Comparative Anatomy in Pictures

eSkeletons is a great site for viewing skeletal models.  There are a number of mammalian skeletons that you can choose from and can even look at a specific bone.  While there are many sites that will allow you to view models of the skeleton, what I like about this site is that you can easily compare comparable bones of different organisms. 

It is a good website to add to your anatomy toolkit.

Interactive Periodic Table with Pictures

Elements.wlonk.com is the home to The Periodic Table of Elements, in Pictures and Words.  It is an interactive site where students can click on elements to see how it used and in what commons prodcuts it is found. For example, if you click on calcium an image of seashell appears along with a list of other places it is found.

In addition to the interactive page, you can also print out a copies or purchase a high quality poster.  

This is something that I would use in both my middle and high school classrooms.  Students often think they know what things are made of, but it would be eye opening for them to see what elements are really in the items they use every day.  Connections like these provide a better understanding and enhance learning. 

What would you ask an Astronaut?

WonderWorks is hosting an “Ask An Astronaut” online event, where retired NASA astronaut Dr. Don Thomas will answer questions that have been submitted by the public. Teachers and students are encouraged to submit their questions now, and Dr. Thomas will answer as many as he can in a video interview that will be shared on social media on October 2, 2021 at 10 a.m. EST.

All these questions and many more will be answered when Dr. Thomas hosts the Q&A session that will be posted on WonderWorks’ social media. Teachers are encouraged to have students submit questions and watch the event. To submit a question for Dr. Don Thomas, visit the site: https://www.wonderworksonline.com/survey/.

Frog Dissection App

I have found that fewer and fewer schools are offering dissections as part of their Biology/Life Science curriculum.  There are many reasons that this might be, but I still feel that students are missing out by not being able to do them.  The next best thing is doing dissection in person, which is to do a virtual dissection.  There are many options out there and depending on why type of tech you have in your classroom, there are various choices you have.

If you use iPads in your classroom, I recommend the Frog Dissection app. It is not a free app, but I think that it's worth it.  It's $3.99 which is a bit steep for an app, especially if you have to purchase 10-15 licenses.  The good thing is that you only have to make the purchase once.  Luckily Apple offers a volume purchase discount.  Ask your IT department if your school is signed up.

Do you do dissections in your classroom? 

Living Things and Cells Review Game

Finding a middle school science review game that your kids enjoy, but is also content based can sometimes be a challenge.  This is a Jeopardy style game is set up as a PowerPoint. It corresponds with the unit on Living Things and Cells from the Prentice Hall Science Explorer Series. Do you find it difficult to find ways to review with your students that is fun, but also actually reviews the material?  I have have always found game show like review games to be fun for students and also effective in reviewing.  There are so many times when I hear my students say something like "I totally forgot about that!"  While it makes me sad to hear it, I am also happy that I am doing this review so that students get an idea of what areas that they still need to focus on. I hope that you will check out this freebie.  You might also be interested in a Cell Project (another one of my freebies). Happy Sciencing! Cristina from Savvy Secondary Science

Playground Physics: Learning Science Through Play

Playground Physics is a middle-school science program that blends physical play with virtual activities to support inquiry-based learning aligned to Next Generation Science Standards. Students discover and explore the physics in their everyday lives through their physical play.

There are three components of Playground Physics: an app, a teacher activity guide, and professional development.

Using the app, they record a video of themselves playing, and then tap points along the way to trace a path of motion, and discover the motion, forces, and energy involved!

Students then analyze the data in their play performances via app-generated graphs and lenses focused on energy, force, and motion. Click on the video below to see it work.

Noticing Tools(TM): Playground Physics from NYSCI on Vimeo.


Learn more and sign up to try this app on the Playground Physics Website.

What a magic school bus can teach us about science education

A school bus full of third graders sits stranded, submerged in a dense, sticky substance with no way to escape. Then someone comes up with an idea. They add baking soda to a vial of vinegar and top it with a balloon. The mixing of the two substances causes an immediate chemical reaction that produces carbon dioxide, inflating the balloon and lifting them to safety. Ms. Frizzle’s students have once again used science to get them out of a jam -- this time in the form of a cake.

Twenty years ago, four-year-old Alex Peterson was on the edge of her seat watching Ms. Frizzle and her class escape from being baked inside a cake on the "Ready, Set, Dough" episode of "The Magic School Bus."

