Guess what you can do at Learningscience.org?
March 12, 2010
Now this is what I like in a website name - straightforward, telling you like it is. There is no doubt as to what you’ll find at Learningscience.org. That’s right, you’ll find websites to help your students learn science.
Essentially, Learningscience.org is a nicely categorized clearinghouse of interactive science websites. The first choice of categories are: Science Inquiry, Physical Science, Life Science, Earth and Space, Science and Technology, Science and Society, and The History and Nature of Science. Savvy science teachers will recognize these categories as the same ones within the National Science Education Standards. Upon clicking one of these categories, each is further divided into specific standards and grade levels. From there, once you select a specific standard and grade level, you are taken to a page with a list of high-quality, pre-approved, interactive web activities that you can use in your classroom. For example, here is a selection for Populations and Ecosystems, Grades 5-8.
The thing I like best about this site is how the websites are labeled with a descriptive tag (such as web Interactive - long) that can help you decide if it will be a good match for the lesson you are preparing. The website provides a key here, to help you understand what their tags mean. If you are a technology facilitator at your school, another great feature is this presentation that the makers of the website have prepared in order to spread the word about what they have done. You could just show it to your staff and have the work done for you! And maybe I should have just linked to that as my article…but then you would miss my witty commentary.
This website is certainly not unique in that it collects great websites and shares them, but I do like how the websites are tagged and connected to the National Science Standards. Both of these characteristics will help make this website useful in your lesson planning.
Related Stuff:
Ready-made interactive science adventures with NOAA research
The Learning Network: Lesson plans and more from The New York Times
Photo credit: striatic on Flickr.
