendeleev, Lawrence, Seaborg, Meitner, and Gadolin (Finnish chemist).
(6) First group have symbols that match postal abbreviation of states. The 2nd group does not match any state.
Balancing equations battleships from GCSE A fun interactive game of online battleship where students must correctly identify the balanced equation in order for their “hit” to count.
Balloon molecules is an interesting website that teaches one to use balloons to build molecules, bucky balls, DNA helixes, etc.
Change in State Video, Rich Gannon and Zach Brown, o.k. winter is still a way off but observe an instantaneous change in a glass of water during last year’s K300 Sled Dog Race in Alaska....
In 2008 SFPE partnered with Discovery Education to create a new in-school program titled The Chemistry of Fire. The program was funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The Chemistry of Fire is geared to high school chemistry students. It will teach students the science behind fire as a way for students to fully understand the dangers of fire. As a result, it will increase the awareness of fire and the importance of home fire prevention. The interactive program includes a teacher's guide with five lesson plans, a DVD that demonstrates exciting experiments included in the lessons, three classroom posters and a web site where teachers and students can find more classroom and career resources. The program is aligned to the National Science Teachers Association Standards for 9th - 12th grades.
"Each year in the United States more than 3,000 people die and 18,000 are injured as a result of fire. Our goal is to bring the science of fire to the classroom as a way of increasing the awareness of fires and how to prevent them," says Chris Jelenewicz, SFPE Engineering Program Manager. "It fills a void in the high school chemistry curriculum because this information isn't currently provided in any high school texts."
As part of this project, a microsite was developed that has videos and information about careers in fire protection engineering. It can be found at: http://sfpe.discoveryeducation.com/site/.
The downloadable Teacher Kit isat: http://www.sfpe.org/Home/Profession/ChemistryofFire.aspx
I have been a Chemistry teacher for 22 years all in the State of Colorado. I have always been an innovator in the use of technology. Recently I have been using video podcasts to transform my classroom. The story is quite lengthy, so I won't go into the whole story, but if you are interested I have posted a couple of videos on google that explain a bit of what we are doing with mastery chemistry.
Colorado Springs News station did a piece about us:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1962958416930816240&hl=en
Self-Made Podcast Explaining Mastery Learning:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5957054914776888685&hl=en
My colleague and I have even converted all of our lessons into video podcasts that many teachers have found helpful http://chempodcasts.com
Jon Bergmann
Science Teacher
Woodland Park High School
From: Jonathan Bergmann <JBergmann@wpsdk12.org
There is a Web page for chemistry that comprises documents that can be copied. All the teacher documents were created on Microsoft WORD. There are sections on management of the resources, tips, games, puzzles, lesson plans, links and references, labs, and national standards.
Chemistry Website - This was always one of my favorite websites for ideas for teaching chemistry. Lots of unique stuff and the stories behind the chemistry.
All the images in this issue of CoolStuff were produced using a digital camera with the above home-made spectroscope attached to the lens. Here is a more sophisticated explanation and method.
Energy and chemistry links with the EERE (energy efficiency and renewable energy)many of the sites were listed in the big list for CAGT.
Free PowerPoints for environmental chem & green chemistry.
As part of the revision of my book, Fundamentals of Environmental Chemistry, 3rd ed., I have prepared PowerPoint presentations for each of the book chapters and am making them available to faculty who might have use for them in teaching courses in environmental chemistry or who would like to incorporate environmental chemistry into other courses. The units covered are listed below. The first 10 units cover basic chemistry including organic chemistry and biochemistry. The remaining units cover environmental chemistry organized around the five environmental spheres of the hydrosphere, atmosphere, geosphere, biosphere, and anthrosphere (that part of the environment made and operated by humans). These chapters also include material on green chemistry, industrial ecology, and environmental chemical analysis. To receive a copy of these slides, please send me your mailing address.
I am also pleased to inform you that the Analytical Sciences Digital Library (ASDL, a program funded by NSF and directed from the University of California - Riverside and the University of Kansas) has made available for downloading online copies of my book entitledGreen Chemistry and the Ten Commandments of Sustainability, 2nd ed., as well as PowerPoint presentations for each of the 14 chapters in this work (listed below).
I hope you find these materials to be of interest for your teaching program. Please feel free to forward this information on to other faculty who might be interested in it.
Sincerely,
NanoLeap into New Science materials during the 2007-2008 school year.
American Chemical Society has created an online periodic table that includes more information than most online tables.
For new teachers in chemistry try Finn Scientific for teaching freebies.
Earth Science
Earth Science Week October 11-17, 2009
The 2009 Earth Science Week (ESW) Toolkit will soon be available at the US Geological Survey Map Sales Offices at the Denver Federal Center, Building 810, 6th Ave. and Kipling in Lakewood, CO.
“Understanding Climate,” the theme of Earth Science Week 2009, will promote scientific understanding of a timely, vital topic: Earth’s climate. To keep informed about ESW planning, go to http://www.earthsciweek.org/ and sign up to receive the free ESW newsletter at http://www.earthsciweek.org/newsletter/index.html.
AGI hosts Earth Science Week in cooperation with sponsors as a service to the public and the geosciences community. Each year, local groups, educators, and interested individuals organize celebratory events. Earth Science Week offers opportunities to discover the Earth sciences and engage in responsible stewardship of the Earth. The program is supported by the U.S. Geological Survey, NASA, the National Park Service, the AAPG Foundation, and other geoscience groups.
Your FREE copy is available by picking it up at our offices or you can have it mailed to you by paying a $5.00 handling fee. To have it mailed please contact USGS by e-mail at sjjackson@usgs.gov or by phone 303-202-4176. You may pay by credit card or by a check made payable to: USGS_DOI.
Mail the order to:
S. Jackson
US Geological Survey
Box 25286, Mail Stop 306
Denver, CO 80225
The 2009 Earth Science Week Toolkit includes:
• A 12-month school-year activity calendar, suitable for hanging
• The new Earth Science Week poster, including a climate activity
• USGS climate education resources, including volcano materials
• NASA climate resources, including a “Dynamic Earth” DVD
• A report on “Ecological Impacts of Climate Change”
• A National Park Service poster on glaciers nationwide
• A new brochure outlining principles for Earth science literacy
• A CD on GIS technology and activities from ESRI
• A genuine field notebook from Rite in the Rain
• Climate literacy materials provided by NOAA
• Information about the National Wildlife Refuge System
• Activity sheets from the Association for Women Geoscientists
• Brochures, bookmarks, fact sheets, postcards, and more
You can find more educational tools and information at the USGS Education site at> http://www.usgs.gov/education
2009 EARTH SCIENCE WEEK TOOLKITS NOW AVAILABLE
The Earth Science Week 2009 (October 11-17) Toolkit enables students, educators, and the public to fully explore this year's theme "Understanding Climate." The latest edition of this resource is now available through the American Geological Institute (AGI). It contains a 12-month school-activity calendar and classroom poster provided by AGI, its Member Societies, and other organizations. Along with these traditional Earth Science Week publications, this year's Toolkit features a variety of educational climate resources from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), NASA, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). A report on the "Ecological Impacts of Climate Change" and a new brochure outlining principles for Earth Science literacy are also included. Multimedia features this year include NASA's "Dynamic EARTH" DVD-ROM and a CD-ROM on GIS technology from ESRI. Additional informational materials within the kits include a National Park Service poster highlighting the nation's glaciers and literature on the National Wildlife Refuge System. Like years past, the 2009 Toolkit contains a genuine field notebook from Rite in the Rain. These items and much more make the Earth Science Week Toolkit ideal for engaging students and general public to explore the geosciences. The Toolkits are available for the cost of shipping and handling and bulk pricing is available. Find out more at www.earthsciweek.org/materials.
Earth Science Week is an annual event held the second week of October to promote an understanding and appreciation of the earth sciences. It is organized annually by Triangle Coalition member, the American Geological Institute (AGI), with support from a number of other geoscience organizations, including the U.S. Geological Survey, NASA, National Park Service, and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists Foundation. AGI is a nonprofit federation of 45 geoscientific and professional associations that represents more than 120,000 geologists, geophysicists, and other earth scientists.
