Science

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[|Helping Your Children Learn Science] offers a dozen fun learning activities parents can use at home to help children (ages 3-10) learn about bubbles, bugs, surface tension, adhesives, friction (using gelatin), volume (using measuring cups), static electricity (using balloons), cause and effect (using plants), chemical reactions (using cake), and more. (Department of Education) [|Everyday Mysteries] provides illustrations and explanations to help us understand: Why are summers hot and winters cold? What does "the universe is expanding" mean? How does GPS work? Why do boomerangs come back? How does static electricity work? What causes the sound of thunder? How does sunscreen work? Why does hair turn gray? Why does chopping an onion make you cry? Why and how do cats purr? (Library of Congress) [|Exploratorium Online] features dozens of online learning activities and exhibits. Make a mold terrarium, pinhole projector, telescope, or hair hygrometer. Explore the brain, biodiversity, Antarctica, DNA, frogs, structures, or illusions. Learn about magnetism, electricity, motors, eyeballs, perception, Mars, chocolate, seasonings, or the science of cooking, sports, and music. Search over 3,000 photos and movies. Watch webcasts of science demonstrations by teachers. (National Science Foundation) [|Accidental Scientist: Science of Cooking] looks at the science behind food and cooking. Learn about what happens when you eat sugar, bake bread, cook an egg, or pickle foods. Find out how muscle turns to meat, what makes meat tender, and what gives meat its flavor. Take tours of breads and spices of the world. Explore your sense of taste and smell. (Exploratorium, National Science Foundation) [|Utah Agriculture in the Classroom Lesson Plans] Free lesson plans that meet Utah and National Science Standards. [|National Geographic Volcanoes and Earthquakes Lesson Plan] [|Volcano World] is a source for information about volcanoes. This site offers links organized by region, country/area, volcano name, and descriptions. (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) [|Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco] Excellent information about the San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906 [|Before and After the Great Earthquake and Fire, 1897-1916] provides 26 films of San Francisco from before and after the Great Earthquake and Fire. The earthquake struck on April 18, 1906, along the San Andreas Fault, damaging most central California cities and killing more than 3,000 people. These films show Market Street, Chinatown, a parade, San Francisco viewed from a balloon, and vast devastation from the 8.3 magnitude earthquake and 3-day fire. (Library of Congress) [|Quake: 1906 San Francisco Earthquake] tells why the April 18, 1906, earthquake along the San Andreas Fault was "one of the most significant earthquakes of all time." See photos, eyewitness accounts, the 1906 seismogram, and casualty and damage statistics. Learn about the flurry of scientific investigation unleashed by the quake and the advances that followed. (U.S. Geological Survey) [|Discovery Channel Extreme Earth] Earthquakes, volcanoes, mudslides, avalanches [|Summary of St. George 1992 Earthquake] Includes newspaper articles, personal accounts, and pictures in addition to earthquake data. [|The Earthquake Hazards Program] offers frequently asked questions about earthquakes, research on earthquakes, and more. Visitors can follow recent seismic acitivity around the world, view hazard maps, or learn what a geophysicist does. (U.S. Geological Survey) [|Disasters] looks at research that helps anticipate disasters and minimize their effects. Learn about research on hurricanes, earthquakes, and volcanoes. See what scientists are discovering about how and when tornadoes will form. Watch a simulated fire spread up a hill. (National Science Foundation) [|Tsunamis and Earthquakes] uses animation and virtual reality to show how tsumanis are generated by earthquakes. Learn about tsunami research and mitigation efforts -- how sediments are transported by a tsunami, how researchers decipher the geologic record of prehistoric tsunamis, and the seismograph network of the west coast tsunami warning system. (U.S. Geological Survey) [|Real-Time Information] helps ensure that critical information needed by emergency forecasters and managers during extreme events is available. See "live" views of volcanoes around the world, weather images, geologic and mineral resource information, national flood-threat forecasts, and streamflow information. (U.S. Geological Survey) [|Nature's Fury] invites students to read personal accounts of natural disasters in the U.S. during the late 1800s and early 1990s -- the great Chicago fire (1871), the Johnstown Flood (1889), the San Francisco earthquake and fire (1906), the Titanic (1912), the 1918 Flu Epidemics, the Dust Bowl (1930s-40s). Students research a disaster and create a presentation in which they assume the role of a witness to the event. (Library of Congress) [|1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire] provides photos, letters, and other documents about one of the most devastating natural disasters in