THE PRACTICE: Supporting the science classroom through literacy development
Content Presented By:
Center for Resource Management (CRM)
The Education Alliance at Brown University

Resources related to this practice:

• Basic science concepts: How Stuff Works
  http://science.howstuffworks.com

  The science resources in How Stuff Works include concrete examples and analogies students can understand, while providing clear descriptions, engaging graphics, and easy reading for basic concepts. They also provide real world examples like how refraction makes a rainbow and how animals become resistant to antibiotics.

• Best Practices in Teaching Science
  http://instech.tusd.k12.az.us/balancedlit/handbook/BLHS/blbpscihs.htm

  Lists all the best practices in teaching science.

• Biology/Instructional Strategies/Writing in the Science Classroom
  http://www.mdk12.org/instruction/curriculum/hsa/earth_space
  /writing_classroom.html

  Communication is a major aspect of the nature of science.

• Biome EcoWatch Project
  http://www-ed.fnal.gov/linc/projects/ktgannon/presentation.html

  The site outlines a literacy infused project for advanced biology students.

• Creating a Twenty-five Word Abstract
  http://www.wested.org/stratlit/ideas/twentyfiveword.shtml

  This activity was created by a science teacher who wanted his students to use summarizing to better access the classroom text. This activity can be applied in any content area.

• Darwin's "On The Origin of Species"
  http://talkorigins.org/faqs/origin.html

  This resource provides the complete text of Charles Darwin?s The Origin of the Species, integrating science and text structure, and is also valuable for illustrating the value of the scientific process to students (hypothesis, evidence etc.). Its student-friendly format allows students to click on individual chapter titles. The complete classic text would otherwise seem overwhelming to students.

• Deformed Frogs in Minnesota!
  http://whyfiles.org/055oddball/frog.html

  This Why File discusses how chemical exposure alters hormones in frogs.

• Discovery Education: School Resources
  http://school.discoveryeducation.com/

  This website offers free access to a library of K-12 lesson plans in science, math, social studies, English language arts, and fine arts, along with several other curriculum resources and regularly updated links to high-quality sites with instructional materials.

• Earth Exploration Toolbook
  http://serc.carleton.edu/eet/chapters.html

  This very teacher friendly site focuses on environmental issues. Each topic has been created as a unit that provides students with projects to explore, teaching students to read scientific maps and graphs and to analyze and translate the information. Our two favorites for engaging adolescent learners are Analyzing the Antarctic Ozone Hole and When Dinner is Served ? Phytoplankton Blooms in the Gulf of Maine.

• Earthwatch Institute
  http://earthwatch.org/education/teachlive/teachlive.html

  The Earthwatch Institute site is an excellent ecology site for students of all reading levels. The Institute sponsors expeditions for teachers (see detailed information on this site) and their work with students is reflected here. Select an ecosystem or historical human culture for a menu to access the site of each specific teacher. Sites also provide lesson plan examples and related links for more information.

• Ecology vocabulary and concepts related to frogs
  http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/aw/declines/declines.html

  This site uses frog declines as an indicator of a worldwide problem and presents an investigation of environmental factors suspected for causing malformations and population declines of frogs. The site integrates common ecology terms and uses them content-specific to frogs.

• Frog dissection tutorial and virtual dissection
  http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/go/frog/Frog2/

  Written for high school students, this Web site presents the virtual dissection of the frog, an excellent substitute for hands-on dissection as well as providing a complete tutorial for students who will participate in an actual dissection. It provides clear visuals and descriptions for each photo. The ?Guess What?? feature supports vocabulary and comprehension in the form of detailed descriptions of structures, functions, and some interesting trivia.

• Handbook of Engaged Learning Projects, Sight and Sound in Nature, Scoring Rubrics
  http://www-ed.fnal.gov/help/97/sightsound/ssrubhom.html

  This collaborative physics project contains an example of assessment rubrics for student work.

• Handbook of Engaged Learning Projects: Sight and Sound in Nature; Scenario
  http://www-ed.fnal.gov/help/97/sightsound/ssscen.html

  This site describes the development/rationale of a second-semester project designed to help students learn concepts relevant to physics.

• Inquiry-Based Learning
  http://ei.cornell.edu/pubs/NARST_CEIRP_03.pdf

  This article provides information on four types of inquiry-based learning for science learning.

• It's Elemental: The Periodic Table of Elements
  http://pubs.acs.org/cen/80th/elements.html

  This site is a periodic table where passing the cursor over the symbol reveals the element?s name and clicking on the symbol takes the reader for an engaging in-depth article about the element.

