Education
http://www.amonline.net.au/fishes/students/index.htm
From Australian Museum Online, this website offers a nice collection of fish-related educational resources for a mixture of ages. The site addresses fish dissection, different types of fish scales, and environmental adaptations. Notably, the fish dissection sections include clear, diagramed images to aid students in the dissection process. The site also contains a 15-image Fish Collection tour, and a fish memory game for the wee ichthyologist. The student section links to other sections of the Australian Museum Fish Site (reported on in the Scout Report, November 24, 2000) including research updates, underwater movies, a pictorial identification key, related links, and more. [NL]
The MIT OpenCourseWare project (first reported on in the NSDL Scout Report for the Life Sciences, January 24, 2003) was developed to share MIT undergraduate and graduate course resources with the Internet community. This website contains resources from a Gastroenterology course offered by the Health Sciences and Technology department in the fall of 2002. In the Gastroenterology course, “the most recent knowledge of the anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, and bioengineering of the gastrointestinal tract and the associated pancreatic, liver and biliary tract systems is presented and discussed.” The website contains downloadable lecture notes, lab assignments, and exam reviews, as well as a 14-page downloadable Recommended Reading Material list. Note: the recommended readings are also listed online. [NL]
http://www.science.siu.edu/landplants/index.html
In response to a growing interest regarding evolutionary relationships of green plants in recent years, Dan Nickrent and Karen Renzaglia—-of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (SIUC)—-developed Land Plants Online (LPO). LPO was also designed to provide researchers and students with a centralized source for new information resulting from technological advancements in the field. LPO’s stated goal “is to bring together, from a variety of disciplines, the available information on evolutionary relationships in land plants including their most likely outgroup, charophycean algae.” The heart of LPO is the Phylum Pages, which are organized by Non Vascular plants (Bryophytes), and Vascular Plants (Tracheophytes). The site also includes sections for Phylogenetic Relationships among Land Plants, and Character Matrices for Land Plants. In addition, site visitors will find a collection of general references for basal land plants, contact information for plant specialists, information on SIUC land plant research, and related links. [NL]
http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/uf/lab_exercises/cover.htm
The creation and care of urban forests are receiving greater attention as city populations grow larger. Recognizing this important trend, the U.S. Forest Service and the Morton Arboretum supported the development of these educational exercises designed to connect urban students with urban trees and forests. This Urban Forestry Unit was developed as a supplemental activity guide for elementary, middle, and high school students. The Unit’s “hands-on activities are designed to be data gathering exercises leading the student to make judgments based on analysis and synthesis of the gathered data.” The activities address the following topics: tree identification and inventory; tree characteristics; tree planting and care; tree condition, and soil conditions for trees. The website introduces the activities with brief sections that address the philosophy, objectives, and curriculum goals behind the project. [NL]
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/programs/urbanbirds/index.html
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has distinguished itself by creating great public-oriented educational programs. Representing this tradition of public outreach, the Lab’s Urban Bird Studies program encourages urbanites to participate in a global data collection project that will be utilized by scientists at the Cornell Lab. Anyone can participate, and project participants can choose from various programs such as Dove Detectives, Gulls Galore, Pigeon Watch, Crows Count, and Birds in the City. This site is available in Spanish, and offers a News section (available both online and as a monthly email) that includes bird stories, study results, and participant entries. [NL]
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/corn/
This website treats kids to a fun educational journey through the Corn Belt, courtesy of the University of Illinois Extension-Schools Online Program. The program begins with a vaudevillesque front page announcing The Great Corn Adventure: Combines, Corndogs & Cows. The star is Zea Mays, and she teaches students about the history of corn; growing and harvesting methods; the many uses of corn, and its importance around the world. The site includes a Teacher’s Guide complete with program learning goals, Illinois academic standards for grades three to five, extension activities, and links to online resources. The site is rounded out by Zea’s Fun Place which includes Math Fun, Corny Jokes, the CornMagic Lab, a quiz, and more. [NL]
http://life.bio.sunysb.edu/marinebio/mbweb.html
The Marine Biology Web, created by veteran marine biologist Dr. Jeff Levinton of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a great educational resource for both curious students and prospective marine biologists. The Becoming a Marine Biologist page gives students frank advice, and a realistic sense of what marine biology is and what marine biologists do. This website contains a sizeable list of hyperlinked marine labs, institutes, graduate programs, and undergraduate programs. A nice list of marine biology-related internships and courses are included as well. The website also features the useful MBREF—-A Reference Source for Marine Biology Student Research. The site even links to a system that allows visitors “to obtain tidal predictions computed by CO-OPS for more than 3000 water level stations.” [NL]
http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~biol240/
This website contains a useful collection of lecture notes and lab descriptions from an intermediate Biology course at San Francisco State University (SFSU). The course covers the following main topics: Diversity of Life, Evolutionary Principles, Phylogenetic Inference, and Principles of Ecology. Some of the lectures are also available in portable document format (PDF), and the labs are nicely laid out with great images and hyperlinks. The course website is maintained by Professor Bob Patterson of the SFSU Biology department, and is supported by funding from the Center for the Enhancement of Teaching. [NL]