U.S. history. Although it lasted only about a minute, the quake and its fires left over 500 city blocks in ruins and more than half of San Francisco's population homeless. (National Archives and Records Administration) [|USGS Videos and Animations] offers animations and videos for teaching earth science. Topics include earthquakes, earth's magnetic field, landslides, plate tectonics, tsunamis, urban growth and land use, volcanoes, water, wind and hurricanes, energy sources, earth's crust, glacier changes, coral reefs, wetland loss, sea floor, hydrocarbons, rock-water interactions, Antarctic fly-over, plate tectonics, polar bears, salmon, ducks, grizzly bears, whooping cranes, alligators, bats, how scientists "do science," and more. (U.S. Geological Survey) [|Virtual Courseware] demonstrates fundamental concepts related to earthquakes and global warming. Learn how to find the epicenter of an earthquake, how to determine richter magnitude, and how rocks are dated. Interactive tutorials explain the carbon cycle, water cycle, greenhouse effects, seasons, Milankovitch cycles, and albedo. Animations, inquiry-based activities, and assessments are provided. (California State University, Los Angeles, National Science Foundation) [|Cascades Volcano Observatory] provides answers to questions about volcanoes, an educator's guide to "Living with a Volcano in your Backyard," information about volcanoes in America's past (by state), how scientists study volcanoes, how to become a volcanologist, careers, and more. (U.S. Geological Survey) [|This Dynamic Earth: The Story of Plate Tectonics] is an online book that introduces the theory of plate tectonics. It includes topics such as understanding plate motions, historical perspective, and more. (U.S. Geological Survey) [|Park Geology Tour: Geologic Features] offers geologic field notes, maps, and photographs of the national parks. The site is organized around 14 thematic areas, such as fossils, plate tectonics, and volcanoes. (National Park Service) [|Exploring Earth: Investigations] provides more than 75 earth science investigations. Each presents photos and text (and sometimes video) that help students understand key earth science concepts. Among the topics: earth's layers, rocks, volcanoes and plate tectonics, earthquakes and mountains, surface and ground water, wind and currents, atmosphere and weather, climate change, oceans, our moon and solar system, and earth's history. (National Science Foundation) [|Exploring Earth: Visualizations] features over 100 animations and images that illuminate key concepts in earth science. Examples are: coal formation, nuclear fission, growth of a continent, tectonic plate movement, volcanoes and earthquakes, fault motion, geyser eruption, wave motion, tornadoes, hurricanes, and more. Students can observe a single place on earth from multiple views, 3-D models of water and common molecules, different climate zones, and seasonal changes in the amount of sunlight reaching locations on earth. (National Science Foundation) [|Digital Library for Earth System Education] is a geoscience community resource that supports teaching and learning about the Earth system. Find thousands of reviewed resources on topics that include atmospheric science, biology, chemistry, climatology, cryology, ecology, environmental science, forestry, geography, geology, mineralogy and petrology, hydrology, mathematics, natural hazards, ocean sciences, physics, soil science, and space science. (National Science Foundation) [|Teach the Earth] offers hundreds of teaching activities, visualizations, and resources for teaching earth science. Categories include biosphere, climate change, energy/material cycles, geology and human health, geochemistry, hydrosphere and cryosphere, mineralogy, ocean systems, petrology, solar system, and earth history. Special sections are provided on using data and teaching quantitative skills. (Science Education Resource Center, National Science Foundation) [|Geology of National Parks] [|Viewing 3D Geology of National Parks] [|Geologic Information] [|Geology at the U.S. Geologic Survey] provides resource collections and maps for studying earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, wildfires, and other natural disasters, as well as rocks and minerals, plate tectonics, earth's interior, fossils, coastal wetlands, deserts, the carbon cycle, climate change, and the solar system. Learn about the San Andreas fault system, the life cycle of a mineral deposit, fire ecology research, big floods in the U.S., and more. (U.S. Geological Survey) [|Visible Earth] is a searchable directory of images, visualizations, and animations of Earth. Topics include soils, clouds, storms, hurricanes, droughts, precipitation, vegetation, oceans, sea ice, human population, land use, erosion, fires, rocks, minerals, regions, and countries. (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) [|Earth System, Structure, and Processes] provides video clips and interactive resources for learning about biogeochemical cycles, earth's changes and history, earth's surface and internal processes, energy, natural resources, the rock cycle, and soil structure and formation. Find lessons on wind power, earthquakes, environmental change, plate tectonics, recycling