Join Jessica Fries-Gaither and Kim Lightle for a free webinar Tuesday, April 28, 2009 at 3:30pm EST as we discuss global warming and the polar regions. We’re going to highlight resources from the Middle School Portal 2: Math & Science Pathways project, Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears online magazine, and the National Science Digital Library […]

This blog post was written by middle school technology, math, and science teacher Tom Jenkins who is also a Teacher Leader for the Middle School Portal 2: Math & Science Pathways social network.
If you were to have walked into my classroom today, you would have seen preteens creating cartoons or even their own videogames. How […]

Many students never really understand volume or surface area, although they can memorize the formulas and even apply them on tests. These resources have been selected with an eye to helping students enter into the concepts of volume and surface area through practical problems, hands-on experiences, and applets they can manipulate to actually see how […]

This article was written by David Hayward and originally published in the April 2009 Integrating Technology column of Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears, an online magazine for elementary teachers. All versions of this article are licensed under a Creative Commons License.
A social bookmarking web site could change the way you do your job! Bookmarking services […]

You may have heard tales of hidden math treasure out there on the World Wide Web, but how to find it for your middle school classroom? Consider this blog post a treasure map, with X marking five sites that we’d like to recommend for productive digging. At each you will find activities, lessons, or projects that […]

We’ve got four free professional development webinars coming up in the month of April. The first two are specifically for middle school math and science teachers. The second two are for elementary teachers but plenty of the content would be appropriate for older students. Librarians and media specialists, science specialists, informal educators, and others will […]

You’ve probably heard that Redoubt, a volcano 100 miles southwest of Anchorage, Alaska, has been erupting intermittently since March 22. I used to live in Anchorage, so I’ve been keeping up with the volcano’s activity via the Alaska Volcano Observatory web site. I’m thankful that I’m not there to deal with the major hazard – […]

Recently, a reader asked for ideas on teaching about solar-powered lights. She wrote:

I would like to find an activity that utilizes the solar panels from garden solar lights. I know that I could probably find many broken solar lights and was wondering if anyone has any ideas? Electricity and solar panels are not my […]