Science Topics

Use science topic words to find web sites with lesson plans and activities.

Geology

1. Smithsonian Education science and technology lesson plans
   ENC Digital Dozen Site  
   Date: 2003 Grade(s): 3 - 8 Cost: Free ENC#: 014836
   This World Wide Web (WWW) site, maintained by the education department of the Smithsonian Institution, presents Web based lesson plans for grades 3 to 8 that offer activities in science. The lesson plans cover a variety of science topics, including the basics of mineral science, how things fly, and how plant and animal partners interact to accomplish pollination, as well as an interdisciplinary marine science in link with social studies.
   (For more details, see ENC Record.)
   
   
2. The National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science case collection
   Featured in ENC Focus   ENC Digital Dozen Site  
   Date: 2001 Grade(s): 9 - Post-Sec. Cost: Free ENC#: 019214
   This Internet site, maintained by the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science, offers a collection of case studies for use in undergraduate science classrooms. Designed to humanize science and to illustrate scientific methodology and values, the cases also develop students' skills in group learning, speaking, and critical thinking.
   (For more details, see ENC Record.)
   
   
3. Cosmic evolution: from big bang to humankind
   ENC Digital Dozen Site  
   Date: 2001 Grade(s): 6 - 12 Cost: Free ENC#: 026872
   This Internet site offers background information and resources to help students understand the origins of matter and life in our universe, known as cosmic evolution. Based on a course taught at Harvard University, questions from how the universe began to how humans evolved are addressed, using an interdisciplinary approach between life, Earth, space, and physical sciences.
   (For more details, see ENC Record.)
   
   
4. General Certificate of Secondary Education (G.C.S.E.): geography topics
   ENC Digital Dozen Site  
   Date: 2003 Grade(s): 6 - 12 Cost: Free ENC#: 016767
   This World Wide Web (WWW) site, maintained for grades 6 to 12 by a geography teacher in England, presents a wide range of Geography information, featuring a variety of links to other useful geography sites. The site aims to provide the widest range of Geography resources for teachers, students of all ages and anyone else interested in Geography and related scientific information.
   (For more details, see ENC Record.)
   
   
5. Earthquake
   ENC Digital Dozen Site  
   Date: 2002 Grade(s): 9 - 12 Cost: Free ENC#: 002069
   This World Wide Web (WWW) site is an interactive program designed to introduce students to the ways in which geologists locate earthquake epicenters and determine Richter magnitudes. Users begin the virtual earthquake sequence by selecting a region of initiation such as Southern California, Japan, or Mexico and receiving the seismograms from three remote locations.
   (For more details, see ENC Record.)
   
   
6. Geologylink
   ENC Digital Dozen Site  
   Date: 2004 Grade(s): 8 - Post-Sec. Cost: Free ENC#: 011386
   This World Wide Web (WWW) site, suitable for students in grades 8 to postsecondary, supplies information on current geology topics as well as basic physical geology. The Earth Today section posts current information on the latest geologic events such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions and includes a feature article section that covers topics like Icelandic volcanoes in depth.
   (For more details, see ENC Record.)
   
   
7. Dragonfly
   ENC Digital Dozen Site  
   Date: 2003 Grade(s): Pre-K - 12 Cost: Free ENC#: 009038
   This World Wide Web (WWW) site, maintained by the National Science Teachers Association and Miami University Ohio, is an online version of the magazine DRAGONFLY and combines text, graphics, and sound. Topics center around scientific research being done by both scientists and school children.
   (For more details, see ENC Record.)
   
   
8. Newton's Apple
   ENC Digital Dozen Site  
   Date: 1999 Grade(s): 6 - 9 Cost: Free ENC#: 008489
   This Internet site, designed for grades 6-9, offers educational resources for students to explore science in the world around them. The site is based on the television show, Newton's Apple, which airs on the Public Broadcasting System (PBS).
   (For more details, see ENC Record.)
   
   
9. Learning from the fossil record
   ENC Digital Dozen Site  
   Date: 2000 Grade(s): 7 - 12 Cost: Free ENC#: 019111
   This World Wide Web (WWW) site, maintained for grades K to 12, presents articles and activities designed to help teachers use paleontology in the classroom. Written by paleontologists and educators, the articles are divided into two categories: scientific literacy and educational resources.
   (For more details, see ENC Record.)
   
   
10. Mineral Information Institute (MII)
    ENC Digital Dozen Site  
    Date: 1999 Grade(s): K - 12 Cost: Free ENC#: 016447
    This World Wide Web (WWW) site, maintained by The Mineral Information Institute (MII), contains teaching materials and links for student homework help. The MII is a national not for profit organization dedicated to educating youth about the science of minerals and other natural resources as well as their importance in our every day lives.
    (For more details, see ENC Record.)
    
