OTEC Home Page
Integrating IT Into Each Subject Area
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A Few Tidbits (That is, this page is under development!)
AstronomyComputational Science (This topic is under development. I have found a Google search on this topic to be quite useful.)
Grades 3-8 Science Lesson Materials from TERC
Microcomputer-Based Laboratory
Trout in the Classroom (A Newberg, Oregon Website.)
Biology
Biology is a huge and growing filed. The human dgenome project, and work on the genomes of other species, has made a major contribution. This type of research is heavily dependent on computers and computerized equipment. The following (March, 2006) National science Foundation site is excellent! http://www.nsf.gov/news/overviews/biology/index.jsp
The following Press Release (November 18, 2002) from the National Science Foundation describes one of the research areas that they are currently funding.
NSF "Tree of Life "Projects One of the most profound ideas to emerge in modern science is Charles Darwin's concept that all of life, from the smallest microorganism to the largest vertebrate, is connected through genetic relatedness in a vast genealogy. This "Tree of Life" summarizes all we know about biological diversity and underpins much of modern biology, yet many of its branches remain poorly known and unresolved.
To help scientists discover what Darwin described as the tree's "everbranching and beautiful ramifications," the National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded $17 million in "Assembling the Tree of Life" grants to researchers at more than 25 institutions. Their studies range from investigations of entire pieces of DNA to assemble the bacterial branches; to the study of the origins of land plants from algae; to understanding the most diverse group of terrestrial predators, the spiders; to the diversity of fungi and parasitic roundworms; to the relationships of birds and dinosaurs.
"Despite the enormity of the task," said Quentin Wheeler, director of NSF's division of environmental biology, which funded the awards, "now is the time to reconstruct the tree of life. The conceptual, computational and technological tools are available to rapidly resolve most, if not all, major branches of the tree of life. At the same time, progress in many research areas from genomics to evolution and development is currently encumbered by the lack of a rigorous historical framework to guide research." Scientists estimate that the 1.75 million known species are only 10 percent of the total species on earth, and that many of those species will disappear in the decades ahead. Learning about these species and their evolutionary history is epic in its scope, spanning all the life forms of an entire planet over its several billion year history, said Wheeler.
Why is assembling the tree of life so important? The tree is a picture of historical relationships that explains all similarities and differences among plants, animals and microorganisms. Because it explains biological diversity, the Tree of Life has proven useful in many fields, such as choosing experimental systems for biological research, determining which genes are common to many kinds of organisms and which are unique, tracking the origin and spread of emerging diseases and their vectors, bio-prospecting for pharmaceutical and agrochemical products, developing data bases for genetic information, and evaluating risk factors for species conservation and ecosystem restoration.
The Assembling the Tree of Life grants provide support for large multi-investigator, multi-institutional, international teams of scientists who can combine expertise and data sources, from paleontology to morphology, developmental biology, and molecular biology, says Wheeler. The awards will also involve developing software for improved visualization and analysis of extremely large data sets, and outreach and education programs in comparative phylogenetic biology and paleontology, emphasizing new training activities, informal science education, and Internet resources and dissemination.
BBC. Genes. Accessed 5/12/03: http://www.bbc.co.uk/genes/.
This is an excellent Website and resource for students and teachers. It is usful both in social studies and in science.
Journal of Biology. Accessed 11/24/02: http://jbiol.com/. Quoting from the Website:
Journal of Biology is a new journal edited by Martin Raff and an internationally renowned editorial board. The journal aims to publish outstanding research articles from all areas of biology and make them immediately accessible to all, free of charge.
National Science Foundation: Report on Computational Biology. Pattern Recognition Method Zeroes in on Genes that Regulate Cell's Genetic Machinery. Accessed 5/15/03: http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/03/pr0355.htm. Quoting from the Website:
Daphne Koller, a computer science professor at Stanford, is leading an effort to develop general models for recognizing meaningful patterns that span many related databases. This unique ability to "mix and match" biological data sources gives the new method its power.
