The Living Edens: Virtual Yellowstone Tour
This Starting Point page describes a virtual tour of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming featured on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) website. In this tour, students act as park rangers to research geological features of Yellowstone, locate these features on maps, and describe and define associated geologic terms. The features discussed include geysers, hot springs, canyons, waterfalls and mudpots. On this page, users can find learning goals, teaching notes and tips, teaching materials, as
City Archives
'City Archives' was written and directed by Richard Foreman, founder and director of the Ontological Hysteric Theater. He serves as the narrator for this work, discussing the power of 'the foreign' and images, talking directly into a microphone in a purposely stilted manner and addressing questions to the viewer. A sort of classroom overpopulated by adults sets the stage for the work. Phrases are written and erased on a blackboard, and women gaze out a window, physically supporting planks of woo
Student Peer Review Through A Discussion Board to Develop an Invasive Species Paper
Through computer technology, students develop a paper topic (in this case, invasive species) with the assistance of additional students answering guided questions. This Starting Point website builds a context of use for this peer review activity by describing the learning goals, teaching notes and materials, and citing additional references and resources.
Home, Home on the River
In this case study activity, students will examine the complex issues that result from human use of ecologically sensitive areas. The students will investigate these issues from the point of view of their major/career path. This example page is part of the Starting Point collection and was adapted from the Lifelines Online case study. Users can access information about the exercise's learning goals, context for use, teaching notes and tips, teaching materials, assessment ideas, references and to
Glacial Geology in the Field
This lab studies glacial deposits to determine where glaciers come from, how they deposit material, and what glaciation records tell us about glacial processes. Building a context for its use, including links to related field labs, this website details the learning goals of this lab. It includes teaching notes and materials, as assessment recommendation, and links to additional resources and references.
GP-B Educator's Guide
This 52-page booklet provides an overview of the history, science and technology of this mission, including an introduction to Einstein's theory of curved spacetime. The guide also contains 18 pages of hands-on classroom activities related to gyroscopes, curved spacetime, frame-dragging and other concepts related to the GP-B experiment.
Rockets: Educators Guide
Few classroom topics generate as much excitement as rockets. The scientific, technological, engineering and mathematical foundations of rocketry provide exciting classroom opportunities for authentic hands-on, minds-on experimentation. The activities and lesson plans contained in this educator guide emphasize hands-on science, prediction, data collection and interpretation, teamwork, and problem solving. The guide also contains background information about the history of rockets and basic rocket
Stromatolite Explorer: Investigation of a Microbial Mat Community
The Stromatolite Explorer video describes an imaginary voyage inside a microbial mat. This Teacherʼs guide contains a more detailed explanation of a number of the concepts discussed in the video, including the graphs presented in the video. The animated video takes students on a journey through a microbial mat. The assigned mission is to probe a microbial mat by following an imaginary 0.10 mm stromatolite explorer as it descends through the layers. On its route, the vehicle takes chemical readi
Flow Injection Analysis in the Undergraduate Laboratory
This paper titled, Flow Injection Analysis in the Undergraduate Laboratory, by Rocha and Nobrega was published in the Chemical Educator. It describes two basic experiments. One is the measurement of copper using PAR reagent as carrier in a single line FIA system. Increasing the reaction coil length results in double peaks. Refractive index effects are demonstrated in the two-line system by adding ethanol. The second experiment is the measurement of phosphate with the molybdenum blue reaction
Teacher-to-Teacher Workshops
This site provides materials from dozens of teacher presentations on literacy, math, science, history, and the arts at the U.S. Department of Education's Teacher-to-Teacher Summer Workshops. Topics include reading, writing, English language learners, Chinese language and culture, algebra, computation, data, geometry, peer teaching, earth systems, cells, physical science, labs, science mysteries, historical literacy, arts and reading, and more.
New Jersey Digital Highway
Welcome to the Educator's portal page! This portal is designed to provide tools and information for using digital primary source materials from New Jersey archives, libraries, museums and historical societies. This is your road map for your exploration of New Jersey history and culture with your students.
A Text-Book of the History of Painting
The object of this series of text-books is to provide concise teachable histories of art for class-room use in schools and colleges. The limited time given to the study of art in the average educational institution has not only dictated the condensed style of the volumes, but has limited their scope of matter to the general features of art history. Archæological discussions on special subjects and æsthetic theories have been avoided. The main facts of history as settled by the best authorities
Hayden Planetarium: Digital Universe Atlas
Since 1998, the American Museum of Natural History and the Hayden Planetarium have engaged in the three-dimensional mapping of the Universe. This cosmic cartography brings a new perspective to our place in the Universe and will redefine your sense of home. The Digital Universe Atlas is distributed to you via packages that contain our data products, like the Milky Way Atlas and the Extragalactic Atlas, and requires free software allowing you to explore the atlas by "flying" through it on your com
Start a Rock Collection
In this OLogy activity, kids learn about how rocks give us important clues about Earth's history. The activity begins with an overview that explains the evidence rocks hold and how kids can begin to make observations about their different traits. Students are then given step-by-step, illustrated directions for collecting rocks, observing and sorting them, and creating a display of their collection. The activity includes a printable rock chart to help kids make their observations.
In the Mountains of New Mexico
At age twenty-seven, physicist Philip Morrison joined the Manhattan Project, the code name given to the U.S. government's covert effort at Los Alamos to develop the first nuclear weapon. The Manhattan Project was also the most expensive single program ever financed by public funds. In this video segment, Morrison describes the charismatic leadership of his mentor, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and the urgency of their mission to manufacture a weapon 'which if we didn't make first would lead to the loss
Volcano Saga
Based on a thirteenth-century Icelandic myth, 'Volcano Saga' recounts the tales of a young woman (portrayed by Tilda Swinton) whose dreams foretell the future.
Going Away Party, The
'The Going Away Party,' by Dan Boord and Greg Durbin, is a dramatic work about corruption among Oklahoma county officials. It is based on the true stories of incidents of corruption amongst Oklahoma's elected county commissioners. This segment is from the dramatic 'reenactment,' showing friends and supporters of Burrows, a commissioner sentenced to serve a jail term, at a going-away party.
Ellis Island (a work in progress)
'Ellis Island (a work in progress)' is a haunting, reflective piece on Ellis Island and the immigrants who passed through there. Black-and-white, near-static shots of actors and actresses realistically portraying turn-of-the-century immigrants are combined with color shots of a modern-day tour guide conducting a tour of the buildings. Re-creations of the medical examinations the immigrants underwent and the conditions they lived through are filmed in the run-down buildings of Ellis Island before
Floyd Bennett Field: Naval Aviation's Home in Brooklyn
recounts the role of this airport in aviation history and World War II. In 1931, it was among the most advanced airports in the world. From it, early aviators launched pioneering and round-the-world flights during the 1930s. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, its duties as Naval Air Station New York grew rapidly. During the 1942 U-Boat offensive, it provided air cover for ship convoys embarking from New York.
Properties of Contour Lines
This site features several Flash animations that illustrate the concept of isopleths, or contour lines of equal value. Most of the animations are interactive and allow the user to interpret contour spacing, hachured lines, and valley/ridge placement. One animation allows the user to practice drawing contour lines. These resources are suitable for use in lectures, labs, or other teaching activities.
