Ms. Downing's Science Web Page

Welcome to the wonderful world of Science!

This is what we will be working on this year

Science skills - Observing, Organizing Information, classifying, sequencing, concept mapping, making and using tables and graphs, measuring, comparing and contrasting, cause and effect, forming operational definitions measuring in SI, forming a hypothesis, designing experiments and projects to test a hypothesis, separation and controlling variables, interpreting data, communicating, inferring, relating, making generalizations, applying, evaluating information, problem solving, decision making, inquiry, making models, predicting, sampling and estimating

Physics - Electricity, Magnetism, Electromagnetic waves, *properties and changes of matter, motions and forces, transfer of energy.

Life Science - Health, Fueling the body, blood, transport and Protection, Reproduction, Heredity, Evolution of Life, *Structure and function of living systems, reproduction and heredity, regulation of behavior, populations and ecosystems, diversity and adaptations of organisms.

Earth Science - Weather, Ocean Water and Life, Moving Continents, Geologic time, The Solar System, Stars and Galaxies, *structure of the earth, earth's history, earth in the Solar System.

Chemistry - Describing the Physical world, Matter in Solution, Acid, Bases and Salts.

Science and Technology - *Abilities of Technological design, understanding about Science and Technology.

Science in Personal and Social Perspectives - *Personal health, Populations, resources and environments, natural hazards, risks and benefits, Ethics and Science and technology in Society, careers in Science.

Unifying Concepts and Processes -*systems, order and organization, Evidence, models and explanation, change constancy and measurement, Evolution and equilibrium.

Science as Inquiry - *Science abilities , understandings about Scientific inquiry.

History and Nature of Science -*Science as Human Endeavor, nature of Science, History of Science.

* Program Supports the National Science Education Standards, The Sunshine State Standards of the Florida Dept. of Ed., Project 2061 of The American Association for the Advancement of Science

Some interesting Web links for you to explore!

JASON Project: http://www.jasonproject.org/
The JASON Foundation for Education, sponsors an annual scientific expedition with curriculum developed for grades 4 through 8. During the expedition, students "take part in live, interactive programs which are broadcast using state-of-the-art technology to a network of educational, research, and cultural institutions in the United States, Mexico, Bermuda, and the United Kingdom."


Hello Dolly: A WebQuest on Cloning: http://powayusd.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/PUSDRBHS/science/clone/dolly.htm
High school science teacher Keith Nuthall has done an outstanding job organizing and posting a top flight WebQuest. He writes, "Hello Dolly is a webquest project that requires students to ask good questions, access current information, analyze the validity of sources, apply new knowledge to evaluate a current controversy, and reach consensus with peers." Challenge students to make sense of this complex topic.

The San Diego Zoo InternQuest: http://edweb.sdsu.edu/edfirst/sandiegozoo/quest.html
Become a virtual intern. Join ten high school students from the San Diego area as they recount their learning adventures on an eight week internship behind the scenes at this world famous zoo. Also, cast your Vital Vote on Conservation Habitat Plans and look through the PhotoGallery.

Youth In Action Network: http://www.mightymedia.com/youth
Youth In Action Network is designed to help educators, students and concerned individuals from all over the world come together to engage in social action. Current main topic areas include the environment and human rights. Youth In Action Network is built around three components integral to participating in social action: Learn, Communicate, and Take Action. This service has the particular goal of providing students with everything they need to influence decisions that affect their world.

Blue Ice: Focus On Antarctica: http://www.onlineclass.com/BI/BIsub_web.html
In this "virtual" field trip to Antarctica, students study the Antarctica continent together. The basic concepts covered include food webs, "hypothesis," prey and predators, global and local ecosystems, human impact on natural environments, environmental stewardship and international cooperation. Nominal fee for participation.

Eco-Marketing Project: http://www.landmark-project.com/eco-market
The Eco-Marketing Project uses a global market theme with students grades 3-12 to promote skills in descriptive writing, persuasive writing, artistic expression, critical reading, budgeting of resources (money), science, concern for the environment, entrepreneurship, and awareness of the global community. Includes an "Educator's Toolbox."