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). USDA for Kids. Accessed 1/13/03: http://www.usda.gov/news/usdakids/.
This site was designed specifically for school age children. There is a lot of information and it has a relatively low reading level. For example, are you intersted in weather forecasts from an agricultural point of view. Or, do you want to read about Smokey the Bear? How about the 4-H, or the History of Agriculture?
Physiology
- The branch of biology that deals with the internal workings of living things, including such functions as metabolism, respiration, and reproduction, rather than with their shape or structure.
- The way a particular body or organism works.
Encarta® World English Dictionary © 1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Developed for Microsoft by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
The American Physiological Society supports a variety of educational activities, from the elementary grades through continuing education for faculty. The APS offers materials, resources, and programs at each educational level. Accessed 11/2/02: http://www.the-aps.org/education.htm.
Birds
Colorful pictures and sound, and good content are available at Bird of the Week [Online]. Accessed 4/2/01: http://birds.cornell.edu/bow/.
Computational Science
The essence of computational science is the development and use of computer models and simulations to represent and help solve science problems. The science of Meteorology (the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere, including its patterns of climate and weather) provides an excellent example of applications of computational science. There are many approaches to research in weather forecasting. The steadily increasing power of computers has allowed the development of computer models that incorporate the steadily increasing theoretical and practitioner knowledge in this field. The use of these computer models has lead to steadily improving accuracy of weather forecasts.
Computation As a Tool for Discovery in Physics.(September 11-12. 2001). Accessed 5/4/03: http://www.lbl.gov/Conferences/NSF/Computation/. Quoting the Overview from this NSF-sponsored conference report:
Given that computational physics has emerged, along with experiment and theory, as a "third", complementary, approach to discovery in physics, and given the interest and enthusiasm developed by the current national program in information technology, it appears timely to identify the most outstanding challenges and opportunities in computational physics and how these may best be addressed given the current and future prospects of computing power available to the community. To address these issues, we have identified a small, but broadly representative group of computational scientists to act as a Steering Committee as a prelude to an NSF sponsored workshop on emerging research opportunities and strategies for computational physics.
Earthquakes
The earthquake in the state of Washington on 2/28/01 provides a good example of a type of science topic that is interesting to students both in science and in other areas (such as social studies). Oregon has had earthquakes in recent years. Over a longer time frame, Oregon has had really major earthquakes and volcanoes. Thus, this is a relevant topic for education in Oregon
Earthforce [Online]. Accessed 4/2/01: http://www.fi.edu/earth/earth.html.
Earthquakes for Kids & Grownups (USGS ) [Online]. Accessed 4/2/01: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/4kids/.
Earthquake Theme Page [Online]. Accessed 4/2/01: http://www.cln.org/themes/earthquakes.html.
Volcanoes [Online]. Accessed 4/2/01: http://www.learner.org/exhibits/volcanoes/entry.html.
Grades 3-8 Science Lesson Materials from TERC
Founded in 1965, TERC is a not-for-profit education research and development organization in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
TERC's mission is to improve mathematics, science, and technology teaching and learning. TERC works at the edges of current theory and practice to:
- contribute to understanding of learning and teaching
- foster professional development develop applications of new technologies
- create curricula and other products support school reform
TERC has recently begun a new project that is developing online science materials for grades 3-8. Quoting from the Website Accessed 10/2/01: http://LL.terc.edu/
With this project, TERC is redesigning the units in the Kids Network series to incorporate a web-based structure and delivery system and add a new unit for grades 5-8. Each unit includes hands-on investigations, online inquiries, activities for reading, writing and communicating about the science content that is the focus of the unit, and embedded assessments. This work is being funded in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation (ESI-9553592).
