Featured 7-17-2014: Highlights for High School

 

Highlights for High School is a companion website to MIT OpenCourseWare* providing open educational resources for high school educators and students.

 

Highlights for High School includes content created specifically for high school students as well as resources collected from the MIT curriculum that can be used effectively in high school.

 

Available resources cover not only science and math, but also engineering, humanities, and social sciences. The material can be integrated into classroom lesson plans, shared, reused, and remixed. Though meant primarily for juniors and seniors in high school, motivated younger students can also benefit from these courses.

 

 

The website is organized into two main sections:

• The Subjects section is arranged by topics likely to be encountered in high school, such as mathematics, physics, and biology. Within each of these you will find a variety of content, such as labs, courses, and video resources.
• The Exam Preparation section is aimed at students who are preparing to take AP exams in biology, calculus, chemistry, or physics. These materials are meant to supplement classroom learning. Relevant OCW course materials have been mapped to the topics in these exams and are easily searchable.

 In addition to YouTube access, Highlights for High School has posted all of their videos to TechTV, an MIT-based video service similar to YouTube.

 

*See yesterday’s post

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Featured 3-31-2014: Next Generation Science Standards

Through a collaborative, state-led process, new K–12 science standards, Next Generation Science Standards for Today’s Students and Tomorrow’s Workforce, have been developed.

 

Rich in content and practice, the Next Generation Science Standards are logically arranged across disciplines and grades to provide all students an internationally benchmarked science education. 

 

The process for developing the science standards included having the scientific and educational research communities identify core ideas in science and integrate them across grade levels.

 

 

The scientific practices in the NGSS include critical thinking and communication skills that students need for real-world success. In the standards, these science practices are intertwined with content.

 

 See Paul Andersen introduce his video series on the Next Generation Science Standards.

 

The Next Generation Science Standards are based on the Framework for K–12 Science Education developed by the National Research Council. The writing process began in the summer of 2011, and the final version of the NGSS was released in April of last year.

 

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Featured 3-6-2014: goREACT

You can be a virtual chemist with goREACT,  a free iOS app from the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago.

 

goREACT lets you create nearly 300 virtual chemical reactions by dragging elements into the Reaction Area. Images and videos illustrate the molecules you create.

 

 

goREACT and the Periodic Table:

• Touch any of the Periodic Table's 118 elements to see an image and fun fact about it.
• Learn more about how the Periodic Table is organized, and follow links to additional educational resources.
• Select alternate views of the Periodic Table to discover different aspects of the elements’ chemical properties.

 

 

Featured Reactions guide you through themed sets of chemical reactions related to particular applications, such as the environment, beauty products, or cars. Helpful hints and suggestions about reactions to try generate exciting explorations.

 

 Visit the goREACT YouTube channel

 

 goREACT requires iOS 5.0 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

 

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Featured: 1-29-2014 NOVA Education

NOVA Education is a collection of resources from the PBS science series NOVA. The purpose of the site is to bring science, technology, and engineering to life in educational settings.

 

NOVA Education’s free digital library is linked to teaching standards and includes video, audio segments, interactives, and much more. You can browse content by education topics such as Earth and space science, technology and engineering, and more. The library is also searchable by keywords.

 

You can sign up for Spark, the NOVA Education newsletter, to receive updates on new media resources for educators, upcoming NOVA programs, and on opportunities for you and your students. 

 

 

NOVA is the highest rated science series on television and the most watched documentary series on public television. Since 1996, NOVA has been working with journalists and scientists to put great original web-content online. Thousands of resources cover everything from string theory to the evolution of flight to how the Pyramids were built.

 

Note: NOVA Education is required to begin every video with a funder pre-roll, essential to supporting streaming video. For technical reasons, this has caused NOVA Education videos to be blacklisted at certain schools. 

 

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Featured: 1-8-2014 Big History on H2

The Big History series on H2* poses questions and mixes history and science to change the way people view history.

 

Big History takes familiar topics and, by weaving science into the core of history, examines them in new ways that will have you rethinking everything you thought you knew.

 

 

The series creates an interconnected view of things that links history to multiple fields such as astronomy, biology, chemistry, and geology.  The first season ends with a two-hour finale that pulls everything we know about science and history into one grand narrative.

 

 View Not Your Father’s History

 

New episodes of Big History run Saturdays at 10 pm EST (11 pm PST) on H2.

 

*H2 is a digital cable and satellite television network featuring historical and popular science documentaries as well as pseudo-scientific entertainment programs and is a sister network of History Channel. 

 

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Featured: 6-11-2013 Science Museum

Visit London's Science Museum online. Find out about the museum's objects, arts projects, and medical collection, play educational games, and discover climate science, and more.

You can also check out the Science Museum blogs, a tabloid history of science, and the latest contemporary science news. The Talk Science Blog gives great ideas for promoting discussion about science in the classroom.

