Group items tagged

Inspired by content from the upcoming PBS series EARTH A New Wild , the Ecosystem Explorer is a collection of videos, games, and infographics designed to take students deep into the ecosystems of three thrilling animals: vultures, wolves, and sharks.

Remove "science" tag and leave the biology one, which is more specific. Use an additional tag to designate what kind of resource this is: activity, lesson, video, field trip, etc.

Inspired by content from the upcoming PBS series EARTH A New Wild , the Ecosystem Explorer is a collection of videos, games, and infographics designed to take students deep into the ecosystems of three thrilling animals: vultures, wolves, and sharks. This is such a wonderful interactive site, which allows students to explore three different animals in their world: the vulture, wolf, and shark. I selected this resource because after navigating through myself I thought how beneficial and intriguing students would see it as well. The site gives facts about why these particular animals are essential to the environment, it also provide pictures of these creatures and games. This resource could be used when students are learning about animals and how essential they are to our environment, and what habitat and how these creatures live. I enjoyed this site and think that it could be a great tool for a future classroom.

This site was created by NASA's Planetary Science Division. Their hardworking robots explore the planets and more on the wild frontiers of our solar system. NASA keeps their websites up to date and are user friendly. I would utilize this website in conjunction with a lesson on the solar system. I would pair students up and the group would use the website to explore their planet and then they would create a travel brochure using publisher. Incorporating technology into the classroom is important and this allows me to do that.

Kohl Children's Museum of Greater Chicago strives to be equally available to guests with any level of physical, visual, auditory, or cognitive challenge. This museum allows students to explore, design, build and test musical instruments to discover how sound is created through vibration. I selected this resource because it sounds like it would be an interesting place to visit on a field trip especially for younger students and it fits well with my standard 1-PS4-1 which talks about vibrating materials creating sounds. I would use this resource by taking a field trip here one day and having students explore the different instruments and the vibrations that they make. This field trip would occur after a unit of learning about sounds and vibrations.

This source gives the history of space exploration. From the first astronomers to the first shuttle launch. This website will be useful by informing the students on how humans have contributed to the solar system with knowledge and technology. I selected this website because it will be a good source for information on the history of outer space. I like this resource because I can set up groups to explore one of the four websites and report back to class. This hands on experience will help students realize it was a long and difficult journey to get to where we are in space, knowledge and technology. I could use this in not only science by history class by relating to dates of other situations in history as well as showing how Americans have progresses throughout the years in science and technology.

I really like the timelines for different periods of history as well as the depictions of insignia for the different missions to space by NASA. Great informational site for student research!

This resource houses a view of the perfect meteorology field-trip for students. The location is The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, IL. The exhibit gives loads of visuals of and scientific background for a variety of storms. The link attached is about the whole exhibit, as you click on what you would more directly want to study the website shows you how students can explore. The exhibit doesn't just cover storms, it also covers atoms and ways to harness energy. If you explore the tornado section you will get to see and manipulate a giant tornado. You also get to make your own table top tornado to explore farther. Finally they have wind tunnels you can get inside to feel the force of the wind. In the lightning section they explore charge. Not only do they get to see and hear a lightning storm inside, but they also get to experiment with magnets and levitation! There is a ton of information on fires including how some fires in nature aren't so bad. Students even get to use reactions with fire to create a fireworks display. The list of fun goes on and on! In the sunlight section solar power is discussed. Students can even watch a tsunami in a tank, and an avalanche in a disk. The exhibit is completely educational and makes many connections to the real world. I would use this to close a year in science, probably right after a unit on weather where students have studied all of the aspects of weather for at least one month. The exhibit is an awesome way for them to see what changes in weather and climate can do, and how exactly they do it. Some parts of the exhibit put a student in they eye of the storm! I had never heard of this place before but I would love to go! .

June 19, 2015 Anatomy 4D is an excellent iPad app for science teachers and students. It provides an interactive 4D experience of the human anatomy using augmented reality technology. Anatomy 4D offers an easy to use 3-dimensional learning environment ideal for classroom use. This is resource is awesome. It is another technology based resource. To use the technology the students will have to download it to a classroom iPad, but from there they are free to explore the many areas of the human body and do so in great detail. It can pinpoint a specific organ that the student wishes to learn about or that is being discussed in class and they will be able to view that organ while learning more facts; it also allows for the example to switch between male and female letting the student notice any differences or similarities. I personally navigated through this to see just what it was about and I could see so many opportunities to incorporate this application within the classroom. For example, it could be reinforcement to a teachers' lesson when discussing human anatomy and the functions of the main organs. I think it's a great tool that should be used within the class, especially since it is interactive after guided learning the student could explore on their own.