Microcomputer-Based Laboratory (MBL)
MBL tools are an innovative use of new educational technology that enables students to learn physical concepts in the science laboratory and classroom. Learner-controlled explorations in the science laboratory are aided by easy-to-use real-time measurement tools. Student learning is aided by immediate feedback since the MBL tools produce graphs as the measurements are being made. Using such Microcomputer-Based Laboratory (MBL) sensors and software students can simultaneously measure and graph such physical quantities as position, velocity, acceleration, force, temperature, light intensity, pH, pressure, sound pressure, radiation, current and voltage.
Microcomputer-Based Laboratory (MB) is an important aspect of IT in science education. Professor David Sokoloff <sokoloff@oregon.uoregon.edu> http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~sokoloff/homepage.html in the Department of Physics at the University of Oregon is one of the international leaders in this field.
Redish, Edward F. , Saul, Jeffery M., and Steinberg, Richard N.On the Effectiveness of Active-Engagement Microcomputer-Based Laboratories [Online]. This article first appeared in the American Journal of Physics, Vol. 65, 45-54 (1997); ©1997, American Association of Physics Teachers. Accessed 6/30/02: http://www.physics.umd.edu/perg/papers/redish/mbl/mbl1.html. Tquoting the Abstract:
One hour active-engagement tutorials using microcomputer based laboratory (MBL) equipment were substituted for traditional problem-solving recitations in introductory calculus-based mechanics classes for engineering students at the University of Maryland. The results of two specific tutorials, one on the concept of instantaneous velocity and one on Newton's third law were probed by using standard multiple-choice questions and a free-response final exam question. A comparison of the results of eleven lecture classes taught by six different teachers with and without tutorials shows that the MBL tutorials resulted in a significant improvement compared to the traditional recitations when measured by carefully designed multiple choice problems. The free-response question showed that, although the tutorial students did somewhat better in recognizing and applying the concepts, there is still room for improvement.
Minerals
Mineral Information Institute. accessed 11/2/02: http://www.mii.org/aboutmii.php. Quoting from the Website of this non-profit organization:
MissionThe Mineral Information Institute (MII) is a national 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit organization dedicated to educating youth about the science of minerals and other natural resources, and about their importance in our every day lives.
Each year MII works with interested professional and scientific associations, and various government and education agencies, to help classroom teachers develop materials that are directly usable by teachers in a variety of subjects and a multitude of grade levels. All programs require updating and maintenance to ensure their continuing value and use in the classroom. MII will provide that and will distribute those programs that merit continued use.
Supported by corporations, foundations, scientific associations, and individuals from across the nation, MII distributes these materials free to classroom teachers to supplement existing curricula. More than 29,000 K-12 classroom teachers in all 50 states, several Canadian provinces, and foreign countries receive teaching materials each year from MII.
Objectives
- Introduce people to the social and economic benefits of minerals and other natural resources, and how they can be used in an environmentally responsible manner;
- Present accurate and balanced information about the science of minerals and other natural resources, their geological occurrence, how they are used in products we use every day, and other fact-based information;
- Work in cooperation with other organizations and individuals to ensure that relevant and factual educational materials are readily available to teachers to improve the awareness and understanding for the wise development and use of our natural resources;
- Support teachers by surveying and evaluating the effectiveness of classroom materials and improving them as necessary.
Project PhysLab
The following is quoted from a Catlin Gable school site. Catlin Gable is a private school located in Oregon.
Since 1992, Project PHYSLab has prepared high school physics teachers to apply computer-based technology to instruct students in the fundamental concepts of physics. In these three-week summer workshops, the participating teachers work with Microcomputer-Based Laboratory (MBL) sensors to measure physical properties such as motion, force, acceleration, sound, temperature, magnetic fields, etc. Project PHYSLab provides the participants with a wide variety of physics-related software to analyze the data collected with the MBL sensors. The MBL hardware and software are integrated into a series of demonstrations and experiments teachers can use with their students to teach fundamental scientific ideas. The participating teachers work through the workshop experiments just as their students will during the following academic year.