and composting, the scientific process, seasons, and volcanoes. (Teachers' Domain, Multiple Agencies) [|Teaching Geoscience with Visualizations] features collections of dozens of animations for teaching geoscience topics -- atmosphere, biosphere, climate, earth's surface, energy and material cycles, geology, human dimensions, hydrosphere and cryosphere, hydrology, ocean, solar system, solid earth, earth history, and more. Learn what makes an effective visualization and best practices for using visualizations in the classroom. (Carleton College, National Science Foundation) [|USGS Publications] offers 40 online booklets on geology-related topics: acid rain, birth of mountains, building stones of our nation's capital, changing continents, collecting rocks, deserts, earth's interior, earthquakes, fossils, gemstones, geologic history of Cape Cod, geologic time, glaciers, gold, the Ice Age, San Andreas fault, and volcanoes. (U.S. Geological Survey) [|Earth Science Quiz] poses questions about volcanoes, three kinds of rocks, earth's layers, and more. (U.S. Geological Survey) [|Rock Cycle Animations] shows common rock-forming processes. See magma crystallize to form igneous rock, rock erosion to create sediment, transportation of sediment, deposition of sediment to create sedimentary rock, and the creation of a metamorphic rock. Animations can be paused and rewound to stress important points. (Carleton College, National Science Foundation) [|Rocks and Images] is an introduction to rock collecting. Read about the three kinds of rocks -- igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic -- and the Earth processes that formed them. Find out how to start a rock collection, where to find rocks, and the equipment you'll need. (U.S. Geological Survey) [|Minerals, Crystals, and Gems: Stepping Stones to Inquiry] introduces students to mineral science and the scientific process -- observing things, forming hypotheses, and drawing conclusions. Students watch crystals grow, go on a scavenger hunt for minerals, and create a classroom exhibit of rocks and minerals (for Grades 3-8). (Smithsonian Institution) **Biomes and Land Use** [|Kids Pages] is a gateway to information from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. From this page, students can find sites on nutrition, soil conservation, aquaculture, farming, forest fires, and more. (Department of Agriculture) [|Land Use History of North America] examines how we have used land since the 1700s and how the land has changed. Topics include population settlement and farmland, urban sprawl and soil resources, flora species, urbanization in the Baltimore-Washington corridor, landcover changes in the Great Lakes region, vegetation along the upper Mississippi River, biodiversity in the Yellowstone ecosystem, and landscape changes in the Southwest. (U.S. Geological Survey) [|Geography: U.S. Geological Survey] provides online maps and map tools. Find maps that are popular with teachers, tools for teaching students how to read maps (and make them), resources on land use (changing landscapes), satellite images related to the journey of Lewis and Clark. Design your own map to display boundaries, geographic names, transportation systems, water, land cover, climate, and geology. (U.S. Geological Survey) [|U.S. Geological Survey: Education] is an earth science education resource offering information on plants and animals, land, water, and maps. The site features a list of U.S. Geological Survey educational materials, activities and lessons for the classroom, and information about careers in the natural sciences. (U.S. Geological Survey) **Water Cycle** [|Water Cycle] examines the movement of water across (and below and above) earth's surface. Among the topics: condensation, evaporation, freshwater storage, ground-water storage and discharge, infiltration, precipitation, snowmelt runoff to streams, springs, streamflow, surface runoff, transpiration, water in the atmosphere, ice and snow, and oceans. A diagram and text summarizing the water cycle are available in more than 30 languages. (U.S. Geological Survey) [|Water Resources Education Resources] is a collection of classroom activities that teach students about the properties of water. There is an interactive center where students can give opinions and test their water knowledge, "FrogWeb," which focuses on amphibian declines and deformities, free education posters on wetlands and water use, and more. (U.S. Geological Survey) [|BioEd Online] features lessons on the **water cycle** and global warming, the X chromosome, sleep and daily rhythms, muscles and bones, and food and fitness. Experts offer presentations (streaming videos) on classification, cloning, viruses, infectious diseases, animal behavior, Mendelian genetics, genomes, sleep and performance, body systems, childhood obesity, asthma, ecosystems, populations, nutrition and energy, and more. Articles discuss biology news -- stem cells, bird flu, and more. (Baylor College of Medicine, Multiple Agencies) [|Water Science for Schools] provides information on dozens of water topics: what makes water water, how much water is there on earth and where, how water quality and stream flow are measured, the water and water-use cycles, national