Mark Turski's Bookmarks

University of Central Michigan - best all around earth systems science links page

American Geological Insitute - The AGI Education Department has created a comprehensive portfolio of geoscience educational materials and resources for students and teachers — from kindergarten to high school and beyond. http://www.agiweb.org/geoeducation.html

The Investigating Earth Systems (IES) is a standards-based, Earth science curriculum for the middle grades (6th-8th grades) developed by the American Geological Institute (AGI) in association with It's About Time Publishing. Field tested and content reviewed, IES is part of AGI's ongoing efforts at implementing effective Earth science education reform. AGI recognizes the need for students in the middle grades to have a solid understanding of the world they live in. IES was developed with generous support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), AGI Foundation and Chevron Corporation. http://www.agiweb.org/education/ies/index.html

The Earth Portal - "The Earth Portal is a comprehensive resource for timely, objective, science-based information about the environment. It is a means for the global scientific community to come together to produce the first free, expert-driven, massively scaleable information resource on the environment, and to engage civil society in a public dialogue on the role of environmental issues in human affairs. It contains no commercial advertising and reaches a large global audience.
The Earth Portal has three components:

The Encyclopedia of Earth, with over 2,000 articles, is produced and reviewed by 700 scholars from 46 countries.

The EarthForum provides commentary from scholars and discussions with the general public.

The EarthNews offers news stories on environmental issues drawn from many sources."

The Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE) is a distributed community effort involving educators, students, and scientists working together to improve the quality, quantity, and efficiency of teaching and learning about the Earth system at all levels.

You will love their Teaching Boxes. "Teaching boxes are classroom-ready instructional units created by collaboration between teachers, scientists, and designers. Each box helps to bridge the gap between educational resources and how to implement them in the classroom. The Teaching Boxes contain materials that model scientific inquiry, allowing teachers to build classroom experiences around data collection and analysis from multiple lines of evidence, and engaging students in the process of science. - focusing on gathering and analyzing scientific evidence. All educators may use DLESE Teaching Boxes free of charge." (DLESE)

Exploring the Environment - a series of PBLs on environmental issues. Teachers DON'T reinvent the wheel. While this site's grant has expired and some links are dead, the material is great.

Space Available - This NASA site Learning from Satellites is a great place to get visualizations for ESS courses.

Course Overview

The Habitable Planet is a multimedia course for high school teachers and adult learners interested in studying environmental science. The Web site provides access to course content and activities developed by leading scientists and researchers in the field. http://www.learner.org/channel/courses/envsci/

The GLOBE Program

GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) is a worldwide hands-on, primary and secondary school-based science and education program. GLOBE's vision promotes and supports students, teachers and scientists to collaborate on inquiry-based investigations of the environment and the Earth system working in close partnership with NASA and NSF Earth System Science Projects (ESSPs) in study and research about the dynamics of Earth's environment. http://www.globe.gov/r?lang=en&nav=1

USRA, through our research institutes and centers, supports outreach programs developed for students K-12, high school, undergraduate and graduate, and postgraduate, professionals, educators, and the public. Information about each of our education programs, with links to their web sites, is provided below.

http://www.usra.edu/cs/usra_education_programs

Katie West's Corner - Katie (who teaches health ed) took an ESSEA course and is contributing to the next generation of ESS students. I will add sphere activities as Katie gives them to me.

Land/Lithosphere

Possible Topics of Land/Lithosphere Activities:

Volcanoes

Earth Quakes

Rocks and Minerals

Soil

Stalactites & Stalagmites

Layers of the Earth

Mountain Formation

Some cool activities!

http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/00-2/lp2036.shtml. A great middle school lesson about continental movement and volcano formation that is already aligned to national science standards. Uses everyday materials… but you need a heat source. Should be able to do this in one class period.

http://interactive2.usgs.gov/learningweb/teachers/index.htm. US Geological Survey teacher’s page… this is filled with info and lesson ideas. Check out the great unit on volcanoes and some of the activities. You might need more than one class period, depending on the background knowledge of your students and the particular activity.

http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview.cgi?LPid=1113. Earthquakes & candy! Use this activity to help students understand rock and fossil formation. Make sure you check with your school’s Wellness Policy before you let the kids eat their science activity materials. This lesson comes with a clear procedure and expected student outcomes.

http://www.rocksandminerals4u.com/lesson_plan_elements.html. An upper-elementary or middle school lesson on rocks and minerals and what makes up the earth’s crust. You need marbles for this one! This site has crossword puzzles, pictures of rocks and minerals and lots more info on rocks and minerals.