Sharing Research Resources
Internet "Middleware" Gets $12 Million Boost
from NSF
Three-year awards for R&D into tools for Internet collaboration
The National Science Foundation (NSF) today announced three-year awards totaling almost $12 million for development of "middleware" to help scientists and researchers use the Internet to effectively share instruments, laboratories and data, and to collaborate with their colleagues. Middleware is software that connects two or more otherwise separate applications across the Internet.
The NSF Middleware Initiative (NMI) will create and deploy advanced network services for simplifying access to diverse Internet resources. Two major teams -- the new GRIDS (Grids Research Integration Deployment and Support) Center and a group formed by the Internet2 consortium -- will lead the NMI effort. The GRIDS Center will be a partnership of the University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute (ISI), the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Chicago (UC), the University of California-San Diego and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The the University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development (Internet2 group will consist of EDUCAUSE and the Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA)UCAID).
"Much as the NSFnet network in the mid-1980s and early 1990s laid the groundwork for the dramatic success of the Internet," said Alan Blatecky, NSF middleware program director, "we expect this new NSF program to lay foundations for middleware infrastructure and spur adoption of the advanced services that will define the networks and distributed systems of tomorrow."
Accessed 9/25/01: http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/press/01/pr0173.htm
Comment: The NSF research awards are a good source of state of the art activities in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology. Sharing of research resources is an important part of the future of science research.
General References
All Species Inventory
The creators of the All Species Inventory project have set a 25-year deadline to catalog all living species on the planet using the latest technology, thus closing a serious gap in human knowledge, according to project co-founder Stewart Brand. The project has an ambitious goal: to provide a Web page for every species. Project directors envision tools such as pattern recognition software, the Internet, global positioning systems, and DNA analysis speeding up the identification and classification of species. There are currently only about 10,000 taxonomists active around the world, so directors are hoping that All Species will swell their ranks with amateur naturalists by making classification technology available to them. Others say the technological aspects of All Species could help retool the field's old-fashioned image, which has led to a cooling of public and private support. (Wired News, 13 March 2002) (Edupage, March 15, 2002)
Assembling the Tree of Life: To construct a phylogeny for
the 1.7 million described species of life [Online].
Accessed 2/18/02: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2002/
nsf02074/nsf02074.html.
This document is a Request for Proposals from the National Science Foundation. It is indicative of a type of project that requires very powerful IT systems. The following is quoted from the February 2002 RFP:Synopsis of Program: A flood of new information, from whole-genome sequences to inventories of earth's biota, is transforming 21st century biology. Along with comparative data on morphology, fossils, development, behavior, and interactions of all forms of life on earth, these new data streams make even more critical the need for an organizing framework for information retrieval, analysis, and prediction. Phylogeny, the genealogical map for all lineages of life on earth, provides an overall framework to facilitate information retrieval and biological prediction. Currently, single investigators or small teams of researchers are studying the evolutionary pathways of heredity within particular phyla or domains. Assembly of a framework phylogeny, or Tree of Life, for all 1.7 million described species requires a greatly magnified effort by large teams working across institutions and disciplines. This is the overall goal of the Assembling the Tree of Life activity. The National Science Foundation invites research proposals from multidisciplinary teams to conduct creative and innovative research that will resolve phylogenetic relationships for large groups of organisms on the Tree of Life. Teams of investigators also will be supported for projects in data acquisition, analysis, algorithm development and dissemination in computational phylogenetics and phyloinformatics.
American Meteorological Society (AMS) Educational Initiatives [Online]. Accessed 2/5/02: http://www.ametsoc.org/amsedu/. Quoting from the Website:
The AMS goal is that all students become scientifically literate, enabling them to lead satisfying and productive lives as contributing members of a democratic society. To help attain this goal, the AMS:
- provides up-to-date teacher training,
- produces instructional resource materials,
- conducts activities to make the information highway an avenue for learning,
- promotes minority participation in science.
