INTERNET RESOURCES

The Internet offers an enormous amount of resources for teachers of all subject areas, especially science teachers. The following list contains some resources selected especially for elementary school science teachers. The list begins with resources to help the teacher search for all sorts of information on the internet using regular and metasearch engines. It then provides a listing of sites that provide general research types of information. Finally, the list adddresses specific science resources, science lesson plans and some sites that the teacher can use to find answers to many types of science questions. It should be noted that Internet sites do change their addresses occasionally, so students are requested to please notify the instructor if any of the URL addresses are invalid.

Search engines are used to search for information on the Internet. Some regular search engines include:

• ALTAVISTA

This is a great search engine for general and educational information. You can also use AltaVista to search for pictures. Just click on AltaVista's "Images".

• YAHOO

Yahoo is one of the most popular search engines. It has a very comprehensive listing of sites. It is a great resource to help you locate something, but it is not so good for "encyclopedia" or "research" questions.

• YAHOOLIGANS

Yahoo for kids. GREAT for elementary school (K-6) students, as well as adults look for simple information. SPECTACULAR for biographical searches.

• EXCITE

Use when you are not quite sure of the exact term that you need.

• INFOSEEK

Use when you want to search more than just the Web or Usenet newsgroups.

• LYCOS

This search engine is suited to simple searches on common topics.

• SEARCH ENGINE WATCH

The best place to learn EVERYTHING about search engines. To learn how to search th wWeb, click on "Web Searching Tips" and then choose either "Search Engine Math" or "Power Searching for Anyone."


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Metasearch engines are useful for searching across other search engines. Much information can be retrieved very quickly.

• MAMMA

This search engine claims to be the mother of all search engines.

• GOOGLE

This is an excellent search engine for educational topics. Google sorts your hits based on how popular they are. In other words, how many other sites point to that particular hit.

• DOGPILE

Like MAMMA this is a great search engine for retrieving a lot of information very quickly. Dogpile sends your searches to over a dozen search engines, showing you the first ten hits from each.

• METACRAWLER

Another good search engine for general information.

• ALLTHEWEB

This is a Norwegian search engine designed for making search for information easier, faster and more precise.


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The following sites are good for researching all kinds of topics.

• REFERENCE DESK

An excellent virtual reference desk for everything from AP news to a list of over 100 different experts from whom you can get answers to questions.

• DICTIONARY

The largest scientific dictionary ever compiled is now on the web. Search from over 130,000 terms defined in 130 fields of science. Find definitions for words and terms ranging from acute triangle to zoology.

• GENERAL INFORMATION

A very useful search engine for finding people through the Internet. Not only will it find the person, but will show you a map of where they live and even the names of their neighbors.

• WHAT IS

This site is a free online encyclopedia of technology terms. The site takes a little getting used to, but if you want to know the difference between RDRAM AND DDRAM, WhatIs.com will explain it.

• ANSWERNET

A good reference site including some good science sites.

• BLUEWEB

An excellent library of good learning sites on the web. Subscribe to their free weekly updates to receive information on excellent education sites.

• PROFESSOR GIGABYTE

Professor Gigabyte's Gateway to Infinity-here you can search for just about anything in the world.

• BRITANNICA

The Encyclopedia Britannica's Internet Guide. Classifies thousands of sites. EXCELLENT.

• Ditto

A family-friendly image seach engine. The folks at Ditto look at each image before adding it to their database, and they do not link to any offensive imagery.

• TOURBUS

A wonderful resource for keeping up to date with internet activities. Sign up and receive a free e-mail news bulletins each week.

• LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Library of Congress web site.

• ERIC DATABASE

On-line access to the ERIC database of educational research.

• CLASSROOM NET

A searchable directory of educational sites and resources that offers thousands of ideas for teachers. Includes information on learning disabilities, teenage alcohol and drug abuse, assertive discipline and packets for substitute teachers, to name just a few.

• GATEWAY TO EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS

A search engine for high quality lesson plans, curriculum units, and other education resources on the Internet. Think of it as the Dogpile of lesson plans. It searches EVERYTHING.

• TIME

Get information on time and the latest most accurate time in the world. It lists current local times all over the world. Time is updated every five minutes.

• QUOTES

Good educator's web resources. Good source of motivational quotations for teachers. See also Sayings located on this website

• DISCIPLINE

Not special to science, but a discipline model for handling over 100 different misbehaviors of children at school and at home.

• MICROSOFT SAFE KIDS

Offers free Microsoft PowerPoint presentations that teach your children how to protech themselves online. A teacher's guide is also available.

• GET NET WISE

This site is the center for online child safety. It offers tips for parents and educators, reviews of filtering software, and many other online child safety resources.

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The following are good sites for science information in all areas of science.

• OSPI

This is the Office of the Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI). Download the science EALRs from the Commission on Student Learning and sign up for the Math/Science Listserv.

