Resources

Photo of girl writing on notebookListed below are web sites that you might find useful in doing an independent, extra credit project, report or web quest for your InterActions class, or for a related activity like a science fair.  When you cite on-line or off-line sources in your work, follow the guidelines in the Citations & References guidelines (pdf).

Quick Menu:

 

 

General Science Sites

  • Exploratorium. The Exploratorium web site has a number of good articles and activities for students. For articles, the Explore section has a number of useful subsections, especially  Faultline, Solar Max, Solar Eclipse, and the two subsections below:
    • Global Climate Change. This site discusses the subject of global warming/climate change in a student-friendly way. The site discusses the research, the evidence, and the possible effects.   
    • Exploratorium Sports Science. Remember all the sports examples in InterActions? This site stresses the connection between sports and science.

  • How Stuff Works. This site has lots of information about how different machines work, along with tons of other information. See especially science stuff, electronics stuff, home stuff and auto stuff.
  • Science News for Kids. This site has current science news articles on physics, chemistry, the environment, technology and more, along with games, puzzles, and a science fair zone with news and tips. Updated weekly!
  • The Science Spot. This is a general site for middle school or junior high lessons and science-related links, including a number of interactive links. See especially the Science Spot Kid Zone.
  • Scientific American. This is the web site for America's leading non-specialist science magazine. The site has plenty of current science news articles. In addition, you could use this as a site to look for a topic to research. For the magazine itself, check out your school library or your public library.
  • Smithsonian Education: Science and Nature. This site has some InterActions-related topics. The best part is the Lemelson Center's Invention at Play site, which is interactive and uses some InterActions-related ideas and lessons.
  • Wikipedia, the On-line Free Encyclopedia. This site is good place to begin searching for information on a wide variety of topics, including numerous scientific topics and history of science topics. Because almost anyone can contribute to Wikipedia, you should be a little wary of the information you get from Wikipedia, and try to avoid using Wikipedia as a primary source.
  • American Lung Association
  • TACKLING TOBACCO ABUSE IN MODERN K-12 SCHOOLS

 

"Hands-On" Science Sites

  • Bill Nye the Science Guy. The best part of the site is a number of home labs and experiments that you can do.
  • Science Bob. Science Bob shows how to conduct several experiments at home. Some well-known young actors are featured doing science experiments.
  • ZOOM! Science Activities. Connected to the popular PBS show ZOOM!, this site has some activities that tie in directly to InterActions.

 

Energy,  Environment and Space

  • Nine Planets. This site offers introductions to the eight planets, their satellites and other Solar System objects, including Pluto (the "ex-ninth planet"), asteroids, comets and Kuiper Belt Objects.

 

Physics

  • Cavendish Experiment. This page explains the Cavendish Experiment in some detail.
  • Fear of Physics. The name of this site ought to elicit interest just by itself. This site helps explain several physics ideas addressed by InterActions, and others that are extensions of InterActions, like the Doppler effect.
  • Physics.org. This site is useful for its search engine. You need to register, but registration is free. When doing a search, first set age to "11-14" and knowledge level to "School (basic)". If this doesn't turn up any articles (or nothing useful), reset age to "14-16" or knowledge level to "School (intermediate)," and try again.

 

History of Science/Science Biography Searches

  • Ancient Greek Science (Google)
  • History of Astronomy ( Google)
  • Origin of the Periodic Table (Google, Yahoo)
  • Discovery of Infrared Radiation (Google)
  • History of Earthquake Research (Seismology) (Google, Yahoo)
  • Discovery of Conservation of Energy (Google)
    • Julius Robert von Mayer (who first stated the idea of energy conservation) (Google)
    • James Prescott Joule (who made the idea of energy conservation well-known) (Google)

  • Edward Alexander Bouchet (first African-American physics Ph.D) (Google)
  • George Carruthers (astrophysicist, inventor; involved with Apollo Moon missions) (Google)
  • Henry Cavendish (Cavendish Experiment) (Google)
  • Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (astrophysicist, black holes) (Google)
  • Marie Curie (chemist, researched radiocativity) (Google)
  • Albert Einstein (physicist, relativity) (Google)
  • Galileo Galilei (astronomer, physicist) (Google)
  • Shirley Ann Jackson (physicist, policy maker; specializes in subatomic particles) (Google)
  • Maria Göppert Mayer (nuclear physicist) (Google)
  • Isaac Newton (physicist, Newton's Laws, gravity) (Google)