American Physical Society (APS) [Online]. Accessed 6/22/01: http://www.aps.org/index.html.
APS is a membership society. Publications available to members include:PHYSICS TODAY, a monthly magazine published by the American Institute of Physics (AIP) with news of physics and articles of interest to the entire physics community.APS NEWS, a newspaper that contains information about the activities of the Society and its members. APS News is mailed eleven times a year and is also available to members on the APS home page (www.aps.org). Physics News in 2001, an annual summary of highlights in physics, compiled by the AIP, is mailed to all APS members.
This site covers many different topics. One topic is an extensive timeline of progress in physics.
Association for the Education of Teachers in Science (AETS) [Online]. Accessed 11/18/00: http://www.aets.unr.edu/.
Promoting leadership in, and support for those involved in, the professional development of teachers of science.
Beaty, William J. K-12 Science Ed. Resources. Accessed 11/24/02: http://www.amasci.com/edu.html.
A very large collection to links to Websites of possible interest to teachers, students, and others with an interst in science.
Carnevale, Dan (December 16, 2002). A Virtual Laboratory Simulates Physics Experiments. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Accessed 12/17/02: http://chronicle.com/free/2002/12/2002121601t.htm. Quoting from the Website:
A virtual laboratory under development at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro aims to let students experiment with physics concepts without physically being in a lab.Computer simulations and graphic animations will replace equipment and instruments as students go online to test principles of mechanics, waves, electricity, magnetism, and optics. The lab is being designed to help distance-education students satisfy an introductory-science lab requirement.
Center for Mathematics and Science Teaching [Online]. Accessed 11/26/00: http://ase.tufts.edu/csmt/.
Since 1986 the Center for Science and Mathematics Teaching at Tufts University has successfully addressed a problem that has become a national priority: improving the teaching and learning of science in the nation's schools and universities. The Center, directed by Ronald Thornton, develops curricula, activities, and computer tools which allow students to participate actively in their own learning and to construct scientific knowledge for themselves. Using these materials the students learn directly from the physical world. The Center's substantial conceptual-learning research and evaluation program guides the development of materials.
Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) [Online]. Accessed 6/22/01: http://cns.miis.edu/class/hsout/. Quoting from the Website:
The Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) and the Science & Technology Education Program (STEP) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) cooperated to develop the Critical Issues Forum (CIF) to increase awareness of disarmament and nonproliferation issues and to engage and recruit the next generation of nonproliferation specialists.The CIF is designed to involve high school students and teachers in issues of proliferation and control of weapons of mass destruction. Past CIF modules include: a) Terrorism in the Nuclear World b) Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons c) The Disposition of Nuclear Materials. This year, the CIF module will discuss the proliferation of chemical and biological weapons and terrorism. The CIF also provides students with instruction and guidance in research methodologies, including brainstorming, evaluation of content, synthesis of information, and writing. CIF emphasizes strategies that can be used with the Internet. We involve nonproliferation specialists, scientists, and other professionals from the Monterey Institute of International Studies, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and the Naval Postgraduate School to ensure accuracy and appropriateness of content.
Note added by Webmaster 6/22/01: Springfield High School, located in Springfield, Oregon, is one of the high schools that has participated in the program described above.
Computational Science Educational Resource Desk
[Online]. Accessed 3/8/02: http://www.shodor.org/cserd/
misc_desk/index.html.
Quoting from the Website:
The first question usually asked by people who first hear of Computational Science is, "What is it?". Put simply, it is using computers to do science.Computational Science involves the appropriate use of a computational architecture (possibly a computer, calculator, abacus, dice, poker chips, etc.) to apply some algorithm, or method, to solve some scientific application, or problem. This combination of Application, Algorithm, and Architecture results in a model, which can be used as a scientific tool.