World of Amber
American Geological Institute (AGI) launched K-5 GeoSource a groundbreaking professional development Web site for elementary-level teachers who teach earth science topics such as weather, fossils, rocks, soil, water and more. This site, created with support from the AGI Foundation, corporate and private donors, features resources designed to help teachers master standards-based science content, plan lessons and activities in the earth sciences, assess student learning and tailor instructions to meet their needs. Educators will also be able to explore up-to-date career information and other opportunities available to geoscience students, investigate links to educational resources in the geosciences, access professional development opportunities available for earth science educators, delve into research on how children learn, and enroll in graduate-level online courses to improve teaching and increase content knowledge.
This site is an interface to a crystal structure database that includes every structure published in the American Mineralogist, The Canadian Mineralogist, European Journal of Mineralogy and Physics and Chemistry of Minerals.
Animated Rock Cycle- http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/visualization/collections/rock_cycle.html
M. Mitchell, the animation on this page explores the behavior of an ideal fluid passing through a pipe. You can interact with the animation, and immediately see the effects on the fluid velocity and pressure. The animation is accompanied by two discussions - an introductory discussion without any math, and a more advanced discussion involving algebra and calculus. The Principle has application to weather and other Earth Science fields.
Climate Change Education
COASTAL WETLANDS STUDY, find material to use in developing a comprehensive study of coastal wetlands. The site includes background information, suggested activities, glossary, references, and reading list. Activities can be demonstrated by the teacher or performed by students. Emphasis is on
Exploring the
EARTH IMPACT DATABASE, Planetary and Space Science Centre - this will allow your students to see the geographical distribution of impact craters, references, and in some cases, cross sections related to impacts.
Earth Portal, National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE), the site” is a comprehensive resource for timely, objective, science-based information about the environment. It is a means for the global scientific community to come together to produce the first free, expert-driven, massively scaleable information resource on the environment, and to engage civil society in a public dialogue on the role of environmental issues in human affairs. It contains no commercial advertising and reaches a large global audience.
The Earth Portal has three components: The Encyclopedia of Earth, with over 2,000 articles, is produced and reviewed by 700 scholars from 46 countries. The EarthForum provides commentary from scholars and discussions with the general public. The EarthNews offers news stories on environmental issues drawn from many sources.
Busy Teachers Website K-12/Earth Science Cartographic website offers a rich resource for learning about maps, mapmaking, and related topics such as GIS, remote sensing and photogrammetry.
Digital Library for Earth System Education
Earth Science Education Resources
Graph comparing old and new wind chill formula; it’s not as cold as it use to be.
Earth Science Picture of the Day
Nasa Science News has some articles read in Spanish but otherwise your students will need to read them: http://ciencia.nasa.gov/
This collection of teacher resources includes earth and space science topics pertaining to astronomy and space, earthquakes, erosion, plate tectonics, rocks, minerals, the rock cycle, volcanoes, water, and weather. Each of these pages links to lesson plans, classroom activities, projects and demonstrations. These resources can be used for elementary, secondary, middle school, and university students.
Earth Science Sites of the Week dating back to 1999 are now available and can be searched by keyword. To access past archives go to the “Earth Science Site of the Week Archives” link half way down the page.
Earth Science Teachers Introducing the new online destination for educators devoted to teaching about the Earth. We’re excited to have you as a part of our new community of educators striving to use Earth Systems Science to teach important lifelong skills to students of all ages. Turn to our site for online resources to help you in this mission. Included on the new site:
Classroom Activities – use curriculum materials based on our scientific research expeditions to strengthen your student’s math, science, and analytical skills for a lifetime of learning.
Posters – posters that please the eye and enlighten the mind - learn about a variety of science topics through our limited edition posters.
Multimedia – explore videos, interactive activities, and online lectures.
Career Profiles – explore the myriad of career opportunities within scientific ocean drilling.
This download nets you an image of the Earth along with updated USGS earthquake info for the past 7 days. The globe rotates and there is an option to turn on a depth indicator. You can filter the number of days to be viewed and set the magnitude option to only view quakes over a certain magnitude. Available only for PC.
Unoriginal.co.uk, Find a short series of earthquakes video clips showing the effects of earthquakes for those caught indoors. Use Explorer to open this clip.
Depth of Earthquakes
Earthquake Hazards Program
Earthquake Information, Recent
Earthquake Locator
Enter latitude and longitude or zip code allowing you to access information for earthquake rate, location, and magnitude data used by the USGS National Seismic Hazard Mapping Project. The most recent models of earthquake source parameters are used for these maps.
Earthquake Activity & Discrepant Event Demos
Earthquakes for Kids
Encyclopedia of Earth is a comprehensive site guided by the Stewardship Committee of the Environmental Information Coalition.
Evolving Earth
Browse the USGS Map Store for maps, books, and other items, or our Rock Room (free rock and mineral samples for educators). Map Store is located in Building 810 on the Denver Federal Center, in Lakewood. For information call the
This message is for any teachers who can use rock and mineral samples for their classes. As many of you know, we have for quite a few years maintained a "Rock Room" here at the USGS, which teachers are welcome to visit and obtain free samples of whatever rock, mineral, and fossil specimens we have on hand at any given time. I have good news and bad news about this. The good is, that thanks to a number of collector and mineral dealer friends who responded to my appeal for additional specimens to restock our supply for teachers, we now have a pretty good supply of many of the materials that we had been running out of (pyrite, barite, fluorite, amazonite, calcite, quartz crystals, and more). The bad news is that, due to space demands, the area we use at the USGS for the "Rock Room" is not going to be available for this use after about the next month; so, if anyone would like to come now and gather sets of specimens for their class, it would be well to make an appointment and do this right now. We hope to be able to re-establish the Rock Room somewhere else here, probably in a condensed, reduced-size location, but this may take some time.
To make more efficient use of our time in helping teachers get specimens, and to give them an opportunity to come during the coming spring breaks (Denver, next week; Jeffco, the week after), I'm offering two times when I know I can be available to help show you the material in the Rock Room. These dates will be, early afternoon (12 noon to 3 p.m.) Thursday, March 26, and Wednesday, April 1. If you plan to come, please write or give me a call beforehand (303-202-4766) so I will know who to expect. Although we have some boxes (and lots of egg cartons) on hand for samples, it would be good for you to bring your own box or trays, baggies or zip-loc bags, and a permanent marker; we do have printed labels prepared for most of our samples.
If someone would like samples and absolutely cannot come on either of these days or times, please give me a call and I'll try to set up another time for you to visit; but it should definitely be within the next four weeks. The Rock Room is located on the Denver Federal Center, near 6th Avenue & Kipling, in Lakewood; the main entrance is on Kipling just north of Alameda. We are in Building 810, the same building in which the USGS Map Store is located (map store hours, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays). From the main gate on Kipling, you proceed about 6 blocks due west, and one block beyond a 4-way stop sign, and then turn left to Building 810. After driving past the Map Store (there's a large sign for it) continue counterclockwise west around the building until you'll see entrance S-25, with a sign for the Core Research Center. Continue west a few doors further to the stairs to entrance S-31, which goes directly into the Rock Room.
Please call me if you have any questions! We hope some of you can make it, and that our rock and mineral samples can be of use to you in providing hands-on material for teaching about them.
Gemstones and Gemology
From the Smithsonian. Using a drag tool, visitors can move around the span of the different geological eons, eras, periods, and epochs in a direct fashion. Clicking on each of the icons within each division of time brings up a brief overview of each segment, along with a map of each period.
Geology lesson plans and resources from Geological Society of
Geology of Lehigh Gorge
Geophysiccs
USGS data sets are ready to be analyzed within a GIS to determine projected sea level rise for the coastlines of the
(ARIC) Here is a well written, easily navigated, and succinct guide to climate change especially designed for students. “This guide represents an up-to-date review of climate change. Throughout, the focus has essentially been on global climate change, although reference to regional scale climatic change has been made if and when necessary. On their own, each chapter is a broadly self-contained discussion of a specific sub-issue of importance.”
