Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

The Education pages on this site provide helpful links for both teachers and students learning about the ecosystem and life-science topics in the Chesapeake Bay. The Educators' Resources (left menu) provide links to different programs conducted by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, including links to findings at a number of monitoring stations around the Bay. The kids' section has a number of student-friendly sites on wildlife and conservation topics

tag(s): oceans (149)

This site presents teachers with a searchable index of natural sciences resources contained within the museum's site. Scroll down the page and click Resources for Learning. You can browse the web-sites, activities, and experiments by sub-topic, grade level, or resource type. Current subtopics include anthropology, astronomy, biology, earth science, and paleontology. Special collection exhibits present theme-based activities that cover additional topics and change occasionally. Be sure to check out the the Past Exhibitions for topics such as Biodiversity, Antarctica, and deep sea explorations, and much more. This is a great site for sorting out all the wonderful resources the museum has to offer. There are over 1,000 resources currently available on countless subjects.

tag(s): amphibians (17), biodiversity (36), brain (56), climate change (99), darwin (13), dinosaurs (43), diseases (67), diversity (40), fossils (41), light (56), mammals (22), natural disasters (18), oceans (149), paleontology (28), poisons (2), space (222), volcanoes (55)

If you haven't visited this Smithsonian page for natural science for education in a while, you're in for a wonderful surprise! It provides stellar resources for life and Earth science topics. Scroll down the landing page and click Search Teaching Resources to find a collection of over 300 activities, videos, and literacy resources for grades K-12. Be sure to click the Menu on the left and scroll down to your topic. The first topic is Earth Science. Designed by the Museum of Natural History, this site provides dynamic live and archived webinars, Digital School Programs, Science How Webcast Archives about everything Earth science like Rocks and Mining, Gems and Minerals, Volcanoes and Plate Tectonics, and the Solar System. Plus, the science categories of Life Science, Paleontology, and Social Studies. Don't forget to go to the Exhibits on the top menu and see the virtual exhibit and information and images about exhibits on each floor.

tag(s): animals (295), biodiversity (36), climate change (99), dinosaurs (43), engineering (129), geology (62), life cycles (21), minerals (13), paleontology (28), plants (146), plate tectonics (22), reptiles (12), rocks (35), volcanoes (55)

This National Park Service has a gigantic collection of public domain images, audio, and webcams from America's National Parks. Use the menu bar on the left to search the site by Type or Location. This collection could be a beneficial resource for multimedia research projects.

tag(s): images (263), national parks (29), video (266), webcams (19)

The kids' page is directed towards elementary science, with coloring pages and fun frog facts for kids. The Teachers' page has helpful hints and recommendations for rainforest lessons in grades K-12. Both sections have links for further research, and there are reading lists for both children and adults.

tag(s): forests (30), jungles (5), rainforests (18)

This International Snow Leopard Trust site boasts a number of cat-facts and is designed to examine animal conservation and the snow leopard population. Besure to view the Kids Can Help Too! listed under the Take Action Tab on the top menu bar. Use the search on the site to find interesting photo albums and videos focusing on survival and adaptation. The videos reside on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, they may not be viewable.

tag(s): animals (295), snow (17)

UCSD has created an interactive flash site that explores Giant Kelp in its ocean habitat, diagrams of the plant itself, and all the many unexpected places you can find kelp all around you in every day life. This site is a creative and kid-friendly with good information for studying undersea life.

tag(s): marine biology (31), oceans (149)

Whether your are planning a trip or researching wildlife, this site has useful information on the species native to the Assateage Island Wildlife Refuge on the shores of Virginia and Maryland. The site has profiles of fish, birds, and mammals who call Assateague home.

tag(s): maryland (7), virginia (15)

In this unit, subtitled "The Living Oceans," elementary students can learn how marine environments are interdependent, and the importance of preserving entire marine systems. The site includes interactive games, lots of images and descriptions, all in an engaging context. This unit is part of the American Museum of Natural History's "Ology" series that explores different aspects of the life sciences. The interactives require Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

tag(s): ecosystems (83), marine biology (31), oceans (149)

Elementary students who are fascinated by dinosaurs will love this presentation on fossils and dinosaurs. There are interactive games and several sections dealing with the evolution and eventual extinction of dinosaurs. Don't miss "Layers of Time" an interactive about fossils and rocks. This unit is part of the American Museum of Natural History's "Ology" series that explores different aspects of the life sciences.

tag(s): dinosaurs (43), paleontology (28)

This Australian site offers a collection of weather lessons for elementary students choose from HTML or PDF. The maps and weather images are of Australia, of course, which may or may not be an issue in your classroom. If you're looking for weather lessons, these are worth examining.

tag(s): weather (160)

The state of Wisconsin developed this environmental education site for students there. While some of the content is a bit "Wisconsin-centric" there is a nice collection of interesting elementary content in an easy to navigate structure.

tag(s): environment (252), habitats (92)

The National Parks Conservation Associaiton offers this site about the of coastal habitats of Olympic park. Read a mystery about the Lady of the Lake and the risks to the park from low flying air tours.

tag(s): conservation (102), coral (11), environment (252), forests (30), national parks (29), reefs (5), wetlands (7)

Here's a unit from NASA about the melting polar ice caps that was written late in 2002. Turn on the glossary feature for extended references and definitions of the scientific terms used. Try this one for a study of ecosystems, the poles, and global warming.

tag(s): antarctica (30), arctic (40), polar (10)

This NASA site is the home base for a collection of Earth imaging resources and subsections dealing with earth science topics ranging from natural disasters to ozone measurement. Several of these sections change regularly, so there's always likely to be something new here. Well worth a visit for science, earth science, or space topics.

tag(s): earth (184)

This USGS site explains how earthquakes occur and how scientists try to predict their occurrence and severity. This page could serve as a brief introduction, but following its many links will lead to a thorough description of earthquakes and their detection. Pick and choose depending on the presentation level you need.

tag(s): earth (184), earthquakes (46)

Here's a beachcomber's delight and a great resource for identifying those shells students collect on vacation trips. The site is nicely indexed and includes detailed photos of hundreds of different shell types. This site would also work as an adjunct to a study of ocean habitats and marine species. Students will navigate this one easily.

tag(s): oceans (149)

This Canadian site is just what the bear buffs need - an introduction to the habitat and lifestyle of North America's most famous bears. There's a large "bear basics" section, along with details on staying safe when sharing space with grizzly bears. But alas, there are very few photos.

tag(s): canada (24)

The US Geological Survey offers this page full of information about earthquakes, earthquake monitoring, and earthquake safety. The site includes several features that offer real-time reporting data. While there's lots of information here for any student, we suspect this page will be of particular interest to students living in earthquake-prone areas.

tag(s): earth (184), earthquakes (46)

Giving geology or earth science students the "big picture" can be difficult. This site from the US Geologic Survey uses colors and topographic maps to explain geologic time periods and phenomena. Along the way, there are lots of links to specific time periods and features showing where interesting things were happening millions of years ago. This one is worth some exploration; there's lots to see.

tag(s): geologic time (12), geology (62), logic (161), time (91)