The Journey North: http://www.learner.org/jnorth/
This annual Internet-based adventure engages students in a global study of wildlife migration and seasonal change. Students predict the arrival of spring from half a world away. From the Annenberg/CPB Math and Science Project.


How Far Does Light Go?: http://www.kie.berkeley.edu/KIE/web/hf.html
From Philip Bell of U.C. Berkeley's Knowledge Integration Environment Project, this debate project engages students in an examination of the scientific properties of light using relevant evidence from the Web. It culminates in an informal classroom debate where groups present their arguments and respond to questions from other students. According to Bell, it "works very well as a culminating project where students have spent significant time learning about various properties of light through previous instruction." Be sure to see the extensive project description for teachers for goals, lesson plans, technical requirements, and more.

Online Interactive Projects: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/interactive.html
These projects--called "Sharing NASA"--allow students to share in some of the excitment of authentic scientific and engineering pursuits like high-altitude astronomy, Antarctic biology, and robotics. These are full multimedia experiences, making use of television broadcasts and videotapes, printed workbooks, and online interaction. Projects usually last from one to three months and are open to any teacher or student. Part of NASA's Quest Project.


The Biology Project--University of Arizona: http://www.biology.arizona.edu/
This "interactive online resource for learning biology" from the University of Arizona was designed for high school and college-level biology students. Tutorials, problem sets, activities, and other resources guide learners in biochemistry, cell biology, developmental biology, human biology, Mendelian genetics, immunology,and molecular biology.

Project SkyMath: Making Mathematical Connections: http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/staff/blynds/Skymath.html
The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) has prepared middle school mathematics curriculum incorporating real-time weather data. The heart of this site are lesson plans for 15 classroom activities complete with support in English and Spanish.

Rivers of Life: Mississippi Adventure: http://cgee.hamline.edu/rivers
This subscription-based project "engages students the world over in celebration, study, and stewardship of one of the world's greatest river systems and of their own watersheds." Three inquiry-based projects (Chasing the Flood, The Steamer Trunk, and Rivers Through Time) engage students in hands-on local field study, Internet publishing, and dialogues with a diverse group of expert on-line guests.

World Builders: http://curriculum.calstatela.edu/courses/builders/
This site supports a course about designing planets from a solar system through plants and animals. It includes lessons, many links to web pages, teacher resources, science notes, and planets created by teams of teachers who participated in the course. It is being tried out in a high school and bits of it have been used in the elementary grades. The website is in a state of ongoing construction, but over a hundred and fifty professor-authored pages are already in place.

The Waksman Challenge: http://morgan.rutgers.edu/HTMLdocs/Challenge/Challenge.html
In this bioinformatics research project, high school student teams familiar with molecular biology fundamentals use Internet resources to solve a research problem. The challenges are devised by faculty at Waksman Institute of Rutgers. Funded by a grant from Bell Atlantic.

One Sky, Many Voices: http://onesky.engin.umich.edu/
These four and eight week inquiry-based projects use technology to help middle school students learn environmental science locally and via interactions with peers and resources worldwide. Kids as Global Scientists Weather '99 runs February through April, Shared Air '98 runs in May, and Hurricanes runs in October.

The Globe Program: http://www.globe.gov
This international science and education program coordinates the work of students, teachers and scientists to study and understand the global enviroment. GLOBE students "make a core set of environmental observations at or near their schools and report their data via the Internet. Scientists use GLOBE data in their research and provide feedback to the students to enrich their science education. Each day, images created from the GLOBE student data sets are posted on the World Wide Web, allowing students and visitors to the GLOBE web site to visualize the student environmental observations." Portions of this site are available in French and Spanish.

Odyssey of the Mind: http://www.odyssey.org/
The Odyssey of the Mind is a nonprofit organization that "promotes creative team-based problem solving in a school program for students from kindergarten through college. The program helps students learn divergent thinking and problem solving skills while participating in a series of challenging and motivating activities, both inside and outside their regular classroom curriculum." Use this site to find out about their annual competition.

EnergyNet Community Web: http://www.energynet.net
In this science project, "students evaluate their school's heating and lighting systems, and then share their data. Students thus form scientific research communities in which they learn about the production, cost, and management of the energy upon which both their school and their society depend."

Visit the 6th and 7th Grade web links too!