Science and Education Links

Astronomy - GeoScience - Weather - Chemistry & Physics
Multi-Discipline Science - Calculations - Science News & Education - Other Things
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Virtual Moon phases from the U.S. Naval Observatory.
Current Phase
of the Moon

------ Astronomy ------

A.J.J.A.R. - Astronomical Javascript, Java Applet Resources. Java applications dealing with Lunar Events, Solar Motions, Gravity, Planetary Motion, Astrophysics, Galactic - Extragalactic and Cosmology, and Star Charts.

U.S. Naval Observatory - Astronomical applications and data about the Sun and Moon.

Interactives - McGraw-Hill is proud to bring you an assortment of outstanding Interactives like no other. These Interactives offer a fresh and dynamic method to teach the astronomy basics.

Project CLEA - Contemporary Laboratory Exercises in Astronomy sponsored by Gettysburg College and the National Science Foundation. These simulations need to be downloaded and installed on your computer.

Sky & Telescope - The Essential Magazine of Astronomy. News, observing tips, how-to advice, and more!.

S&T's Interactive Sky ChartSky &Telescope's Interactive Sky Chart - Simulate a naked-eye view of the sky from any location on Earth, at any time of day or night, on any date from 1600 to 2400. Or print an all-sky map. Sky and Telescope's interactive sky chart works in most Java-enabled Web browsers.

The Nine Planets - A multimedia tour of the Solar System.

Inconstant Moon - Take a new tour of the Moon each night, with maps, photos, explanations, animations, selected links and even music!

Moon Hoax? - This site examines the theories that suggest the NASA Apollo moon landings were faked.

From Stargazers to Starships - An astronomy book-on-the-web by David P. Stern.

Current View of the Sun from Big Bear Solar Observatory
Current View
of the Sun

www.skymaps.com - Free sky maps each month help you to explore, learn and enjoy the night sky.

The Sun-Earth Media Viewer - Ideum. A Flash-based interactive viewer which allows users to view real-time NASA satellite images of the Sun and the Earth. A thumbnail viewer allows visitors to explore and compare a variety of solar and terrestrial data from a variety of NASA missions and ground-based observatories.

Sunspot Numbers - From the National Geophysical Data Center.

Auroral Activity Observation Network - Current auroral activity sighting reports from around the world.

Stig's Sky Calendar - Display sunrise/sunset, twilight, lunar phase and planet visibility at a glance. Also includes a planisphere, planet finder and Planet Round-up display.

Sky View Café - A large Java applet that lets you use your web browser to see many types of astronomical information, in both graphical and numerical form.

JTrak 3D - Provides a visual representation of the current satellite positions with the ability to zoom in and out and rotate the view as well as put it into motion.

Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy - Very nice explanations about everyday misconceptions and how science has sometimes been misused and misrepresented in the media.

Learn the Constellations - Clickable constellation maps are provided at this site. In most cases, all named stars are identified. These java applications can be used to help prepare for star map quizzes.

Find planets and constellations in the night sky - AstroViewer Find planets and constellations in the night sky - AstroViewer

AstroViewer - Find planets and constellations in the night sky.

Interactive Seasons - My own version. Complete the puzzle in the fewest number of trials.

Earth and Sky - A daily radio program. Also has full length articles and "News Bulletins" to keep you up on the latest science news. Check out the Skywatching Center and the Star Pronunciation Guide.

International Astronomy Union - Namng Stars - Can you really buy a star? Find out the truth at this site.

Your Birthday Star - Tell the Birthday Stars computer when you were born, and it will look for a star that is your age in light years away from Earth. This means that the light we're seeing from that star today actually left the star around when you were born, and has taken your entire life to reach Earth.

Earth Impact Effects Program - An easy-to-use, interactive web site for estimating the regional environmental consequences of an impact on Earth. This program will estimate the ejecta distribution, ground shaking, atmospheric blast wave, and thermal effects of an impact as well as the size of the crater produced.