GOOGLE EARTH STREAM FLOW KML FILES, display real-time stream gauges in Google Earth. Google Earth is an interactive, 3D viewer that seamlessly zooms from a global scale down to less than a meter in many urban areas. To display USGS stream gages, download one of the following files and open it in Google Earth. Stream gages, colored by streamflow condition (390K) This is a KML file of a USGS real-time stream gage map. Each gage is colored in terms of flow conditions. This file is re-created every hour. Once it is opened in Google Earth, the contents will be refreshed in every hour.
History of Earth, Preparing Teachers to Teach Earth Science, SERC, Heather Petcovic, Western Michigan University, (suggested by John McDaris, SERC), This new teaching activity from the Preparing Teacher to Teach Earth Science project asks students to develop a sense of how human timescales relate to geologic timescales. First students organize the events of a human life. Then they move on to examining events in earth history and organizing them. Finally, students investigate the geologic timescale and place eons and eras of geologic time on the same scale as earth events. Comparisons are drawn between the human life timescale and geologic time. The activity page provides educators with the activity sheet for students, information about the design and context of the activity, as well as tips on successfully implementing the activity in the classroom.
Interior of the Earth
Johnston Geology Museum
Learning from the Fossil record
Life Through Time, Frans Lanting,(suggested by Brian
The Learning Channel's Earthquakes website has several interactive activities, including "Make a Quake," in which the user attempts to engineer a skyscraper capable of surviving a large earthquake, and "As the World Churns," which shows how the continents have shifted, split up, and changed location over time. "Gallery of Devastation," shows the damage caused by the greatest quakes ever recorded.
EVERYTHING WE HAVE AND EVERYTHING WE USE COMES FROM OUR NATURAL RESOURCES, (suggested by Mary Rodgers, Watkins Glen High School, NY), the opening image, showing the need of every individual for mineral resources is eye opening. In addition, there are a lot of interesting and useful resources including a photo gallery of minerals and the role of elements in life processes.
Minerology
A Study of Earthquakes and Plate Tectonics
Musical Plates is a multidisciplinary project that challenges students to tap into real-time earthquake data, interact with experts online, and publish their investigative work on a special website. Four core activities (45 minutes each) teach students how to access and interpret online earthquake and volcano data and use this information to solve real-world problems.
NASA Energy and Water Cycle Study
National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum in Leadville
Consider visiting the National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum in Leadville; it has excellent exhibits about mining history & technology and rocks, minerals, and their uses.
National Oceanography Centre in UK
The Natural Arch and Bridge Society help dispel myths about natural bridges being the result of wind erosion. Scroll down to "Relevant Processes of Erosion" for information on how these natural wonders occur including wall collapse, lateral stream piracy, and wave action.
Noon day Project
Ocean gazing podcast- archived 6-10 minute episodes. Topics include estimating squid populations with sonar and living underwater on a coral reef- http://coseenow.net
People and Discoveries Earth & Life Sciences
Discovering Plate Boundaries
Find high quality plate boundary maps, ideal for reproduction. Scroll down to “Plate Boundary Maps for Students.”
Another decent source:
denali.gsfc.nasa.gov/dtam/data/ftp/gtam.pdfPlate Boundaries and Interplate Relationships
Plate Tectonics
Plate Tectonics
Plate Tectonics
The Story of Plate Tectonics.
IRIS. “Seismic Monitor allows you to monitor global earthquakes in near real-time, visit seismic stations around the world, and search the web for earthquake or region-related information…..Seismic Monitor is updated every 20 minutes (jumbo-sized map hourly).”
Seismology Society of America
National Atlas, printable maps. Hundreds of thousands of these page-sized maps are downloaded each month for use at home, in schools, and at the office. One of the most popular series of printable maps has included maps for each state that show county boundaries. Some include “just a little more” information on these state-by-state county maps. These are just as accurate and useful as our original county maps, but now we’ve added the locations of selected towns and cities as well as large water bodies.
11 demonstrations on the Teacher Tube web site. Each video is about 3 minutes long, and most are designed to help students understand Earth Science-related concepts such as convection, latent heat, salinity/density, etc. To view them, go to the web site and type "Rod Benson" into the search box.
Please share this with other Earth Science teachers through the CAST Newsletter.
Thanks to Rod Benson, Earth Science Teacher, Helena High School, Helena, Montana
RODNEY'S HOMEPAGE for Earth Science Teachers: www.formontana.net/home.html.
Tour of geologic time.
Transform Faults
USGS and Science Education
USGS Publications Warehouse
USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory, USGS, “The U.S. Geological Survey's Cascades Volcano Observatory (CVO) strives to serve the national interest by helping people to live knowledgeably and safely with volcanoes and related natural hazards including earthquakes, landslides, and debris flows in the western United States and elsewhere in the world.” Along with “Volcano World,” this is a top site for information on volcanoes.
Virtual Geoscience Center
Volcano Observatory, Hawaiian
Volcano Observatory, Alaska
Volcano World
Volcanoes
Volcanoes – Internet Geography
All About Volcanoes from USGS
Volcanoes, How They Work
Visit this website for indexed, alphabetized weather topics, from acid rain to Zulu time, in an easy to read format, with many graphics and animations. Scroll down to "Learn about weather, climate."
Why is Earth's core so hot?
Blistering hot molten rock bursts through weak places in Earth's crust. So
what is down there and why is it so hot? Earth's core may seem as mysterious
and remote as outer space, but scientists actually have learned a great deal
about it. Listen to a scientist explain. Visit
http://spaceplace.jpl.nasa.gov/en/educators/podcast/ to subscribe to these
Podcasts. Or listen now to this and the previous Podcasts on your computer
or read the transcripts.
Yellowstone Park Foundation, from the National Park Service, takes visitors on a series of electronic field trips (eTrips) into
Wolf Creek Meteor Crater, Australia, EPOD, suggested by Martin Ruzek, USRA, it's hard to imagine something this big went unnoticed by Europeans until only 60 years ago, but then again, Australia is a pretty big place ...
Ecology
Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears Podcasts*
Episode 6: Deep Sea Thinking: Exploring the Word's Ocean
http://bit.ly/3fotF
In this episode:
1. Learn about a fun song to "lure" students into appreciating our One Big Ocean
2. Fishy science at the movies
3. Mapping the ocean: What the highest mountains and lowest trenches tell us about the ocean seafloor's unchartered territory with Dr. Chris Massell Symons, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
http://learningcenter.nsta.org/product_detail.aspx?id=10.2505/9/WSBPP08_Oct29
The U.S. Green Building Council has launched a website for students, parents, teachers, school administrators, elected officials, and community members. The site offers information on the benefits and costs of green schools, and includes profiles of schools that have already gone green, an extensive list of resources and links, and a social networking forum.
The Discovery Channel created the Perfect Disaster website, which includes historic disaster puzzles. Visitors can piece together images of the pos-eruption locale of
Energy efficiency and renewable energy K-12,350 activities
- www.eere.energy.gov/education/leson
Occurs: 2008-09 School Year
Thanks to funding provided by the Colorado Governor's Energy Office, the program is now available to elementary schools across
Participating educators receive everything they need in a box. Included are a CD of classroom materials; a professional mascot costume for the Energy Hog; a white lab coat for the Energy Hog Buster; and a script for a ready-made skit. The CD contains printable workbooks for students and a printable teacher's guide filled with energy lessons and activities. All participating students receive an Energy Hog temporary tattoo. For schools with a free or reduced lunch program in the
Included in the classroom lessons are take-home assignments that empower students to apply what they've learned to their own homes. One such activity called the Energy Hog Scavenger Hunt is a child-led home energy audit. It allows students to apply what they've learned in the classroom to a real-life scenario as parents and children work together to identify their family's energy-saving potential.
Following the classroom lessons, teachers can bring to life the importance of saving energy by wearing the Energy Hog mascot costume and performing the ready-made game-show format skit. The skit reinforces the classroom lessons and creates a life-long memory of the importance of saving energy.