Science MuseumTeacher Resources include activities, videos, online games and websites, tips, tools, and demos. Browse the resources or search by age, subject, and topic.

The Science Museum was founded in 1857 as part of the South Kensington Museum, and became independent in 1909. Today the Science Museum is world renowned for its historic collections, awe-inspiring galleries, and inspirational exhibitions.

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The Periodic Table Set To Music

From AsapSCIENCE, comes "The NEW Periodic Table Song (In Order)" By by Mitchell Moffit based on the "Can-Can" music, by Offenbach.

 

 

You might also like the classic "The Elements", where Tom Lehrer sets the names of the chemical elements to the tune of the "Major-General's Song" from Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance.

Featured: 1/15/2013 Understanding Science [Science]

The objective of Understanding Science is to provide a free, entertaining, and easily accessible resource that accurately illustrates what science really is and how it works.

The focus of the Understanding Science project is a re-engagement with science beginning with teacher preparation and ending with broader public understanding. The immediate goals are to:

• Improve teacher understanding of the nature of the science.
• Provide resources and strategies that encourage and enable K-16 teachers to reinforce the nature of science.
• Provide a clear and informative reference for students and the general public that accurately portrays science.

Understanding Science was produced by the UC Museum of Paleontology of the University of California at Berkeley, in collaboration with a diverse group of scientists and teachers, and was funded by the National Science Foundation.

Understanding Science gives users an inside look at the general principles, methods, and motivations that underlie all of science.

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Featured: 11/14/2012 Curiosity in the Classroom [STEM]

Together, Discovery Education and Intel have created Curiosity in the Classroom, a program designed to "guide teachers and students on a journey through life's biggest questions."

Curiosity in the Classroom helps you explore some of life's most interesting and important questions with your students by providing free, standards-aligned lesson plans and videos for students in grades 6-12 (ages 11-17).

Download free content and materials to help your students become the innovators, scientists, and engineers of the future. These lesson plans, activities, videos, and interactives can bring key concepts to life and inspire an interest in science-related careers.

Explore ways to develop students' scientific thinking using the lessons and other things available at Curiosity in the Classroom. Transition from textbook science to authentic inquiry and scientific practices with these engaging resources.

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COD - 8/23/2012 - Kno [ebooks]

Kno is a reader for digital textbooks. With over 60 features to facilitate reading, studying, note taking, and organization, Kno can do everything a physical textbook can do and much more.

Kno is easy to use. Simply get your college or K-12 textbooks from Kno.com and read them using the Kno iPad app, Kno.com website, or the Kno for Facebook app. Apps for Android and Windows are expected soon.

Features currently available in all Kno platforms:

• Flashcards instantly converts terms from your textbook into flash cards.
• Search for any words in your textbook or PDF.
• Highlight any text on a page.
• Create stickies for a highlight or any page.
• Course Manager organizes all your textbooks, PDFs, and content in one spot.

Additional features available in the free iPad app:

• Zoom in on any picture by double-tapping.
• Smart Links maps instructional videos, images, and photos to formulas and concepts in your book.
• Preview any page from an entire book.
• Journal lets you create a digital notebook by clipping images and text from your textbook.
• Pen lets you write directly on the pages of your textbook or PDF and in Journal.
• Quiz Me turns any diagram in a book into a multiple choice quiz.
• Kno 3D brings chemistry figures to life in select titles.
• Share with classmates right from within your book.
• Dropbox allows you to easily import PDF class materials by dragging and dropping right into Course Manager.

Visit the KnoYouTube channel

You can organize all of your textbooks and class materials using the KnoCourse Manager. Adding a new class only takes a few seconds.

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COD - 8/9/2012 - JR's Chemistry Set / ChemCalc [iOS]

Two chemistry apps for iOS are being featured today, JR's Chemistry Set and ChemCalc.

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JR's Chemistry Set is a handy and powerful reference tool for all ages and all levels. It contains an interactive periodic table based upon the innovative Rota Period that allows you to combine elements into compounds and display the formation of these compounds using Box2d Physics and the accelerometer.

Detailed information about all of the elements is provided including:Atomic Number, Atomic Weight, Melting Point, Boiling Point, Heat of Fusion, Heat of Vaporization, Heat of Atomization, Ionization Energy, Electrical Conductivity, Electronegativity, Ionic Radius, Van der Waals Radius, Density, Class, Valences, Orbitals, State, Radioactivity, and Year Discovered.

JR's Chemistry Set also includes a game feature called Mad Scientist that challenges you to make valuable compounds like Water, Sodium Hydroxide, and Hydrogen Peroxide. A series of scenes called Evolution uses chemistry and particle physics to describe the universe from the Big Bang to Black Holes, providing the link between chemistry, physics, biology, and astronomy.

JR's Chemistry Set is $1.99 (USD) from the iTunes App Store and works on iPhone 3GS or higher, iPod Touch (3rd/4th generation), and iPads using iOS 5.1 or higher.