Pale Blue Dot Project - Here you can adopt a star that might host a planetary system for just $10! The Pale Blue Dot project is hosted by a non-profit organization (White Dwarf Research Corporation) and 100% of the proceeds are used to support scientific research on the stars that you actually adopt.

------ GeoScience ------

Cochise College Geology Home Page - Roger Weller, geology instructor. An impressive collection of geology links.

Charles Burrows - East Ramapo Central School District. Earth Science site with animations, news, computer labs, project ideas and much more.

RESGI - (Resources For Earth Sciences and Geography Instruction) Central Michigan University. This website contains links which are organized alphabetically around the sequence of topics typically taught in an introductory earth science or physical geography class. Check out the Earth Science Animations link.

Discover Earth - Cornell University. Here you will find a wide range of information related to the Earth sciences, accompanied by images, graphs, maps, and movies.

Earth Revealed - Annenburg Foundation. 26 half-hour video instructional geology programs. From earthquakes and volcanoes to the creation of sea-floor crusts and shifting river courses, Earth Revealed offers stunning visuals that explain plate tectonics and other geologic concepts and principles.

Earth Science World - Engage in an actual simulation of drilling for oil and build your own custom timeline of the prehistoric past. The site also has an image bank, climate data, and information about potential careers in geoscience.

Earth Science Picture of the Day - Each day a different image or photograph is featured, with an accompanying caption, that deals with various topics in Earth Science.

Natural Hazards GIS Viewer - From NOAA, this site uses a GIS interface to display the correlation between plate boundaries, volcanoes, earthquakes, and tsunami.

Earth System Science Vocabulary - Definitions of geoscience terms from the Digital Library for Earth System Education community.

Photo Glossary of Volcanic Terms - USGS. Over 60 terms are defined with a clear photograph and text. From aa to vulcanian eruption this site is a treasure trove of photographs.

EarthWeek - A Diary of a Planet, by Steve Newman.

Exploring Earth Investigations - From McDougall Little. Many animations and visualizations of almost every earth science topic imaginable.

Geology Labs On-Line - Virtual Earthquakes, Virtual Dating, Virtual River, more on the way....

National Atlas - The National Atlas of the United States of America. Nationalatlas.gov is a for national maps and geographic information. It contains an online map maker, dynamic maps, printable maps, articles, free geographic data, and additional resources for geographic information about the US.

TopoZone - Viewable online topographic maps.

Maptech MapServer - Nautical charts, topographic maps, aeronautical charts, and navphotos.

Visualizing Topography - Arizona State University. An instructional tour that shows how to visualize topography in 3D. It contains Quick Time movies and questions that help students visualize two-dimensional topography in three dimensions.

CGRER NetSurfing - Center for Global & Regional Environmental Research. Maps and map references from the University of Iowa.

Visual Entities - Examine Earth Density, Seismic Wave Velocity, Periodic Table, Contour Map, Dip and Strike.

Getting Into the Fossil Record - Take an online tour and gain a basic understanding of what a fossil is and the factors involved in becoming part of the fossil record.

Record of Time - From Palomar College, the site provides information on paeloanthropological dating methods and covers all the main chronometric techniques used by paleoanthropologists.

Explorations Through Time - A series of interactive modules that explore the history of life on Earth, while focusing on the processes of science.

A Geologist's Lifetime Field List - A list of essential or desirable locations for geologists or travelers to visit. It contains many of the interesting geological wonders of the world, with links for most of them.

ATHENA Minerology - An alphabetical listing of minerals complete with information and data about each.

Earth Science Lab - An online mineral description and identification application.

Mineralogy 4 Kids - The Mineralogical Society of America's Rockin Internet Site. Online rock and mineral identification - and more!

Cubic Mineral Crystals - spin 'em around and check for symmetry!

Virtual Museum of Minerals and Molecules - University of Wisconsin. View and rotate a variety of minerals and molecules. This site is worth the effort of getting the free plug-in to view the animations. The site is a winner of the 2003 Scientific American Web Awards.

GeoMan - Mineral and Rock Identification Charts

Bob's Rock Shop - A lot of good mineralogy information. Check out the nice online rock and mineral identification keys.

