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Help your elementary and middle school students learn about water quality and conservation -- and what human behaviors affect them. Explore run-off, home and garden habits, aquatic life, terminology, and more in these simple interactive pages. If it's about water, you can find it here, along with lesson plans or activities to help your students understand. One link require purchase of a CD, but there is plenty to do without spending money! Middle school activities include the activity sheets in both Word and Acrobat formats.
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Introduce the earth's different biomes with this unit, created by . Biomes include coniferous forest, deciduous forest, tropical rainforest, tundra, ocean, fresh water, desert, and the savannah. Each link includes information and pictures. Students can complete an on-line research project on a biome of their choice, using selected web resources, or they can learn the basics of biomes with the information provided in the unit. There are links to the introduction, to learn more about the project, and even a teachers link (with a TON of class activity ideas). This site does require Adobe Acrobat. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
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This Wikipedia article scientifically documents and explains the deadly Indian Ocean quake that caused staggering devastation across thirteen countries. Includes an animated image of the tsunami, a description of its characteristics, data on damage and casualties, and links to ongoing news coverage, videos, and photos.
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Join the movement to urge citizens and lawmakers to take steps to reduce global CO2 levels to the number 350. Click on the "About" tab to learn the science, hear about the actions, and view media. Participate in activities such as "Days of Action." Register and sign up for email and text messages. Tip: rather than using your personal or work email, create a free Gmail account to use for memberships. If you plan to have students register individually, you may want to create your own Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students (by code name or number) within your classes. Here is a blog post that tells how to set up GMail subaccounts to use for any online membership service. Learn from people around the world about how they are spreading the word about climate change.
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Learn about plate tectonics as you manipluate plates with the computer and watch the resulting changes in the earth's surface. Read detailed explanations with animated images. Then try the Plate Tectonics activity to manipulate the plates yourself. There is also information about the various scientists who made relevant discoveries about tectonics and what they found. The activity requires Shockwave. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page. or from the link right on the page.
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Act Green provides many avenues for students to learn about going green and to put their green ideas into action. The site includes “100 Ways to Act Green,” printables, and many other features! Join the site for free (no email address is required) and become part of the Green Team by fueling the Greenerator! Students earn points for taking green action and can even become Greeniacs! This site requires Flash and Adobe Acrobat. You can get both from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
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This website shows how the solar system rotates as time passes. Click "Visible" Solar System to start the simulation. Use the date and time controls to manipulate “time.” You can also see the skies from the ground, view the sun in relation to the earth and other planets, and more. Students will marvel at the comet simulation and the comet and eclipse predictors. The website also features information on each separate planet and alternate historical views of the solar system, including the Copernican and the Jovian. The site requires JAVA. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..
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Travel the solar system and explore using this colorful site. Choose from great missions such as "Travel the Solar system," "Space-pedia," "Space Shuttle," "A Flying Machine," "Comets," "Global Weather," and many others. (There are several pages, so don’t miss the arrows to check the others). Students can select a username from lists of Titles, first, and last names or have the name machine select one for them. View each mission for information about the topic and examples to choose from. Audio levels are easily controlled along the top right part of the screen.
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Keep updated on the constantly changing news from the tsunami-ravaged areas of South East Asia with this news page created by the BBC. Includes statistics on the devastation, information about the International relief efforts, and a step-by-step animation of how the disaster unfolded.
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This science site covers several subject areas. Lesson plan topics include Space, Weather, Earth, Oceans, and more. Projects stress collaboration and the use of technology. Great projects for teams of students.
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Find interactive activities at the online activities page from this museum. Hover over objects on the "Touch and See Room" page to view information or participate in activities. Take the restoration challenge by restoring a barren landscape back to a prairie on the "Build a Prairie" page. Try the "Life in a Diorama" activity to view the connections in an ecosystem by simply hovering over areas of the diorama. Play the "Watershed Game" by entering your name and choosing novice or one of the intermediate levels. Students earn points and can improve upon their score while learning about watersheds. This site uses Flash. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..
