Although I’ll be leaving all the pages on the web for a while (for those who might benefit from the archive), the quality of the material will decline quickly with a lack of updates from this date forward.

Especially in the past five years, the web has been evolving, from a collection of static pages to be “visited” into a growing assortment of interactive tools that allow people (including your students) to create and publish on their own.

And there are many better ways to keep up with those developments beyond a simple annotated list like this one.

If you’re interested in what I’m currently learning about all these wonderfully chaotic changes, please follow along at the other two pieces of this site, my AssortedStuff blog, and AssortedStuff for EdTech, my collection of training materials and session notes.

You can also find my very irregular rantings on Twitter, search my bookmark list at Delicious, view my attempts at photography at Flickr. I also have email, if you have comments or questions.

Thanks for visiting.

Tim
May 2010

They also have an excellent online presence through interactive versions of their in-house exhibits and much more on their web site. (don’t click the button on the main page that says “Don’t Push This Button” :-)

A good example of that “much more” is the Teacher Institute Teaching Tips podcast.

Created by science teachers who have participated in the Exploratorium’s summer programs, these five minute audio programs offer “hands-on activities, science facts, science history, pedagogy tips for new teachers, or other ideas for your science classroom”.

In addition to downloading individual shows, the page also offers links to subscribe in iTunes or any other podcast management program.

Since April 1 they have been posting one podcast a week and seem to be planning to maintain that pace for the foreseeable future.

Incidentally, if you’d like to apply to attend one of their summer institutes, contact information is at the bottom of the podcast main page.

Assuming you want to teach the topic from a strictly scientific perspective, the University of California Museum of Paleontology has put together an excellent resource: Understanding Evolution for Teachers.

The site has a simple layout which starts with the basics and includes a section on the misconceptions that arise when discussion evolution.

Each section features short essays on the topic and also includes lesson plans for teaching about it.

While the site is designed for teachers, the information and reading level is appropriate for high school students to use directly.

This month a team from the National Geographic Society is exploring “the last healthy, undisturbed places in the ocean”, the southern Line Islands in the Pacific and you can follow them as well at Ocean Now.

The site features regular updates through their blog along with excellent photography, video, and interactive maps.

Another good example of how your students can virtually travel with science explorers all over the world.

The Catlin Arctic Survey is an international collaboration between polar explorers and some of the world’s foremost scientific bodies. It seeks to resolve one of the most important environmental questions of our time: How long will the Arctic Ocean’s sea ice cover remain a permanent feature of our planet?

The trip began in February and is slated to take around 100 days.

There’s plenty of information about the expedition on the web site, of course, but members are also communicating with the world using a variety of web 2.0 tools including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and more.

You can also download a layer for Google Earth (kml file) and follow their progress in that program.

This is a great example of how scientists can use the internet in creative ways to make their work understandable and important to the rest of the world.

America by Air looks at the history of commercial air travel in the US. It includes lots of pictures and a collection of interactive activities. Look Behind the Scenes to see how the physical exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum was created.

Blue Wales is a site to accompany the program Kingdom of the Blue Wales which premieres Sunday, March 8th on the National Geographic Channel (and which will probably be repeated many times after that). A small collection of excellent photographs and one or two video clips from the program.

Islam in Southeast Asia is based on a book by the Asia Society. You can purchase the book for $25 or use this site which contains all the materials. The resources cover the history and culture and mixes wonderful photographs with video, animation and interactive maps.

Finally, this one isn’t designed for students but includes materials that would be great for high school economics or government. Frontline, the excellent PBS documentary series, recently produced a program on the economic problems so much in the news called Inside the Meltdown. The site includes the full program in segments along with lots of great supplementary materials.

Each has extensive notes about where and when the picture was taken and all carry no known copyright restrictions.

The notes on the main page of this collection also include links to more portraiture of Lincoln as well as to an article about the science and mechanics of early photography.

For much more on Lincoln, including links to more information and teaching resources than anyone could ever use, visit the Library’s official Lincoln Bicentennial site.