Interactive Rock Cycle - My own version. Complete the diagram in the fewest number of trials.

The Essential Guide toRocks - From BBC, this site has rock cycle experiments with activities relating to weathering, erosion, transportation, deposition, metamorphism, and volcanic activity.

Goddard DAAC - Goddard Space Flight Center Earth Sciences Distributed Active Archive Center. Your source for Earth Science data and information.

DLESE - Digital Library for Earth System Education

The PALEOMAP Project - Illustrates the plate tectonic development of the ocean basins and continents, as well as the changing distribution of land and sea during the past 1100 million years. Great animations.

CMU Geography and Earth Science - Resources for earth science and geography instruction. Sign up here for the "Earth Science Site of the Week" listserv.

The Internet Campus - A neat site with interactive Earth science applications. From EOA Scientific.

USGS Hazard Fact Sheets - Find over 50 hazard reports organized under the following topics: general, volcano, earthquake, landslide, flood, and biology.

USGS Hazard Maps - This set of six maps emphasize areas where there is a relatively high risk or relatively frequent occurrences of four hazards (floods, earthquakes, landslides and volcanic eruptions).

Forces of Nature - National Geographic. Create your own virtual volcano, earthquake, hurricane, or tornado on this website. Control the the factors that influence location and intensity.

How Volcanoes Work - San Diego State University, sponsored by NASA. This website is an educational resource that describes the science behind volcanoes and volcanic processes. It is intended for the education of university students of geology and volcanology and teachers of earth science.

The Physical Environment - The Physical Environment combines text, images, audio and video programs to deliver subject matter content.

All About Glaciers - NSIDC. All About Glaciers is a site exploring nearly all aspects of glaciers including data and science, facts, a gallery, a glossary and much more.

------ Weather ------

Current CO2 level in the Earth's atmosphereCO2Now.org makes it easy to see the most current CO2 level and what it means. Global warming is mainly the result of CO2 levels rising in the Earth’s atmosphere. Both atmospheric CO2 and climate change are accelerating. Climate scientists say we have years, not decades, to stabilize CO2 and other greenhouse gases.

DataSteme Junction - American Meteorological Society links to current weather and environmental data.

National Weather Service Office - For Southern New England. Weather forecasts, warnings, observations, past weather, and general weather information are provided for most of Massachusetts, southwest New Hampshire, all of Rhode Island and most of northern Connecticut.

Weather Underground - Find the weather for any city, state or ZIP code, or country.

WW2010 - The Weather World 2010 Project includes a collection of multimedia instructional modules, curriculum projects and classroom activities. The site also has data and descriptions for memorable weather events.

Ozone and the Atmosphere - This Goddard Space Flight Center web site discusses the chemical composition and evolution of Earth's atmosphere, focusing on the protective layer of ozone in the stratosphere.

Weather Calculators & Algorithms - A compilation of Javascript programs that perform weather calculations for humidity, wind chill, heat index, and more.

Bad Meterology - Misconceptions about weather science.

Climate Control Climographs - Find over 50 climographs (which graphically depict yearly precipitation and temperature patterns) from around the world. Just roll over a city name to see its climograph. Climographs are organized to highlight climate differences as a function of latitude, land-water differences, and wind patterns.

Hurricane Basics - NASA. A stand alone Flash tutorial explaining, with large graphics, hurricane structure, formation, and movement.

Hurricane Strike! - UCAR. A multimedia learning package that integrates disaster safety and preparedness with science instruction.

National Hurricane Center - The Tropical Cyclone Prediction Center site provides detailed location and forecasting of tropical storms and hurricanes.

Atmospheric Optics - Light playing on water drops, dust or ice crystals in the atmosphere produces a host of visual spectacles - rainbows, halos, glories, coronas and many more. Some can be seen almost every day or so, some are once in a lifetime sights. Find out where to see them and how they form.

Snow Crystals - Caltech. This site is all about snow crystals and snowflakes; what they are, where they come from, and just how these remarkably complex and beautiful structures are created.