This is a link to the Missouri Botanical Garden website which makes for a great field trip. At the Missouri Botanical Garden, students explore plants from around the world and go into greenhouses. There is also a Children's Garden geared specifically toward younger students. I selected this resource because I have experience with the Missouri Botanical Garden. Kids really enjoy exploring and learning about the plants. A field trip to the gardens could be used to bolster units involving plant life, photosynthesis, and changing seasons.  I could use this resource at any grade level because the Garden does a good job at having activities for kids of various ages.

© 2012 Clipart.com To understand how and why heat is produced from things that give off light, from machines, or when one thing is rubbed against another. This lesson is intended to give students a general idea of how heat is produced from human-based activities and mechanical and electrical machines. This is great! This is a wonderful lesson designed to help students understand how heat energy occurs. It allows several hands-on opportunities for students to explore to begin have an understanding about how heat is generated. I chose this particular resource because I never personally liked learning straight from the book, and however most topics need written clarification, I love how the students can explore and witness these on their own. I could easily see myself using this lesson within the classroom. I could assign the students to conduct exploration and then have them find new items that fell into the categories of: human activity,mechanical and electrical machines.

Go on an exploration of what we're made of and how we work with this Human Body app, from Tinybop. This app will help students explore the body. I think that using this app in the classroom students will get a better understanding of the human body then just a picture. They will have an interactive experience of exploring the human body. It also shows what different aspects of your body can do, such as seeing sound waves with the ear. I think that the new technology will help students learn more efficiently.

This is an awesome interactive site. This site allows the student to guide his/her own learning while navigating throughout the solar system. It allows the user to move through the solar system and choose a planet, from there it offers several more options:pictures, recent missions, news articles, and endless facts. I could see myself using this as an exploration tool for my students, or I could potentially assign them a planet where they could use this site to gather their information. I really enjoyed exploring this site myself.

Let one of our knowledgeable Garden Guides be your class's guide to the Garden! Garden-guided school group tours are available weekday mornings from September through December, and February through May. Choose our popular 'Discover the Missouri Botanical Garden' tour to introduce your class to the Missouri Botanical Garden, learn its history and see our featured gardens and conservatories. ________ The Botanical Garden offers many field trip opportunities for students of all ages. Field trips include tours of the gardens which include, the Sensational Seed Hunt, Plants from Top to Bottom, Tropical Rain Forest, Foodology, Asian Gardens Tour, Discover the Botanical Garden, and Green is Here for Good. Each field trip is aligned to standards which explore concepts in botany, ecology and natural science. The field trip I am concentrating on is Tropical Rain Forest. During this tour, students are able to explore the rainforest which is named the Climatron at the Botanical Gardens. The tour allows students to view waterfalls, lush lowlands, approximately 1,500 different types of plants, and tropical birds. Since we don't have access to a real rainforest (and most students never will), I think it would be a great idea to allow my students to explore the Climatron. I would take my students to visit this location at the end of our unit on rain forests to make sure they are able to understand the tropics at their fullest! Taking students at the beginning of the unit would be a great way to introduce them to the topic, however, I feel they will have a better grasp and appreciation on the subject after they have already learned about it.

This lesson involves using balloons to explain the difference between a solid, liquid, and gas. Before beginning the lesson, the teacher needs to have three identical balloons--one filled with a gas, one filled with a liquid, and one filled with a solid. Students would then be allowed to explore and compare certain traits of the different balloons such as weight, texture, and fragility. After exploring these many differences with students, the teacher could then explain to them the properties of a solid, a liquid, and a gas. This activity caught my attention because it was a cheap, easy, hands-on way for students to actively explore the differences between a solid, liquid, and gas. I would use this activity as a catchy introduction to a lesson on matter. (Although the creator of this activity used it for his/her preschool-aged children, I believe that it can be a great tool for the elementary classroom as well.)

