Education
http://www.teachingonline.org/bulletin.html
This website from S&S Publishing serves as a resource for New Zealand's teachers. The site features an online version of the company's monthly magazine, Starters and Strategies, which includes various lesson ideas on a variety of topics. The website also includes a Lessons Library with ideas for lessons in technology, art and music, social studies, science, mathematics, and health and physical education. The library includes other sections providing homework handouts, study skills handouts, and suggested ways to pique student interest in language arts, mathematics, and other topics. The site also encourages the use of webcams for social studies and science activities by providing links to webcams worldwide, including a number of webcams set up in New Zealand. Visitors may need to download free plug-ins to view the webcams.
The Engineering Design Challenges website is a collaborative project among NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center Education Programs Department, Dryden Flight Research Center Education Programs Office, Ames Research Center, and TERC. The program is intended to connect students with "the challenges faced by NASA engineers as they design the next generation of aerospace vehicles." The carefully selected design challenges include: Thermal Protection Systems, Spacecraft Design Structures, Electrodynamic Propulsion Systems, Centennial of Flight: Propeller, and Personal Satellite Assistant. By designing, building, testing, re-designing, and re-building models that meet specified design criteria, middle and high school students learn science, mathematics, and thinking skills. The project culminates with classroom poster presentations in which students describe the process and results of their work. An educator guide includes handouts for parents so they can keep informed of their child's work and try some activities at home. A section for teachers provides testimonials from teachers, videos of other classrooms that "took the Challenge," resource links, planning materials, and other tips for using the challenge. [VF]
The mission of NetDay is "to connect every child to a brighter future by helping educators meet educational goals through the effective use of technology." The nonprofit organization provides direct service to 25 schools in five underserved communities and offers resources, guidance and skilled people to assist with technology integration in schools. The website posts issue articles, resource links and guides and serves as a forum to raise national awareness on topics related to the Internet. The organization's free online publication, NetDayCompass, includes more than 2,000 education technology resources for K-12 decision-makers. The site also features results from research, surveys, and analysis that NetDay conducts on issues that matter to the targeted communities. In 2003, the organization launched Speak Up Day, which is intended to "give a voice to all stakeholders in the educational community and to frame a new conversation around education and technology." Highlights from previous online surveys of teachers and students are posted on the site. Students have until November 12 to register their school and include their voice in the 2004 survey. [VF]
http://www.engineering.tufts.edu/wieo/k12.htm
Women in Engineering Organization (WIEO) is a product of Tufts University, The Women in Engineering Programs & Advocates Network (WEpan), and The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) with support from the GE Fund. Tufts University initiated the program to take its interest in introducing girls to engineering to the next step "by making information about all engineering programs in the nation accessible to all girls and women." The website serves as a clearinghouse of information about engineering, offering information on books about engineering or related matters, fun games and projects, contests, lesson plans, scholarships, jobs, and engineering-related programs across the U.S. Discussion boards let girls and women communicate with one another about engineering and related issues. The section for K-12 teachers includes the Massachusetts Technology/Engineering Frameworks, noting that other states may soon adopt similar standards. Also posted are several lesson plan ideas and information in WIEO Contests and Challenges and a searchable database of programs for students. Note that some pages may only work using an updated Mozilla browser. [VF]
Technological Horizons in Education (T.H.E.) is a publishing and services company that makes its journal, T.H.E. Journal, available free online. The website describes T.H.E. Journal as "the solid foundation of a rapidly expanding suite of information-based products and services offered by T.H.E." The monthly articles address various issues related to education technology. Some site resources include a Checklist for Designing a Technology-Friendly Classroom and an Educational Road Map to the Web listing some of the company's picks for teacher resources online. From this website, visitors can also learn about other products and services from T.H.E., such as research, a discussion forum, and a listing of upcoming conferences. [VF]
http://www15.addr.com/~dscher/
Daniel Scher has created this website with a collection of geometric diagrams using Java Sketchpad. Visitors can interact with the drawings online to learn about geometry. The author poses questions and invites visitors to work through the problems using the diagrams provided. In addition to these carefully organized activities, Scher has posted a variety of articles he has written on geometry. [VF]
http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/scitech/carbons/
From Carbons to Computers: The Changing American Office is an educational website from the Smithsonian exploring the connections between contemporary and past offices. The website points out that the "high-tech American office of today is more similar to than different from its predecessors twenty, fifty, or a hundred years ago" and compares a floppy disk to a small-scale filing cabinet. The connections follow not only in terms of technologies, but in other more subtle ways as well, such as organization. The website offers lesson ideas for middle and high school students and provides background information on each topic. Visitors will find a history of the American office, a timeline highlighting several milestones, and a list of links to websites on various office equipment including telephones, typewriters and computers. [VF]
http://www.fi.edu/fellows/owens/please_excuse_my_dear_aunt_sally/
This website, presented as part of The Franklin Institute Online Museum Educator program, highlights a popular mnemonic used in mathematics, Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally. The website draws the visitor in with short answers discussing mnemonic, mathematics, and science and then proceeds to explain what PEMDAS has to do with mathematics. In particular, the website explains the order of operations and how the mnemonic can help keep track of that order: Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction. The author encourages the visitor throughout and includes various examples and a quiz to demonstrate how to use PEDMAS in solving problems. [VF]
