The Meteoritical Society
"The Meteoritical Society is a non-profit scholarly organization founded in 1933 to promote the study of extraterrestrial materials and their history." The website provides the latest Society news and downloads to its annual newsletter and bulletins. Scientists can find out about upcoming meetings and workshops, Society publications, and membership opportunities. Students and educators can locate materials describing meteorites, tektites, dust, and lunar samples as well as links to outside educa
Astromaterials Curation
"The Astromaterials Acquisition and Curation Office at the Johnson Space Center is tasked to curate NASA's current and future collections of extraterrestrial samples." The website divides the collections into six categories: Rocks and Soils from the Moon, Meteorites from Antarctica, Stratospheric Dust, Solar Wind, Space-Exposed Hardware, and Stardust Mission Samples. Besides learning how to receive and return the samples, users can find newsletters and information on discoveries made using the s
Dendrochronology Species Database
The Dendrochronology Species Database was composed by Henri D. Grissino-Mayer, a Professor of Geography at the University of Tennessee. The database "currently contains the names of over 1,100 tree and shrub species for which tree rings have been analyzed in the published literature." Records include the authority and scientific and common name(s) for each species. For species with available data in the International Tree-Ring Data Bank (ITRDB), records provide an ITRDB Code, and a link to the I
Digital Bridges
"The Digital Bridges Web site consists of a collection of thirty representative 19th century American bridge engineering monographs, manuals, and documents from the Lehigh University Libraries' Special Collections." The archive provides an interesting retrospective into the beginnings of major bridge projects; the material is complete with high-resolution photographs and text scanned from original books. In addition to historical literature, Digital Bridges also features brief accounts of notabl
Ireland
This Topic In Depth focuses on the land, science, and scientists of Ireland.Offered by Enchanted Learning.com, the first site (1) gives kids a brief introduction to Ireland's geography through a description of its location, size, and major rivers; online and printable maps; and a quiz. The next site is called the Irish Scientist (2), which is an online version of a yearly publication that "provide a means for Irish scientists and technologists to describe -- to colleagues, legislators and the ge
Toothbrush Beats out PC, Car, Cell Phone as the Invention Most Americans Say They Cannot Live Withou
The Lemelson-MIT Invention Index is "an annual survey of Americans' perceptions about inventing and innovating," and on January 21, 2003, the results for 2003 were released. According to this article, the one invention that respondents said they could not live without was the toothbrush, which was found to be more important than the PC, the automobile, the cellular phone, and the microwave oven. Specific results are reported in the press release. Also on this Web site are links to the previous s
Manipula math with Java : Hyppocrates' lunar
This applet leads students through a proof of how the area of two lunar sections is equal to the area of a triangle inscribed in a semicircle. The illustration uses color-coded sections and gives students hints to help find the theorem. The proof uses the Pythagorean theorem to establish the relationship between the lunar sections and the triangle. A separate sequence of diagrams shows the outline of the proof to simplify it. Copyright 2005 Ohio State University
An Earth Science Scrapbook Project as an Alternative Assessment Tool
Scrapbooking is a popular hobby and as such, has found its way into educational settings, primarily in middle and elementary school levels. This article describes a scrapbook project that is used both as a means of demonstrating the connections between geology and students daily lives and as an alternative form of assessment. The project was developed for an introductory Earth Science class for middle school and high school pre-service teachers.
The Science of Sound
This site contains a series of experiments about sound and its application to animals, musical instruments, and communications. Designed for second graders, each half hour experiment gives the students the introduction, a list of needed materials, and the procedures. Students can easily work in pairs with minimum adult supervision. Included are Animal Challenges which are activities that encourage kids to apply the concepts of sound to the animal kingdom.
Circular Motion Activities
This is an online laboratory where students look at either video clips or Flash simulations that model an amusment park ride. Students then use a stop watch to measure velocity and period. with these measurements and some other given information they calculate centripetal force and acceleartion.
El Nino Returns
This web page is an online companion to CNN's special coverage on El Nino for the 1997-98 season. El Nino is a strange but powerful weather phenomenon; tracker and background reports provide the user with the science behind El Nino, its history and impact. Topics covered include: forecast; ground zero (Peru); strange brew (weather); prediction meter; the wet coast (California); and the trackers. Links to other web sites are provided, and users may access more up-to-date El Nino stories by clicki
How Space Shuttles Work
This site explains the complexity of the entire mission of a space shuttle launch, orbit, activities, and return to Earth. Students and teachers can learn about the precise nature of space science including extensive preparations and examine the monumental technology behind Americas shuttle program, as well as the extraordinarily difficult mission it was designed to carry out. Information is also provided on the background and history of the space shuttle. Diagrams, full-color photos, highlighte
The science of light : funhouse mirrors background
This page briefly describes and illustrates the laws of reflection. It includes a short section on pedagogy and it relates the content to standards.
Identify rocks game
This is an interactive page where students identify 15 rocks.
Quick take on the wide, wide world of geometry
As the social studies, art, and music classes in the middle school widen students horizons, some of your students may become fascinated with the art, costumes, and customs of other peoples in this and other times. The NCTM Principles and Standards calls for middle school students to be able to recognize and apply geometric ideas and relationships in areas outside the mathematics classroom, such as art, science, and everyday life.
Tides and gravity labs
How does gravity cause tides in the oceans? This section, part of an interactive laboratory series for grades 8-12, introduces students to four activities on tides and gravity that cover critical orbital speed between Earth and the moon, gravitational forces between two bodies, tidal effects from the sun and moon, and the change in tidal levels over time. The activities include hands-on animations of concepts whose variables can be manipulated by students. Questions posed to students include ans
Our Solar System
This site contains information about the nine planets, the sun, and the moon. Included is each planet's size compared to the sun. Students can click on a picture to discover the following information: the diameter, mass, temperature, number of rings, what it's made of, can life exist there, and other interesting facts. Included for each planet are the number of moons, length of a day and year, and the average distance from the sun. Students can enter their weight to find out how much they would
Science Sampler : Thinking about students' questions
Asking questions is a vital component in any classroom, but it is absolutely essential in a science classroom. As science teachers, we know that questioning plays a major role in the inquiry process and has a positive impact on students' learning. This article discusses the importance of questioning skills and current research on questioning techniques. In addition, this article will present a series of lessons that were implemented by the author to improve the questioning abilities of middle sc
Indirect measurement and trigonometry
This online workshop session offers practical experience in the use of trigonometry. Teachers work together on examples of measuring impossible distances and inaccessible heights as they explore a number of methods for indirect measuring. They learn about right triangle trigonometry and use trig ratios to solve problems. This is one session from Measurement, a free online course developed for elementary and middle school teachers.
Statistics and probability. Grades 6-8
This MathPARTNERS unit contains seven lessons with hands-on learning activities for exploring statistics and probability with students in grades 6-8. The lessons, designed for mentoring situations, may also be helpful for teachers and parents. Each lesson with reproducible student materials, features an overview of the mathematics, preparation guidelines, teaching tips, and suggestions for how to use each activity to develop specific mathematics concepts. Statistics activities focus on posing qu