This is an interactive exploratory app for kids to learn about the human body. Instead of offering lectures, this app allows kids to go into different parts of the human body, explore, play and observe. It offers many different activities that teach children how each of the different parts in the body work and it explains some of the functions and processes that take place within the human body. One of the activities included is the exploration of a working model of the body, as every part is interactive: the heart beats, guts gurgle, lungs breathe, the skin feels, and eyes see. I think this would be a fun interactive online activity to do in the classroom with the students. It would be interesting to have a class discussion over how the students believe each body part functions and what they think it is used for. Then we could explore the human body through this app and find out more about it. I think creating a KWL chart would work perfectly when using this app in the classroom. Although this would be a great app to use in the classroom, it would also serve as a great resource to use at home as it is designed for kids to discover what we're made of and how we work!

Pocket Universe resembles many stargazing apps in it's layout, hi-def images of all the space you could ever want, but in addition to that Pocket Universe has animated planets and a customization tool for star maps. It's designed for browsing, but also for educational purposes, as it's ability to review astronomical news is built right in next to tours of planets. Pocket Universe, as a resource could provide hands-off student directed instruction extremely easily. This allows students to explore astronomy on their own, without the concern of incorrect or unknown material. I envision this app being cycled through as an activity for students to utilize after their work is finished, as well as possibly being the basis for small group projects- especially those that center around specific planets or astronomical events/news.

Pocket Universe resembles many stargazing apps in it's layout, hi-def images of all the space you could ever want, but in addition to that Pocket Universe has animated planets and a customization tool for star maps. It's designed for browsing, but also for educational purposes, as it's ability to review astronomical news is built right in next to tours of planets. Pocket Universe, as a resource could provide hands-off student directed instruction extremely easily. This allows students to explore astronomy on their own, without the concern of incorrect or unknown material. I envision this app being cycled through as an activity for students to utilize after their work is finished, as well as possibly being the basis for small group projects- especially those that center around specific planets or astronomical events/news.

This is an interactive 3D Brain application for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. This application allows individuals to use touch screens to navigate 29 interactive structures of the brain. It allows individuals to learn haw brain regions operate, what happens if they are damage, how it is linked to certain mental illnesses, etc. This is a valuable resource because I have heard of schools already using iPads in the classroom, so different biology based applications can be incredibly useful if this type of technology is available to you. If I had iPads available to be utilized by my class, this would be a great way for my students to really visualize and explore the brain if I was covering brain structure and function in my classroom. 

WOW! I love this because a large amount of students are very fluent in their technology. Having these types of apps available for students to use at all times is fantastic. Now even though it does cost, some students do have the option to purchase it at home. In classrooms with apple products, it can be used all the time for every student. This is going to be something of the future. It beats still images and allows students to interact as if a brain is right in front of them.

This is a website for the Magic House in St. Louis. It gives all of the information to plan a school field trip. It even breaks it out according to age group (grade level). This is a great resource for teachers looking for a field trip idea! The website has tons of information that any elementary educator would find very useful.

This is a link to the Magic House website. I chose this because I thought it was be a really fun and educational field trip for students. There are so many things to explore at the Magic House. A field trip to the Magic House would fit in with the sound and vibration standard I have because there is a Classic Tour for elementary grades that explores sound.

Beautiful depiction of the history of space travel. May be used to show trends in technological advances and the history of space exploration.

This website could be used in a 5th grade astronomy lesson.  This is an interactive website that students could go to to find out information on our solar system and surrounding areas. You could create a worksheet that could be a website scavenger hunt that the students would have to complete while exploring the website.

The zoo has always been one of my favorite places to visit, and the best part is that our local St. Louis Zoo is FREE! This would be such an awesome field trip for the first grade students to get to go to. What is better than learning and seeing animals up close, and personal? Students will be able to see the different characteristics of each animal, and where they live for their habitat. They may even be able to take a tour where they can touch different animals to know what they feel like. I hope to get to go to the zoo with my future class! I know the students will love it, and will also love the self-exploration aspect of this awesome field trip.

This site has it all! Everything that a teacher could possibly ask for when it comes to teaching space in the classroom. It includes projects, games, images, videos, lessons, and facts about the planets, and quizzes. I picked it because of the numerous amount of ideas and the various ways to teach it. This would even be a site that I could reccommend to parents as a resource for them to use at home. In the classroom, I could allow some students to explore this site on their own if they finished homework early or have free time.