Globalism: Report from the Front Lines of Oil and Global Warming
Ben Namakin, an environmental educator from Micronesia, runs The Green Road, a mobile environmental awareness program focusing on upland watershed, mangroves, coral reefs, and waste and pollution. Using photography and film footage to talk about his experiences, Namakin will address global warming, environmental racism, and the influence of oil companies on political decision-making. He will particularly focus on how these consequences affect the cultures and lifestyles of Pacific Islanders. In
Global Competition: How We Can Win
6th Annual Berkeley in Silicon Valley Symposium
In his recent best selling book, The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Thomas Friedman writes that the lowering of trade and political barriers and profound technological advances in global connectivity have enabled a "flat world" where it is possible to do business or almost anything else instantaneously and with billions of people. According to Dean Richard Newton, it is perhaps ironic that
Dan Rather: Is the Media Failing in America?
A San Francisco Chronicle Herb Caen Lecture featuring Dan Rather, who was anchor and managing editor for the CBS Evening News for 24 years, and now serves as a correspondent for 60 Minutes and hosts and produces long form programming examining major global topics and events for the Discovery Channel, will be in conversation with Orville Schelll, Dean of the Graduate School of Journalism.
Often referred to as "the hardest working man in broadcast journalism," Rather lives up to the description.
Changing the Culture of the Academy: Toward a More Inclusive Practice
Mission Statement
Changing the Culture of the Academy explores ways that the academy might incorporate the challenge of diversity as it pertains to its core mission and practice. Participants will consider new paradigms for rethinking the academy that are inclusive of various cultural and disciplinary traditions, learning styles and identities. This will include opening a dialogue about these issues across all disciplines, from the social sciences and humanities to the physical and life sciences
Using a Colorimetric Test to Measure pH
This laboratory exercise, appropriate for grades 5-12, engages students to use a Colorimetric test to measure pH and gain an understanding of pH and its importance to life in an aquatic ecosystem. In addition to the lab lesson plan, the site includes New Jersey Science Standards, objectives, background, vocabulary, extension ideas, and references.
NCBI More Information: Similarity
This page summarizes the basic concept and vocabulary of sequence similarity searching. It is included for those new to the field who may not appreciate the importance of this technique in biology, who lack the vocabulary to understand the BLAST guide and tutorial or who require a basic rather than a sophisticated understanding of the methods involved. Sections include introduction, premise, terms, general approach, the BLAST algorithm, quantification, gaps, significance, and databases. Users ca
Microbiology Unit
This College level Unit in Microbiology explores microbes on five levels, their architecture, ecology, physiology, lifecycles and pathology. Students will be given an interactive tour of the world of microbes and learn more about their impact on Humans, animals, plants and on the environment in general. They will become aware of pathogenic (harmful) and non-pathogenic (helpful) microbes and develop an understanding of how microbiologists devise methods to study microbes in order to understand th
Optional Barometric Pressure Protocol
The purpose of this activity is to measure air pressure. Students record atmospheric pressure using a barometer or altimeter. Intended outcomes are that students gain an understanding that barometric or altimeter pressure varies and its increase or decrease indicates an upcoming change in the weather. Students also learn that the air has weight. Supporting background materials for both student and teacher are included.
Studying the Instrument Shelter
The purpose of this activity is to discover why an instrument shelter is built the way it is. Students construct shelters that have varying properties and place them in the same location or place similar shelters in different locations and compare temperature data taken in each shelter. Students should predict what will happen for each of the different shelter designs or placements and perform the steps of student research. Intended outcomes are that students gain an understanding of GLOBE speci
Just Passing Through
The purpose of this resource is to develop an understanding of some of the relationships between soils of different types and water. Students will time the flow of water through soils with different properties and measure the amount of water held in these soils. They will also experiment with the filtering ability of soils by testing the pH of the water before and after it passes through the soil and observing changes to the clarity of the water and to the characteristics of the soil.
Just Passing Through (Beginner version)
The purpose of this resource is to develop an understanding of how water flows through different soils and how it is transformed when it flows through these soils. Students time the flow of water through different soils and observe the amount of water held and also the filtering ability of the soils. They will also observe the filtering ability of soils by noting the clarity of the water before and after it passes through the soil.
Components of the Earth System Working Together
The purpose of this resource is to develop familiarity with interactions among the major components of the Earth system at the global scale. Students brainstorm about the nature of connections between their region and others, across oceans and on different continents. On a black-line map of the world, they trace possible pathways of water and wind currents from their part of the continent to other continents, and identify what the wind and water carry. Then they write about the possible effects
Comparing the Study Site to One in Another Region
The purpose of this resource is to deepen students understanding of the Earth as a system, and their appreciation for the value of diagrams as tools. Students visit a study site, where they observe and recall their existing knowledge of air, water, soil, and living things to make a list of interconnections among the four Earth system components. They make predictions about the effects of a change in a system, inferring ways these changes affect the characteristics of other related components.
A Sneak-Preview of Budburst
The purpose of this resource is to develop an understanding of the relationship between budburst and the environment and to help students recognize actual budburst when they are doing the Green-Up protocol. Students will do simple explorations to observe the relationship between budburst and temperature. This is a winter or dry season activity to be done prior to green-up observations.
A First Look At Phenology
The purpose of this resource is to increase students' awareness of the qualitative changes in plants during green-up and green-down from which they will be collecting quantitative leaf change data, and to develop an understanding of the patterns and differences among plants at the same location. Students will observe, compare, and classify plants during green-up or green-down and then make inferences based on the patterns they observe.
A Beginning Look at Photosynthesis: Plants Need Light
The purpose of this resource is to develop an understanding of plants' response to light. Students will do simple investigations to observe plant responses to light.
Science for All Americans
This website is the homepage for Science for All Americans, a publication that advocates science literacy by recommending essential knowledge and ways of thinking for all citizens in a world shaped by science and technology. The book briefly discusses the recommendations and takes up the question of why such recommendations are needed. It presents a vision that emphasizes meanings, connections, and contexts rather than bits and pieces of information and favors quality of understanding over quant
Oceanography Activities
This set of online oceanography activities helps students learn about ocean waves and El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The wave module addresses wave anatomy, global and local waves and their relationship to wind, and the properties of tsunamis. Activities in the ENSO module include simple calculations, discovery learning, satellite imagery, simulations, animations and drawings to present relationships between atmospheric and oceanic processes. Multiple choice self-tests are included. Provid
GEOLogic: Volcanologists
GEOLogic questions are puzzles that were developed to support students understanding of geoscience concepts while challenging them to develop better logic and problem solving skills. In this exercise, students are asked to resolve how many days each of five volcanologists spent at a given volcano and what day they started for the volcano. There is also a second part where students are asked to do some additional research about volcanoes on the web. This activity is appropriate for a high school
GEOLogic: The Three Stooges and Their Pet Dinosaurs
GEOLogic questions are puzzles that were developed to support students understanding of geoscience concepts while challenging them to develop better logic and problem solving skills. In this exercise, students are asked to match up each of the Stooges with their favorite group and species of dinosaur based on clues given about which order and group each Stooge prefers. This activity is appropriate for a high school science class or an introductory level undergraduate geoscience course, and can b