• Lesson: Introduction to the Mole
  http://knowledgeloom.org/adlit/resources/CollabScienceLesson
  Mole_Rouhan.pdf

  In this lesson, high school chemistry teacher Polly Rouhan uses the jigsaw discussion strategy and an adapted Frayer vocbaulary chart to help her students synthesize key ideas from four different readings about the mole. Rouhan developed this lesson during her participation in the 2007-2008 Adolescent Literacy Collaboratory, a program of The Education Alliance at Brown University.

• Misconceptions about Evolution and the Mechanisms of Evolution
  http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/misconceps/index.shtml

  The "misconceptions" page gives five common misconceptions about evolution, presented with cartoons in a student-friendly reading format. The "history" page breaks down evolutionary theory into four historical periods. Clicking on topics brings up the accompanying bullets of information. Another valuable feature of this site is "Readings and Resources", which goes directly to more in-depth articles on very specific topics such as the evolution of human brain size.

• National Geographic.com
  http://nationalgeographic.com/index.html

  The National Geographic Magazine online links to an Educator?s Homepage, which contains resources for teachers and students, and lesson ideas, which prompt students to research online, participate in group activities, take positions on issues, and make inferences. Our favorites: Standards #7 Grand Canyon, #14 Coastal Development, and #18 Parasites and Disease.

• Newton's Three Laws of Motion and More
  http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/history/newton3laws.html

  Part of a lecture series for an on-line astronomy course, this Web site integrates science and history. While integrating physics and mathematics, it also provides the history and development of the current theory through the contributions of Aristotle, Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler in language appropriate for high school students. Go to the home page/main index and click on ?Plate tectonics? (#9 The Earth) to see an example of other age-appropriate presentations.

• QuarkNet
  http://quarknet.fnal.gov/

  This site describes a collaborative physics project.

• Science and Technology pages of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History
  http://www.si.edu/science_and_technology

  The Science and Technology page lists and annotates engaging topics, and the homepage for the Museum of Natural History takes the visitor to interesting presentations (microorganisms, pearl formation, dinosaurs).

• Science at NASA
  http://science.nasa.gov/

  This student-oriented site provides news from NASA in a magazine format that is organized by content area.

• Science Reference Services
  http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech

  This link from The Library of Congress site offers clickable high-interest ?Online Abstracts, Indexes and Full Texts? such as Alexander Graham Bell?s drawings, a handbook of food-borne pathogens called the ?Bad Bug Book?, and ?Eric Weistein?s World of Science? which is an online encyclopedia for chemistry, physics, and astronomy.

• Secondary Science Inquiry Scoring Guide
  http://www.nwrel.org/msec/science_inq/guides.html

  Teacher's version of a secondary school science inquiry scoring guide.

• Students as investigators in Minnesota
  http://www.pca.state.mn.us/hot/frog-bg.html

  For students who are interested in exploring the topic of pollutants in greater depth, this Web page tells the story of the Minnesota students? findings.

• The Future of Secondary Education: The High School Science Classroom of the Future
  http://horizon.unc.edu/projects/HSJ/Baird.asp

  Abstract written by Bill Baird of Auburn University.

• The World's Biomes and More
  http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/glossary/gloss5/biome/

  At The World?s Biome?s Page, the student can investigate the five major types of biomes. The home page (for The Berkeley Museum of Paleontology) is an entire curriculum.

• To Spray or Not to Spray: A Debate Over Malaria and DDT
  http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/projects/cases/ddt/ddt.html

  At this Website, scientists with conflicting interests converse in the office of the UN Secretary for Public Health. The debate is over whether a worldwide ban on DDT should be enacted and it provides an example of how scientists discuss topics.

• Using Dialogue Journals in Support of Science Instruction
  http://www.accessexcellence.org/MTC/96PT/Share/yorks.html

  This covers a year-long lesson/class activity that encourages the students to ask themselves "do I understand. . .?"

• Using the History of Science in the Chemistry Classroom
  http://cse.edc.org/products/historyscience

  This resource profiles 15 famous scientists (Click on ?Historical Entries?) and shows scientists in a human light. It is written so students will make the connection between scientists and themselves.

• Virtual Pond Dip
  http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/index.html?http://www.micros
  copy-uk.org.uk/ponddip/

  This site is a ?virtual pond dip? where high school students click on a critter in the jar and gather information at a level appropriate to high school students. The site also provides information on microscope history and technology and on terrestrial microscopic organisms. Most of these resources are presented in engaging formats, especially the Pond Life Identification Kit. At the bottom of the page, click on Microscope Magazine Article Library for a library of magazine articles broken out by category of interest.

• Webquests for constructivist lessons across the curriculum
  http://webquest.org/

  At this site, view and obtain vetted lessons in 12 curricular areas and all grades, using the WebQuest model, a constructivist lesson format used widely around the world.

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This resource is developed and maintained by The Education Alliance at Brown University. Seed funding was provided by the U.S. Department of Education. Send comments to: loom@alliance.brown.edu