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This entertaining (and informational) website challenges students to design a prototype windmill. Students are provided with some background information about designing a windmill and presented with an interactive "design a windmill" challenge. The interactive activity requires Flash, get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.. There is also a teacher's link available with additional details and ideas to use in the classroom.
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SEE the relative contributions to carbon dioxide emissions country by country. Students roll the mouse over countries on a flattened world map to see what the carbon dioxide emission of each. The featured country's pertinent facts pop up, including emissions, populations, and birth/death rates. Countries are color-coded to indicate rates of carbon dioxide emissions. The pop-ups of births and deaths are fascinating (they occur in real-time). The bottom of the site includes a detailed legend; be sure to check it out. Note that spelling is Australian ("tonnes" vs "tons"). You can turn off the audio at the lower left. This site requires Flash. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
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This web activity is true history in the making! Students visit this site and learn about the new Bay Bridge - East Span that is currently being built in California. This site has three sections for students to explore. "Quake County" teaches the students the basics of Earthquakes. Topics include how to measure an earthquake and specific pictures and information about California faults. The "Engineering for Earthquakes" section challenges students to build a bridge. Highlights of the building section include safety features and testing your bridge. The final section, "Two Miles and 2,000 hands" provides the students with descriptions of 12 common occupations that are needed to complete this massive project.
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This is an environmental site and should NOT be confused with catalogchoice.COM, a consumer site FULL of advertising. Catalog Choice(.org) provides free membership to "opt out" of catalogs. Their self-described mission is "a free service that allows you to decide what gets in your mailbox. Use it to reduce your mailbox clutter, while helping save natural resources." If you teach consumer skills, basic economics, or environmental issues, this site is a real world place to visit with your students as part of your class discussions on marketing, advertising, and environmental issues caused by junk mail.
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This user-friendly site provides a detailed explanation of the water cycle and the impact of climate change on it. Students will be able to visualize the cycle by using the pictures and diagrams in conjunction with the reading. Students can follow up with the quiz/review at the end of the reading. Print is small and attention to detail is a necessity while reading this site.
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NOVA provides a wide array of information on global dimming, a crisis due to the masking effect of pollution on the true impact of global warming. See interactive timelines of global change, some creative pollution solutions, and more. There is a complete teacher's guide, including hands-on classroom activities and extensive related links. This site is a companion to the PBS television broadcast.
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Need kid-friendly online news? This safe site, written for kids, by kids, offers news from a younger point-of-view. Written in easy-to-read language, your students will enjoy reading each article. Some of the articles include short video clips. Students may leave brief comments about each article (no login required). All content is approved by an adult editor before being posted. Some difficult words are defined through an integrated dictionary. A map mash-up provides information about geographical context. For intriguing new websites that are kid-friendly, click on the Sites link at the top of the page. (Beware: Even though these sites have been pre-approved, they will take your students outside of this safe site.) Click on Earth to see a 3-dimensional Earth rotating in real geo time, where students can click on articles from around the globe. This site does require Flash. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
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If you have any hesitation that students think energy is 'uncool,' think again. Tinker Bell delights the younger students with her short video clips about energy. They will spend oodles of time exploring the many facets of this site. Click on the various types of energy from the homepage to start the exploration. Interactives, lesson plans, crafts, printable sheets, and tons of information that we all need to know to survive on this planet is handily available here. The Game link includes "Funergy," "Energy Quest," and more! Visit the Teacher's link to find over 350 lesson plans and activities (with standards). The activities are divided into three levels (grades K-4, 5-8, and 9-12). While some of the Dr. E's activities look like they are intended for a young audience, don't be fooled. Heavy information for the high school student is housed behind the "cutesy" cover. This site requires Flash and Adobe Acrobat. You can get both from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
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Learn the powerful forces that shape and change the Earth. Dynamic Earth explores the Earth's Structures, Investigating Plate Tectonics, learning about Plates and Boundaries, and how the plates Slip, Slide, and Collide. Read the information provided, click on the Interactive pictures for more information, and test your knowledge in each section with interactive activities. In the end, test your skills using an online assessment. This website requires flash. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..
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