Concepts and Applications of Inferential Statistics
A professor of psychology at Vassar College is the author of this impressive online statistics textbook. Seventeen chapters and numerous appendixes range in topic from beginning concepts to what would likely be covered in a second or intermediate course in statistics. Easy to navigate, the online interface provides quick access to all sections of the book, and some of the book's material is interactive, such as calculators and sampling distribution functions. A companion site to the text, offere
Molecular Monte Carlo Home Page
The Department of Chemical Engineering and Department of Chemistry of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art maintain the Molecular Monte Carlo Home Page. For those unaware, Monte Carlo refers to the use of "random walks" (stochastic methods) to simulate and analyze molecular systems. The main page contains descriptions of the various types of Molecular Monte Carlo such as classical, quantum, and volumetric; links to Monte Carlo tutorials including simulation basics and stochast
National Geographic: Forces of Nature
This National Geographic offers entertaining Macromedia Flash Player enhanced tutorials about natural disasters. Students can make their own earthquake, discover why a volcano erupts, build a tropical cyclone, find out the characteristics of a tornado, and more. The website offers facts on historically large events as well as key information about earthquakes, volcanoes, tornados, and hurricanes. The simple glossary helps users understand the scientific terms presented throughout the modules. Ed
Come Grow With Us
This is an online collaborative project from the Lakeland Central School District that allows students to observe the process of a seed becoming a plant, collect data, and communicate results with other participating classrooms. Teachers can register their students to participate in the activity this fall, or simply use the lesson plans independently. The site is well organized, provides information in a simple format, and outlines the educational standards addressed by the project.
Unidata K-12 Weather Sites
Unidata is a community, consisting mostly of educators and researchers, which provides "data, tools, and community leadership for enhanced Earth-system education and research." In this section of the website, Unidata members suggest some of their favorite K-12 websites that educators can use to teach about weather. Along with each website link is a short description of the resource. Some websites are described as offering multimedia instructional resources and weather data, while others offer in
South Carolina Seismic Network
The University of South Carolina offers data from the seismic network that stretches from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Atlantic coast. Users can view maps of earthquake activity in South Carolina since 1996. The website offers a synopsis of the Charleston Earthquake in 1886, which was the largest historic earthquake in the Southeastern United States. Visitors can find a catalogue of the earthquakes occurring between 1698 and 1998 and a map of the East Coast seismicity from 1973 to 2000 as wel
University of Wisconsin-Madison Chemistry Department: The Gellman Group
The Gellman Group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison presents its research "focused on understanding the interactions involved in the folding of natural and unnatural amide polymers." After learning the basics of the Group's unnatural amino acids and beta-peptide foldamers work, users can discover its biological applications. The website offers helpful figures to explain the protein-protein interactions and Beta Hairpins and Sheets. Researchers can find downloads to Gellman's numerous public
Technology and Religion
This issue of Topic in Depth explores the relationship between technology and religion in today's world. This first website, from PBS, features interviews with "a skeptic, a devout Muslim scientist, and an expert in the sociology of religion" who address the question, Can Religion Withstand Technology? (1). This blog from the Institute for the Future discusses how religion is making use of technology (2). One way that religion and technology interact, of course, is through the use of the Interne
Bionic Eyes
Both Web sites come from Science@NASA, an online source for news and information about NASA-funded research. The first article describes the work of researchers at the Center for Commercial Applications of Combustion in Space, who are developing artificial bones for long-lasting, pain-free hip and knee replacements. These ceramic bones are touted as "so much like the real thing that they could actually meld with living bone." Earlier this year, researchers at the Space Vacuum Epitaxy Center in H
Garden Questions: Horticulture and Crop Science in Virtual Perspective
Garden Questions is a joint project of the Ohio State University Department of Horticulture and Crop Science and the OSU Extension's Franklin County Office. The Web site offers an archive of gardening questions and answers that's easy to use and quite comprehensive. Users may search the archive by topic, season, and keyword, or send new gardening questions by email. Many of the questions posted include helpful photographs, especially for questions about specific plants. Gardeners should find thi
