Symmetry and Tessellations
This website provides 30 suggested activities in Symmetry and Tessellations using resources available across the World Wide Web. The author, Jill Britton, has complied this collection of links to coordinate with the chapters and activities from her publication, Investigating Patterns: Symmetry and Tessellations (Grades 5-8). The activities begin with What is Mathematics? and move on to cover topics such as Pythagoras? observations of music, patterns on Ukrainian Easter eggs, and tessellating art
Examine the phases of the moon from Earth and space
This animation is designed to help Earth science students correlate the moon's phases with its orbit around the Earth. The introduction explains that, while the sun always illuminates one half of the moon, the moon's appearance depends on how much of the sunlit moon is facing the Earth. The split-screen animation includes two views of the moon: one from Earth and the other of the moon's orbit around the Earth. Students may toggle between an oblique view of the earth-moon system and a view from a
Observe forest fires as seen from space
This Earth science resource shows students how atmospheric scientists use infrared imaging to detect and locate forest fires. The introduction explains how visible-light images recorded by satellites are unable to distinguish smoke from clouds. In contrast, infrared imaging, which detects heat, can detect hot spots that indicate the location of forest fires. The resource provides two different sets of satellite pictures. Students are instructed to toggle between the visible-light and infrared im
Manipula math with Java : the sum of outer angles of a polygon
This interactive applet allows users to see a visual demonstration of how the sum of exterior angles of a polygon sums to 360 degrees. Students can draw a polygon and have the applet show the exterior angles. Then users decrease the scale of the image, gradually shrinking the polygon down almost to a point, while the display of the exterior angles remains and shows how the angles merge together to cover the whole 360 degrees surrounding the minuscule polygon. Copyright 2005 Ohio State University
Scope on Safety : Essential First Aid for Science Teachers
From a practical standpoint, science teachers should be trained to respond to incidents involving burns, bleeding, chemical exposure, swallowed poisons, penetrating objects, lacerations, and shock. Basic training is required to properly handle these situations, and this training should be reviewed annually. A list of possible lab incidents and the appropriate first-aid response is provided.
Ecological Footprint: The Role of Technology
In this two-minute sound segment, the director of the Sustainability Program for the public policy group Redefining Progress discusses the concept of ecological overshoot. He reminds us that today we use more than what nature can regenerate, and that as long as we use more, we are depleting the natural capital and liquidating our most essential assets. This site is from an archive of a daily radio program called Pulse of the Planet, which provides its listeners with a portrait of Planet Earth, t
Image Tool
This activity allows the user to measure angles and explore the concept of scale as it pertains to maps, images, and drawings.
Solar System Trading Cards
The students will collect solar system trading cards by playing an interactive card game. They will identify the sun, planets, comets, and asteroids by answering questions about them. By playing the game, students will gain knowledge about the solar system and they will view pictures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and other NASA missions. Students will view an image accompanied by a question with three responses. By using the computer mouse, they will chose an answer. When the response is c
Quick take on science-themed days and weeks
This one-page document highlights websites that focus on science-themed days and weeks such as Earth Day, World Ocean Day, and Earth Science Week.
Expedition to the Poles
In this lesson students will pretend they have just returned from a year in the Arctic or Antarctic. They will look at Web sites about these regions and expeditions to them, and they will create posters illustrating their experiences. Students will conclude by writing paragraphs explaining what it would be like to visit the polar region that they did not focus on in this lesson. As they complete this activity students will research the characteristics of the polar regions and the things they wou
The SDA Kids Corner
The Soap and Detergent Association Kids Corner features some academic information regarding the history and chemistry of soaps and detergents, recycling plastic cleaning product bottles, environmentally smart ways of using and disposing of cleaning products, facts about environmental issues, and cleaning tips to help reduce the risk of foodborne illness. But what students will find most enjoyable is the section on bubbles. Bubble Recipes, Bubble Magic, The Pop-proof Bubble!, Bubblemania: Bubble
Water Tower
This website describes how water towers work. It includes colorful photographs of water towers and a diagram of how water travels through them.
Hot Colors- Windows into Hidden Worlds
This website contains an electronic field trip based on Yellowstone National Parks hot springs and the microorganisms living in them. The site includes a link for teachers providing an introduction, overview of concepts explored in the trip, lesson plans, and additional web links. The electronic field trip may be viewed in a low bandwidth version without downloading. For a high bandwith version of the field trip, Macromedia Flash Player is required and can be downloaded on site. Further informat
Earths Atmosphere : Composition and structure
This module explores the composition of the earths atmosphere, how temperature and pressure vary in the atmosphere, and the scientific developments that led to an understanding of these basic concepts. It includes tables and graphs of data related to these factors.
Mysterious Journey
This ThinkQuest site concentrates on three of the world's major biomes: rain forest, grassland and desert. The site is divided into three parts according to the three biomes. In each part, the climate, location, animals, plants and human activities of the biome are presented. There is a treasure hunt game for encouraging students to take the initiative to learn about the three biomes. There is a search engine and links for further information. In addition, a discussion forum with controversial t
A Natural Fusion: Math and Science Across the Curriculum : Northwest Teacher, volume 4 number 1
Articles in this issue of Northwest Teacher focus on integrating math and science across the curriculum. Teachers create learning experiences for students, of all grade levels, that transcend the power of any one of them taught in isolation. With todays national spotlight on improving students reading and math skills, the potential for cross-disciplinary teaching of these subjects may be readily apparent. But science, too often nudged to the hinterlands of the curriculum when state standards and
Sound Waves Underwater : True or False
This interactive quiz from the NOVA Web site features an array of interesting facts about the nature of sound underwater.
Plate Boundaries
This site provides information on plate boundaries, which are found at the edge of the lithospheric plates and are of three types: convergent, divergent and conservative. Wide zones of deformation are usually characteristic of plate boundaries because of the interaction between two plates. The three boundaries are characterized by their distinct motions which are described in the text and depicted with block diagram illustrations, all of which are animated. There are also two maps that show the
Dancing Penny
This physical science activity was designed to engage students in thinking about the scientific principles involved in a teacher demonstration. In the demonstration, a coin resting in the opening of a bottle moves up and down when energy is transferred from a teacher's warm hands to the air inside the bottle. This conduction of heat increases the air temperature and pressure inside the bottle. The activity includes instructions for teachers, a materials list, science process skills used in the a
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
