Popcorn : if you like popcorn, which one would you buy?
This third challenge in the Figure This! list of 80 math challenges directs the student to use popcorn to compare the volumes of tall and short cylinders formed with 8- by 11-inch sheets of paper. The challenge points out that it is important to be able to make visual estimates and find volumes. The web page includes links to a solution hint, the solution, other related math questions, and print resources that contain mathematics activities about packaging and wrapping shapes. The Did You Know a
CAT (Computerized Axial Tomography) scans
This web page about CAT (computerized axial tomography) scans gives a brief overview of this imaging technique. CAT (or CT) scanning captures a lot of 2-dimensional X-rays that a computer then joins together to generate 3-dimensional images of internal structures. As part of a set of materials about brain scanning technologies, this page mentions what researchers can learn about the brain from CAT scans. Copyright 2005 Eisenhower National Clearinghouse
Observe an animation of a comet's passage through the solar system
With these animations, Earth science students can follow the 76-year orbit of Halley's Comet. The introduction describes the highly elliptical orbit of comets and states that comet Halley will return to the solar system in the year 2061. Students are instructed to choose between a wide-angle view of the comet's entire orbit and a view of the comet's path through the inner solar system. The wide-angle view shows how the comet's velocity increases as it approaches the sun and decreases as it trave
Idea Bank : A Big Bang Lab
The authors of "How Far are the Stars," featured in the February issue of The Science Teacher, showed how the measurement of parallax permits scientists to infer astronomic distances. Give your students the chance to make similar inferences through a free module available online that allows students to scale sizes and distances, and then create models from which they calculate inferences that, in simplified form, give results that astronomers obtained similarly in recent times.
Glue Polymer
What is a polymer, and what are some of its properties? This material is part of a series of hands-on science activities designed to arouse student interest. In this discovery activity students use white glue, water, and borax to make a vinyl polymer and study its properties. The activity includes a description, a list of science process skills and complex reasoning strategies being used, and a compilation of applicable K-12 national science education standards. Also provided are content topics,
James Chadwick
This easy to read page includes a biography of Chadwick who discovered the neutron, a photo of Chadwick and links to related people such as Rutherford.
Dragonfly Museum
The digital dragonfly on-line museum offers a large collection of dragonfly images. It includes a discussion of dragonflies and photographs of a wide variety of dragonflies arranged by family and of the emergence sequence.
Wetlands : quick take
Here are some websites to supplement your content knowledge and lesson repertoire for educating students about wetland and estuary value and conservation practices.
Describing Data Using Statistics
Investigate the mean, median, mode, and range of a data set through its graph. Manipulate the data and watch how the mean, median, mode, and range change (or, in some cases, how they don't change).
Box and Whisker Plots
Construct a box-and-whisker plot to match a line plots, and construct a line plot to match a box-and-whisker plots. Manipulate the line plot and examine how the box-and-whisker plot changes. Then manipulate the box-and-whisker plot and examine how the line plot changes.
Scope on Safety : Fire safety fundamentals
Planning and prevention is the best defense against fires in school. This is particularly true in the science laboratory due to the presence of flammable gases, liquids, combustibles, and other potential sources of fire. This article outlines prudent lab practices for dealing with combustible and flammable materials as well as directions for how to handle fires when they do start.
Dr. Saul's Biology in Motion
This site offers an interactive simulation activity, which examines how natural selection works to bring about the evolution of adaptations. Using the simulation tool, the student can slow down the process to watch all the steps involved or can speed it up to watch how a population evolves over time. Links are provided to a variety of useful sites.
Observe common objects made of minerals
This interactive Earth science resource lets students first see six images of minerals and then, by placing their cursor over each image, an image of an everyday object made from that mineral. Quartz, gypsum, and fluorite are among the minerals shown, with the corresponding familiar objects being glass, drywall (Sheetrock), and toothpaste. Copyright 2005 Eisenhower National Clearinghouse
Bat talk
This video clip, viewable in RealPlayer, introduces students to the research that Maryland biologists are conducting to assess the status of bat populations in their state. Technologies are discussed that help scientists study the often elusive bats. The clip shows that when researchers descend into a cave to survey the number of hibernating bats there, they discover fewer bats are present than in previous years. The clip also notes that efforts to conserve bat populations are needed. Bats contr
Ready, Set, Escape
During this project, students will be asked to design a device that will measure out a time period of exactly 3 minutes. They will be asked to brainstorm ideas using the different materials provided. Students will observe and explain the effects of conservation of energy.
Blue Planet Challenge - A natural history of the oceans
This very interactive site uses a variety of games to explore ocean related subjects. The games cover such topics as tidal zones, deep ocean species, ocean currents, general animal life of the ocean, symbiotic relationships, water pressure, human impact on ecosystems, and the habitats found at the South Pole and along the California coastline. There are help tabs added to the games called Species Fact Files and Infobursts where a player can find out more information on a particular topic if need
JGI Nitrosomonas europaea ATcC 19718
As part of the DOE initiative to explore the role of microorganisms in global carbon sequestration, the Joint Genome Institute is sequencing the autotrophic nitrifying bacterium Nitrosomonas europaea. This organism plays a central role in the availability of nitrogen to plants and hence in limiting C02 fixation. These bacteria are important players in the treatment of industrial and sewage waste in the first step of oxidizing ammonia to nitrate.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration : Climate Homepage
This National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website provides climate information and data. This site offers a variety of product links to climate monitoring, climate at a glance data, U.S. drought assessment, global climate change information, weather observation stations and more. Users can also link to organizations which participate in climate research such as the National Climate Data Center, Ocean Climate Laboratory and the National Weather service. This site is an excellent resour
Science Education Gateway (SEGway)
This is an opening page and index for Science Education Gateway (SEGway), which helps teachers create science lessons for grades K-12. There are links to categories such as Space Science, Sun Earth, Solar System, Lesson List, and NASA. The site also provides links to science movies, games, and quizzes; tools and guidelines for lesson development; hands-on learning projects; and suggested inquiries and investigations. The web site is presented by the Center for Science Education (CSE) at Space Sc
Explore more news WebQuest, short term
This teacher resource, part of a series on the future of energy, contains a webquest activity where students work as newspaper reporters and write articles. Webquests are inquiry-oriented activities that use the Internet. To complete this activity students examine the Explore More! energy site and write a newspaper article from the viewpoint of a human interest story, an issue report, or general news article. The activity sheets provide an introduction, detail the task, suggest steps to follow,