The Energy Hog school program is now available to elementary schools in
Free for All from the
Climate CHECK is a free, Excel-based kit that teaches high school students about the science, drivers, and impacts of climate change and provides them with knowledge, tools, and resources to increase climate-change awareness and to help them reduce greenhouse gas emissions at their schools. Students will estimate greenhouse gas emissions using built-in calculators and school-specific "activity data" and develop and implement a mitigation action plan.
EPA Region 8 Environmental Education Website! New features include: Regional EE news and events, Teaching Water Webpage, Teaching Stewardship and Sustainability Webpage,
Please bookmark and check back often as the site will be updated weekly. Send me your news and events in your state for possible inclusion and let me know of any resources for addition to these pages. Also let me know if you would like to see any other major EE subject areas addressed further. These pages will grow over time with your help!
Fossil Energy study guides and activities-middle-high school- www.fe.doe.gov/education/energylessons/Study_Guides_and_Activities.html
Lutron Electronics’ Greenovation Weekly Environmental Tips Newsletter
WHEN: Join the Greenovation Nation social network today and receive weekly news and tips about how to be more environmentally responsible in your schools, communities and homes. The Greenovation Nation is a group of dedicated teachers and facilities managers who are greening the schools of America through innovation, education and awareness. Once you have become a member on the Greenovation Nation community, you will receive the weekly newsletters directly to your designated email.
WHERE: Visit www.greenovationnation.com and join the Greenovation Nation network.
Greenovation network members will receive a free weekly newsletter that alerts them to new and innovative ways to decrease their carbon footprint. Newsletters also present members with projects run by other schools, allowing them to share their real life stories of students making a difference. Another section of the newsletter covers items such as: resourceful ideas on how to create waste-free lunch kits, classroom exercises that enhance science learning, and contests for and between schools. It also highlights leaders in the green community who are creating change in the education and science communities.
Hosted by Lutron Electronics Co., Inc., the world leader in the design and manufacture of energy-efficient lighting control products, the goal of the newsletter is to create a sense of community and give teachers inventive ways to motivate students and share stories.
To sign up for the newsletter simply visit, www.greenovationnation.com/network, then create a log-in name and password. Once you receive your confirmation from Lutron you will gain access to the site and be able to communicate with other educators in classrooms nationwide. Opening the walls of our schools through the Greenovation Nation, helps more schools create energy-efficient, sustainable classroom environments.
Global warming website- photos plus explanation showing global warming-
www.woprldviewofglobalwarming.org
Hi Bob,
Thanks again for taking the time to speak with me today. Here are the links to our free resources (our main website is http://www.greenteacher.com):
http://www.greenteacher.com/articles.html - Free environmental education teaching articles from past issues of Green Teacher magazine
http://greenteacher.com/espanol.html - Spanish translations of many environmental education teaching articles from past issues of Green Teacher magazine
http://greenteacher.com/freeissue83.html - A free issue of Green Teacher can be viewed or downloaded here
We also post announcements of environment-related teachers' events here: http://greenteacher.com/events.html, and host links to teaching-related environment resources here: http://greenteacher.com/links/links.html
Hope you'll find these resources worthwhile!
Kind regards,
John Cooper, Editorial Assistant
Green Teacher
95 Robert Street
Toronto, ON M5S 2K5
OR
PO Box 452
Niagara Falls, NY 14304-0452
www.greenteacher.com
(888) 804-1486
(416) 960-1244
MINNESOTA STORM WATER MANUAL, MPCA, Minnesota has a new storm water manual which provides guidelines on how to prevent and reduce runoff in a variety of urban and suburban situations when planning development.
Available Now: Service Learning Unit on Conservation and Snow Leopards
Facing the Future, in collaboration with the Snow Leopard Trust, has just released Engaging Students in Conservation: Protecting the Endangered Snow Leopard, an interdisciplinary 1-2 week unit that includes five dynamic lessons and culminates with a service learning project. The unit is designed for 5-8th grade students in science and social studies. Though the lessons are designed as a comprehensive unit, each lesson can stand alone.
This unit, valued at $14.95, is available for FREE download at http://www.facingthefuture.org/Home/CurriculumDetails/tabid/131/Default.aspx?ItemID=ESC.
Engaging Students in Conservation: Protecting the Endangered Snow Leopard includes:
Five hands-on lessons
An introduction to snow leopards and their ecosystem
An exploration of the human-wildlife conflicts that exist where people and snow leopards overlap
Opportunities to develop 21st century skills such as critical thinking, collaboration, and global perspective
An examination of community-based conservation
A service learning project related to the protection of snow leopards in Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan
These lessons were developed and piloted by teachers and conservation experts including the Snow Leopard Trust, the world’s leading authority on the study and protection of the endangered snow leopard.To download this unit today, visit www.facingthefuture.org
The tropical rain forest is a forest of tall trees in a region of year-round warmth. An average of 50 to 260 inches of rain falls yearly. The temperature in a rain forest rarely is greater than 93 °F or drops below 68 °F; average humidity is between 77 and 88%; and rainfall is often more than 100 inches a year. Almost all rainforests lie near the equator. Rainforests now cover less than 6% of Earth's land surface. Scientists estimate that more than half of the world's plant and animal species live in tropical rainforests. Tropical rainforests produce 40% of Earth's oxygen. About a fourth of all the medicines we use come from rainforest plants e.g., curare and quinine. More information on plants, animals, and habitats of the rainforest is available at a Web site.
The Siemens Foundation, Discovery Communications and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) have joined together to inspire student achievement in sustainability through a comprehensive education initiative, the Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge. Announced today, the Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge is an unprecedented partnership between three industry leading organizations that are committed to educating, empowering and engaging students, teachers and communities in environmental sustainability.
World Water Monitoring Day (WWMD) kits are now available online. The kit includes everything you'll need to test your waterbody for pH, dissolved oxygen, temperature and turbidity and is designed to be an accurate, yet accessible technology for all levels of experience. If you already have access to monitoring equipment, you are welcome and encouraged to use it!
World Water Monitoring Day encourages participation from Low- and Middle-Income countries through the donation of monitoring kits. For more information, please contact wwmd@wef.org.
¿Hablas Español?
Los instrucciones de uso
The WWMD test kit now includes instructions in both English and Spanish. Instructions in French, Portuguese and Chinese are available for download from the WWMD website.
2008 is the International Year of Sanitation
The United Nations has declared 2008 as the International Year of Sanitation in order to raise awareness of sanitation issues and to accelerate progress towards the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target to reduce by half the proportion of the 2.6 billion people without access to basic sanitation by 2015. See what World Water Monitoring Day and its partners are doing to participate in this initiative.
General
10-part PBS Environmental Series
JOURNEY TO PLANET EARTH
Available for Educators
WASHINGTON, DC: Today's news headlines tell of a world facing increased hunger, water shortages, massive floods, and species extinction because of climate change and sea level rise.
In response, educational institutions are introducing courses dealing with the most pressing of these environmental issues. And to help educators explain to students the science behind these new environmental challenges, more than 1,500 universities, colleges, and schools in North America have added to their media libraries the environmental video series JOURNEY TO PLANET EARTH.
Funded by the National Science Foundation for PBS, JOURNEY TO PLANET EARTH is the only video series that helps educators explain to students the science behind the headlines. Find out why publications like The School Library Journal, Booklist, The Journal of Academic Librarianship and the California Instructional Technology Clearinghouse hail the JOURNEY TO PLANET EARTH series as the best and most comprehensive environmental series ever produced!
The series comes in a 56-minute version and a 25-minute version re-edited specifically for grades 6-12.
To receive a 30-day free preview of the entire 10-episode series or individual episodes simply reply to this e-mail -- screenscope@screenscope.com -- with your name, institutional mailing address and phone number. Or visit our website for more information about the series:
http://www.pbs.org/journeytoplanetearth
Here's a quick description of each episode:
STATE OF THE OCEAN’S ANIMALS takes a hard look at why nearly half the world's marine animals may face extinction over the next twenty-five years. Locations: Pacific Northwest (whales, salmon and sea otters), Florida (sea level rise and its effect on loggerhead turtles), the Antarctic (threats to Emperor Penguins), and Africa (coastal fisheries). Narrated by Matt Damon.
