Portable media devices such as iPods are changing the way people learn. Educational podcasts allow educators an easy way to keep current on research and materials for teaching. NSDL on iTunesU has new podcasts on climate change and other episodes in the Beyond Penguins and Polar Podcasts. Also new on NSDL on […]

Ice and snow come to mind for most people when conjuring up mental pictures of the polar regions. The idea that plants grow in harsh arctic and antarctic environments seems unlikely, but Antarctica is home to two species of plants while at the opposite end of the earth, over a thousand plant species grow on […]

The Engineering Pathway (EP) “In the Spotlight” feature highlights timely resources from their collections. The February focus on Engineers Week, noted the winners of the 2009 NAE Gordon Prize in Engineering Education, the Grand Challenges of Engineering, and the “Vision” campaign message that engineering requires creativity, imagination and vision.
This month and next, browse EP resources […]

An understanding of mathematics may be considered essential for an educated person today, but many Americans seem almost allergic to math. While there is much discussion about the importance of mathematics to scientific research, engineering, and technological innovation, the performance of American math students on international assessments is below that of math students in many […]

The NSDL Classic Articles in Context (CAC) project seeks to integrate landmark works of scientific inquiry into dynamic learning spaces for teachers and learners. To achieve the goal of illustrating science as a process that builds, and often turns, on discovery and replication expressed in the archival literature of empirical findings, NSDL works with publishers […]

Imagery has the power to communicate volumes, sometimes in a surprisingly economical way. Edward Tufte, author of Visual Explanations points out in the introduction, “Those who discover an explanation are often those who construct its representation.” The 2009 International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge, co-sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the journal Science, […]

Winter officially begins during the third week of each December in North America. This calendar event known as the solstice is marked as the sun briefly “stands still” as its position in the sky reaches the greatest distance from the earth. This celestial alignment is experienced as the shortest day of the year by people […]

NSTA’s Science Scope is a peer-reviewed journal for middle level and junior high school science teachers. In the November 2008 issue authors Kerri Richardson, Catherine Matthews and Catherine Thompson offered on-the-ground insights into why proportional reasoning is particularly important for middle school teachers to understand in order to instruct their students in developing inquiry skills. […]

“Youth Voices” is an open call from WGBH Teachers’ Domain for ideas from 13-18 year olds who would like to produce video segments about climate change. “Youth Voices” will kick off in January, with a series of three informative webinars for student filmmakers. To find out more check out WGBH […]