Computer Science as a Component of Other Science Disciplines. (Quoting from Edupage, June 25, 2001)
Today's researchers are compiling and analyzing an ever-increasing amount of digitized scientific data. Central databases of scientific knowledge allow researchers to approach questions from a comprehensive viewpoint. This has led to the integration of computer science and other core science fields, such as biology, said Stephen D. Prince of the University of Maryland, College Park. Systems biology, for example, focuses on translating biological functions into mathematical equations so that scientists can gain perspective on how their specific focus relates to the whole system. Several universities, including the University of California at San Diego, are now offering degrees in the field of bioinformatics, which concentrates on the interrelation of scientific research and computer data systems. (Chronicle of Higher Education, 29 June 2001) (Edupage, June 25, 2001)
Evaluating Search Engines for Chemistry - II
[Online]. Accessed 4/13/01: http://snyoneab.oneonta.edu/
~pencehe/engineselect01.html.
Quoting from the Website:
Two years ago, a group of senior chemistry majors at SUNY Oneonta set out to update the work of Alexander Lebedev (Moscow University), who had created a web site entitled Best Search Engines for Finding Scientific Information on the Web. In order to measure the comprehensiveness of the important WWW search engines, Lebedev compared the number of hits recorded by eleven different search engines for eight different keywords important in physics and/or chemistry. Unfortunately, he had not revised his results since 1997, and the rapid rate of change on the WWW suggested that his results needed to be brought up to date. The results of this 1999 study were made available as a web page entitled, "Evaluating WWW Search Engines for Chemistry." In the past two years, the WWW has continued to change rapidly. In particular, financial problems have forced many of the dot.com companies, including those that run search engines, to cut expenses and reduce staff. There is also a powerful new search engine, called Google, that seems to be an excellent choice for scientists. A preliminary evaluation of Google has been reported, but Google has not been compared with the other commonly-used engines.For additional information on Google, see: Search Engines Fail To Keep Up With Growing Web (3/28/01)
Eisenhower National Clearinghouse (ECN) [Online]. Accessed 11/24/02: http://enc.org/. Quoting from the Website:
The Eisenhower National Clearinghouse's mission is to identify effective curriculum resources, create high-quality professional development materials, and disseminate useful information and products to improve K-12 mathematics and science teaching and learning.ENC serves all K-12 educators, parents, and students with free products and services. Acquires and catalogs mathematics and science curriculum resources, creating the most comprehensive collection in the nation. Provides the best selection of math and science education resources on the Internet. Supports teachers' professional development in math, science, and the effective use of technology. Collaborates with the Eisenhower Regional Consortia and many other organizations across the nation to promote education reform.
eNature.com [Online]. Accessed 11/15/01: http://www.enature.com/. Quoting from the Website:
The eNature.com Online Field Guide is a searchable database for identifying more than 4,000 plant and animal species of North America. Additional species and other nature content is constantly added to the database.The species accounts are from the best-selling National Audubon Society Field Guides, Regional Guides, and Nature Guides, published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. -- a total of 35 books, with 20 million copies in print. All of these books are available in the eNature.com Online Store and at bookstores throughout North America.
Explorer (TM). Accessed 11/24/02: http://unite.ukans.edu/explorer/. Quolting from the Website:
The Explorer(TM) is a collection of educational resources (instructional software, lab activities, lesson plans, student created materials ...) for K-12 mathematics and science education. You may browse through mathematics and science education curricula (we plan to expand to other curricula) or conduct searches that focus on specific interests. Many resources are available in the Adobe Acrobat format that is readable by Macintosh, Windows and other OSs. The Explorer is being developed jointly by the Great Lakes Collaborative and the University of Kansas UNITE group to involve educators and students in creating and using multimedia resources for active learning and "on time" delivery. The U.S. Department of Education OERI office has supported the Explorer research and development efforts. The Explorer was first posted on the World Wide Web on June 21, 1993.
Flick, Larry and Bell, Randy (Summer 2000). Preparing
Tomorrow's Science Teachers to Use Technology: Guidelines
for Science Educators [online]. Accessed 1/23/01:
http://www.citejournal.org/vol1/iss1/
currentissues/science/article1.htm.