• NSTA

Site for the National Science Teachers Association. Become a member!

• BILL NYE

Bill Nye, the Science Guy. Science Rules!

• SEATTLE TIMES

Good information about science from the Seattle Times newspaper.

• SCIENCE FAIRS

Everything you ever wanted or needed to know about science fairs including a collection of sample science fair projects.

• SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN

Search the Scientific American magazine for some excellent science information.

• NEWTON'S APPLE

Wonderful science educational materials available from Newton's Apple Science series.

• AIMS

Learn all about Activities for Integrating Math and Science (AIMS)-a great source of hands-on activities with emphasis on primary and intermediate grades. There is an on-line catalog.

• GEMS

Learn all about Great Explorations in Math and Science (GEMS)-a good source of hands-on activities with emphasis on intermediate grades.

• NASA

Get the latest information on NASA shuttle launches from the Cape.

• VOLCANOES

Get good information about volcanoes.

• NATIONAL SCIENCE CLEARINGHOUSE

The site for the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse of Science and Math resources.

• NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

The National Geographic web site. A good resource for the classroom.

• LEARNING NETWORK

The site for the Science Learning Network. A good resource for the classroom.

• NUTRITION

An excellent site for Nutrition resources.

• ENDANGERED SPECIES

A great resource for information on endangered species.

• FRANKLIN INSTITUTE

This is the site of the Franklin Institute's (Phila.) Educational Hotlists that are organized lists of science resources on the net. A GREAT site.

• SCIENCE HISTORY

This is a site for a list of resources related to the history of astronomy, chemistry, computers, scientific instruments, math, medicine, physics, women in science and more.

• HANDS ON SCIENCE

This is a site for hands-on Science Centers worldwide with a strong emphasis on interactive science. A good resource.

• KIDS SCIENCE

This site helps children explore science with a selected set of science links for elementary children.

• 4 KIDS.COM

A great site for elementary school science and other subjects.

• ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SCIENCE

A great site that links to over 700 sites for young people including sites for science and technology. The site is maintained by the American Library Association.

• ASTRONOMY

An extensive library of on-line and interactive education resources for teaching ASTRONOMY. An excellent activity for the phases of the moon.

• INTERNET SCIENCE

A good site for resources for using the internet in science classes, esp. elementary classrooms.

• SMITHSONIAN

Smithsonian site. An electronic version of a national museum. Includes an enormous photography database as well as a collection of active learning lesson plans and classroom activities geared to upper elementary and middle school students.

• POPULAR SCIENCE

Get good science information from the popular Popular Science magazine.

• LEARNING KINGDOM

Includes games and daily features for teachers, students and families in the areas of math, science, language arts and history.

• SLUGS

Good resource for parts of a slug.

• PACIFIC NORTHWEST SLUGS

Just about everything about slugs, especially in the Pacific Northwest. It includes poems and cartoons.

• LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE

A great site for getting the latitude, longitude, elevation and other useful information for just about any city in the US or its territories.

• WEATHER

The BEST weather site on the Net. Intellicast's radar imagery is fantiastic, and their forecasts use both Fahrenheit and Celsius.

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The following are just some of the many, many science lesson plan sites on the web.

• SCIENCE LESSONS

One of the best sources for science lesson plans on the Web. It contains links to hundreds and hundreds of lesson plans and activities. Use the URL above for science lessons. For other lessons leave off the lesson.html.

• MCREL

One of the most comprehensive lesson plan directories on the web. Lesson plans are grouped by subject area.

• RICE

Good science resources including lesson plans.

• TEACHERS HELPING TEACHERS

A good site for lesson plans of all kinds.

• EXPLORATORIUM

Web site of the famous museum science learning center in San Francisco. Some excellent science activities.

• ANOTHER CANADA SITE

A collection of hundreds of great single concept science and math lesson plans.

• COLUMBIA EDUCATION CENTER

A collection of lesson plans in all subject areas from the Columbia Education Center in Portland, OR.

• BIOLOGY

Some good Biology lessons for prospective and practicing teachers.

• MORE LESSON PLANS

A good collection of lesson plans in several subject areas.

• CONNECTING STUDENTS

A good source of lesson plans and activities.

• ERIC

This site contains more than 1,000 lesson plans in all subject areas.

• INTEGRATION

Some good lesson plans for integrating literature with nutrition.

• KIT & KABOODLE

An interactive, interdisciplinary curriculum on the internet designed to help elementary students see the magic of science in their own day-to-day lives.

• FIVE SENSES

Great lesson plans for the Five Senses.

• CONSERVATION

An interactive site featuring characters that help teach kids the importance of caring for our planet and everything on it.

• VOLCANOES

Lots of information and lesson plans about volcanoes.

• SCIENCE ETHICS

CASE STUDY. Explores the scientific and ethical impacts of cloning on individuals, families and society. Teaches students to ask great questions, seek out answers and to take stands.