The Global Sun Temperature Project
This website created by Stevens Institute of Technology and the Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education (CIESE) allows students from around the world to work together to determine how average daily temperatures and hours of sunlight change with distance from the equator. Upper elementary, middle, and high school students can participate in the Global Sun Temperature Project from March 18 to June 3, 2005. Educators can find project information, lesson plans, and implementation
National Park Service Cartographic Resources Visitor Use Maps
The National Park Service Cartographic Resources Visitor Use Maps Web site contains a wealth of free maps to view and download. The dozens of National Parks represented on the site include all of the most popular ones (Yellowstone, Smokey Mountain, Rocky Mountain) as well as many of the little known parks such as Wupatki National Monument, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, and Glen Echo Park. The highlight of the site is the number of choices users have to view or download the maps. For examp
The Physics Van Outreach Program
The Physics Van Outreach Program is a part of the University of Illinois Physics Department, whose Web site contains some good learning tools for kids. The question database is an accumulation of over 1000 physics related questions from kids and their corresponding answers. Visitors can browse the questions by date of entry or by subject, and can even search by keyword. The major subjects covered include air; electricity and magnets; light and sound; forces; solids, liquids, and gases; and space
Institute for Mathematics and Applications: Mathematics of Materials and Macromolecules: Multiple Sc
The Institute for Mathematics and Applications (IMA) developed this website to promote its conferences and workshops dealing with the applications of mathematics in the study of materials and molecules. Visitors can find information on a particular event's schedule, participants, and accommodations as well as abstracts. The events dealing with the physical sciences include workshops dealing with atomic motion, macroscopic models, and biophysics as well as a program about environmental and geophy
GEOSCAN Database
Provided by Natural Resources Canada and part of the Earth Sciences Information Centre, GEOSCAN Database boasts a bibliographic database that contains "over 40,000 records covering all the publications of the Geological Survey of Canada." Users can search by basic keyword, title, author, subject, location, year, etc. Results can be displayed by various formats and can be selected for later review, and many include links to the publication's full text, which can be accessed free of charge. The ea
Alabama A&M University-Howard J. Foster Center for Irradiation of Materials
The Howard J. Foster Center for Irradiation of Materials at Alabama A&M University "was established in response to the growing need for surface modification and characterization capability in North Alabama." Researchers can find images and concise explanations of the numerous material characterization and materials processing activities at the Center. The website allows users to search the Center's publication by keyword. Visitors can find out the latest meetings, conferences, and other events.
International Association of Sedimentologists
"The International Association of Sedimentologists (IAS) was founded in 1952 with the goal to promote the study of sedimentology and the interchange of research, particularly where international cooperation is desirable." The website provides visitors with the association's monthly newsletter, which discusses conferences, recent studies, workshops, and more. Students and educators can learn about and view the beautiful sedimentological exposures in Arizona and Utah. PhD students can find informa
Science Portal
The Australian governmental Web site, Science Portal delivers science information and services to industry, investors, and the research community. The site allows visitors to find relevant links in their field from all of Australia's research and research-related organization Web sites. The portal can be searched or browsed by various research topics including directories and databases, policy, research grants, and more.
EarthÂ’s Timeline
Provided by MSNBC News Web site, the EarthÂ’s Timeline interactive activity chronicles the history of the earth. The main page describes how radiometric dating and fossils have been used to develop the contemporary geologic timescale. Users can click on one of four major geologic time divisions, including the Precambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic, to get specific information on the individual subdivisions of geologic time and to see how the continents have shifted. These sections then t
Captology: Computers as Persuasive Technologies
"The Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab creates insight into how computing products -- from websites to mobile phone software -- can be designed to change what people believe and what they do." This unusual field of study is called captology, and the subject is explored in detail on the lab's homepage. The Key Concepts section provides a brief overview of captology and links to another page with nine topic papers published by researchers at the lab. In a series of examples demonstrating how comp
