Instructify

BY BILL FERRIS

Do you like birds? Perhaps more to the point, are you teaching a unit on birds? If so, make All About Birds the next site you visit. Created by the Cornell Lab or Ornithology, All About Birds strives to be “the Web’s best and most comprehensive resource for North American birds, bird watching, and bird conservation — accessible to everyone for free.” It’s a lofty goal, but if this site didn’t achieve it, I can’t imagine anyone else has.

(more…)

BY BILL FERRIS

“Birdies are friends!” That’s what my two-year-old son says. He even thinks an owl lives in the ceiling fan in his room. If that’s not a ringing endorsement for the avian kind, I don’t know what is. He especially loves the “birdie book,” a book from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology that plays the songs of 250 birds.

Given how much he likes the book, I’m a little nervous about showing him another great bird resource from Cornell. Round Robin: The Cornell Blog of Ornithology has a lot of fascinating bird content, including video, audio, and images that my little boy will probably want to look at all day long. (more…)

BY BILL FERRIS

Let’s get the disclaimer out of the way — Get High Now has to do with optical and audio illusions. It in no way advocates getting hepped up on goofball. To quote from the site itself:

“Get High Now is an illustrated, mind-blowing magic carpet ride of more than 175 ways to alter human perception and consciousness—without drugs or alcohol” (emphasis added lest you think Instructify is promoting anything inappropriate for a school audience).

See? We’re still a family site, more or less.

Anyway, the Get High Now website is a companion to a book of the same name. Both catalog stunning illusions of sight and sound, explaining the biology and neuroscience that makes them possible.

(more…)

BY BILL FERRIS

Win a trip to Antarctica. Yes, that’s supposed to be an incentive.

PolarTREC will send 36 teachers to the Arctic or Antarctic to work with polar research teams. They’ll take a mittens-on approach to learning about atmospheric chemistry, biology, history and culture in the coldest places on earth. (more…)

BY REBECCAH HAINES

If you know anything about biology, you know about the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. They are involved in a lot of important biological research, and they also make the results of this research available to the public in many ways. One way is through the Biointeractive Virtual Labs.

As the name of the site suggests, you can access five virtual, interactive labs.  The topics of the labs include transgenic fruit flies, immunology, bacterial identification, cardiology, and neurophysiology. I think you’ll agree with me in that I believe this site to be most appropriate for high school biology, and maybe even best for AP biology.  These virtual labs will introduce your students to some very advanced biological techniques.

(more…)

BY BILL FERRIS

Summertime means fishing, camping trips, taking Junior to the zoo, and hitting the beach. All of those activities put you into contact with the wonders (or if you’re unlucky, the terrors) of the animal kingdom. July’s random roundup brings you the best Instructify posts that feature critters other than humans.

Tune in to The Great Turtle Race
The Great Turtle Race raises public awareness of leatherback turtle migration, plus threats to the creature’s survival, through the magic of sports. The site has lots of nifty race stats, such as how many hour-long dives each turtle makes. You can cheer on your favorite turtle, and elect to receive daily updates on how it’s doing in the field.

(more…)

BY REBECCAH HAINES

We’ve heard a lot about some renegade microbes in the news lately.  The Swine Flu hysteria closed down many schools across the country and continues to be an issue worldwide.  With all the press that H1N1 has gotten, you might think that all microbes are harmful. In fact, the vast majority of microbes are not at all harmful, and many are downright helpful. At Microbeworld, you can discover the abundant positives of microbes.

(more…)

BY BILL FERRIS

A while back we looked at some of the world’s weirdest plants. I don’t know how, but the list didn’t include anything from Socotra. Part of an archipelago in the Indian Ocean off the Horn of Africa, Socotra is home to plant and animal species that look like they’re from another planet. Socotra has been isolated from the African mainland for millions of years, and its plant and animal life show it. According to this article from Dark Roasted Blend, “Like the Galapagos Islands, this island is teeming with 700 extremely rare species of flora and fauna, a full 1/3 of which are endemic, i.e. found nowhere else on Earth.”

(more…)

BY BILL FERRIS

For this month’s random roundup, we’ve selected the Library of Congress, our nation’s storehouse of pretty much everything worth knowing. As you’d expect, a lot of great resources for teachers have been derived from the Library. See your tax dollars at work by reading the articles linked after the jump.

(more…)

BY REBECCAH HAINES

Kids these days, you know?  They don’t care about the state of the world.  They don’t care about endangered species.  They don’t care about the environment.  If you’re a teacher, you’ve probably heard statements such as these (and maybe even thought them a few times yourself in moments of frustraction).  It is up to us as educators to broaden our students’ horizons and give them a reason to care.  Field Trip Earth is one place you can go to expose them to some world views, and hopefully inspire them to conserve.

(more…)

Your students may or may not know the importance of estuaries. They may not even know what they are. You can solve both of those knowledge deficiencies by taking them on an online field trip to Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in coastal Alabama. EstuaryLive presents two live broadcasts from Weeks Bay on May 15 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Eastern time.

Your students can learn about estuary wildlife, ecosystems, as well as the threats each of those components face. Since it’s live, you and your class can interact with the field trip leaders (check the technical requirements to make sure you can view this virtual field trip without any net-based hangups). If you can’t make the May 15 broadcasts, you can view archived field trips as well.

