Mission: Science Web Site This Web site is a one-stop shop for NASA Science and the educational resources created by NASA and its partners. Most appropriate for middle and high school students and teachers, the site offers resources in five categories: NASA Science, Be a Scientist, Get Involved, Games and Activities, and Multimedia. Each category spans several science disciplines. For example, in NASA Science, physics-oriented visitors can tour the electromagnetic spectrum or watch a video on planetary dynamics, while Earth science-minded visitors can explore tropical twisters or follow NASA weather satellites in real time.
Power Up! Engineering Game Developed by IBM and TryScience/New York Hall of Science, this online action-strategy game for students in grades 9-12 introduces engineering principles and highlights diversity in the field. In the game, students must save the imaginary planet Helios from ecological devastation by acting as engineers and carrying out missions to supply solar, wind, and water power to the planet. The Web site includes an accompanying teacher's guide and energy lesson plans.
Exploratorium Science Snacks These simple hands-on activities are based on popular exhibits at San Francisco's Exploratorium. Each "miniature exhibit" contains a photograph, materials list, instructions, science explanations, and interesting historical bits. With more than 100 online exhibits (such as Bicycle Wheel Gyroscope, a homemade phonograph, and Laser Jello), the Snacks serve as inspiration for any K-12 student, teacher, or science enthusiast looking to personally discover science concepts in an active way.
Virulent: Action and Strategy Game in Systems Biology
Virulent, the first game for learning science developed and tested by the education research group at the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, is now available. It is available online and as a standalone program for Windows or Macintosh. It is also available for the iPad, and can be downloaded as a free App from iTunes (not available for the iPhone). All 15 planned levels are expected to be available by the end of the summer. Virulent is the first of several such science-based games in the design and production stage.
Thisvirtual gamefor students in grades 5-8 takes place in an unhealthy ecosystem in an estuary on the west coast of the United States. Players help Valerie and Oscar the sea otter complete challenges to bring the estuary back to health. Along the way, students learn about food webs, the factors for producing healthy estuaries, and the reasons estuaries are essential to ocean life and humans. The site presents information about marine science careers and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) role in protecting estuaries, and ideas for getting involved in estuary protection.
XRT - eXtraordinary Road Trip Game
XRT: eXtrordinary Road Trip Game is a fun and entertaining way for students to learn about how different types of transportation effect the environment, especially air quality. XRT is a thought-provoking, competitive, and exciting way for students to learn how to save the planet! To receive your free copy today, simply send an email request to: DNRAirEducation@wisconsin.gov. Please include your name, school/organization/company, full mailing address, phone number, email address, what subject(s) you teach, how you plan to use XRT, and any comments you may have.
The Great Green Web Game
Created by the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Great Green Web Game tests student knowledge of how consumer choices affect the environment. The Game raises awareness of how every-day choices affect the surrounding area and the planet. Students answer questions and try to "shop green" as the Envirometer gauges the impact of the student's decisions. After the Game, students can compare their Envirometer readings with the average American to better understand their impact on the environment and what could be done to better it. Game requires JAVA capabilities.
NOVA's Tsunami Exploration for Students
PBS NOVA has created two interactive tsunami simulators to help student understand how tsunamis work and the devastation they can cause. The first, Anatomy of a Tsunami, teaches students how tsunamis are created and carries them through the process of devastation. The second, Once and Future Tsunamis, students can explore key tsunamis dating from 3.5 billion years ago and investigate possible future events. NOVA aims to help student understand the power of these waves and what experts have learned and continue to learn from studying them.
Climate Kids
Climate Kids is a NASA affiliated website used as a fun education resource for children to easily understand climate change and other environmental issues. It includes games, short videos, information about common green careers and green technologies, and other environmental topics kids can learn about. There is also an Educator Resources section with interactive activities to help families and teachers explain these topics to children. For details, visit the Climate Kids website.
Science Buddies
Science Buddies is an award-winning, non-profit that provides free information on science fair project ideas, answers, and resources targeted for students and teachers. It provides over 1,000 different project ideas to choose from. The student resource section provides a place to ask the experts anything about science fair projects, tips for preparing for an advanced science competition, and much more. Parents also have resources to help encourage their children's scientific interests. For the latest updates and more information, visit the Science Buddieswebsite.
