NOAA Ocean Explorer: Windows to the Deep [pdf]
http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/03windows/welcome.html
This summer, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration sent the submersible Alvin down to explore the biology, physics, and chemistry of seafloor methane seeps off the coast of the southeastern U.S. Now educators can bring the Windows to the Deep expedition to the classroom with a set of lesson plans available at this Web site. Designed for grades 5-12, these "hands-on, inquiry-based activities include focus questions, background information for teachers, links to interesting Internet sites, and extensions." Life science topics are well-represented, with lessons focused on methane hydrate ice worms and hydrate shrimp, biodiversity in cold seep communities, chemosynthesis compared with photosynthesis, and more. [RS]
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CancerNursing.org
http://www.cancernursing.org/
CancerNursing.org offers "free, professional online cancer care courses that aim to enhance the knowledge and skills of health professionals and anyone concerned with the care of cancer patients." The first (and so far, only) course available on CancerNursing.org covers esophageal cancer, including diagnosis, surgery, chemotherapy, and more. Users complete the course online at their own pace, using a range of tests to check their understanding of the material. Users may also email health experts about course content, or follow Web links for more information. The site also provides the latest cancer-related news. [RS]
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The Internet for Nature
http://www.vts.rdn.ac.uk/tutorial/nature
This Web site contains a free tutorial on how to effectively mine the Internet for natural sciences info. This interactive tutorial is one of many created by the University of Bristol's Resource Discover Network (RDN). The tutorial starts with a tour of the types of Internet resources available for researching the natural world, followed by a lesson on tools used to locate these resources (like search engines and Web portals). The tutorial also includes a helpful section on how to critically evaluate Web content. Users can follow a link to access a number of other science-related tutorials --part of the RDN Virtual Training Suite. [RS]
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ImageBank [Macromedia Flash Player]
http://bio.ltsn.ac.uk/imagebank/
ImageBank comes from the Learning and Teaching Support Network (LTSN), "a national network set up to promote and support high quality learning and teaching in all subject disciplines in UK higher education." ImageBank contains life sciences images available free of charge for educational purposes. Users may browse or search the collection, and download selected images complete with informative text. Teachers and students alike should find ImageBank quite useful in preparing lectures and presentations. Users are encouraged to submit their own images to the collection. [RS]
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Smithsonian Education: Under the Spell of...Spiders
http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/lesson_plans/under_spell_spiders/index.html
In this Web site, Smithsonian Institution presents a set of lesson plans focused on spiders, which are "an endlessly fascinating and a great school subject because they offer plenty of teachable topics that span the curriculum." The lesson plans, designed for grades 3-8, focus on allaying fears and misconceptions about spiders while having students explore spider biology and natural history. The Web site includes worksheets and answer keys for each of the three lesson plans, and also provides a useful set of external links in the Resources section. [RS]
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Online Stuff for Kids [Macromedia Flash Player]
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/interactive/kids/index.html
London's Natural History Museum offers this colorful Web portal to the Musuem's online, interactive features designed for kids (but fun for anyone). The Web site currently features five activities, including Sounds Like Nature, which "lets you mix animal and environmental sounds from across the world to make a piece of rhythmic music." Users can visit Quest to try to identify museum specimens through online observation and measurement. AntCast offers a virtual window into the Museum's colony of leafcutter ants, and Dino Directory is a very cool guide to 120 of the best known dinosaur species. Walking with Woodlice centers on a past survey of woodlice in the UK. There's a lot of interesting information to be had from this site; all features are very well-designed with excellent graphics and animation. [RS]
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AskERIC: Everybody Needs a Clean Environment [pdf]
http://askeric.org/cgi-bin/printlessons.cgi/Virtual/Lessons/Science/Environmental_Education/ENV0212.html
This AskERIC lesson plan submitted by retired teacher Jeanne Guthrie blends science with language arts to make an interdisciplinary lesson on the environment for grades 4-8. The lesson plan has students explore ways to "reduce, reuse, and recycle" by creating a book titled "Everybody Needs a Clean Environment," modeled after Everybody Needs a Rock by Byrd Baylor. The lesson plan requires eight or more class periods to complete, and includes downloadable worksheets needed for each step. The Web site also lists a number of useful Internet resources that students should find handy when researching for their book. [RS]
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