The links page will expand as I receive and review recommended sites.  If there are sites that have been useful to you as a teacher, let me know and I will add the link here so that others might benefit as well.  I will also link to your District Six school's home page as long as it is active and kept up to date. E-mail me your school's URL or other suggestions.  Also look for New! sites listed below. 

 

New! Teacher Websites for Regents Living Environment
I'm compiling a list of websites maintained by teachers of Regents Living Environment.  I found these sites useful when planning my own syllabus.

• Mr Comet 
• Mrs. August
• Mr. Kolakowski 
• Mrs. Kilmartin  
• Draper Middle School  
• Ms. Clark  
• Mr. Penhollow 
• Mr. Buckley  

 

Weblogs From Scientists, Science Teachers

• Citizen Scientist
  Not the most active weblog, but interesting nonetheless.  A post-doctoral fellow in molecular biology at Princeton.

• Ms. Frizzle
  Active weblog from a science teacher in the Bronx.  One of my favorites.

• So You Want to Be a Science Teacher
  A physics education student in Oregon, records student teaching experience, discusses education issues, politics, etc.

• Pharyngula
  Sometimes cranky, developmental biologist at who's on a mission to debunk the  anti-evolution crap from half-witted charlatans who promote "Intelligent Design" and other, mostly fundamentalist-Christian-religious, creationist crud. There, I think I've captured the general tone of it!

• Preposterous Universe
  Physics professor at U. of Chicago, writes about science, politics, life.

• Panda's Thumb
  Similar in tone to Pharyngula - in fact the author of Pharyngula is a regular contributor to Panda's Thumb, which has multiple contributors, mostly devoted to promoting understanding of evolution and challenging ID/Creationism.

New! ASCME Engineering Magic (American Society of Mechanical Engineers)
Teachers' guides for some classic science magic tricks, including the old Egg in a Bottle routine.  They have QuickTime videos of the tricks with video "how do they do it."  Click on Lesson Plans & Handouts to bypass the videos. 

Reading Material for Middle School Students

• New!  Science News for Kids
  "Science News for Kids is a new Web site devoted to science news for children of ages 9 to 13." Articles on many areas of science, based on current events in science.  

• Planet Science
  Planet Science is a website from the UK for science education. It has a wealth of resources and you can sign up for a weekly e-mail newsletter.  Science "Hotspots" are (true) science stories past & present from around the globe aimed at 11-14 yr olds ("Key Stage 3" in the UK).  They are available in PDF format and include suggested activities to accompany the stories. Go to the Sci-Teach section for this and other teacher resources.

• Time for Kids
  Click on "Teachers click here."  Go to News Scoop.  You will have to do some fishing around for science articles on the topic that interests you: it's not categorized that well.  You might think about getting your class to subscribe, anyway - there's information on the website.  Only about $4 per year per student if you order in bulk.

• National Geographic Explorer (for Kids)
  Articles mainly on ecology topics, some space, some geology related. I'm linking you directly to the Classroom Magazine online edition for articles.

• Smithsonian Institute's Kids' Castle
  Featured articles and links.  At the bottom of the page where it says "Pick a Channel" go to the science section, then "Featured Articles."  For ecology I highly recommend the Lichen article and check out the photos linked to the article at the North American Lichen Project.

Activities

• Activities
  A list of activities available on the web that correspond to specific objectives from the Middle School Science Curriculum Frameworks.

Data Sources

•  Data sources for secondary research projects: 
  A work in progress that will eventually become too expansive for a single page.  Let me know if you find a good source for specific data.

Official Education Sites:

• Community School District Six

• New York City Department of Education

• New York State Department of Education: 8th Grade science test sampler.

• U.S. Department of Education: Eric Digests, "FREE" resources for teachers by subject area.

• National Board for Professional Teaching Standards: Information about National Board Certification.

Important Documents

• New York City Performance Standards: Science: Online in PDF format.

• Math, Science & Technology Standards Scroll down the page, broken down into 4 PDF documents for Standards 1-4.  Also student work samples.

• Intermediate Science Core Curriculum PDF document.

• Sampler Part 1 and Sampler Part 2: Intermediate Level Science Exam. PDF

Science Organizations:

• National Science Teachers Association: A professional organization that all science teachers should join.  Subscription to magazine included with membership.

• American Museum of Natural History: Join, arrange field trips, check out current exhibitions, read Natural History magazine online.

• National Science Foundation: Includes breaking news from the science world.

• National Association of Biology Teachers

Publications

• Scientific American

• Science News

• American Scientist

• Discover Magazine

• New York Times: science section.

Miscellaneous

• The John Burroughs List of Nature Books for Young Readers
  (Or click here for my Word version of the list)

• NSTA List of Outstanding Science Trade Books
  This one is annotated and includes info on age-appropriateness.

Grant Opportunities:

• Grants and Summer Opportunities (professional development) are listed on a separate page.

Resource Guides

• Education World
  This site has some great ideas and strategies, organized by subject, special themes, first day of school, icebreakers, "Best of.." (Best of 2002, e.g.), etc.  Worth spending some time on now and returning to later - there's a tremendous amount of stuff here. Their science-specific lessons aren't that great, but many of the more general strategies (especially in literacy) can be applied to science content. 