Plastiki Blog
The Plastiki is a 60 foot boat made out of 12,500 reclaimed plastic bottles and other recycled PET plastic and waste products. The craft was built using cradle to cradle design philosophies and features many renewable energy systems, including solar panels, wind and trailing propeller turbines, and bicycle generators. Six people will be sailing this boat to Sydney, Australia, to raise awareness about how plastic is destroying our planet and people can avoid using it through sustainable practices. The Plastiki plans to visit several sites during the expedition that are of ecological importance. For more information about Plastiki's trip and the ecological sites it is exploring, visit the Plastiki Blog.
The Fisher Science Education's YouTube Channel
Fisher Science Education is committed to providing science education for all ages and making science matter. Now it is even easier to teach science with their official YouTube channel. They make available the most innovative tools, tips, and technologies to help make teaching as easy as possible. Video topics include green chemistry, biotechnology, forensics, electrophoresis, solutions, and much more. To subscribe and get the latest updates on new video's that are posted, visit The Fisher Science Education's YouTube Channel.
Zoey's Room: Fun Science Resource for Girls
Middle school girls can now take part in Zoey's Room, an award-winning online science resource and community sponsored by the non-profit organization, Platform Shoes Forum. This website is a community that encourages creativity through science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Through Zoey's Room, girls can explore tech gadgets and girl-friendly links, participate in safe and friendly chat rooms, and earn points redeemable for prizes with Tec-Treks, girl-friendly challenges in STEM. Some of the Tec-Treks include learning Internet research, databases, word-processing, nanotechnology and biotechnology, business math, credit-card debt, digital and video proficiency, robotics, engineering and Web site design. Visit the Zoey's Roomwebsite for more information.
Let's Fly Away Airplane Dodecahedron
From NASA! In the interactive version, students click and drag the dodecahedron to see NASA aircraft. They also can read about the aircraft and print full color pictures or a coloring page. In the Build Your Ownactivity, students print, color and construct their own dodecahedron featuring 12 different NASA aircraft. Grades K-8.
Thumbs are Handy Digits
Hold your hand out in front of you and look at it carefully. The human hand is made up of four fingers and one thumb. Have you ever thought about how much you use your thumb? This month's Home Connections activity will help you understand the importance of your thumb for doing simple, everyday activities.
Learn About the Water Cycle
Learn how to make your own mini-terrarium. It often seems to rain endlessly in spring. Although rainy days are a nuisance, they are actually vitally important to all living things. Rain showers are part of the continuous movement of water between Earth's surface and the atmosphere that is called the water cycle. The following will introduce you to the importance of water and the basics of the water cycle.
Build a Better Paper Airplane!
Airplanes, like kites and other flying objects, are of great interest to elementary children. Like the Wright brothers and countless other aviation pioneers, children seem to enjoy the process of designing, making, and modifying airplanes. The following activities introduce a few basic laws of physics and bring out the "inventor" in everyone as families experiment and test their own airplane models.
Counting Populations and SamplingYou have probably participated in or seen a contest where you had to guess the number of jelly beans in a jar to win. Because you couldn't count all the jelly beans, you might have tried counting a small number and working out a reasonable guess or estimate from that number. You unknowingly used a technique common to mathematicians and scientists called sampling. Scientists use sampling to get an estimate of things they cannot easily count.
Summer Activity for Kids
Play the Wild Weather Adventure Game! This online game has the look and feel of a real board game. It actually started life as a printed board game, created by The Space Place Team. Then they reincarnated it online, staying faithful to the original, but adding a few bells and whistles. The game board is a map of the world. In your own weather research blimp, you travel the world, have adventures, make rescues, solve problems, and strive to beat your opponents to the Finish. This game can be played by up to four players. If you are playing alone, your opponent is the computer, and you can even choose how smart your opponent will be! Some turns present the player with a question about weather, other Earth science topics, or geography. For geography questions, players can consult a reference map and find the answer. It's a fun learning tool for all ages.
Early Childhood Science from Grades PreK-2
Early childhood science teachers, in grades PreK-2, need their own place to find resources and get support. This online site allows PreK-2 teachers to interact with colleagues and share the joys and challenges of your classroom.