STATE OF THE PLANET’S WILDLIFE -- Explores what scientists are calling the “sixth great extinction” of our world’s plants and animals. Locations: the Arctic, Montana, China, Kenya, Brazil, Singapore, and the Everglades. Narrated by Matt Damon.
STATE OF THE PLANET -- Looks at how population, climate change, and economic pressures affect the world’s resources such as food and water. Locations: Kenya, India, Israel, Bangladesh, the Amazon, Mexico, China, and the United States. Narrated by Matt Damon.
FUTURE CONDITIONAL -- Looks at the spread of air pollution from disparate locations such as the Arctic, Uzbekistan, Mexico, and California, and how contamination in one area can affect people thousands of miles away. Narrated by Matt Damon.
HOT ZONES -- Explores how recent trends in globalization and the altering of ecosystems have led to dramatic increases in the spread of infectious diseases. Locations: Kenya, Peru, Bangladesh, New York City, and Maryland's Chesapeake Bay. Narrated by Matt Damon.
SEAS OF GRASS -- Examines the devastating environmental, political and economic effects of the degradation of the world's grasslands, which make up 30 percent of Earth's land surface. Locations: Argentina, Inner Mongolia, Kenya, South Africa, and North America. Narrated by Matt Damon.
ON THE BRINK -- Investigates a growing national security threat throughout the world: how environmental pressures can lead to terrorism and regional conflict. Locations: Haiti, South Africa, Bangladesh, India, Peru and along the United States/Mexico border. Narrated by Matt Damon.
LAND OF PLENTY, LAND OF WANT -- Examines how farmers can feed Earth’s growing population without impoverishing the land. Locations: Zimbabwe, France, China, and the United States. Narrated by Kelly McGillis.
THE URBAN EXPLOSION -- Explores ways to sustain burgeoning urban populations without destroying the environment. Locations: Mexico City, Istanbul, Shanghai, and New York City. Narrated by Kelly McGillis.
RIVERS OF DESTINY -- Investigates problems associated with the tampering of the natural environment of rivers. Locations: Mississippi, Amazon, Jordan, and Mekong Rivers. Narrated by Kelly McGillis.
Series Price: $1099 (set of ten) $599 (any five) or $149 per episode. Includes Teachers Guide. Each one-hour episode is also available in a re-edited 25-minute version.
To receive a 30-day free preview of the entire 10-episode series or individual episodes simply reply to this e-mail -- screenscope@screenscope.com -- with your name, institutional mailing address and phone number. Or visit our website for more information about the series: http://www.pbs.org/journeytoplanetearth
Kimberly Klinger
Educational Outreach Manager
Journey To Planet Earth
Screenscope, Inc.
4330 Yuma Street, NW
Washington, DC 20016
Tel: (202) 364-0055
Fax: (202) 364-0058
E-Mail: kklinger@screenscope.com
Purchase 6 of these same items, and receive the 7th of the same item at no charge.
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Models, Skulls & Skeletons - 3B, Anatomical Charts, Denoyer, Skulls
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Activities for Science
Lab activity for teaching about absolute zero.
Activity for teaching rates and ratio and proportion.
Google Earth satellite activity with many scientific applications.
To accompany the NOVA program titled "
Annenberg Teacher Resources and Professional Development
AAAS: are you teaching what’s really important? “In a first-ever joint arrangement, Project 2061 and the National Science Teachers Association have co-published Atlas of Science Literacy, a collection of 49 conceptual strand maps that show how students’ understanding of the ideas and skills that lead to literacy in science, mathematics, and technology might grow over time. Each map depicts how K-12 learning goals for a particular topic relate to each other and progress from one grade level to the next.”
New DVD Available for FREE!
Bold Visions gives us a glimpse into the lives of women who are dispelling the myths commonly associated with professionals who work in the fields of science and technology by showing how engineers make a difference in our lives. Order your FREE copy now by contacting JETS at info@jets.org. Simply email JETS with the subject heading: "Bold Visions" and provide us with your name and mailing address.
Design instruction around the real-time births, deaths, and carbon dioxide emissions from countries across the globe with the interactive map.
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute invites curious kids to explore biology on screen, off screen, and in between to leap into plant parts in salads, meet the dust, compare snakes with moose, and more—without a microscope.
Center for Science Education (CSE) staff members comprise a diverse group of professionals-scientists, science educators and administrators, curriculum writers and developers, policy analysts, journalists, social and educational researchers, and educational program evaluators. They develop and support projects and programs that are internationally recognized for their innovative approaches to the teaching and learning of science.
Teaching resources, prepared by members of the American Physiological Society, comprise a wealth of materials for use by K-12 teachers, covering topics such as air pressure, painting with natural dyes, respiratory changes in gold fish, muscle fatigue factors, blood vessels, nerves, bendable bones, pond to cup, nuclear decay, and much more. These can be read and downloaded for use by teachers. Click (on the sidebar) the entry labeled "Teaching Resources."
The New York Times' daily lesson plans are developed in partnership with the Bank Street College of Education. The lessons are linked to current news and features and are aligned with national standards.
The
Dinosaur Movie Clips, (suggested by Charles Burrows, Spring Valley High School, Rockland County, NY), find a variety of animated clips in the Windows and Real formats. When viewed full screen the animations get pixilated but these clips are still worth a look.
Yet another place to visit, a "best kept secret", is the
ANIMATIONS: (suggested by Eric Cohen, Westhampton High School), Here is some crazy home video of people trying to drive after a major ice storm in Portland, Oregon.
Potential changes forecasted for many of the conditions here on Earth. We read about earthquakes, shrinking ice caps, and collisions in space almost every day. Being a resident on this planet means we need to know and understand the processes behind change, whether it occurs within the Earth, on its surface, or beyond Earth’s atmosphere. If we don’t, our residency here may be short-lived! Of course, you already know this, being the well-informed educator you are, so click the following link for a variety of interdisciplinary activities you can use to make your students into fellow well-informed Earth residents!
Note: If you have never visited this site, take a look around. It is an excellent resource for every science teacher!
A new series from National Public Radio (NPR), "Science Out of the Box," seeks to explain phenomena big and small in language we can all understand. Topic One: Why is it that shower curtains tend to bow in towards the shower when the water is running?
This lesson for high school students examines statistical sampling by tracing improvements in sampling procedures over the 20th century and by taking a critical look at scientific inquiries involving flawed sampling.
Forensics in the Classroom
New Vernier website provides multifunctional sensorDAQ interface forms basis for variety of experiments.
Vernier Software & Technology is providing STEM educators with a web site featuring lab activities such as investigating how concrete cures, writing a program to control an RC Servo motor, providing an LED alarm when a force threshold is surpassed, and more.
In addition to videos demonstrating cool projects that use Vernier sensors with LEGO’s NXT robot, the site will provide 10 ready-to-use experiments that use the company’s SensorDAQTM data-acquisition interface with National Instruments’ LabVIEW software. These experiments focus on introductory engineering concepts from the major engineering disciplines, such as:
1. Electrical Engineering – Measure the current and voltage of a solar cell to investigate the effect of irradiance angle on the total power output.
2. Mechanical Engineering – Create a Wheatstone half-bridge circuit with two strain gages, and measure the strain on an aluminum cantilever beam as a load is applied.
3. Civil Engineering – Investigate the tensile and compressive forces in truss bridge components, and build a truss bridge out of manila file folders and load it to failure.
4. Chemical Engineering – Build a virtual thermometer to learn the basics of LabVIEW programming with step-by-step programming instructions.
5. Biomedical Engineering – Visually track the status of your heart rate with output from an LED wired in an open-drain circuit.
