Conceptual Physics
http://www.phschool.com/science/cpsurf/
From Prentice Hall and Pearson Education comes the online Conceptual Physics Tutorial. The site provides information for students on mechanics, properties of matter, heat, sound and light, electricity and magnetism, and atomic and nuclear physics. Each chapter contains subheadings and various described links to sites that focus on that particular subject. Under momentum, for example, more than a dozen sites are included under subheadings such as impulse changes, bouncing, conservation of momentum, collisions, and momentum vectors. Other highlights of the site include links to simulations found on the Web and questions of the week, along with their answer. Even though some of the provided links were dead, the repository of information should prove useful to visitors. [JAB]
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Atomic Orbitals [Chime]
http://www.chem.purdue.edu/gchelp/aos/index.html
The Atomic Orbitals Web site "was established as part of an (ongoing) project at Purdue University to develop 'visualization modules' for general chemistry students." Using the Chime plug-in, which allows unique and stunning visualizations, visitors can learn what an atomic orbital is; what the 1s, 2s, 3s, 2p, 3p, and 3d orbitals are; what hybrid orbitals are; and more. The combination of easy-to-read descriptions and educational graphics make the site a great learning resource for high school and even college level chemistry students. [JAB]
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Metric Conversion Factors
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Metrics/
Brought to the Web by Washington State Department of Transportation, the Metric Conversion Factors site contains a wealth of helpful physical science and engineering information. As you might guess, all sorts of conversion factors are presented, such as for area, force, hard conversions for construction materials, length, mass, pavement, pipe, plate, power, pressure or stress, reinforcing steel, sheet metal, sieve, symbols, temperature, volume, and several others. Although it's not an online conversion calculator, all of the pages are set up for efficient printing so that students can have the information with them while doing homework. [JAB]
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Wired Antarctica
http://www.geophys.washington.edu/People/Students/ginny/antarctica/lessons.htm
From the University of Washington’s Earth and Space Sciences Department, the Wired Antarctica Web site teaches about "the fragile environment of Antarctica, the science that takes place there, and the people who actually like working in this cold place." The site provides nine lessons for kids with titles such as Global Change and Ice Sheet Disintegration, Climate History and Sea Level Change, Real Glaciers Eat Rocks, Building a Research Station in Antarctica, Why Should You Care About Antarctica, and History of Exploration in Antarctica. Other links on the site describe what life is like for the scientists in Antarctica, which gives kids some fun facts in addition to the learning activities. [JAB]
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Fact Monster: Science
http://www.factmonster.com/science.html
Fact Monster, the online reference and fun fact Web site, has some new and old features that kids interested in science will enjoy. The Almanac Section contains a wealth of information on everything from the environment, stars and planets, and weather, to other life science subjects. Special features include a daily weather fact, games and quizzes, a box to input a year to get interesting science facts that occurred then, and more. [JAB]
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Things of Interest: Downloads, Movies, and Images [Quicktime]
http://www.mip.berkeley.edu/physics/interest.html
The University of California Berkeley Physics Lecture Demonstrations Web site contains a page entitled Things of Interest: Downloads, Movies, and Images. The highlight of the site is the downloadable movies of physics experiments that should be very helpful for time and/or money constrained educators. The ten experiments include movies of a chladni disk, Jacob’s ladder, dippy bird, a person rotating in a chair while holding dumbbells, a person in a chair with a rotating bicycle wheel, gyroscopic precession, a superconductor, a levitator, jumping rings, and a Tesla coil. [JAB]
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Black Smokers
http://www.amnh.org/nationalcenter/expeditions/blacksmokers/
The Black Smokers Web site is offered by the American Museum of Natural History. The site "chronicles the adventures of the Museum's scientists, engineers, and educators as they collected a black smoker sulfide chimney from the ocean floor." The visually stunning site gives information on what a black smoker is and where they’re located through animations, photographs, and simple descriptions. The Take a Dive interactive game lets users test their knowledge of map reading, water pressure, and life forms found around black smokers at deep sea hydrothermal vent sites. Lastly, the site provides additional and equally interesting links that explain the world ocean ridge system, underwater life forms and tools, and more. [JAB]
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Internet Weather Links
http://www.uen.org/weather/html/teacher_links2.html
The Internet Weather Links is a collection of lesson plans provided by the Utah Education Network’s Weather Report Web site. The activities are organized by grade level from kindergarten to fourth grade and include such topics as Sunny Colors, Weather in a Box, Changes Due to Freezing, and Geological Features. Each lesson is well organized with explanations of its objectives, intended learning outcomes, and instructional procedures. Downloadable documents, related links, extensions to the lesson, and even rating systems for teachers are also provided, making it a great resource especially for use with younger students. [JAB]
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