The Great Green Web Game
The Great Green Web Game tests the game players' knowledge of how consumers affect the environment. As you answer the questions and ‘shop green' the Envirometer gauges the cumulative impact of the player's choices. The centerpoint of the Envirometer represents the impact of an average American household, and at the end of the game you compare your impacts on the environment to this average.
"To infinity, and beyond"
As part of the STS-124 space shuttle mission, Disney and Pixar's Buzz Lightyear will accompany the crew as they bring vital new equipment to the International Space Station. To track Buzz's progress with the mission and read his mission logs, NASA's Kids Club Web site will post daily updates and host a virtual meteor storm of online games. With Each step Buzz takes, kids will be able to match his progress in their games and read about real life space history as it happens.
Hubble Web Site for Educators
This web resource from NASA provides activities and resources to educators centered on the Hubble Space Telescope. The site offers activities and resources focused on three themes: Hubble Careers, From Galileo to the Great Observatories, and the Hubble Walk: Spacesuits and Spacewalks. The website will continually be updated as it follows the Hubble journey into 2010, Hubble's 20th anniversary year. This site celebrates Hubble as a unique tool of exploration and has been launched in conjunction with the fall 2008 launch of the space shuttle Atlantis as it goes to service the Hubble space telescope.
Science Explorations and Adventures
A website designed by Paul Doherty, a science teacher, writer and winner of the NSTA's Faraday Award for science communication, which offers hundreds of scientific explorations for all grade levels, indexed alphabetically and by topic.
New NASA Global Climate Change Site
This new Web site from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is devoted to educating the public about Earth's changing climate, providing easy-to-understand information about climate change and how NASA studies it. Some features include a continuous snapshot of the condition of Earth's ice sheets, global average temperatures, sea level change, and concentrations of greenhouse gases.
Simple Steps to Protect the Planet
From the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Simple Steps Web site is designed to help people who are looking for easy, environmentally friendly actions they can take every day to protect their health, their home, and the planet. Site visitors are invited to share their experiences and additional tips through a blog that also provides an archive of topics and comments.
A Reason for the Season
National Geographic has classroom activities about reasons for seasons with links for illustrating Earth's seasonal positions around the Sun. This activity provides students with an opportunity to learn about the changing of the seasons.
ECOBASURA - EcoGarbage Board Game
ECOBASURA is a board game to help teach recycling, raw material recovery, profitable reduction of wastes, and the environmental renovation. Created in Colombia and endorsed by its Educational Ministry, it is an adaptable game to all languages and cultures. The Web site is available in English or Spanish.
ARKive Wildlife Image Site
This site promotes the conservation of the natural world through the power of wildlife imagery. Site features photographs of endangered and protected species worldwide. Includes information on habitat, status, descriptions, threats, and biology.
CEE Kids R Green
Centre for Environmental Education (CEE) site geared toward young students to explore various environmental issues and topics, educational activities and games about many aspects of the environment.
"Energy Hog" Energy Efficiency Campaign
The U.S Department of Energy (DOE) launched a national public service advertising campaign directed towards children and their parents regarding energy efficient behavior. Featuring a new energy arch-villain known as the "energy-wasting Energy Hog," the campaign focuses around learning and teaching others about proper energy use. As the core of the campaign, the new Energy Hog website attracts children of all ages, but also has resources for parents and teachers. The site's main attraction is the Energy Hog Training Camp and its five intensive games where children can train to become Energy Hog Busters, while learning fun and easy ways to use energy more wisely.
Interactive Spring Tour
Located in the Florida Panhandle near Tallahassee, Wakulla Spring is a colossal spring system. On average, more than 250 million gallons of water flow from Wakulla Spring every day forming an nine-mile river that reaches the Gulf of Mexico. Take a tour of Wakulla Spring in this special, in-depth Interactive Spring Feature. Learn about the history, people and geology that define this amazing spring system located within the Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park.
Introduction to Environmental Justice
New course offered online from Harvard University. Teachers, college professors, city officials, civic leaders, social workers, community organizers, and citizens involved in civil rights and environmental activism will find much of direct relevance to their work in this course, and they will be provided with the tools for lifelong research in this realm.
Jean-Michel Cousteau's Ocean Adventures
The son of famed ocean explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Jean-Michel is exploring a variety of locations around the world.