maps showing how water is used by state, surface and ground water, pesticides in ground water, aquifers, glaciers and icecaps, and more. (U.S. Geological Survey) **Fossils** [|Making Fossil Casts] **Human Body** [|Yucky Gross and Cool Body] [|The Body Explained] [|BioEd Online] features lessons on the water cycle and global warming, the X chromosome, sleep and daily rhythms, muscles and bones, and food and fitness. Experts offer presentations (streaming videos) on classification, cloning, viruses, infectious diseases, animal behavior, Mendelian genetics, genomes, sleep and performance, body systems, childhood obesity, asthma, ecosystems, populations, nutrition and energy, and more. Articles discuss biology news -- stem cells, bird flu, and more. (Baylor College of Medicine, Multiple Agencies) **Space** [|Ask an Astronomer for Kids] provides answers and photos for 200 common questions about astronomy and objects in space. Topics include planets, stars, the solar system, comets, asteroids, galaxies, and the night sky. (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) [|NASA Multimedia] [|Moon] [|Interactive Sky Chart] Print sky/star charts for your area for a specific day [|Star Gazing Basics] [|Interactive Star Chart] [|Tonight's Sky] is a monthly stargazing guide providing information about constellations, deep sky objects, planets, and events. (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) [|MarsQuest Online] invites students to launch a spacecraft to Mars, pilot a "flyover," explore the Red Planet's canyons and volcanoes, drive a Mars Rover, and see the latest photos. (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) [|Amazing Space] consists of web-based educational presentations for young children about space, which were developed at the Space Telescope Science Institute. Teachers teamed up with scientists and engineers from the institute and staff members from the Office of Public Outreach to develop interactive lessons. All lessons include spectacular photographs taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and many high quality graphics, videos, and animation designed to enhance student understanding and interest. (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) [|Planetary Photojournal] is a photo album of the universe. See images of the planets. Look through the Hubble telescope at nebulae far beyond our galaxy. Watch a video of the Mars rovers or catch up on news about space surveillance technology. Use the solar system simulator to view celestial bodies from various perspectives: from above or below, from an orbiting spacecraft, or from another planet. (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) [|Observatorium] offers hundreds of photos of the earth, planets, stars, and other celestial bodies, as well as stories behind the images. Find lessons and activities for learning about earth as a system, how space programs help reveal earth's changes, and deep space exploration, astronomy, and the origins of life. (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) [|Space Week ideas] During the month of October on the 4th through the 10th, National Space week occurs. This link offers several ideas and resources to order and view to give you ideas to make the week a success. [|Earth's Magnetic Field] is the focus of the POETRY website, which explores solar storms and how they affect us, space weather, and the Northern Lights. A 64-page workbook of hands-on activities examines Earth's magnetosphere. Create a classroom magnetometer. Solve the space science problem of the week. (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) [|Motions and Forces] provides video clips and interactive resources for learning about electricity and magnetism, forces between objects, gravity, objects in motion, tension and compression, and velocity and acceleration. Find lessons on electric circuits, Galileo, gravity and falling objects, kinetic and potential energy, making waves with the electromagnetic spectrum, and shapes that make structures strong. (Teachers' Domain, Multiple Agencies) **Matter** [|Matter] provides video lesson, video clips, and interactive resources for learning about air, atoms, atomic basis of the properties of matter, atomic nucleus, chemical change, chemical reactions and electrons, cosmology, periodic table, properties of matter, properties of objects and materials, sinking and floating, and solids, liquids, and gases. (Teachers' Domain, Multiple Agencies) **Heredity/Inherited Traits** [|Genetic Science Learning Center] University of Utah Genetics Center. Includes great [|lesson plans]. [|Inherited Human Traits: A Quick Reference] [|Inherited Traits: Wyoming Science and Mathematics] [|Take Inventory of Your Genetic Traits] [|Peanut Butter Broccoli--Creating New Produce from Genetic Selection] [|Paint's Family Tree] [|Rock, Paper, Scissors--Dominant and Recessive Traits from Parent to Offspring] [|Agriculture in the Classroom: Utah State University Extension: Heredity Lesson Plans] [|Handy Family Tree] Excellent Home Connection Activity about inherited vs. learned/acquired traits
 * Links**
 * Volcanoes and Earthquakes and other Natural Disasters **
 * Plate Tectonics **
 * Geology **
 * Rock Cycle **
 * Magnets **