Even though your students use electricity every day and would not want to be without it for a single day, they probably haven’t yet given much thought to its importance as an energy source. According to the National Standards for Science Education, middle schoolers should be building on their K-4 experiences with electricity and becoming […]

Few topics are easier to relate to a student’s everyday life than recycling. Many of the materials that are recyclable are used in the home and the classroom. These materials and the recycling process can be used to illustrate concepts in science. The resources here employ research techniques, games, and projects.
Recycle City
A citywide view […]

Centuries ago the Spanish named the storms that sunk their ships in the Caribbean Huracan, after the Mayan god of wind, storms, and fire. Whatever we call these tropical storms today – hurricanes, typhoons, or cyclones – we are amazed by their power to change or destroy habitats, damage property, and harm people. The National […]

With the increasing emphasis on hands-on instruction, it becomes more important than ever before for science teachers to be knowledgeable about laboratory safety issues. The National Science Education Standards say that students should have frequent opportunities to use a wide range of equipment, materials, supplies, and other resources for experimentation and direct investigation of phenomena. […]

Days and weeks designated to recognize advances or current issues in science are often accompanied by web sites that can be useful to teachers and students year-round.
Sun-Earth Day - on or near the Spring Equinox
NASA maintains this site with lesson plans, space weather centers, stunning images, an online book about observers of the skies from […]

El Niño and La Niña are disruptions of the ocean-atmosphere system in the tropical Pacific that have important consequences for weather around the globe. A major goal of science in the middle grades, according to the National Science Education Standards, is for students to develop an understanding of earth’s oceans and the effect they have […]

On March 1, 2007, teachers and students around the world are invited to help launch the International Polar Year 2007-2008 (IPY), a scientific program focused on the Arctic and the Antarctic. From March 2007 to March 2009, thousands of scientists from over 60 nations will be involved in more than 200 projects examining physical, biological […]

As students investigate such national and global issues as climate change, water shortages, deforestation, endangered species, or shifting tectonic plates, online thematic maps can connect the issues to locations. Often these maps provide supporting data. Here are some sources of thematic maps that can be useful in the science classroom.
The Map Guide
Here is a […]

Students are naturally curious about the world they live in. What better way to satisfy this curiosity than by giving them hands-on opportunities to collect data and find answers to their questions? These resources provide opportunities for students to collect data and to present and analyze their findings. These skills are an important part of […]

The National Science Education Standards (NSES) tell us that students in grades 5-8 should “begin to see the connections among . . . [energy forms] and to become familiar with the idea that energy is an important property of substances and that most change involves energy transfer.” Yet there is no explicit direction to introduce […]