EstuaryLive is a great opportunity to learn a lot about environmental science without having to trudge through the mud. -BILL FERRIS

EstuaryLive

Related stuff:

Go hug a tree at the the Sustainable Forestry Teachers’ Academy

Photo credit: DCSL on Flickr.

Though Punnett squares may be one of the most basic things that students need to understand when studying genetics, they can be complicated at first. You should have heard my 7th graders when I introduced them…”Wait…how did you get that?”  “What are the letters for again?”  “How do I know what to put in each box?” Sometimes a student just needs a second opinion.  One place they can get it with regards to Punnett squares is at The Biology Project’s Solving Punnett Squares Tutorial.

The tutorial provides a straightforward and visual way for students to look at solving problems.  As you click along, you will encounter more genetics problems related to monohybrid crosses and Mendelian genetics.  Each problem has a tutorial to explain the correct answer to the problem.  In addition to being used as a reteaching tool, it could be used with absent students or students who are home-bound for some reason. Though the instructions use subject-specific vocabulary (heterozygous monohybrid cross anyone?), they are written in an understandable way.

So the next time your students look at you quizzically after teaching them how to solve Punnett squares, look no further than this website for another teaching tool. -REBECCAH HAINES

The Biology Project’s Solving Punnett Squares Tutorial

Related stuff:

Dragon DNA and other genetics fun: Genetics Web Lab Directory

Interactive DNA at DNAi.org

When I was a kid, nothing grabbed my attention like talking about predators. Perhaps it was an latent instinctive adrenaline response to danger, but whether they were sharks, dinosaurs, tigers or giant robots, ferocious creatures always piqued my interest. Chances are at least a few of your students have this sort of reaction, too. These kids will be pleased to know about the Hurdia victoria, a 500-million-year-old oceanic predator that has just been discovered.

Science Daily has the scoop on this prehistoric arthropod, which looked like a giant shrimp and grew up to 1.5 feet long. That may not sound very big, but remember that arthropods include such creepy-crawlies as tarantulas, cockroaches and ants. If I saw a foot-and-a-half-long tarantula crawling toward me, I’d be plenty scared.

According to the article, scientists had been aware of separate fragments of Hurdia victoria for some time, but had variously misidentified them as sea cucumbers, jellyfish, or other oceanic arthropods. Only after combining them to form a carnivorous super-bug like an insectoid version of Devastator did scientists realize the fierce critter they had on their hands.

You can read more about Hurdia victoria at Science Daily. See if reading about this predator gets your students more interested in biology — or if it just makes you want to call an exterminator. -BILL FERRIS

Fossil Fragments Reveal 500-million-year-old Monster Predator via Science Daily

Related stuff:

Awesomeosaurus: New Carnivorous Dinosaur Discovered

Ever wonder what’s the lifespan of a flea? Or how sunscreen works? Or who developed the Nobel-worthy invention of the TV dinner?* Of course you haven’t, but that’s not the point. As any person who has won a trivia contest will tell you, it’s fun to show off knowledge of obscure facts in any subject. Like music and sports, science is a subject that lends itself especially well to this sort of trivia. You can find lots of it at Everyday Mysteries: Fun Science Facts from the Library of Congress.

The site groups its facts into categories like physics, technology, zoology and plant life. Personally, I enjoy browsing through the questions listed on the site and just see what I can learn. Everyday Mysteries is a great place to begin stockpiling questions for a classroom trivia contest, or if you’re in the mood to learn fun facts about a particular topic.  -BILL FERRIS

Everyday Mysteries: Fun Science Facts from the Library of Congress

Related stuff:

Think you know geography? Take this quiz

* 30-90 days, by combining organic and inorganic active ingredients, and several geniuses, respectively.

Photo credit: mastrobiggo on Flickr.

I sometimes find myself planning lessons, looking for a quick video clip to show my students. A short video is often an effective way to introduce, extend, or clarify  information that I’m teaching. I start to think about my sources…the library? Nope, videos are too long and many are too old…YouTube? Nope, I don’t want to search for DNA and find a band (though YouTubeEDU is fixing this issue). Hmm…where else can I go? Well, if I am teaching DNA or Genetics, I can mosey on over to the Secrets of the Sequence website.

This is a site where you can find about 50 short videos related to current DNA and genetics research.  It is created and maintained by Virginia Commonwealth University.  The topics range from a video about the genetic links of alcoholism to cloning champion trees.  You will find many videos that illustrate lots of applications of DNA science, and more importantly, they are interesting and engaging.  When you click on a video, there are two options for viewing.  You can stream it right from the site, or you can download it to your computer.  Additionally, there are national standards-aligned lesson plans for each video available in both PDF and Word format.  The lessons guide you through the video, indicating stopping points for class discussion, as well as disussion questions, and a related lab or activity for after the video.

Eureka!,  I think as I’m finishing the preparation for my brilliant lesson.  I’ve found a website that gives me not only those short videos I want, but some ideas on how to use them if I’m really stuck for planning.  I hope you mosey on over and find inspiration as well. - REBECCAH HAINES

Secrets of the Sequence

Related stuff:

Interactive DNA at DNAi.org

Don’t get fingered for the crime: PBS DNA Fingerprinting