"I loved baking when I was a kid. Watching those air bubbles form, it just clicked for me that chemistry is what makes cakes, and I realized that this is what I wanted to do," says Peterson, now a doctoral student in biochemistry at the University of Maryland. "I have a very vivid memory from the third grade of looking at the schedule and counting down the time to science class because I just couldn't wait to do science in 'real-life.'"

Peterson in her lab (left) and dressed up as Ms. Frizzle with her cat dressed up as Liz for Halloween (right)

In her university lab, Peterson studies the enzymes that form biofilm, a slimy buildup of microorganisms that can grow on all types of surfaces, from teeth and buildings to pacemakers and ponds. She's looking for a way to effectively break down the notoriously impenetrable substance, which can make it hard for medications to reach the infections they need to treat. Finding a way to reduce biofilms could make treatments more effective. When asked about the effect "The Magic School Bus" had on her current career path in science, Peterson says, "It's absolutely why I'm a chemist."

Twenty-five years ago, Scholastic's "The Magic School Bus" veered off the written page and into our television sets, bringing with it a credo that emphasized taking chances, making mistakes, and getting messy. Support from the National Science Foundation helped bring the celebrated book series to the airwaves and to young viewers like Peterson, sitting frog-legged on living room floors across the country.

Sandy Welch was the director of education at PBS when the network picked up "The Magic School Bus" as part of its portfolio of children's programming.

"We were excited because it was the first fully animated science show," Welch says. "I was excited to see a teacher featured, and not just any teacher -- [Ms. Frizzle] was a delight!"

Welch says Ms. Frizzle helped inspire teachers to use the programming in their classrooms.

Today, Welch is part of a division in NSF’s education directorate dedicated to providing funding for children's media programs that focus on STEM education. It supports the agency's multi-decade effort to boost science learning beyond the classroom, where research has shown most learning takes place.

"We know that children learn intuitively and that a lot of it happens in an informal setting," says Welch.

NSF supports a wide range of informal STEM programming in museums, through after-school programs and citizen science projects. With mass media, however, there is a potential to reach millions.

According to Welch, for NSF to fund a media program it must meet rigorous criteria. Creators must demonstrate the concept was developed based on existing knowledge of best practices in STEM education and how children learn through media. They must have clearly defined goals on how to interest, engage and impact learners. They must have a way to evaluate the program's impact.

And they must be innovative.

"Our program is explicit that we want to fund innovation," Welch says. "We are looking for proposals that experiment with new technology, a new approach, a new distribution platform. We're willing to fund things that may be risky -- like a new platform that hasn't been tried but seems to hold promise."

"The Magic School Bus," "3-2-1 Contact," "Reading Rainbow," "Zoom" and "Bill Nye the Science Guy" were just a few of the early NSF-funded shows that took an innovative approach to bringing science to life on the small screen.

Courtesy Peep and the Big Wide World/ PBS Kids

Today, NSF-funded shows like "Cyberchase" SciGirls" "Peep and the Big Wide World" "Peg + Cat "Design Squad" "Splash and Bubbles" and others continue to break new ground in children's science learning through media.

"Peep and the Big Wide World," for example, was one of the first programs to show that toddlers could learn basic science concepts and skills like measuring, comparing, and estimating through television shows geared toward their age group.

Courtesy SciGirls/PBS Kids

"SciGirls" was launched in response to the fact that women in the U.S. remain underrepresented in STEM, especially in fields like engineering and the computer sciences. The show engages tween viewers in STEM by following a group of real-world girls as they predict, observe, experiment, and otherwise don their "scientist hats" to understand the world around them.

Many of today's shows have also been adapted to a multimedia and mobile world, augmenting their TV programming with innovative web content and downloadable apps. Kids who love "Cyberchase," a show designed to make math fun and accessible and that NSF began funding in the late 1990s, can now access educational games, videos, and hands-on activities via the "Cyberchase" webpage on the PBS Kids website and through apps. The webpage for "Design Squad," another NSF-funded show on PBS, offers a short video on how to make everything from a two-wheeled balloon car to bristle bots made from toothbrush heads

Through on-screen characters like Peep, Peg, and Digit, and with access to hands-on activities and other innovative science content, NSF is ensuring quality science programming reaches newer generations of Alex Petersons, inspiring them to become scientists or -- at the very least -- to take chances, make mistakes and get messy!

Posted with permission from NSF