Have you ever taken your students to STEM education events at an amusement park? We’re working on a story about theme parks where students can learn while having fun, such as Ohio’s Kings Island, which holds Math and Science Days every spring. We invite you to share your experiences at these parks by leaving a comment here. We might include some comments in the story, which will be published in July.

In SciLinks, as the webwatchers review new sites, each site is correlated to a specific keyword (such as Food Chains, Phases of the Moon, or Magnetic Fields). But sometimes, we run into collections of activities that include a broad spectrum of science-related topics. Although many of the individual activities are aligned with specific SciLinks keywords and are included in the database, the entire collection may be of interest.
These are not simply a list of someone’s favorite sites or activities. These are activities, simulations, and resources created by organizations or institutions as part of an outreach program or related to their projects and research. You can search the sites by grade level and subject area. Here are some examples of these collections:

From the Teachers’ Domain site you can access hundreds of individual multimedia resources (video clips, photographs, audio files, animations, PDF documents) from WGBH/PBS programming. Most of these resources have a generous use policy. All of them can be used online, most can be downloaded, and many can be shared or added to your own presentations. The site also has a set of K–12 lesson plans that integrate these resources.
The Molecular Workbench has many interactive simulations and includes topics in science and engineering. Use the “Software” link to download the software and get a list of available simulations. The “Curriculum” link leads to a database of lesson plans that use the simulation. The lesson plans include objectives, key concepts, and correlations to popular textbook chapters.
Use the Vision Learning Library to find modules on a variety of topics in biology, chemistry, physics, and science processes. Each module, written by an expert, includes text, graphics, animations, and a quiz. You can register (free) to create your own classroom space on the site. The library is also available in Spanish.
Explore has on-line exhibits, lesson plans, and information from the Exploratorium Museum. There are activities for students of all ages and resources for classroom implementation.
Cool Science from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute has virtual labs, videos, and “BioInteractives” with in-depth investigations and information.
With Smithsonian Educators you can search the collections of the “nation’s attic” for resources and lessons. You can even enter one of your state standards and get resources related to it.
You can search the index of PhET simulations by science content area or by grade level. Each animated simulation has teaching ideas and could be used by individuals or small groups or projected to a whole class.
If your students are interested in photography, here are themed galleries of high-quality pictures and tips for taking digital photographs from National Geographic Photography.
Paso Partners: Integrating Mathematics, Science, and Language includes lessons can be used in classes with young English language learners in grades K–3. The topics include life science, health, earth science, and physical science. The resources are available in both English and Spanish and include vocabulary lists, graphic organizers, activities, and assessment ideas.
NIH Curriculum Supplements for high school, middle school, and elementary grades are lessons and activities that help students understand the science behind health topics such as bioethics, genetics, and the brain.

I am a school librarian. When I was cleaning out a cupboard, I found a box of nature-related prints. There are over 300 of them, with a copyright of 1900. Most are of birds, but there are others of flowers, other animals, seashells, and rocks. Are they worth anything? What should I do with them
—Jeannie, Loganton, Pennsylvania
What a treasure! (And thanks for letting me look at them in person.) I’m not an expert in prints, but it looks like they might be from several sources, and with the exception of a few that have wrinkled edges, they’re in great shape for being over 100 years old.
All are numbered and many of them have a footnote “Copyright 1900 by A. W. Mumford, Chicago. Others are labeled “from Nature’s Garden copyright 1900 by Doubleday, Page, and Company.” They’re in a box embossed with “Perry Pictures – Animals,” and there’s also a booklet titled Perry Pictures Bird Manual (undated) that matches up with the numbers on the bird prints. According to online sources, these publishing companies produced prints and magazines devoted to nature study and marketed to schools.
At the start of the 20th century, the “Nature Study” movement was dedicated to the idea that children should learn from nature (rather than textbooks) and from tangible objects in a hands-on manner. I wonder if this is a precursor to environmental education and the “No Child Left Inside” discussions we’re having at the beginning of the 21st century?