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ChemCalc is a convenient chemistry tool for students and professionals to calculate molecular mass (molecular weight) of compounds and learn basic properties of chemical elements on iPad.

Main features of ChemCalc:

• Unique elements keyboard and digits keyboard are used to input a chemical formula and then calculate its molecular mass. 
• User can also search an element and use it to build a chemical formula.
• Tapping on the number of H2O to change its value for hydrate.
• Long pressing on an element key to display the basic properties of the element.
• Provides English pronunciations of the names of all elements.
• Provides common ions, acids, and bases reference

ChemCalc is $0.99  (USD) from the iTunes App Store and requires iPads using iOS 5.0 or higher.

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COD - 6/26/2012 - Periodic Table of Elements [Chemistry]

Most people believe the periodic table is the most important chemistry reference there is. All the known elements are arranges in an informative array. For that reason, the Los Alamos National Laboratory offers the Periodic Table of Elements: A Resource for Elementary, Middle School, and High School Students.

When you open the file of any element in thePeriodic Table of Elements, you will find a small table with some basic information about that element, such as atomic number, symbol, and weight.

Watch a video demo of Periodic Table of Elements

Originally created by Robert Husted at Los Alamos National Laboratory about 1992. Periodic Table of Elements was given a face lift during 2002-03 by Mollie Boorman, then again in 2011, by Maida Trujillo.

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Catch of The Day - The DNA Learning Center - 11/16/2011

 

The DNA Learning Center (DNALC) prides itself on being the world's first science center devoted entirely to genetics education witha mission to "prepare students and families to thrive in the gene age."

The DNA Learning Center is working toward a goal of having all elementary students exposed to the principles of genetics and disease risk, all high school students having the opportunity to do hands-on experiments with DNA, and all families being able to access and understand the genetic information they need to make informed health care choices.

The DNA Learning Center maintains several educational, media-rich, content-based websites for audiences from middle school to adults:

DNA from the Beginning - Discover the concepts and experiments that define the fields of genetics and molecular biology.

DNA Interactive - This large collection of videos and interactive 3-D animations provides an enriching experience.

myDNAi - The teacher-oriented resources include downloadable teacher guides, activities, and lesson plans.

Genes to Cognition Online - Modeled on principles of neural networking, which examines current research to discover the molecular and cellular basis of human thinking.

Inside Cancer & Inside Cancer Teacher Center - Learn more about the pathways that lead to cancer and the molecular basis of new diagnostics and treatments.

Image Archive on the American Eugenics Movement - Explore documents and photographs of the Eugenics movement from the early decades of the 20th century.

Weed to Wonder - Learn the story of how human ingenuity transformed a common Mexican weed, Teosinte, into a modern food and fuel wonder, corn.

Your Genes, Your Health - Clear explanations on the cause, inheritance, and treatment of 15 common genetic disorders.

There are many online resources available from The DNA Learning Center including the Biology Animation Library, the 3-D Animation Library, G2C Online 3-D Brain, the Gene Screen App, Gene Boy, and more.

The DNA Learning Center is an operating unit of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, an important center for molecular genetics research.

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Catch of The Day - Middle School Chemistry - 8/16/2011

Learn about atoms and molecules with hands-on inquiry-based activities and molecular model animations at Middle School Chemistry.

Middle School Chemistry is a source of guided, inquiry-based lesson plans that covers basic chemistry concepts as well as the process of scientific investigation.

You can download the entire Middle School Chemistry e-book in PDF format for free . The book helps students ask and investigate scientific questions, design and conduct experiments, understand their observations, and record and communicate results. The book is 615 pages (20.5 MB) and takes about 3 minutes to download for broadband users, 30 minutes for dial-up.

For teachers, the Middle School Chemistry website includes:

• Comprehensive lesson plans
• Detailed procedures for activities
• Science background for teachers
• Molecular model illustrations and animations
• Downloadable PDF student activity sheets and student reading

The Middle School Chemistry onsite hands-on workshops by authors of the book engage teachers in the elements of inquiry and show how to incorporate inquiry-based scientific investigations into your middle school science curriculum.

Middle School Chemistry is a project of the American Chemical Society.

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Catch of the Day - ScienceIQ - 4/27/2011

ScienceIQ is an online science quiz for teams of school students.

ScienceIQ is a series of online science competitions organized by the Science Teachers’ Association of Western Australia. The ScienceiQ quizzes test students in many areas of science including astronomy, biology, chemistry, and physics.

Teams of four students compete in ScienceIQ. Teams have one hour to complete two rounds of 15 questions. The rounds are a week apart and accessible on the website for the duration of that week. To win, a team will need to finish with the most questions correct in the least time.

See ScienceIQsample questions

Members of the winning teams will be awarded a prize from ScienceIQ. A school certificate will also be awarded to the winners school.

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