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A role-playing game which highlights what we can do to make a better world by being citizen scientists. Take the character on a science adventure and follow the clues to complete the missions. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Science

Alternative assessments provide you opportunities to determine the true level of understanding your students have regarding science and math concepts. These tools improve the learning environment for your students, along with your assessment of their real understanding.

Join host Bob McDonald each week to find out the latest in science, technology, medicine and the environment. We cover every aspect of science, from the quirks of the expanding universe to the quarks within a single atom...and everything in between.

A great site with some lovely flash based, age specific games and resource for topics across the science curriculum. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Science

Finland is an innovator in education and now they're doing it again. Schools need a facelift. If you're building a new school - rethink school. I'd look at the designs. Also, Ewan McIntosh wrote a great "7 spaces of schools" that is in the "Choice" chapter for those of you have bought my book Flattening Classroom, Engaging Minds - he talked about this on a boat in South Africa with me 2 years a go and is an expert to follow in the area of school design. "Finnish students consistently have placed among the top countries on the Program for International Student Assessment, which gauges 15-year-old students' ability to understand and transfer concepts in reading, mathematics, and science. For example, in the most recent mathematics assessment, in 2009, Finnish students scored 54 points higher than their American peers on a scale of zero to 1,000. Pasi Sahlberg, the director general of the Center for International Mobility and Cooperation at Finland's education ministry, attributes the nation's academic achievement to a three-fold approach: quality of the academic curriculum, equity in educational access, "and the third one is the environment. How the environment and design of the school is supporting students' learning. When we combine these three things we can say something about the overall goodness of the school system."

A 7th grade student gives a tour of her personal learning environment. This project was conducted as part of dissertation research implementing the use of networked learning and construction of personal learning environments in a 7th grade life science class.

Remember one thing as you look at these scores - not all students are tested in many countries and in many countries only the brightest go to school. In my opinion, these tests have some serious flaws. For example, I don't play cricket - my scores would be low -- I don't know that I'm so upset about that. While math, science, and reading are important -- standards vary greatly between countries -- so unless we're going to prep for PISA scores. Also on another note -- comparing "Shanghai to nations makes me wonder - I'm sure there are certain cities in the US that would do very well on such a test. Anyway, I want to look deeper, but I think before we rattle cages and get too upset, the report should be looked at deeply but not only the report - but the test. I remember getting upset that my kindergartener scored in the 60th percentile on "environment" only to see that he missed that a judge was supposed to be a guy in a grey wig (who does that) and couldn't identify a subway turnstile (we live in a town of 5,000). Since that time, I always want to see the test. Lots of people will be talking about this so look at it and be prepared to answer questions. This is the post from Aljazeera so you can see what other countries are saying about the report. "Asian countries have topped the rnakings in a global education report which evaluates the knowledge and skills of 15 and 16-year-olds around the world. The report by Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), published on Tuesday, shows that children from Asian nations continue to outshine their western counterparts in maths, science and reading. The city of Shanghai topped the table in the three-yearly reported which tested more than 510,000 students in 65 countries. Children in Shanghai were, on average, the equivalent of nearly three years of schooling ahead of the majority of nations tested."

Article describing real science being done in virtual environments. Excellent read. Also discusses use of second life as an educational tool.

An amazing set of resources to explore the world's oceans in a 3D virtual environment. Swim with killer whales or drift along and watch sea turtles cruise by. You can even complete missions, including exploring the deepest place in the oceans. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Science

"The importance of offering a broad curriculum within the school system cannot be over-stated, allowing students to explore a range of topics that spark their interest, and potentially inspire them to follow a career path that can have a positive impact on their lives, society and the environment. STEM activities (built around Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) offer a broad range of opportunities, opening up the potential of enquiry based learning that is relevant to the world we live in. Many education systems globally place a great emphasis on a STEM curriculum for all students, no matter of age, race, gender or ability, but what STEM based activities work best in your setting, helping students see the world differently, and potentially inspiring to enter STEM careers of the future?"

"You might be surprised at how much water it takes to bring that hamburger to your plate or oto make your favorite t-shirt. Compare apples to oranges, beer to wine, wind power to coal and see how your choices add up"

forces of nature, video and information from National Geographic

An investigation into the cost of junk mail on society and the environment caused by the junk mail delivered to homes on a daily basis over a given period of time.

A notetaking site that turns notes into flashcards from Jason Urton. "I am currently working towards a masters in Computer Science at Brandeis University and have developed a site (http://zen.do) with a few friends that I think can help students in certain learning environments with personalized/optimized learning. Our goal is to offer a tool that allows students to take notes as they normally would while automatically building a study guide of related flashcards. When students review the cards, we use a memory decay model and a Google-style pagerank algorithm to optimize their review time. This allows students to spend their study time as effectively as possible."

Sophia is a free social teaching and learning platform that offers academic content to anyone, anywhere, free of charge. The website, which has been described as a mashup of Facebook, Wikipedia, and YouTube that is focused solely on education, also lets educators supplement their instruction with tools to create a customized learning environment in a private or public setting. Sophia.org has enhanced its social teaching and learning platform to include more than 25,000 free tutorials on math, science, English, and more-all in an ad-free environment. What's more, the site has become a key destination for teachers who are looking to "flip" their classrooms, its makers say.

Mostly middle school and up, has a learning preferences survey, like Khan Academy

Interactive Science website.

The California Water Boards Water Quality Service Learning Program Web site is designed to introduce teachers to an innovative student-centered science investigation focused on California's growing problem of polluted runoff. The resources are designed to be used with students enrolled in grades 4 through 6.

"Teachers in England are being invited to join a professional development opportunity through EarthEcho International sponsored by the Northrop Grumman Foundation. The 'EarthEcho Expeditions: What's the Catch?' programme leverages the rich Cousteau legacy of exploration and discovery to bring Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education alive for today's 21st-century learners and their educators. The free, expenses-paid opportunity is planned to allow secondary school teachers to participate as Expedition Fellows to learn first-hand from scientists and engineers the consequences of fisheries mismanagement and how this can be changed for the better with new technological approaches and discoveries."

Earth Day is April 22. Here are lesson plans for Earth Day that you can then use to tie into Arbor Day the next week. Environment, sustainability are both important topics that should be discussed in every school.