I suspect these prints were meant to be used in classrooms. They are very realistic, almost photographic, depictions, many with background details showing the animal’s habitat (similar to museum dioramas). Some of the bird and animal ones look as though they were drawn from museum specimens.
If you want to know about their monetary value, I’d take them to a dealer who specializes in antique prints. If you find out that they are really valuable, your principal or district administration may have some suggestions on what to do with them and where to keep them.
Assuming they do not have great monetary value, you could put them back in the cupboard and save them for another 100 years, but since they were meant to be a learning tool, you and your science colleagues could use them as such.

• Inventory them and create an index or list (a project some students or volunteers could take on) Share the list with other libraries in your district so the teachers know what you have.

• Get some inexpensive frames and display some of them (perhaps as rotating exhibits) in the school offices, conference rooms, library, hallways, or teachers’ workroom. Your art teacher may have some suggestions on how to frame these prints.

• Put some of them in plastic sheet protectors and have students use them as writing prompts, using precise language to describe the appearance of these plants or animals or to compare and contrast their attributes. The prints could be used in activities for sorting, categorizing, or classifying. Students could note how some of the names of the birds have changed. Cover the names with a sticky note and practice naming birds. Although pictures are readily available online, your students may be impressed using documents more than 100 years old.

• Use them in binders or on classroom bulletin boards (in the sheet protectors), where students may enjoy looking at them. When I displayed a collection of seaweed pressings in my classroom, I was surprised and pleased the seventh graders often would look at them, noting differences among the species (or perhaps they were just amused by the genus name Fucus).

• Ask a high school student or class to do some more research on the publishers and other types of Nature Study materials. This could also be an interesting topic for a teacher taking a graduate class in environmental education or educational history.

• If you’re willing to part with any of them, framed prints could be given as tokens of appreciation or recognition to volunteers, retiring teachers, paraprofessionals, or students.

If anyone has more information about these prints, please add a comment. Who knows what else is buried in the closets and cupboards in our schools? Perhaps the Antiques Road Show could do a special episode!
To see copies of Nature Study magazines:
Nature’s Garden
Birds and Nature

Scheduled for July 21–24 in Las Vegas, Nevada, this national conversation on science education provides an opportunity for chapters and associated groups, the NSTA Council, the NSTA Board of Directors, and NSTA staff to collaboratively address issues and work toward strategies that will support our mission, “to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all.”
If you have had the opportunity to be a Congress participant, you know that this unique leadership experience supports the professional growth of each individual participant.  Workshops include parliamentary procedures, sharathons, media training, fiscal responsibilities, a briefing on NSTA resources, on-line tools for CAGs, membership recruitment and retention, and more.
This is an event that initiates the conversation, engages the participants, and takes action on issues that affect all who are interested in quality science education.  We have waived the registration fee this year in hopes to have all of NSTA’s CAGs attend. Click here for more information.
The success of this blog is dependent on your participation!  And remember, I’m only a few keystrokes away at aodonnell@nsta.org.

Yes, I will do this again next spring! We had caterpillars crawling out of the net housing, more caterpillars appearing than expected, wasps pupating next to their caterpillar host, a few deaths due to neglect, and beautiful (is there any other kind?) butterflies emerging from their chrysalids. My plan to introduce the butterfly life cycle to the preschool classes I work with using only locally-found butterfly eggs and caterpillars worked fairly well (see post of May 7, 2010). While not as certain as ordering caterpillars from a biological supply company, I was able to get caterpillars into every classroom. There were fewer caterpillars for each classroom but most children got to see the life cycle beginning with the eggs before the caterpillars hatched. I only use the Cabbage White and Black Swallowtail butterflies because they are not endangered, and locally abundant.
Lessons learned:

• Just because there were an abundance of Eastern Tent moth caterpillars in the fruit trees last year, does not mean there will be any this year. The weather has been unusually cool and I haven’t spotted any of the hairy caterpillars or their webs in tree branches.
• The paper plate and net housing doesn’t fool Black Swallowtail caterpillars who are searching for either fresher food or a high place to pupate. Next time I will add fresh food cuttings several times a week to keep them happy. I may make the fabric overlap wider, or tape the overlap closed. We should try our best to provide for all their needs.
• There are tiny wasps that parasitize Cabbage White butterfly caterpillars, laying their eggs in the caterpillar body where they hatch and feed, emerging later to form pupa cocoons. Ick, but that is a beautiful system for the wasps. See more about this and moths of the cabbage plant family on the Ontario, Canada Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs page on Caterpillar Pests of Cruciferous Crops.  Trying to understand where this new set of pupae came from may be too much for young children unless they have observed a caterpillar growing and changing into a butterfly several times. So I said that these new pupae are insects that I don’t know enough about to raise and care for them indoors so we put that leaf out in the garden.
• Unseasonably cool weather may mean newly emerged butterflies need to be kept and fed indoors for a day or two. The cool temperature seemed to make the one pictured below sluggish, allowing a very close and careful look.
• I’m going to plant patches of fennel in more locations so I will have more places to gather Black Swallowtail butterfly eggs and larvae.

Most of the 15 classrooms had butterflies to release at the end of six to ten weeks. Teachers sent me text messages, took pictures and gushed about the excitement the children expressed at seeing the butterfly fly away. “It went up and up and up!” was one child’s description.
I still don’t have any Monarch butterfly larvae on the milkweed plants and think at this late date that the migrating adults have passed my yard by and gone north.  Perhaps the next generation of Monarch butterflies will decide to lay eggs here. The flowers of the milkweed have been very popular with many species of bees, wasps, and this Tiger Swallowtail butterfly.
What kinds of lifecycles do you talk about and observe in your classroom?
I have much to learn about raising butterflies from eggs. What suggestions do you have?
Peggy

Last month we shared some resources on the Gulf oil spill and the situation is even more critical now. The Encyclopedia of Life has added an entry on the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill 2010 that describes the diversity of life in the Gulf and has links to news articles about the spill. Unfortunately, the list of articles keeps getting longer.

The Deepwater Horizon Response website is a “Unified Command” clearinghouse of information provided by government agencies (such as the U.S. Coast Guard, EPA, NOAA, USGS, the National Park Service, OSHA, and the Departments of State, Interior, and Homeland Security) and BP. There are daily updates, maps, and articles related to the spill.  UPDATED link: http://www.restorethegulf.gov/

With the oceans getting a lot of attention, you may want to check out the Ocean Portal from the Smithsonian Institution and 20 other organizations. According to the press release, users have many options to explore, including

• Ocean Life & Ecosystems, offering information about marine life species and the environments in which they live
• Ocean Science, introducing visitors to the latest experiments and research of ocean scientists around the world
• The Ocean Over Time, providing a look at the evolution of the ocean
• For Educators, providing teachers with activities, lessons and educational resources
• Photo Essays, highlighting feature stories on a variety of topics relating to ocean life
• The Ocean & You, where visitors can learn about important ocean issues and ways to make a positive impact
• Find Your Blue, a section designed to inspire visitors to participate, share, and check out featured actions that they can take to help the ocean
• The website also includes the Ocean Portal Blog and RSS feeds where visitors can go to stay up-to-date on the latest in ocean news. Visitors can also access Ocean Portal content and participate through Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr.

I spent an evening looking at these resources and barely scratched the surface! The photos and other graphics are spectacular, the feature stories are compelling, and many of the features have sidebars with suggestions for the classroom.  Unfortunately, the Gulf oil spill is center stage on the portal.

But on another note—I read that Jacques Cousteau’s Calypso has been renovated and will embark on a tour this year to celebrate the 100^th anniversary of his birth. Captain Cousteau was one of my heros. I wonder what his thoughts would be about the current situation.

The Maine Science Teachers Association has announced that the date of their annual conference has been changed to Friday, November 12.  Held at the Gardiner Area High School, the theme is Change for Sustainability featuring former Governor Angus King as keynote speaker.  Sessions will be held on Change for Sustainability, Earth and Space, Life and Physical Sciences.
If you are interested in presenting at the conference, please contact Robin Kennedy at rkennedy57@gmail.com.   To learn more about this event, please visit the MSTA website.
Please keep me posted on what your group is doing—the success of this blog is dependent on your participation!  And remember, I’m only a few keystrokes away at aodonnell@nsta.org.