The SensorDAQ experiments are designed for advanced high school and early university level engineering courses. They consist of a brief explanation of the concept, the objective of the specific activity, and a listing of required material A PDF and word document are provided, allowing the user to modify the experiment as needed. In addition, a LabVIEW Virtual Instrument (VI) to run the experiments is included with all 10 experiments. For educators who wish to teach programming as part of the project, Vernier has included step-by-step instructions with illustrations for building a LabVIEW VI in several of the experiments. Designed specifically for engineering education, the Vernier SensorDAQ is the result of a collaboration between Vernier Software & Technology and National Instruments. The interface’s three analog channels accommodate more than 50 different Vernier sensors, including temperature, dissolved oxygen, gas pressure, pH and force. A digital channel is available for motion detectors, photogates, radiation monitors, rotary motion sensors and drop counters. The interface also has built-in USB connectivity and automatically identifies and calibrates Vernier sensors. A screw terminal connector provides versatility to build circuits, create custom sensors, control RC servo motors, turn on electronic devices, and more. “SensorDAQ was created to help instructors design custom content to help engineering students understand the concepts and principles being presented,” said David Vernier, co-founder of Vernier and former physics teacher. “Now we’ve taken the extra step and provided ready-made activities to save teachers the time and effort of devising their own activities. It is a great way to get students started in using this highend, yet affordable tool in engineering.”
Here’s a web site that has free pdf files of graph paper in any style imaginable. Never buy graph paper ever again!
We send a newsletter each month to over 1,000 educators who are interested in inventing/creativity based projects. Please pass on this invitation to receive the free newsletter (with one-click unsubscribe) to parents and teachers who may be interested. The current issue is below.
I was the founding Director of the National Inventors Hall of Fame (home of Camp Invention, Collegiate Inventors Program) and founder of the National Toy Hall of Fame. I have published 22 books including some of the leading books on inventing for kids and inventing in the classroom. I now give workshops for teachers on how to use inventing activities to teach science.
Anyone who wants to receive the newsletter can send me a note or can sign up at www.kidsinvent.org. Thank you.
Free or cheap NSTA Press book chapters through the NSTA online store. Visit the web site and click on book chapters tab.
We have a growing collection of free science education materials available to you and your colleagues. These printed and online resources focus on medically relevant life sciences and are described at http://www.nigms.nih.gov/Publications/ST0409.
All of our materials are free of charge and are downloadable from the Web site above. Printed materials are available individually or in classroom sets.
Here is a sampling of our products:
Findings magazine, which profiles vibrant scientists and includes puzzles and games. Each semi-annual issue introduces students not only to cutting-edge research, but also to the varied personalities, hobbies and backgrounds of the researchers, who could serve as role models for future scientists. Our new 'Ask a Scientist' online feature allows students to submit relevant scientific questions to researchers profiled in the magazine. Free subscription.
Award-winning booklets on topics like cell biology, genetics, chemistry, pharmacology, structural biology and computational biology. Several of the booklets are enhanced with additional online content.
Interactive games and crossword puzzles that teach science.
Scientific image galleries containing downloadable photos, illustrations and videos.
Video and audio interviews with scientists.
A monthly electronic newsletter that highlights recent scientific advances.
These materials are produced by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (part of the National Institutes of Health). They are not copyrighted and you are free to excerpt content from them to use in the classroom or on a class Web site.
If you know of other people or organizations who would be interested in these free educational resources, please forward this message to them. We also encourage you to include information about our free materials in relevant listservs, Web sites and newsletters.
If you have any questions about NIGMS science education materials, please contact me at MachaleA@nigms.nih.gov or 301-496-7301.
Each week, share with your students a FREE thought-provoking science puzzler, drawn from the award-winning Cogno science board games. You'll receive a weekly e-mail with a fully illustrated one-page puzzler about astronomy, forces & motion and/or life sciences, ready to be photocopied for students. The e-mail message includes the answer and explanation, allowing you to facilitate as much or as little discussion as you like. Recommended for grades 3-8.
Why free? Cogno's mission is to "inspire children to think critically and imaginatively." This mission is at the root of every effort we make, and these puzzlers are part of our effort to further our mission and help raise awareness for Cogno.
We're launching a new website called Hoot of Loot. It's an inexpensive way for schools and teachers to post classified ads for new and used school supplies. Attached is the release with more information.
Please visit us at http://www.hootofloot.com and let me know if you have any questions.
Thank you for your consideration.
Less Painful Lab Write-ups from NC
Mathematics or Science Questions?
MAST WebConnect is here to help! FREE!
All too often technology creates more work and time for overworked teachers.
MAST WebConnect believes that technology should support teachers and students by personally guiding them to experts and useful technology.
MAST WebConnect
is a one-stop resource for teachers and students in mathematics and science.
Simply email webconnect@unco.edu or visit our website mast.unco.edu/webconnect with any Math, Science or Education question and we will help you out!
Recent inquiries have been:
"I need a unit on Earth Science for Kindergartners."
"What do snails eat?"
"How is chalk made?"
"What's the deal with airline food?"
Inquiries can be simple or complex. More complex questions will be routed to expert scientists.
MAST WebConnect is a free service provided by the University of Northern Colorado within the College of Natural and Health Sciences. MAST WebConnect replaces the popular MAST Hotline, a free call-in service established in 1989. With the dominance of the Internet, it was determined that a call-in service was no longer relevant. In 2008, MAST began a transformation to web-based services, and MAST WebConnect was created.
The Problem:
Obviously the problem is not that the Internet does not contain enough math and science education resources, but finding quality resources can be an overwhelming task for teachers and students alike. Teachers often do not have the time to do a quality web search or seek experts in the field.
The Solution
MAST WebConnect will answer your questions and find high-quality web-based Internet resources personally for you! Supported by the MAST Institute and the University of Northern Colorado, WebConnect is staffed by math and science educators and professors with access to these resources and references.
How it works.
The idea is simple. We know that the Internet provides a wealth of information, but sorting through and filtering that information to find quality materials can be an overwhelming task.
That is where we come in. Contact MAST WebConnect with any mathematics or science question, and our coordinators will find the information either by contacting experts in the field, or finding high-quality Internet sites.
MAST WebConnect has a pool of available volunteer mathematics and science experts to help with more difficult inquiries. These include college professors and working scientists within Northern Colorado.
The best way to reach us is by email:
webconnect@unco.edu
We will usually respond initially within 24 hours. More involved questions will be forwarded to volunteer experts. These inquires may take longer for a response.
Want to volunteer?
We are always looking for volunteer scientists and educators to help with WebConnect inquiries. Contact WebConnect to volunteer.
WebConnect serves:
• K-12 Teachers who have mathematics or science questions.
• K-12 Teachers who need mathematics or science Internet resource recommendations.
• K-12 Students with math or science questions.
• K-12 Students who need help finding math or science resources on the Internet.
• Pre-Service Teachers who need help finding math or science teaching resources on the Internet.
Mastery Learning Videos
There has been a lot of interest to see what a mastery classroom “looks like.” So Aaron went around my classroom and took some video. So hopefully this will give folks an idea of how we have changed our classes. Thus, I have just done a quick video that shows what my class looks like. It is a compilation of several two classes: Chemistry with sophomores-seniors, and Astronomy with freshmen.
There is also a short video that explains to our students what mastery looks like.
View my classroom video: http://vimeo.com/8553190
Explanation to our kids about mastery: http://vimeo.com/7347897
Jon Bergmann
Science Teacher
Woodland Park High School
McREL and partners unveil first NanoLeap into New Science module
Posted: 24 Feb 2009 12:32 PM PST
McREL and partners unveil first NanoLeap into New Science module
February 24, 2009
Denver—Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) and the Stanford Nanofabrication Facility (SNF) have released the first of two instructional modules from the NanoLeap into New Science project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
The groundbreaking modules integrate real-world nanoscale science and engineering research into high school chemistry and physical science courses. Each standards-based module includes teacher guides, assessments, student activities, and experiments. Using topics normally taught in high school science, students engage in nanoscale science and technology concepts within a real-world context.
The first module released, "Investigating Static Forces in Nature: The Mystery of the Gecko," is designed for physical science classrooms and includes videos, animation, and interactive technologies. "NanoLeap prepares our students to be future contributors to the revolutionary field of nanotechnology," said John Ristvey, principal investigator for the project and a principal consultant for McREL.