• New Teacher Resources
  A list of online resources for teachers (listed on the UFT website) including "online mentoring" and support.

• The Gateway: An incredible collection of internet  resources for educators, funded by the department of Education.  Browse or search by subject, grade level, keyword. Let me know if you find some really good individual sites (such as Neuroscience for Kids!)

• Ask Eric: Recently reorganized into so many categories that I am only supplying the link to the main Science Index. Oodles of lesson plans, find one that suits you, adapt one to suit you.

• Access Excellence: Lesson plans, mostly geared toward high school, but many good ideas are adaptable to the middle school.  Large, searchable database of activities, links to other sites, etc. 

• BioChem Links: (Dead link on 12/05/02 - maybe temporary, unable to find alternative URL.) Links to some heavy duty science content and some guides to teaching science.  Mainly high school level, but for the ambitious you will find things that can be adapted.

• NSTA Recommended Websites:  For parents, students, teachers.  Browse by category.

Lesson Plans & Science Content & Such

• New! ASCME Engineering Magic (American Society of Mechanical Engineers)
  Teachers' guides for some classic science magic tricks, including the old Egg in a Bottle routine.  They have QuickTime videos of the tricks with video "how do they do it."  Click on Lesson Plans & Handouts to bypass the videos. 

• New! AnimalInfo.com
  Catalog of rare, threatened, or endangered mammal species with detailed information on each species and pictures. Browse by scientific, common name, or group (bears, cats, e.g.).

• How Stuff Works: Science & Technology
  OK. I debated whether to add this one or not. They include a number of silly topics in the science section (like "Bigfoot") and their evolution section leaves a lot to be desired, but there is other information here that is useful. Proceed with caution. 

• Kathy Shrock's Guide for Educators includes lesson plans, puzzlemakers, quiz generators and more.

• WGBH Boston: List of internet links.

• Ask Dr. Universe:  A treasure trove of interesting questions and answers from Washington State University.  Use as openers in class or questions to ponder for homework.  

• The Weather Dude: Weather information and activities from meteorologist Nick Walker (Weather Channel).

• The Physics Classroom: (Revised & updated site - 2002.) This is a fabulous resource. A complete High School Physics course, a nice refresher for teachers, with illustrations, animations, and clear explanations. This site is going to be moved soon and the URL will change, but you will still be able to get to the new site by a link from the old site.

• Neuroscience for Kids: Text and illustrations.  Comprehensive if not encyclopedic source of information on the nervous system, plus activities, careers in neuroscience, etc. Lesson plans and other resources for teachers.

• MiddleSchoolScience.com: Here's a nice website created by a teacher. In addition to the numerous lesson plans and project ideas, it  includes a description of how the teacher organizes her classroom (click on "Odds & Ends").

• The Science Spot: Includes "Idea Factory" with suggestions for first day of school activities, and of course an assortment of science lesson plans.

• Ask an Expert at NASA:  Submit space related question or browse their FAQ.

• Yucky.com: Name says it all.  Anything "gross" about the human body can be found here.  `Nuf said.

• Discovery.com: Magazine, cable channel.

• New York Academy of Sciences Science Edunet: News and events on science and science programs, including professional development opportunities, in NYC area and on the web.

• Exploratorium: A great science museum in San Francisco.  Their website offers activities and resources for students & teachers alike. 

• PBS: Find schedules for local programming, integrate programs such as Newton's Apple and NOVA into your instruction with lesson plans from here and more. 

Also for Students

• Chemistry4Kids: A largely text-based website but geared toward kids, appropriate for middle school students.

• Kids Astronomy: Name says it all.

• Ask Dr. Universe:  A treasure trove of interesting questions and answers from Washington State University.

• Astronomy for Kids: Mostly text with some graphics, key terms and concepts defined for upper elementary/lower middle school students.

• The Physics Classroom: A complete High School Physics course. With guidance, some of the illustrations and animations may be useful for middle school students.  

• Neuroscience for Kids: Text and illustrations.  Comprehensive if not encyclopedic source of information, plus activities, careers in neuroscience, etc.

• Exploratorium: A great science museum in San Francisco.  Their website offers activities and resources for students & teachers alike.  

• Yucky.com: Name says it all.  Anything "gross' about the human body can be found here.  `Nuf said.

• Discoverykids.com: The children's version of discovery.com.

• NSTA Recommended Websites:  For parents/students.  A long list of sites that you may want to sort through and pick the ones that would be useful to your students. Better yet, develop a rubric for judging websites and let your students do the work.

• InfoPlease:  A collection of reference materials. Dictionaries, encyclopedias, almanacs, atlases. Science content is mostly text, not much in the graphics department, at least from my preliminary searches. Reading level seems appropriate for most middle school students.

• Biology 4Kids:  Now part of Kapili.com, fee-based membership required.  Can't recommend it.  Another text-based website but geared toward kids, appropriate for middle school students.

• Michigan Electronic Library: Children and Young Adult Collection. Contains their collection of links to existing sites with specific topics, subjects, articles.