When this article was published, Larry Flick was a faculty member at Oregon State University and Randy Bell was a faculty member at the University of Virginia. Quoting from the article:
- Technology should be introduced in the context of science content.
- Technology should address worthwhile science with appropriate pedagogy.
- Technology instruction in science should take advantage of the unique features of technology.
- Technology should make scientific views more accessible.
- Technology instruction should develop students' understanding of the relationship between technology and science.
Feynman, Richard (1974). Cargo Cult Science Accessed 2/6/05: http://www.physics.brocku.ca/etc/cargo_cult_science.html.
Richard Feynman was a Nobel Prize winning physicist and a great teacher. The article was a commencement talk at California institute of Technology and also appears in his book, Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman! In this talk, Feynman talks about science and scientific method in a way that people can understand. Quoting the first two paragraphs:
During the Middle Ages there were all kinds of crazy ideas, such as that a piece of of rhinoceros horn would increase potency. Then a method was discovered for separating the ideas—which was to try one to see if it worked, and if it didn't work, to eliminate it. This method became organized, of course, into science. And it developed very well, so that we are now in the scientific age. It is such a scientific age, in fact, that we have difficulty in understanding how witch doctors could ever have existed, when nothing that they proposed ever really worked—or very little of it did.
But even today I meet lots of people who sooner or later get me into a conversation about UFO's, or astrology, or some form of mysticism, expanded consciousness, new types of awareness, ESP, and so forth. And I've concluded that it's not a scientific world.
Hemphill Home Page, Canby, Oregon [Online]. Accessed 11/25/00: http://www.canby.com/hemphill/.
Rosa Hemphill's Website contains pointers to a number of IT materials of use to science teachers and students.
NASA Kids: A Product of Science@NASA [Online]. Accessed 4/25/01: http://kids.msfc.nasa.gov/.
A great Website for kids, their teachers, and their parents.
National Science Digital Library. Accessed 11/9/03: http://nsdl.org/render.userLayoutRootNode.uP.This is a project funded by the National science Foundation. Quoting from the project Website:
NSDL is a digital library of exemplary resource collections and services, organized in support of science education at all levels. Starting with a partnership of NSDL-funded projects, NSDL is emerging as a center of innovation in digital libraries as applied to education, and a community center for groups focused on digital-library-enabled science education.
Mission
NSDL provides educational resources for science, technology, engineering and mathematics education. The NSDL mission is to both deepen and extend science literacy through access to materials and methods that reveal the nature of the physical universe and the intellectual means by which we discover and understand it.
National Science Teachers Association (NSTA). Accessed 11/9/03: http://www.nsta.org/. Quoting from the Website:
The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), founded in 1944 and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, is the largest organization in the world committed to promoting excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all. NSTA's current membership of more than 55,000 includes science teachers, science supervisors, administrators, scientists, business and industry representatives, and others involved in and committed to science education.
Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL): Mathematics and Science Education Center. Accessed 11/9/03: http://www.nwrel.org/msec/science_inq/index.html. Quoting from the Website:
Welcome to the NWREL Science Inquiry Model™ Web site. The Mathematics and Science Education Center developed this model to help K-12 teachers infuse inquiry into their science instruction and curriculum.Explore this site and learn more about the components of the model, inquiry-based teaching strategies, and resources for teaching and learning. Contact us with your questions and suggestions or to learn more about the model and the professional development services available to schools and districts.
Oregon Science Teachers Association (OSTA) [Online]. Accessed 11/25/00: http://www.col-ed.org/osta/.
Physics Education Web Sites [Online]. Accessed 6/22/01: http://www.aps.org/educ/k-8sources.html.
A large collection of links to physics education materials, maintained by the American Physical Society.