------ Chemistry and Physics ------

HyperPhysics - An exploration environment for concepts in physics which employs concept maps and other linking strategies to facilitate smooth navigation.

Drills - Measurement and Chemistry Help Pages with Solutions. Developed by Prof. George Wiger

Chem4Kids - An online study of matter and the changes that take place with that matter.

Learn Physics Today! - An online physics tutorial.

The Particle Adventure - The fundamentals of matter and forces.

Find out at Sandlot Science
An Impossible Triangle?

Sandlot Science - An interactive guide to optical iIllusions.

Lightness Perception and Illusions - by Edward H. Adelson, MIT, this site with 11 illusions will perplex, teach, and entertain.

Made From Dots - A typical "full color" magazine or newspaper picture is printed in just four colors. Use this applet to try and match a "magazine" color by building it from dots.

Visual Quantum Mechanics - Spectroscopy, diffraction, waves.

Optics Bench - Observe the ways that light rays move through virtual lenses and mirrors.

Physlets - Physics Applets are small flexible Java applets designed for science education.

OhmZone - Use virtual batteries, lightbulbs, resistors, and wires to build and measure electric circuits.

Votage Circuit Simulator - Determine the relationship between voltage (V), amperage (I) and resistance (R) - Ohm's law.

Roller Coaster Physics - Principles involved in the design of a roller coaster.

RollerCoasterModels.com - Great site for roller coaster tips. Super models.Einstein@Physics2000

Physics 2000 - An interactive journey through modern physics!

NTNU Virtual Physics Laboratory - Lots of good physics applets.

Conceptual Physics Labs - From Sammamish High School.

Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics - Examines some of the ways that Hollywood disregards the laws of physics in the movies.

------ Multi-Discipline Science ------

American Field Guide - PBS. Immerse yourself in the great outdoors without ever leaving your desk. Tap into the sights and sounds from a wide variety of environments throughout America. We've collected over 1400 video clips that enable you to experience America's wilderness firsthand - simply browse the topics or search for your particular interests.

Great Zooms - NASA. The viewer is taken on a seamless, cloud free journey from a global view of the Earth down to ground level where buildings, streets, and cars are visible. Examples include the Grand Canyon, the Amazon basin, cities like New York, Baltimore, Boston, Washington, and more. Try the `Great Zoom Mosaic,` it is a mosaic of 20 different zooms that can be viewed at one time.

A Question of Scale - Quarks to Quasars is a visual journey consisting of 42 images -- 42 powers of ten. At one end of the journey is the immensity of the known universe. At the other end of the journey is a depiction of the three quarks within a proton.

Powers of Ten - Start 10 million light-years from the Milky Way galaxy and wind up face to face with a proton in Florida. An interactive java tutorial from Florida State University.

University of Oregon VLab - Interactive JAVA applets for physics, astronomy, and environmental science.

Explorescience.com - Make a snowflake. Discover a black hole. Use simulations to test what you've learned about physics, genetics and other subjects.

Science Web Sites - A collection of useful links for homework help in numerous science areas.

BrainPOP.com - Cool educational animations about health, science and technology for kids.

Bizarre Stuff You Can Make in Your Kitchen - A collection of amateur science projects.

WebQuests - Inquiry-oriented activities in which most or all of the information used by learners is drawn from the Web.

SAMI - a clearing house of resources, funding, and curriculum for rural math and science teachers.

Bad Science - Misconceptions about astronomy, chemistry, and meteorology.

Heavenly Errors - Misconceptions about the Real Nature of the Universe. This is the web site that accompanies Neil Comins's 2001 book of the same name.

The Water Cycle - The USGS has a comprehensive site about "The Water Cycle." It features a good diagram of the water cycle and an in-depth discussion of each of the 15 topics on the diagram.

------ Calculations ------

Arithmattack - How many computer-generated arithmetic problems can you answer in 60 seconds? A gift to the children and math students of the world from the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory.

HyperMath - Agrowing collection of examples of applied mathematics with links to their applications to problems in physics and astronomy.

UnitWiz - Automatic conversion calculator.

