Resources

NEW!!!
Green Thumb Challenge (Oct. ? June 2010)

GEF is launching the largest student gardening initiative in history, calling on Pre K-12 schools to plant 10,000 indoor or outdoor gardens! GEF?s website will provide everything that a novice would need to plant gardens, including checklists for school approvals, plot location guidelines; indoor container garden suggestions, funding sources (including grant templates) garden plans, vegetable and flower suggestions and much more. GEF provides a multitude of standards-based lessons linking gardening to science, math, language arts, creative arts and technology. Summer internships and community service programs will be available to middle and high school students. Register by Dec. 15, 2009 and be entered into a raffle for free garden kits (gloves, tools, seeds, etc.) or cash prizes to jump start and/or fund your gardens, enroll today at www.GreenEducationFoundation.org

Help Shrink Nature Deficit!

School Gardens- Plant, Water and Learn!

Estuaries.Gov

Estuaries.Gov helps educators bring the beauty and the importance of estuaries into classrooms and educational programs. This site provides, primarily, an avenue for elementary, middle and high school students, and their teachers, to learn more about estuaries, research, and explore NOAA’s “living laboratories” - the National Estuarine Research Reserves. Estuaries.Gov delivers scientific information and real-time data in a meaningful form for anyone interested in estuaries – or simply in need of a reliable resource. It provides current information on a variety of educational and stewardship related opportunities offered at local estuarine research reserves, and the most recent research results of estuarine science.
Estuaries.Gov is the educational site for NOAA's National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS), managed and maintained by NERRS education staff. The site is an important part of the NERRS efforts to communicate and advance ocean and estuarine literacy nationwide.

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences is the basic science arm of the National Institutes of Health with a growing collection of free science education materials. These printed and online resources are described at http://www.nigms.nih.gov/Publications/ST0409. Printed materials are available individually or in classroom sets.

NASA CORE is an international clearinghouse for aerospace information and materials relating to many curriculum areas. They supply educators with videotapes, DVDs, CD-ROMs, activity kits and NASA memorabilia for minimal prices plus shipping. Established by NASA Headquarters and the Lorain County Joint Vocational School in 1988, CORE has been serving educators internationally for over 20 years.
Science educators can benefit from the wealth of information that NASA has available. Visit their web site, and if you are interested in receiving a small informational packet about their services and all NASA has to offer, send an email to nasa_order@lcjvs.net

Why do you need to know about your air quality? Exposure to high levels of air pollution can aggravate health conditions such as asthma and heart disease. The EnviroFlash system allows people to receive an email or text about air quality on a daily basis or when the air is predicted to be poor.
Air quality is shown on the Air Quality Index that ranges from green for good to dark purple for hazardous. Orange is the level at which an Ozone Action Day alert is sent out to the affected area. EnviroFlash automatically sends these alerts when the air quality reaches a certain level and if you are subscribed, you will get them, either by email or text. Knowing the “color” of your air will allow you to take whatever precautions are necessary.
To sign up for EnviroFlash you can go to http://www.enviroflash.info/ . If you live in Baton Rouge, the sign up is www.batonrougearea.enviroflash.info ; New Orleans, www.neworleansarea.enviroflash.info ; or Shreveport, www.shreveportarea.info .
DEQ encourages you to sign up for this free service that is presented as a partnership between DEQ and the Environmental Protection Agency. Other areas of the state will be included in the forecasting this summer. For more information on EnviroFlash, call Jean Kelly at 225-219-3966 or email, jean.kelly@la.gov .

100 Years of oil and gas in LA Centennial CD Sets available Anyone interested in a copy of the 100 Years of Oil and Gas set should email jean.may-brett@la.gov to provide a preferred mailing address. Copies will be sent in the next couple of weeks.

The Earth Science Literacy Initiative
The Earth Science Literacy Initiative (ESLI), funded by the National Science Foundation, has gathered and codified the underlying understandings of Earth sciences into a succinct document that will have broad-reaching applications in both public and private arenas. It establishes the “Big Ideas” and supporting concepts that all Americans should know about Earth sciences. The resulting Earth Science Literacy framework will also become part of the foundation, along with similar documents from the Oceans, Atmospheres and Climate communities, of a larger geoscience Earth Systems Literacy effort. http://www.earthscienceliteracy.org
Download the Earth Science Literacy Principles Guide(18.6 MB pdf)
Text Only (88 KB Microsoft Word Document)

DATASETS Available
There are datasets available which your students could analyze/ investigate to learn the scientific bases regarding Global Climate Change. Here are some links:
Earth Systems Science Education Alliance
Earth Education Toolkit
MyNASA Data
GLOBE

NSF Special Interactive Report
Evolution of Evolution - 150 Years of Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/darwin/ NSF has released a new interactive website relating to 150 years of scientific thinking since Darwin's "On the Origin of the Species." The website includes topics such as Evolution, Polar Sciences, Geosciences, Anthropology, Astronomy, Biology, and a resource section for further exploration.

School Chemical Cleanout Campaign (SC3)
We are excited to have some new information on the web about the Schools Chemical Cleanout Campaign. I hope you will take a moment to look at our SC3 video on EPA's YouTube site:
http://www.youtube.com/user/USEPAgov or streaming on the SC3 Web page: www.epa.gov/sc3
Both the program and the video also received a mention in a recent Greenversations (EPA blog) posting: http://blog.epa.gov/blog/2009/05/08/clean-out-the-chemicals/

SEEDS in SPACE
The method of distribution of seeds for the Engineering Design Challenge: Lunar Plant Growth Chamber experience has changed. Packets of space-flown seeds and packets of seeds not flown in space are now available as part of the Seeds in Space Kit. The kit includes the following items:

Five packets of seeds. Each packet includes one envelope of space seeds and one envelope of Earth seeds.

Liftoff to Learning: Plants in Space DVD.

The Ozone Monitoring Garden Lithograph.

The Engineering Design Challenge: Lunar Plant Growth Chamber Bookmark.

The Seeds in Space Kit may be obtained from the Central Operation of Resources for Educators, or CORE. Seeds are available as long as supplies last. http://corecatalog.nasa.gov/item.cfm?num=300.0-83B

So, are you in? Check out the School Showcase for a glimpse of the creativity, passion, and power students bring to Project Ignition Cell phone recycling with a purpose. If you have old cell phones and want to dispose of them, there is a worthy cause that you can donate them to. Go to www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com and follow the very simple steps. Please distribute to others who can help.

EXPLORATORIUM Teacher Institute Science Teaching Tips Teacher Institute Teaching Tips is a podcast for science teachers, by science teachers. In each five-minute episode, we give you hands-on activities, science facts, science history, pedagogy tips for new teachers, or other ideas for your science classroom.

National Science Foundation and NASCAR Announce "The Science of Speed" http://www.science360.gov/ This online series of videos aims to improve engagement in science among students in grades 8-12. The 12-part video series borrows illustrations from the wildly popular motor sport to explain scientific principles essential to NASCAR racing, such as friction, heat, drag and drafting. Video segments feature drivers, crew chiefs and engineers from numerous NASCAR garages.