Marine Fisheries Series Activities Guide
This is an online activity guide geared for middle to high school students. It is a guide created by the Marine Fisheries Series project to help students dive deeper into the topics covered in the documentary series. The guide includes six engaging, peer-reviewed activities, correlated to national science and social studies education standards. These activities work well in classrooms as well as non-traditional educational settings such as nature or science centers, aquariums and zoos.
National Wildlife Federation - Educator E-Newsletter
This monthly e-newsletter is designed to provide educators with hands-on activities, new ideas, resources, and strategies for getting kids outside to learn about the wonders of the natural world. Each newsletter also includes a link to download the latest Ranger Rick® Educator Guide.
New Watershed Course Online
This is the first in a series of free online courses relating weather to the environment. "Watersheds: Connecting Weather to the Environment" is a primer on how weather events relate to the health of a watershed, and how the public can take simple actions to protect watershed health. The website was produced by the Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology Education &Training (COMET) and National Environmental Education &Training Foundation (NEETF).
Ollie Saves the Planet
An Interactive environmental computer game for ages 5 and up. Learn all about the 3 R's- Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle!
PBS The Shape of Life
Public Broadcasting System (PBS) hosts the Shape of Life website, a project of Sea Studios Foundation, features activities, explorations, and experiments for K-12 formal and informal educators, students, and families. Includes accompanying downloadable activity guide.
Recycling Activity& Coloring Book Recycle Media has created a new recycling activity/coloring book with in-school recycling materials to help schools turn green! This unique recycling activity & coloring book has been properly designed to educate young students on the basics of recycling, reducing, reusing, buying recycled materials, and litter prevention.
Sea Stories Online Journal
Sea Stories is an international online journal of marine writing and art. In the winter issue, join children exploring the beach, gaze in the eye of a wild dolphin, listen in on the daily lives of birds, and even meet a mermaid or three! Educators are encouraged to use Sea Stories in the classroom or submit their own or students' work
Simon Says "Stop Global Warming"
New Hippoworks.com program designed to teach kids about global warming with activities, lesson plans and printable materials for teachers, and a carbon calculator to help students figure their global footprint.
Virtual Museum
University of Michigan Museum of Zoology online virtual museum with a searchable encyclopedia of animal natural history, distribution, classification, and conservation biology designed to facilitate inquiry-driven education.
Xpeditions
This website, by National Geographic, provides links to maps, activities, and related lesson plans all teacher-tested and sorted by grade level.
An Educator's Toolkit
The web version of the mercury toolkit contents can be viewed or downloaded on the Region 7 homepage: go to R7 homepage - click on mercury under quick finder - down a couple of paragraphs and click on link to listing of toolkit contents, or click this link to go straight to it: http://www.epa.gov/region7/mercury/educator_toolkit.htm
Adventures with Jonny - Resources for Students and Educators
Adventure with Jonny is a very unique outdoor children's series that combines three books into one. This colorfully illustrated book opens up with rhyming children's story to pique the child's interest in the sport of fishing. There is also a parental tutorial section to aid parents in the proper introduction of their children to the sport. The book concludes with a fish identification game and a writing journal so that kids may record their early fishing adventures. Adventures with Jonny have teamed up with Project F.I.S.H. in a combined effort to reach more children and introduce them to the great sport of fishing. http://eelink.net/cgi-bin/ee-link/newclick/7314679
LandScope America
This online resource for the land-protection community and the public is a collaborative project of Nature Serve and the National Geographic Society. It is an interactive conservation Web site linking maps, data, and stories about natural places of America's lands and waters. LandScope America is planned for full release in Fall 2008, Tour the site, sign-up for the newsletter, and learn more about conservation efforts and issues in the U.S. http://eelink.net/cgi-bin/ee-link/newclick/7314681
4-H Children's Garden Virtual Tour:
Take your students on a virtual tour of Michigan State University's 4-H Children's Garden with 56 individual themes. Visit the Imagination Garden, Butterfly Garden, Treehouse area, and the Alice in Wonderland maze!
New Video on Envirovet:
This new video clip features mountain gorillas inBwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda, one of the few national parks where mountain gorillas are found (world population of only 750). Envirovet is an organization that brings veterinary medicine to wildlife health issues. The web site offers webumentary video clips featuring interviews with Envirovet alumni offering expertise on a variety of wildlife issues.
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