• WEATHER

An interdisciplinary unit related to weather for grades K-12 and includes precipitation, condensation, seasons and evaporation.

• OCEAN

INTERDISCIPLINARY. Exploring the ocean through literature for primary school children. Includes books, writing and art activities and excellent lesson plans and resources about the ocean.

• BEAKMAN'S WORLD

Based on the TV show Beakman's World. Contains some terrific science questions along with accompanying activities to find the answers to the questions.

• SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Great site for exploring science and technology.

• WACKY SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS

Spice up your science class with this museum of classical home science experiments. Some great discrepant events.

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ASK AN EXPERT

Here are some sites to help answer some of those difficult questions.

• ASK AN EXPERT

A good site for getting answers to all sorts of questions.

• ASK ANOTHER EXPERT

A good site for getting answers to all sorts of questions.

• ASK ANOTHER EXPERT

A good site for kids to use to get answers to questions. Make sure you capitalize the ICONN.

• HOW STUFF WORKS

A great place to learn about how things work in the world around us.

• BIOLOGY

Ask Dr. Science a question and you will get an answer. A good resource.

• ASK ANOTHER EXPERT

Ask questions and get answers from experts in just about any area of science imaginable. A GREAT resource.

• ASTRONOMY

Ask an Astronomy expert a question and you will get an answer. A good resource.

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OTHER RESOURCES

There are many other books, periodicals and newsletters that can serve as science resources for elementary school teachers. The following are just a few.

Books

• Abruscato, J. (2000). Whizbangers and Wonderments: Science Activities for Young People. Allyn and Bacon.

  A good selection of science activities including the explanation of the science principles involved. Integration with other subject areas is emphasized.
  
  

• Butzow, C.M. & Butzow, J.W. (1989). Science through children's literature: An integrated approach. Teacher Ideas Press.

  An excellent selection of children's picture books along with appropriate science activities for curriculum integration.
  
  

• Butzow, C.M. & Butzow, J.W. (1994). Intermediate Science through children's literature: An integrated approach. Teacher Ideas Press.

  An excellent book for using literature not simply as a motivating factor or the background for a science lesson, but as the actual basis for a science lesson.

SAYINGS

Each Educ 410 class begins with a thought or saying for the day. These sayings help to focus what is being discussed during the class session. Many of the sayings were collected from visits to elementary and middle school classrooms where they appeared on bulletin boards or posters.

• If Better is Possible, Good is Not Enough.
• Attitude is the Mind's Paint Brush. It Can Color Any Situation.
• It is in the Anwers to the Questions We Ask That Our Knowledge Exists. Aristotle
• Science is not a List of Facts or Principles to Learn by Rote; It is a way of Looking at the World and Asking Questions. F. James Rutherford
• Even If You Are On the Right Track, You Will Get Run Over If You Just Sit There.
• If You Don't Stand for Something, You Will Fall for Anything.
• Knowing is not Enough; We Must Apply. Willing is Not Enough; We Must Do. Goethe
• Teachers Affect Eternity; They can never tell where their influence stops. Henry Adams
• Our Plans Often Miscarry Because They Have No Aim. When a Person Does Not Know What Harbor They Are Making For, No Wind Is the Right Wind. Seneca
• I like my teacher because she let's us play when we are learning. 3rd Grader
• Learning is directly proportional to the amount of fun you are have.
• I have always had a curious nature; I enjoy learning, but I dislike being taught. Winston Churchill
• Any subject can be taught to any child at any age in some form that is accurate, interesting, honest and powerful. Jerome Bruner
• Nothing can be held in the head until first held in the hand. Aristotle
• People learn nothing unless they proceed from the known to the unknown. Claude Bernard
• I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand. Confucius
• Fredom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong. John Riefenbaker
• One who learns from one who is learning drinks from a running stream. Indian Saying
• It is what we learn after we think we know it all that counts.
• Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It's the only thing. Albert Schweitzer
• It is not the load that breaks you down. It's the way you carry it.
• The mediocre teacher tells; The good teacher explains; The great teacher demonstrates; The exemplary teacher inspires. William Arthur Ward
• Nobody makes a greater mistake than she who did nothing because she could do little. Edmund Burke
• Let everyone sweep in front of his own door and the whole world will be clean. Goethe
• He or she who dares to teach must never cease to learn.
• Truth often suffers by the heat of its defenders than the arguments of its opposers. William Penn
• If you would lift one up, you must be on higher ground. Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Most of us who how to say nothing, but few of us know when.
• We are usually more convinced by reasons we have found ourselves than by those which occurred to others. Blaise Pascal
• Elementary school teachers love their students. Secondary school teachers love their subjects. University teachers love themselves. Anonymous
• Life's greatest happiness is to be convinced we are loved. Victor Hugo (1802-1885