Summary via The Scout Report (May 2012): "The earth sciences encompass a range of fields, including geology, meteorology, and other areas of inquiry. This website features a range of lesson plans and activities that cover these fields, designed for both high school and college classrooms. In total, there are over two dozen activities here divided into sections such as Rocks & Minerals and Earthquakes & Volcanoes. The Rocks & Minerals area is a particularly rich vein of pedagogical material. It features a mineral identification lab session and a lesson plan that probes the world of igneous rocks. Moving along, the site also includes engaging materials on the formation of clouds, atmospheric pressure, and a humorous lesson plan on thunderstorms. [KMG]"
"On October 10, 2010 (10.10.10), across the planet, documentary filmmakers, students, and inspired citizens will record the human experience over a 24-hour period and contribute their voice to the largest participatory media event in history.
Founded in 2008, ONE DAY ON EARTH is creating an online community, shared archive, and film. Together, we will showcase the amazing diversity, conflict, tragedy, and triumph that occur in one day. We invite you to join our international community of thousands of filmmakers, hundreds of schools, and dozens of non-profits, and contribute to this unique global mosaic. Through the One Day on Earth platform, we will establish a community that not only watches, but participates."
"Oxford's renowned biologist Richard Dawkins puts the history of life on earth in perspective, using simply a piano. This short video is a great jumping off point for this brilliant lecture Dawkins gave back in 1991. It's called "Waking Up in the Universe, Growing Up in the Universe," and the 57-minute video pulls you deeper into some big questions. What's the origin of life? Where do we fall in the scheme of life on planet Earth? What's our role in the larger universe? And how lucky are we to have the brains and tools to understand the awesome wonders that surround us? "
This is an interactive where students can set up scenarios for a meteor hitting the earth. They can set projectile parameters, impact parameters, target parameters and distance from impact to calculate the impact of a, hopefully theoretical, meteor.
The United Nations declared 2010 to be the International Year of Biodiversity. It is a celebration of life on earth and of the value of biodiversity for our lives. The world is invited to take action in 2010 to safeguard the variety of life on earth: biodiversity
David Suzuki explains exponential growth in a fascinating way -- and relates it to resources and Earth -- The film starts out with everyone watching being asked how they would spend one extra minute. At the end of the film, you then get to see how everyone answered... Excellent but depressing (if we are in the last minute (so to speak)) if it's too late for science to save us...
"HighWire Press is the largest archive of free full-text science on Earth! As of 11/30/12, we are assisting in the online publication of 2,121,227 free full-text articles and 6,690,060 total articles. There are 35 sites with free trial periods, and 61 completely free sites. 283 sites have free back issues, and 1342 sites have pay per view!
"
A video for kids discussing life on earth looked at in numbers, e.g., how many of each species, the heaviest biomass by species, by individual organism, etc. A new series.
"That said, even if further evidence backs it up, the idea that the inner core is in a continuous cycle of self recreation probably won't matter that much to the landscapes and ecosystems doing similar things 5,000 kilometres further out. The effect is more one of underlining an aesthetic, or even an ideology, of the planet as an engine of ceaseless self-stabilising change. Such an ideology may serve as a useful guide to dealing with the unavoidable impacts that a large technological civilisation must have on the planet it inhabits: while caution counsels minimising such impacts, a sense of how the planet works suggests that making sure its natural systems can deal with them, that they can become part of the flow, could matter just as much."
"Welcome to the AAAS Project 2061 Science Assessment Website
The assessment items on this website are the result of more than a decade of research and development by Project 2061, a long-term science education reform initiative of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Here you will find free access to more than 600 items. The items:
Are appropriate for middle and early high school students.
Test student understanding in the earth, life, physical sciences, and the nature of science.
Test for common misconceptions as well as correct ideas.
This website also includes:
Data on how well U.S. students are doing in science and where they are having difficulties, broken out by gender, English language learner status, and whether the students are in middle school or high school.
"My Item Bank," a feature that allows you to select, save, and print items and answer keys.
Intended primarily for teachers, these assessment items and resources will also be useful to education researchers, test developers, and anyone who is interested in the performance of middle and high school students in science."