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From: earth science site of the week [mailto:EARTH@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Mark Francek Sent: Friday, November 17, 2006 4:46 AM To: EARTH@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: 18 November 2006 Earth Science Sites of the Week This week?s 18 November 2006 ?Earth Science Sites of the Week? feature the following resources: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FEATURES --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PICKS OF THE WEEK: topographic map creator (in ?Geosphere? section), stormy Saturn (in ?Solar System and Universe? section), and designing effective visuals (in ?Good Read? section). GEOSPHERE 1. Topographic map creator HYDROSPHERE 1. Water bears - extremophiles ATMOSPHERE 1. Weather web assignments SOLAR SYSTEM AND UNIVERSE 1. Stormy Saturn GENERAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL 1) World statistics in real time 2) New resources from DLESE --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENTS --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) Animations: when galaxies collide 2) Teaching Tip: super science day 3) Outstanding Earth Science Images: put your finger on the San Andreas 4) Good Read: designing effective visuals 5) Good Quote: teaching by example 6) Doable Demo: save a snowflake for decades 7) Computer Tip: how to select multiple files using the ctrl key --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FEATURES --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GEOSPHERE 1. TOPOGRAPHIC MAP CREATOR, ForgeFx, (suggested by Joseph Kerski, ESRI), having trouble helping your students understand topographic maps and digital elevation models, and you don't have time to create a solid object in three dimensions? Then try this nifty topographic map creator, where you can "cut" and "fill" the landscape and see the resulting changes on the topographic map. http://www.forgefx.com/casestudies/prenticehall/ph/topo/topo.htm HYDROSPHERE 1) TARDIGRADES (WATER BEARS), originally developed by Created by Sarah Bordenstein, Marine Biological Laboratory (suggested by John McDaris, SERC), Tardigrades are some of the most versatile animals on Earth. Resembling miniature bears, these tiny creatures are adapted to survive extreme changes in the environment - such as the absence of water and high temperatures. They are present in almost every habitat on the planet and are able to survive extreme environmental conditions through an adaptation known as cryptobiosis. This page from Microbial Life Educational Resources provides a lot of information about the microbe as well as how they can be found and examined in science classrooms to understand more about them. http://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/topics/tardigrade/index.html ATMOSPHERE 1. STORMY WEATHER, Education Central, (suggested by Cheryl Dodes, Weber Middle School, Port Washington, NY), ?Learn to use the Internet and software tools while doing atmosphere investigations for the high school, Earth/Space Science Classroom. All activities, especially the Weather Hunt, Storm Sampler and The Perfect Storm, are designed for use by cooperative groups and culminate in a final shared presentation. The Weather Hottest and the Weather Scrapbook are easily adapted for use by individual students.? http://www.educationcentral.org/stormy/main.htm SOLAR SYSTEM AND UNIVERSE 1. NASA SEES INTO THE EYE OF A MONSTER STORM ON SATURN, NASA, (suggested by Bob Riddle, Column Editor, Science Scope - Scope on the Skies) the Casino spacecraft has returned a series of images of a storm at the south pole of Saturn. Fourteen of the images have been arranged into a short video that shows a clockwise rotation to the storm with a well defined eye, like hurricanes on our planet. The storm measures approximately 8000 km, about 5000 miles, in diameter with surrounding clouds towering between 20-45 miles above the center. Read the press release and see more images: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/media/cassini-20061109.html See a short video of the storm: http://www.nasa.gov/mpg/162357main_pia08332.mpg <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--> <!--[endif]--> GENERAL AND TEACHING TIPS 1) WORLDOMETER, Worldometers, (suggested by Bin Li, http://www.worldometers.info/ 2) DLESE NEW RESOURCES AND REVIEWS, DLESE, (suggested by Maeve Everest, Librarian, Central TAFFY, http://www.dlese.org/dds/new.htm --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENTS --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) ANIMATIONS: When Galaxies Collide, http://sciencebulletins.amnh.org/astro/v/collisions.20050909/?src=""> 2) TEACHING TIP: Super Science Day, (suggested by Virginia Malone, educational consultant, http://wetheteachers.com/viewfiles.php?fid=328 3) OUTSTANDING EARTH SCIENCE IMAGE: Earth Science Picture Of The Day (Epod) http://epod.usra.edu (suggested by Martin Ruzek, USRA, Whitelaw, WI), San Andreas along the Road - you can almost put you finger on the joint between the North American plate and the Pacific plate at this road cut in Gorman, CA <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><!--[endif]--> http://epod.usra.edu/archive/epodviewer.php3?oid=276672 4) GOOD READ: Designing Effective Visuals, Ray Shackelford, Ryan Brown, Jennifer Smith, Ties magazine, March, 2006, (suggested by Virginia Malone, consultant, Hondo, TX), if your students have slide presentations that are difficult to follow you might send them to this site for help. It gives the basics of good design. It is brief and easy to follow. Most students will do presentations at some time in their adult life no matter what their careers. This article can give them the tools to do a good visual presentation of their ideas. http://www.tiesmagazine.org/archives/mar_2006/pdf/mar_2006_EffectiveVisuals.pdf 5) GOOD QUOTE: "Teach your children by what you are, not just by what you say" - Jane Revel & Susan Norman 6) DOABLE DEMO: (suggested by Charles Burrows, Spring Valley High School, Rockland County, NY), save a snowflake for decades Set microscope slides, overspills and super glue outside when it?s 20°F or colder to chill them. Catch flakes on the slides or pick them up with cold tweezers. Place a drop of super glue on the snowflake. Note: Gel glue doesn?t work. Find a brand that?s thin and runny. Drop a oversleep over the glue. Don?t press down hard or the flake could tear or melt from the heat of your finger. Leave the slide in a freezer for one or two weeks and don?t touch it with warm hands. The glue must completely harden before the snowflake warms up. http://www.popsci.com/popsci/how20/e5fb1e4e0fca9010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html 7) COMPUTER TIP: How to Select Multiple files using the Ctrl Key, Let's say you open a file on your computer and you want to copy 10 files to another area, but there are 100 files in that one folder. What do you do? You can't use select all, because you don't want to move all 100 files. This is what you do, using the friendly little ctrl key you can select multiple files or deselect files. This is a very simple process. Here's what you do: click on the first file you want to move Go to the second file you want to select before clicking this file, hold down the ctrl key and then click. You'll notice that both files are now selected Repeat this process for as many files as you want to select at once http://www.webterrace.com/tweak/ctrl.htm ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ?Earth Science Sites of the Week? dating back to 1999 are now available and can be searched by keyword. To access past archives go to the ?Earth Science Site of the Week Archives? link half way down the page at http://webs.cmich.edu/resgi/ Another way to access sites is to consult RESOURCES FOR EARTH SCIENCE AND GEOGRAPHY INSTRUCTION at http://webs.cmich.edu/resgi . Over 1000 reviewed links are organized around the sequence of topics typically taught in an introductory earth science or physical geography class. Links are also available for environmental science, earth science/geography education, career opportunities, and more. The sites selected are based on image quality, ease with which lesson plans can be developed, organization, authenticity, scope, and format. Please contact me at Mark.Francek@xxxxxxxxx to remove yourself from the mailing list, add a new subscriber, or suggest a site to be listed. *********************************************** Mark Francek Professor of Geography Dow 285 Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859 ********************************************************************** Manage your ISTAtalk-L subscription at http://listserv.uiuc.edu/wa.cgi or contact listadmn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx for assistance. To unsubscribe, send a message to listadmn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx that states, "Please unsubscribe me from the ISTATALK-L listserv." ***********************************************************************
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