Instructional materials for the module were developed by McREL in collaboration with master science teachers and nanoscale science and technology researchers. Throughout the four-year development project, materials were vetted and evaluated thoroughly in high school classrooms. The national field tests, which were led by Edina, Minn.-based ASPEN Associates, included a total of 1,400 high school students and their teachers. Ristvey said, "Our findings demonstrated that students using NanoLeap outperformed their peers in both nanoscale science as well core science concepts."
The module is available online at www.mcrel.org/nanoleap/ps.
McREL is a Denver-based, nationally recognized, private, nonprofit organization that is dedicated to improving education for all students through applied research, product development and service.
This work is supported by the National Science Foundation, Division of Elementary, Secondary, and Informal Education award #ESI-0426401.
http://www.mcrel.org/nanoleap/ps/
You might find this module interesting
This educational program for grades 6-12 challenges students to relate practical math and science skills to real-world experiences in engineering. Created by Scholastic and Northrop Grumman, this program will sharpen your students' research skills, problem-solving skills, and scientific inquiry skills. Free lesson plans and teacher resources are available on the website.
Consider a visit to the Morrison Natural History Museum, with exhibits about local and worldwide dinosaurs and other fossils as well as live reptiles and amphibians to see and perhaps handle! Open 10-4 Mon.-Sat., 12-4 Sun.; admission charge. For more info see the web site or call 303-697-1873. Located 1/2 mile south of Morrison on State Highway 8 (heading toward The Fort restaurant and US-285).
NIDA Launches FREE Video on Steroids in Honor of National Physical Fitness and Sports Month
NIDA scientist Ruben Baler, Ph.D., talks to teens about the effects of steroids
As the lead Federal Agency for research on substance abuse and addiction, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health, is launching a FREE educational video in English and in Spanish about the effects of and risks associated with steroid use among teens.
As the summer approaches, teens are encouraged to be more active. With an increase in use of anabolic steroids among America's youth, NIDA seeks to encourage young men and women to work with what nature has provided and not “cheat” by using steroids and thereby exposing themselves to the negative side effects associated with these drugs.
NIDA celebrates National Physical Fitness and Sports Month by combining video technology with youth culture. NIDA scientist Ruben Baler, Ph.D., engages teens with a FREE short video about the physiological effects of steroid use, especially the consequences for human development and teen hormone levels. This video is part of a new video education series provided by NIDA.
As the lead Federal Agency for research on substance abuse and addiction, the National Institute on
Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health, offers FREE information to address this
problem, including NIDA's Drugged Driving InfoFacts. In this document, you will learn:
Download your FREE copy today. InfoFacts is available in English
and Spanish in both HTML and PDF versions. Feel free to make as
many copies of this document as you wish—it is in the public
domain.
�� How many people take drugs and drive
�� Why drugged driving is hazardous
�� Facts about teens and drugged driving
�� And more!
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Teacher at Sea program gives K-16 teachers an expenses-paid, first-hand experience of science and life at sea on board one of three main research vessels: fisheries, oceanographic/coastal, and hydrographic. Cruises range in length from one week to one month.
NPR has a free custom e-News Service. Go to http://k12tlc.net/newslist.htm and fill out the free desires list. It is quite extensive.
NSTA Exemplary Science Program Series (ESP) is announcing a new search for programs that succeed in achieving success with Goal 3 of the National Science Education Standards (NSES). For more information, download the pdf.
This ocean-science website-developed by Texas A&M University for students, teachers, and the general public-contains information about many important processes in the ocean, as well as links to teaching material and sources of real-time data that can be used in the classroom. K-12 material is tied to national and
Online science magazine for elementary and middle school students- Trickles at www.spigotsciencemag.com
SERC. This section of the Teaching Quantitative Skills in the Geosciences website deals with concepts that students struggle with when learning about population growth and the relationship of population to geological resource use including exponential growth of populations, positive feedback between population growth and resource use, and the environmental impacts of increase resource use by large populations. This module provides a geologic context in which to engage students in discussions of big numbers and exponential growth and decay.
A collection of 1-page examples of how math and science topics taught in K-12 classes can be used in interesting settings, including everyday life. The examples are written primarily by scientists and engineers, and are available to teachers, students, and other interested parties via the PUMAS Web Site. Its goal is to capture, for the benefit of pre-college education, the flavor of the vast experience that working scientists have with interesting and practical uses of math and science. The collection is updated regularly and there are currently 65 examples. One example is: If all the people of the world went swimming at the same time, would the sea level rise? The necessary data are provided to make it possible to reach a conclusion.
Puking and Exploding Pumpkins & such:
If you have never seen him/it, "Steve Spangler Science" visits a school and does a usually spectacular weekly science demonstration feature early (6 a.m.) on 9News Monday or Tuesday mornings. These are recorded, and you can view them from Steve's website:
http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/
by clicking on "videos" (where you can also see some of Steve's past appearances on the "Ellen" show!).
RAFT - Resource Area For Teaching Colorado's Best Place For Teachers, Issue 4
August 25 2009
TEACHERS WANTED!!!!
As the new school year starts, we hope that all of you are enjoying sharing your RAFT purchases and ideas with your students. We are so happy to see so many teachers coming to RAFT - and thrilled at the number of repeat customers we have had already!
BUT we have a long way to go to meet our goal: 1000 new RAFT Colorado members in 2009! It's a BHAG, as Jim Collins would say (big hairy audacious goal), and there is no way we can do it without all of you to spread the word.
[http://origin.ih.constantcontact.com/fs057/1102598657621/img/21.jpg?a=1102680303212]While we are SURE you would be bringing/ sending your friends who teach to RAFT anyway, we also thought that it wouldn't hurt to offer a bribe -- I mean incentive -- to further motivate you to help us! So, in 2009, we will not only have special membership pricing, we will also reward members for bringing new people on board. For every member you get to join RAFT IN 2009, we will discount your 2009 purchases by that percentage. For example, get 3 people to join, get a 3% discount; 10 people, 10% discount; 25 people, 25% discount . . . all the way up to 50%! What if you're not a teacher? For every 10 members you refer, we will give you a free annual membership to give away!
Thank you all -- we look forward to seeing you and 100 of your closest teacher friends on Saturday!
Stephanie Welsh, Executive Director
This resource page at the Kenton,
Science Annimations
http://www.edinformatics.com/math_science/water_ice.htm
Award-winning science, math, and pre-engineering software called "Time Engineers" (grades 7-9). Unique and highly interactive, Time Engineers provides students with opportunities to learn about how engineering principles have helped people through the ages. Students travel in a cool time machine to three different eras and encounter typical engineering problems of that time. Made in conjunction with the
Science teacher and writer Paul Doherty won NSTA's Faraday Award for science communication. His website offers hundreds of scientific explorations for all grade levels, indexed alphabetically and by topic.
On-line Science magazine, new, geared to students in grades 4 through7, has premiered this year. SPIGOT Science Magazine is published on-line five times per year in September, November, January, March and May. It is a free magazine published to help students become more aware of science and to encourage them to pursue study in this field. Articles from this publication may be used in schools or homeschooling without permission. Articles may not be distributed for commercial use without the written permission of Daval Publications, LLC.
Each issue has a theme. The theme for the first issue in January/February was "Water." The theme of the second issue in March/April was "Trees." The May/June issue has the theme "The Universe."
A subscription to this new Internet resource for young people is easy and free-of-charge, and the subscription provides access to all past issues.
This is a source list with explanations and plans for Internet-based activities for the classroom. There are interactive activities, lists of Web sites, and K-12 science literacy goals outlined by the AAAS's Project 2061. Resources are listed by topic and grade. Topics vary from "Where are the dinosaurs?", to explore the concept of extinction, to, "Building a better pencil" to learn the nature of technology.
A wealth of information on science. Look up Web sites for a variety of topics, such as biology browser for Web sites, on organisms, science topics, and geography. Look up names of organisms, access Science Watch (a newsletter on current science topics), and read Sci-Bytes (weekly update of new research in science).