Potter, Frank. Frank Potter's Science Gems: Great links to Great Science Resources. Accessed 11/24/02: http://www.sciencegems.com/. Quoting from the Website:
For students, parents, teachers, scientists, engineers and mathematicians. More than 14,000 Science Resources sorted by Category, Subcategory, and Grade Level
Project PhysLab 2001 [Online]. Accessed 11/30/00: http://physlab.catlin.edu/.
This is an excellent site to locate information about high school physics teaching.
Reference Articles 1997 -Ppresent: [Online]. Accessed 11/21/01: http://www.vernier.com/grants/.
A number of these articles are available online. The focus is on use of computer technology in Microcomputer-Based Laboratory settings.
Research Matters to the Science Teacher [Online]. Accessed 11/28/00: http://www.narst.org/research/research.htm.
Contains about 30 research-based articles on science education, including some that focus on Microcomputer-Based Laboratory.
Sheppards Science Resources. Accessed 11/24/02: http://www.can-do.com/uci/.
This Website includes links to:
- K-12 Web Quests from UCI SSI
- Science Resources by Subject
- Very Useful Links
- Over 1,000 Weather Forecasts
- Careers in Science - Real Science with Real Careers
- Curriculum Resources For Educators
- Search engines, dictionaries, weather and more
- Frank Potter's Science Gems
- Live Weather report from the Discovery Lab
- Netscape Communicator -On-line Course
Science Fair Projects Resource Guide [Online]. Accessed 10/24/01: http://www.ipl.org/youth/projectguide/. This is a page from the Internet Public Library at the University of Michigan. Quoting from the Website:
Are you looking for some help with a science fair project? If so, then you have come to the right place. The IPL will guide you to a variety of web site resources, leading you through the necessary steps to successfully complete a science experiment.First, you must start off with an understanding of the Scientific Method. Once you have become familiar with how to discover the answers to your scientific problems, your next step involves selecting a topic for your project. Choosing a topic can often be the hardest part of the whole process. Sometimes it helps to look at some sample projects for ideas that you can build upon.
Telescopes in Education (TIE) [Online]. Accessed 11/16/01: http://tie.jpl.nasa.gov/.Quoting from the Website:
Telescopes In Education (TIE) is a NASA education outreach program sponsored by NASA's High Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) Learning Technologies Program (LTP), the NASA Office of Space Science (OSS), and the NASA Office of Human Resources and Education. TIE is also supported by JPL space exploration missions, businesses, and numerous volunteers. Through Telescopes In Education, students around the world can remotely control research-quality telescopes and CCD cameras from a computer in their classroom.
The Oregon Science Teacher (TOST) [Online]. Accessed 11/25/00: http://www.col-ed.org/osta/tost.htm.
The Oregon Science Teacher is published five times a year and is included as part of the OSTA membership package. To obtain OSTA membership, send $25 for one year or $20 for one year student/retired to OSTA, PO Box 20096, Keizer, OR 97307-0096
Vernier Software and Technology [Online]. Accessed 11/28/00: http://www.vernier.com/index.html.
Vernier Software & Technology, 13979 SW Millikan Way, Beaverton, OR 97005-2886. Vernier is a "home grown" Oregon company focusing on Microcomputer-based Laboratory in science education.
Windows to the Universe [Online]. Accessed 4/26/01: http://www.windows.ucar.edu/. Quoting from the Website:
Windows to the Universe is a user-friendly learning system on the Earth and Space sciences for the use of the general public. The objective of this project, funded by NASA, is to develop an innovative and engaging Website that spans the Earth and Space sciences. Our goal is to build a site that includes a rich array of documents, including images, movies, animations, and data sets, that explore the Earth and Space sciences and the historical and cultural ties between science, exploration, and the human experience. Our site is being developed with the goal of being appropriate for use in museums and libraries, and to be a resource for students in their studies of the Earth and Space sciences. The third release of Windows to the Universe, Version 3, was March 1, 1997. We will be including updates to Windows to the Universe on a regular basis, so we invite you to revisit the site regularly to see our resources grow and change.