Convert Temperatures - From Fahrenheit to Celsius to Kelvin and back again.

Weather Calculators & Algorithms - A compilation of Javascript programs that perform weather calculations for humidity, wind chill, heat index, and more.

------ Science News and Education ------

Live Science - Imaginova Corporation. Devoted to current science topics in the news.  The website provides links to current news about the animal world, human biology, forces of nature, the environment, technology, science of fiction, history and other news.

Starting Point - Teaching Entry Level Geoscience. Learn about instructional methods that work with entry-level geoscience students.

Teaching Tips - University of Hawaii. This site is filled with all manner of well organized teaching tips ranging from assessment to critical thinking.

Teaching Quantitative Skills in the Geosciences - SERC. This site includes a collection of teaching materials for faculty focusing on quatitative skills in a geoscience context.

Visionlearning - An innovative educational resource designed for students, teachers, parents or anyone interested in learning science. Our website features a free library of succinct, award-winning learning modules that integrate text, multimedia, and other resources to make learning exciting.

Case Studies in Science - The National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science Case Collection. Lessons designed to humanize science and to illustrate scientific methodology and values. The cases also develop students' skills in group learning, speaking, and critical thinking.

Why Some Students Have Trouble with Maps and Spatial Representations - This is an On-line Tutorial for Geoscience Faculty designed to assist in effective teaching using spatial representations, including maps, cross sections and 3-D models.

Children's Misconceptions about Science - A list compiled by the AIP Operation Physics Project. Thanks to Bill Weiler of U. Illinois for posting this via the PHYS-L group 9/1998.

Great Moments in Science - Dr. Karl has been creating Great Moments in Science® for many years now. They celebrate all sides of science; from sublime moments of deep thought to the most arcane and bizarre research imaginable.

What's New by Bob Park - Bob Park (a member of the American Physical Society and the university of Meryland) gives his views about newsworthy science and anti-science events every Friday.

Science News for Kids - From Science News. A web site devoted to science news for children. Find 18 separate categories ranging from agriculture to weather. There are also sections for puzzles, writing, games, and lesson plans based on these stories.

NY Regents Earth Science Share-a-thon - 100 teacher written and classroom tested labs and activities covering the whole range of Earth science. A directed, student centered inquiry mode dominates, and the activities are appropriate for most secondary students. A New York emphasis will be evident in some activities.

DiscoverySchool's Puzzlemaker - Puzzlemaker is a puzzle generation tool for teachers, students and parents. Create and print customized word search, crossword and math puzzles using your word lists.

Carver Public SchoolsCarver Public Schools- Carver, Massachusetts.

www.doe.mass.edu - The Massachusetts Department of Education.

The Textbook League - Web site that presents independent, expert reviews of textbooks.

MLA Format - How to use the Modern Language Association (MLA) format in your bibliography. Brought to you by the Purdue University Online Writing Lab.

EasyBib.com - Automatically format, alphabetize, and print your bibliography.

Captain Disillusion - In a world where the content of digital images and videos can no longer be taken at face value, an unlikely hero fights for the acceptance of truth. Captain Disillusion guides children of all ages through the maze of visual fakery to the open spaces of reality and peace of mind.

The Skeptics Guide to the Universe - A weekly Science podcast talkshow discussing the latest news and topics from the world of the paranormal, fringe science, and controversial claims from a scientific point of view.

Skeptoid - A weekly science podcast dedicated to furthering knowledge by blasting away the widespread pseudosciences that infect popular culture.

----- Other Things -----

Geocaching - the ultimate sport for Global Positioning System users.

Earthcache.org - An Earthcache is a special place that people can visit to learn about a unique geoscience feature or aspect of our Earth. Earthcaches include a set of educational notes and the details about where to find the location (latitude and longitude).

Confluence.org - An amazing project where Internet users document and photograph each integer intersection of degree latitude/longitude all over the world. Truly random pictures of our world!

South Eastern MA Nature Spots - A Google Map of some areas I've found that merit further exploration. Feel free to add comments.

Every disclaimer in the book.


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