Provides the latest news on developments in life sciences, physical sciences, and technology. Sort articles by topic -- genetics, animals, the brain, chemistry, physics, earth, oceans, astronomy, climate, engineering, biotechnology, computers, nanotechnology, and others. See articles on cancer causing genes, music for pain, fat vaccine, biofuel energy, no-mow grass, liquid armor, fouled beaches, phones and driving, auto-focus eyewear, activity breaks and memory, and more.
Sloan Career Cornerstone has several good resources for teachers. See attached pdf file.
Deadline: Ongoing
Teacher Enhancement at the
Many of you may have noticed a card in your snail mail telling you about Colorado School of Mines Teacher enhancement. To save money they have stopped their mailing of a course catalog. These are great courses, many over the summer, and many with simple graduate credit requirements, as well as great content.
Have you ever wanted that “one stop teaching tips website?” This might be it. It has ideas on assessment, core abilities, critical thinking, preparing a lesson plan, etc Hundreds of resources and ideas for teachers. Check this out at:
http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/teachtip.htm
A sample index is attached. The links do not work but it gives you an idea of the topics available if you go to: http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/teachtip.htm
I am writing to let you know about a new free resource from NOVA that you may want to share with colleagues. “The Secret Life of Scientists,” is a web-only series of videos that introduce the research of individual scientists while providing a glimpse at “secrets” from their personal lives.
A new scientist is now being profiled every two weeks online at www.pbs.org/nova/secretlife http://www.pbs.org/nova/secretlife . Each new profile includes short video clips that make science and scientists accessible to students, as well as a forum that allows students to ask questions directly of profiled scientists.
Grant from Verizon Foundation Brings “Thinkfinity” Online to Colorado Teachers
The Colorado Department of Education, working with the Colorado Legacy Foundation through a grant from the Verizon Foundation, is providing “Thinkfinity” training to teachers across the state.
“Verizon Thinkfinity.org” is a free educational Web site that contains thousands of engaging educational resources that make learning fun. Lesson plans, videos and in-class activities can be found quickly and searched by grade level, keyword or subject. The lessons are standards-based and include many activities designed to develop 21st century skills.
Verizon Thinkfinity.org also offers a comprehensive professional development program that allows teachers to sign up for free online or face-to-face training to learn how to make the most of Verizon Thinkfinity tools.
The $35,000 Verizon Foundation grant is expected to provide training for more than 250 teachers statewide. Since the training began in June, more than 150 teachers and administrators have been trained. Training is available through online courses which are offered monthly, hands-on classroom training or one-hour webinars.
“The grant from the Verizon Foundation is deeply appreciated,” said Commissioner of Education Dwight D. Jones. “Verizon Thinkfinity.org is a terrific resource and teachers appreciate the wealth of materials, lesson plans and professional development.”
“Thinkfinity.org content meets teachers’ needs,” said Dan Morris, director of educational technology and innovation at CDE. “The content is created and reviewed by content specialists and all the lessons tie to standards. The response from teachers has been nothing but enthusiastic.”
Morris said the training is designed to allow teachers to improve lesson plans they have already developed or are in the process of creating. During the online course, educators develop a Thinkfinity Integration Plan and identify ways to use the online resources in the classroom.
The Verizon Thinkfinity.org Web site (www.thinkfinity.org) also provides free educational resources that can be used by students, parents and afterschool programs.
“Whether it’s an English teacher looking for resources to spark a love of reading in a student, or a parent seeking a convenient and user-friendly educational activity to stimulate the mind of a young child, Verizon Thinkfinity.org will help them quickly and easily find the information needed to improve student achievement,” said Tim McCallion, Verizon president for the west region.
Teachers, principals and other school administrators who are interested in the training may contact Dan Morris at dan.morris@coloradothinkfinity.org or by calling 303-229-8301.
About the Colorado Legacy Foundation
As part of the Colorado Department of Education's “Forward Thinking” plan, the privately-funded nonpartisan Colorado Legacy Foundation seeks to build ongoing statewide leadership capacity and support for aligning Colorado's P-20 education delivery system to meet the global demands of today's rapidly expanding, knowledge-centered economy.
For more information, contact Mark Stevens, 303-866-3898, or Megan McDermott, 303-866-2334, in the CDE Office of Communications.
Announcing our new $99 Web-Based Professional Development Programs for Teachers, Administrators and Paraprofessionals!
Features Include: 4-5 interactive sessions totaling 8 hours of training
Chat rooms and forums for questions and feedback
Participants can post work for review by VESC staff
Links to relevant web sites and other resources
Paraprofessional Training Program - $99.
Child development/Learning Styles (visual, auditory, tactile, etc..)
Special needs ( learning disabled, autism, speech, etc…)
Behavioral Management (intervention, reinforcement, parent interaction, etc..)
Supporting Instruction ( observing student performance, physical/behavioral/emotional/educational needs of students)
We Provide Text-Based – In Class – Web-Based Professional Development Training in the Following Topics
Classroom Management
Differentiated Instruction
Data Management & Assessment
Special Education – Inclusion
Raising Student Achievement in ESL
We can customize a program for your specific needs
To arrange to meet with one of our representatives, or for an on-line demo, call
Joe Fuller at 212-566-2522, Ext 217 or email – jfuller@vesc-education.com
Window on the Universe is back in a new and improved version- select your reading level is back as well.
For those of you who want materials but do not want to write an entire grant, check out this web site. I have had a few of my proposals funded. Donors choose is just a non-profit organization that lets people, businesses, etc. to make tax deductable donations to public schools. It's pretty easy to use, and I've already received a new set of computer speakers, a set of thermometers, and a bulletin board for my classroom.
Year of Science 2009
http://www.yearofscience2009.org/home/
Explore monthly themes....
Feb is evolution, March is physics, etc.
Other
See attached pdf.
Now, New.SchoolNotes.com is the FREE service that can help keep you, your students, and their parents “on the same
page!”
Free! That’s right. You can maintain up to 10 SchoolNotes pages for free. That means you can have a page for each
subject, a page for each period, even pages for special projects or clubs … FREE!
Here are some vetted web sites from Richy Richards for you to check out. Thank you Richy.
World Wise Schools Supports Geography and Global Issues
The World Wise Schools program offers free cross-cultural educational resources online including podcasts, videos, stories, slide shows, and electronic newsletters. Each resource reflects Peace Corps Volunteer experiences overseas and builds in U.S. children a greater understanding of the world around them. Educational materials produced by the program promote cross-cultural understanding, awareness of global issues, and the ethic of community service. They include writings by Peace Corps Volunteers and returned Peace Corps Volunteers, online narrated slide shows, monthly podcasts, a monthly educational electronic newsletter, and award-winning Destination videos. These resources may be found at http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws.
Physics
PBS engineering series, Design Squad. I came across your organization on the NSTA Web site and wanted to share information about a free, new resource we’ve created for middle school science and technology teachers – the Design Squad Teacher’s Guide. I’ve included a blurb about the guide below with information on how to request a free print copy. Please feel free to share with your network of teachers and administrators. You can view the guide in pdf and learn more about Design Squad on our Web site: http://pbskids.org/designsquad/parentseducators/teachers_guide.html
About the Teacher’s Guide
PBS’ Design Squad goes to school with a new Teacher’s Guide. Developed for middle school science and technology teachers, the guide blends hands-on engineering challenges with 3 core science topics - force, electricity, and sound. The challenges use low cost, readily available materials and are linked to national science and technology standards. Order your free copy of the Design Squad Teacher’s Guide at: http://pbskids.org/designsquad/engineers/newsletter.html
The Physics Source
The Physics Source is a collection of websites where you can learn physics on your own, through games, webcasts, and online exhibits and activities. Also included are physics-on-the-road programs, which bring demonstration shows, and in some cases hands-on activities, to you, the audience. To find the resources you want, you can browse the collection and search our database by content topic, resource type, and grade level.
We encourage your involvement in The Physics Source. Once you have registered and signed in, which requires only a username and password, you can build a personal collection, share your comments about resources already in the comPADRE collection, and suggest resources for us to add.
http://www.physicssource.org/
http://www.aapt.org/aboutaapt/updates/March2009.cfm#TPS
