Seismic Waves
The first site for this Topic in Depth comes from the Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences at Michigan Technological University and is called What Is Seismology? (1). The site describes the basics of seismology, the various types of waves associated with it, and even contains a link that shows you how to make your own P and S waves. Next is the Earthquakes Overview site (2), provided by The Tech Museum. Visitors can explore topics such as seismographs and waves through an
Karl's Calculus Tutor
Few calculus resources, either online or offline, can match the sheer depth and user-friendliness of Karl's Calculus Tutor. The site contains educational material that is covered in a standard introductory calculus course. Entire chapters about limits, integrals, and derivatives are presented. Nearly every topic is accompanied by a detailed example, and a recently added midterm practice exam allows students to test their knowledge. The author is continually adding new material, stating that user
Southwest Educational Development Laboratory: SCIMAST
The Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL) serves the Southwest including Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. Although most of SEDL's SCIMAST Access Centers are specifically targeted for these specific states, the SCIMAST website offers an array of broadly applicable resources on science and mathematics education. One feature of the site is the Classroom Compass, "a thematic publication designed to link issues in mathematics and science education to instructional i
Stanford University: Center for the Study of Language and Information
The Center for the Study of Language and Information (CSLI) "is devoted to research in the emerging science of information, computing, and cognition." This "new science" is an interdisciplinary project that developed through a shared interest among computer scientists, linguists, logicians, philosophers, psychologists, and artificial intelligence researchers "in how agents, whether biological or artificial, acquire, process, and convey information." The Center, initiated by researchers from Stan
Southern California Swell Model
The Coastal Data Information Program (CDIP) created the Southern and Central Swell Model experiments for those with a general interest in oceanography. After learning how the model works, users can view several up-to-date graphics illustrating regional and detailed swell heights on maps and plots. Although acknowledging possible errors, the website provides three day forecasts for coastal waves, tides, and swell heights. The Frequently Asked Questions link provides sufficient information on how
BEAM Education
BEAM is "a specialist mathematics education publisher, dedicated to promoting the teaching and learning of mathematics as interesting, challenging and enjoyable." They publish materials aimed at children ages 3 to 14 and provide training and workshops for teachers in the United Kingdom as well as consultancy for companies, institutions and government, and teacher education programs. Although many of their products and services are available for purchase only, they do offer a number of online res
University of Wisconsin-Madison: What is the Ultimate Fate of the Universe?
This website, created by Molly Read for the Observational Cosmology Group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, discusses the ancient questions about the development of the universe, its limits, and its fate. After reading a brief history of the field of cosmology, students and educators can learn about Olbers' Paradox, Hubble Expansion, the big bang theory, electromagnetic spectrum, and cosmic microwave background. The text contains many helpful diagrams, images, short videos, and links to a
Journeys & Transformations: British Columbia Landscapes
This website from the Royal British Columbia Museum introduces students to five important environments found in British Columbia: Mountains, Forests, Grasslands, Waters, and Cities. Each environment section includes topical features under the following headings: Nature, First Peoples, and History. Examples of feature topics include Mammals in Winter, Clothing From the Land, Life in the Ocean, and Introduced Species, to name a few. The aesthetically pleasing website keeps text to a minimum as it
Myc Cancer Gene
This Web site, offered through Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Johns Hopkins Health System, aims to "provide a hub for the integration of information on Myc target genes, the role of Myc in human cancers, and proteins that interact with the Myc transcription factors." Users will find a well-organized collection of resources relating to Myc, such as an extensive set of links to PubMed articles, related databases, and some original data. The Web site's introduction provides a very
Graphing the Rainbow
Students are introduced to different ways of displaying visual spectra, including colored “barcode” spectra, like those produced by a diffraction grating, and line plots displaying intensity versus color, or wavelength. Students learn that a diffraction grating acts like a prism, bending light into its component colors.
Teachers' Days, Delights, and Dilemmas: Wayside Teaching
Wayside teaching is all about building and sustaining positive relationships with students. Before we explore this concept further, take a moment to examine your wayside teaching attitudes, approaches, and actions by completing the self-analysis in Figure 1.,Volume 42, Number 3
Date a Rock
This lesson shows students that age-dating rocks involves counting atoms and comparing the counts. Students use simulated rock samples, which show a highly magnified selection of 128 atoms, each sample with a different proportion of the atoms of two different elements: a parent radioisotope, and its daughter product. By counting the parent radioactive atoms and knowing the half-life of those atoms, students can figure the number of half-lives since the sample solidified, and therefore the age of
Library 2.0: A Journey of Metamorphosis
Libraries as we know them have changed over the years to become Learning Commons—less like rooms with books and more like learning spaces with a wide variety of resources.
Temperature Change
Middle School, difficulty level 2. Use the given information to find the temperature.
Graphic Design: Using Symmetry to Create Corporate Logos
This activity teaches students to describe three types of symmetry, to categorize symmetric figures based on type of symmetry, and to create figures using different type of symmetry. The activities use familiar logos and signs to show how symmetry is used in the world of design, and to help differentiate between the different kinds of symmetry used in these examples.
Climate Change: Connections and Solutions, Grades 6-8
This two-week interdisciplinary curriculum unit encourages students to think critically about climate change and to collaborate to devise solutions. Students learn about climate change within a systems framework, examining interconnections among environmental, social, and economic issues. Lessons are aligned with national science and social studies standards but may be used in other classes as well. The first week of this 2-week unit lays the foundation for understanding some of the forces behin
Shopping Mall Math
Students participate in activities in which they develop number sense in and around the shopping mall. Two sets of activities, one developed for younger middle-grade students and one for older, deal with size and space, estimation, measurement, and applications involving percent.
Concurrent Lines, Medians, and Altitudes
Explore the relationships between perpendicular bisectors, the circumscribed circle, angle bisectors, the inscribed circle, altitudes, and medians using a triangle that can be resized and reshaped.
Student Perceptions of Action, Relevance, and Pace
How do teachers know their students are engaged? The results of a study in which middle school students' perceptions of academic achievement were analyzed.,Volume 36, Number 4
Silk: Caterpillars
If you listen closely, you can hear the sounds of a critical element in the production of silk--silkworm caterpillars dining on mulberry leaves. This episode of the two-minute radio show Pulse of the Planet focuses on how silkworms are raised. In the episode, available here in MP3 audio and text formats, a guest biochemist describes the silk farming process, noting the silkworms' dependence on large quantities of human-supplied mulberry leaves. The host points out how much silkworms grow in leng