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USGS ESIC Earth Science Inform

The Department of the Interior

The National Park Service

1) NATURAL HAZARDS GATEWAY, USGS, (suggested by Cher Cunningham, Science Information and Education Office, USGS), The Natural Hazards Gateway provides a one-stop shop for information related to seven natural disasters and shows how USGS science helps mitigate disasters and build resilient communities.

2) Chocolate Chip (Cookie) Mining, (suggested by Stacy DeVeau), Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Prescott, AZ), Chocoloate Chip (Cookie) Mining is a great activity! Students are challenged with excavating chips from cookies. Chips = $, but mining materials cost $ as well. And the ‘land’ cannot be ‘repaired’ post-excavation. There are several versions of the activity online. You can just give the kids a budget without having to deal with the play money. It’s fun and challenging, and hey, it’s COOKIES!

3) THE NATIONAL ATLAS PRINTABLE MAPS, (suggested by Liz Colvard, Science Information and Education, USGS), Do you need a simple prepared map that you can print at home, at school, or in the office? The National Atlas has a large selection of free maps that are already formatted to be viewed, downloaded, or printed on 8.5" x 11" paper. Topics include Federal Lands and Indian Reservations, Precipitation, Territorial Acquisitions, and Presidential Elections. The assorted Reference and Outline maps for the United States are particularly good for classroom use.

4) MAPS: FINDING OUR PLACE IN THE WORLD, Field Museum, (suggested by [KMG] Scout Report), How do we find our way through the world, geographically speaking? Do we all carry around a type of "mental map" in our head, formed through experience and repetition? Some would say yes, some would beg to differ. Maps remain a powerful way to represent the world in all its spatial glory, and this online exhibit from The Field Museum explores the history of maps and their history over the millennia. Designed to complement an ongoing exhibition at the Museum, the site includes a photo gallery, information about the participating institutions, and about researchers at the Museum who use maps and mapping technology in their own work. The interactive feature is definitely worth a look, as visitors can examine two dozen different maps in detail from Chicago to the Marshall Islands. One can imagine that this remarkable site could also be used in classrooms to expose students to the wide variety of maps that have been created by human hands.

1) Infusing Geology into Sea Turtle Conservation: A Continental Perspective of a Coastal Program,*/ /*SCISTP,*/ /*(suggested by Gale A. Bishop, Emeritus Professor of Geology Georgia Southern University), Seven species of extant, endangered sea turtles are useful in assessing health of the world oceans and continents. The St, Catherine's Island Sea Turtle Conservation Program, in its 18th year of operation, integrates "/Conservation, Research, and Education/" in conservation of endangered Georgia loggerhead sea turtle (/Caretta caretta /Linneaus 1758) nests. The SCISTP web site, (www.scistp.org), describes the Program from the perspective of an Earth Scientist, documenting the many aspects of Earth Systems Science used in the conservation of sea turtles. The Program (by 2007) had conserved 1,947 nests, put 114,907 hatchlings into the sea, taught 216 interns, 193 of whom are K-12 teachers who have impacted over 220,531 school children in conservation education. Outcomes have included 11 Internet products, 5 exhibits, 18 publications, and 53 presentations, including the first description of a fossilized sea turtle nest (preserved in the Cretaceous rocks of Colorado).

1) TODAY'S WORST WEATHER®, Accuweather, tired of students complaining about the weather? It could be worse…this site “depicts an area of the U.S.A. with the most unpleasant or miserable weather conditions of the day. Within that area, AccuWeather.com artists create a cartoon based on an interesting, unusual place name

1) Celestial Sphere, Jeff Callister, (suggested by Charles Burrows), this .pdf download is useful for students to track varying sunrise/sunset directions and changing sun height throughout the year.

1) Audio Glossary of Earth Science terms, Pearson, (suggested by Charles Burrows), Hear pronunciations and descriptions for hundreds of terms.

