Teacher Tools

Take the Science Fair into Cyberspace

December 20, 2012

The US Army’s eCYBERMISSION is a free,web-based Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)competition in which students in grades 6–9 compete against other students in their grades for state, regional and national awards.Teams consisting of three to four students and a team advisor work to solve problems in their community utilizing the scientific method,scientific inquiry or engineering design process. Up to $24,000 in USEE Savings Bonds will be awarded in the competition. At the state level, first-place winners will each receive $1,000 in US EE Savings Bonds; at the regional level, $2,000 in US EE Savings Bonds; and at the national level, $5,000 in US…

See How Cells Function in Real Life

December 5, 2012

Meta!Blast is a real-time 3-D action-adventure video game, aimed at high school and undergraduate student audiences. The game is meant to provide an entertaining, engaging experience while simultaneously educating players about cell biology. By playing Meta!Blast, students will be introduced to the concepts of respiration, photosynthesis and the functions of various organelles in a manner complementary to the textbook. Students will also be introduced to how the living cell actually appears through a biologically accurate virtual replica of a cell environment. They will be presented with a series of puzzles and goals, such as having to create oxygen, which will require them to…

December 5, 2012

Foldit is an interactive computer game enabling students to contribute to important scientific research. In the Foldit game, players are presented with puzzles that start with a snaking arrangement of amino acids, identical to the sequence of an actual protein. Players then have to fold that sequence into a complex 3-D structure that fits the laws of chemistry. The closer players get to folding a realistic looking molecule, the higher they score, and the more researchers learn about how proteins loop and scrunch inside living cells. Click Here to Visit Website This information is provided as a courtesy for BISD teachers and inclusion here…

Trace Space Back To You

December 5, 2012

NASA @ Home and City is a virtual tour of NASA-related science that is everywhere we look. Students visiting NASA @ Home and City can rotate buildings and take a look inside to discover everyday items, the development of which has been influenced by space exploration. Each item within a building has a narrated explanation of how that item was influenced by NASA technology. For example, students can take a look inside the bathroom of a house to learn how technology used at NASA has had an impact on the development of cosmetics and toothpaste. Click Here to Visit Website This information…

Capture a Modern Moment of History

December 5, 2012

The Historypin Android app reveals photos near your current location and allows you to view them layered over the modern scene in front of you. You can also explore collections of some of the best old photos from around the world, wherever you are. You can add your own piece of history and pin it to the map too by using your phone to digitize an old photo, capture a modern moment of historic importance or take a modern replica of a photo on the app. Historypin was created by the not-for-profit company We Are What We Do, in partnership with Google. The app…

Turn a Book into a Digital Classroom

December 5, 2012

Subtext is a free iPad app that allows classroom groups to exchange ideas in the pages of digital texts. When you and your students annotate a book or a document in Subtext, notes are linked to a specific passage, so there’s a built-in emphasis on the source text and close reading. In addition, Subtext allows you to layer all types of web content over texts—videos, photographs and links to articles, blog posts, maps and even locations on Google Street View. Immediate access to a variety of related information encourages students to compare and contrast different media and creates a more complete picture of a…

Hit the “Target” Number

December 5, 2012

5 Dice iPad app is a free math game that helps upper elementary and middle school students practice the order of operations. The game encourages students to use higher order thinking to solve the “target” number by working backward, given the answer but not the equation. After they are provided the number, students have to write an equation, using all of the dice presented to them. When they think they have created an equation that will result in the number given to them, students click “shoot” to hit the target number. If they have written a correct equation, 5 Dice will show them other equations that will…

Trace the Origins of Aphorisms

December 5, 2012

Aesop’s Fables—also called “the Aesopica”—are a collection of stories intended to teach moral lessons. The stories are credited to Aesop, a Greek slave and storyteller thought to have lived between 620 and 560 BCE. The Aesop’s Fables interactive book, presented by the Library of Congress, was adapted fromThe Aesop for Children: with Pictures by Milo Winter, published by Rand, McNally & Co. in 1919. The interactive book contains more than 140 classic fables, accompanied by charming illustrations and interactive animations: a choosy heron eyes the fish swimming at his feet, a fox swishes his tail, a mouse chews a rope and frees a lion.…

Reflect on Judgment and Responsibility

December 5, 2012

On November 20, 1945, 24 high-ranking Nazis went on trial for atrocities committed during World War II. TheNuremberg Trials, held from 1945 to 1949, were a galvanizing moment in history, international law and human rights. Nuremberg Remembered is a free 12-minute documentary about the Nuremberg Trials. It combines both archival footage and modern-day interviews with trial participants who served in a variety of roles, including members of the legal team for the prosecution and a journalist reporting on the events for the press. A set of three lessons, along with the documentary, introduces teachers and students to the essential questions of judgment and responsibility that were initially…

Help Students Become Better Searchers

December 5, 2012

Google has created a series of lessons to help teachers guide their students to use web searches meaningfully in their schoolwork and beyond. Google Search Education provides free Search Literacy Lesson Plans and “A Google a Day” Challenges. The search literacy lessons help teachers meet the new Common Core State Standards and are grouped based on level of search expertise: Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced. “A Google a Day” Challenges help students put their search skills to the test as they use technology to discover the world around them. The challenges are organized into the following categories: Culture, Geography, History, Science. Click Here to Access Free Search Resources…