    
11. The GLOBE program
    Featured in ENC Focus   ENC Digital Dozen Site  
    Date: 1996 Grade(s): K - 12 Cost: Free ENC#: 009304
    This World Wide Web (WWW) site, Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) is a worldwide network of K to 12 students, teachers, and scientists working together to study and understand the global environment. Students and teachers from over 3000 schools in 39 countries are working with research scientists to learn more about our planet.
    (For more details, see ENC Record.)
    
    
12. World builders
    ENC Digital Dozen Site  
    Date: 1997 Grade(s): 9 - Post-Sec. Cost: Free ENC#: 011634
    This World Wide Web (WWW) site, designed for grades 9 to postsecondary, provides a course in which students design planets from the stellar dust through the emergence of plants and animals in balanced ecological communities. Their planets are posted on the web for all the world to share.
    (For more details, see ENC Record.)
    
    
13. Exploring the environment
    ENC Digital Dozen Site  
    Date: 1996 Grade(s): K - 12 Cost: Free ENC#: 002113
    This World Wide Web (WWW) site, maintained by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of its Classroom of the Future project, provides teachers with tools for students to become environmentally aware, and encourages students to conduct research in environmental areas. The purpose of the Exploring the Environment (ETE) project is to develop and provide high school environmental earth science course modules that feature NASA's remote sensing information.
    (For more details, see ENC Record.)
    
    
14. Hands-On Technology Program
    ENC Digital Dozen Site  
    Date: 1997 Grade(s): K - 8 Cost: Free ENC#: 011636
    This Internet site, designed for students in grades K to 8, consists of activities in the areas of science and math. The science activities are further split into several units such as sound, dinosaurs, and recycling, each of which provides experiments related to a particular subject.
    (For more details, see ENC Record.)
    
    
15. The Earth System Science Community (ESSC)
    ENC Digital Dozen Site  
    Date: 1995 Grade(s): 9 - Post-Sec. Cost: Free ENC#: 004049
    This World Wide Web (WWW) site, developed by Earth System Science Community (ESSC) in cooperation with NASA's Mission to Planet Earth and High Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) programs, serves as the online component of a curriculum designed as a holistic approach to the study of the Earth that stresses investigations of the interactions among the Earth's components in order to explain Earth dynamics, Earth evolution, and global change. The objective of the course is to develop a collective understanding of the Earth system through collaborative investigations, and develop the skills needed to practice Earth system science and contribute to the community of scientists.
    (For more details, see ENC Record.)
    
    
16. Web geological time machine
    Featured in ENC Focus   ENC Digital Dozen Site  
    Date: 1994 Grade(s): 7 - 12 Cost: Free ENC#: 004040
    This World Wide Web (WWW) site, developed by the University of California Museum of Paleontology (UCMP), contains extensive photographs of fossils from the Precambrian to the Holocene eras. The UCMP virtual exhibit halls, of which the geologic time machine is a part, provides information on Geology, Phylogeny, and Evolution.
    (For more details, see ENC Record.)
    
    
17. The geologist's lifetime field list
    ENC Digital Dozen Site  
    Date: 1996 Grade(s): K - 12 Cost: Free ENC#: 001983
    This World Wide Web (WWW) site is a list of essential or desirable locations for geologists or travelers to visit. It provides images, travel logs, articles and essays about many of the interesting geological wonders of the world, with links for most of them.
    (For more details, see ENC Record.)
    
    
18. American Geological Institute (AGI), education
    Date: 2003 Grade(s): K - 12 Cost: Free ENC#: 027658
    This Internet site, developed by the American Geological Institute (AGI), provides extensive information on geology and other Earth science topics. The resource contains a collection of links for students and teachers to explore the geosciences.
    (For more details, see ENC Record.)
    
    
19. What on Earth?: a game of Earth trivia
    Date: 2002 Grade(s): K - 8 Cost: Free ENC#: 026890
    This Internet site, from NASA, provides an interactive trivia game and content information on Earth science topics. The game consists of two rounds in which students can answer timed multiple-choice questions about such topics as land, water, and human influences on the Earth.
    (For more details, see ENC Record.)
    
    
20. Geologic age: using radioactive decay to determine geologic age
    Date: 2002 Grade(s): 7 - 12 Cost: Free ENC#: 026924
    This Internet site, part of the USGS LEARNING WEB series, provides background information and an activity for grades 7-12 that explores geologic time. Teachers can read a brief overview of how people's understanding of geologic time has changed as scientific developments occurred.
    (For more details, see ENC Record.)