2) *SCIENCE **OF COOKING: TURKEY, Exploratorium,* How long do you cook your turkey? Since a 20-pound turkey is twice the size of a 10-pound bird, at first the answer might seem obvious: simply double the cooking time suggested for a 10-pound turkey. But is that really the right thing to do? Find out as you explore the physics of cooking.

1) FULL MOON LIBRATION, PixHeaven, (suggested by Chad Wiekierak), Animated Loop of 12 full moons. The images will also stimulate discussion of how the same side of the moon always faces the earth.

1) COLORFUL CONVECTION CURRENTS, Steve Spangler, “This activity demonstrates convection currents in a very colorful” fashion.

a) Stellarium, (suggested by Jim Hensel, retired from Williamsville North, NY), Stellarium is a free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope.

b) TrainCLIM, International Global Change Institute, (suggested by Peter Urich, International Global Change Institute), Discover this software tool for the teaching of climate change concepts and the real world implications of climate change for local areas and societies. A free demonstration version is available to course coordinators. Sample exercises are also available. The software includes thoroughly tested and widely used climate and sea level scenario generators, extreme event analysis tools and impact models for evaluating things like drought and water supply and malaria and dengue fever epidemic potential. The software can be used in all levels of education, from high school to university. Email Dr. Peter Urich at the International Global Change Institute located in Hamilton, New Zealand at pbu@waikato.ac.nz to acquire a link to the download site (file size 45.5 MB).

1) Conversion Units Jokes, (suggested by Jeff Callister, retired earth science teacher from Newburgh Free Academy), For all who have difficulty converting units:

Ratio of an igloo's circumference to its diameter = Eskimo Pi
2000 pounds of Chinese soup = Won ton
1 millionth of a mouthwash = 1 microscope
Time between slipping on a peel and smacking the pavement = 1 bananosecond
Weight an evangelist carries with God = 1 billigram
Time it takes to sail 220 yards at 1 nautical mile per hour = Knotfurlong
16.5 feet in the Twilight Zone = 1 Rod Serling
Half of a large intestine = 1 semicolon
1,000,000 aches = 1 megahurtz
Basic unit of laryngitis = 1 hoarsepower
Shortest distance between two jokes = A straight line
453.6 graham crackers = 1 pound cake
1 million- microphones = 1 megaphone
2 million bicycles = 2 megacycles
365.25 days = 1 unicycle
2000 mockingbirds = 2 kilomockingbirds
52 cards = 1 decacards
1 kilogram of falling figs = 1 Fig Newton
1000 milliliters of wet socks = 1 literhosen
1 millionth of a fish = 1 microfiche
1 trillion pins = 1 terrapin
10 rations = 1 decoration
100 rations = 1 C-ration
2 monograms = 1 diagram
4 nickels = 2 paradigms
2.4 statute miles of intravenous surgical tubing at Yale University Hospital = 1 IV League
100 Senators = Not 1 decision

Ecuador Volcano, (Thomas McGuire, earth science educator), The Pacific Ocean is surrounded by zones of volcanic activity; the ring of fire. The Andes of Ecuador have many active volcanoes including Tungurahua. Active since 1999, it has spewed ash onto the nearby town of Baños. The clouds of ash were rising in pulses every few minutes. (September 2007)

“Earth Science Sites of the Week” dating back to 1999 are now available and can be searched by keyword. To access past archives go to the “Earth Science Site of the Week Archives” link half way down the page at http://webs.cmich.edu/resgi/ Another way to access sites is to consult

at http://webs.cmich.edu/resgi . Over 1200 reviewed links are organized around the sequence of topics typically taught in an introductory earth science or physical geography class. Links are also available for environmental science, earth science/geography education, career opportunities, and more. The sites selected are based on image quality, ease with which lesson plans can be developed, organization, authenticity, scope, and format. Please contact me at Mark.Francek@cmich.edu to remove yourself from the mailing list, add a new subscriber, or suggest a site to be listed.
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Mark Francek

Bookmarks

The Web & Plagarism

Earth System Science

General

Maps

weather

water resources

volcanoes & earthquakes

Astronomy

Educational Resources

Dinosaurs

General Education Information

NH resources -Frameworks, ...

Evergreen curriculum