Teachers’ Domain has added 100 new resources mostly adapted from source material in the NSDL. The new resources update their Life and Physical Sciences collections as part of the site’s NSDL Pathways grant. Accompanying the resources are 10 new lesson plans. WGBH selected and developed these materials with the assistance of the curriculum development firm BSCS, Inc. and the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. The media assets came from a wide range of sources, including museums such as the Exploratorium and the American Museum of Natural History; universities such as Nebraska, Utah, Colorado, and Rutgers; organizations such as AAAS, ChemThink, and Texas Parks and Wildlife; and public television sources such as “Dragonfly TV,” “Curious George,” “Design Squad,” and “NOVA scienceNow.”

Teachers’ Domain is among the web’s most popular web resources for K-12 instructors, with more than 180,000 registered users, and it is growing at the rate of about 12,000 new registrants a month. “We’re providing teaching and learning objects designed for use in a classroom, instead of a go-to website that immerses the visitor in its subject,” says PI Ted Sicker. In addition to repackaging resources, Teachers Domain adds its own background essays, discussion questions on the subjects, and the MCREL science standards covered in the lesson. These are useful for teachers who must plan lessons that are out of their areas of expertise, says Sicker, and for others who need to update their information. The site also links back to the original resource. One resource on Snowflake Physics is taken the NSDL resource Snow Crystals. The original site is a compendium of information maintained by Caltech physicist Kenneth G. Libbrecht; the Teachers Domain resource is a Flash Interactive program that runs through types of snow crystals, how snow forms, and more in a coordinated presentation.

In addition to its Pathways project, Teachers Domain is adding resources through grants from the International Polar Year and the Hewlett Foundation. Free registration is required to view the resources.