Featured Benchmark
In science, the testing, revising, and occasional discarding of theories, new and old, never ends. This ongoing process leads to a better understanding of how things work in the world but not to absolute truth.
Need a starting point to find what you need? We've created Pathways into the broader collection to help you out. Click on a subject area to take you to specific K-12 NSDL resource collections from our major partners.
All K-12 Expert Voices BlogsManaging Volunteers in Informal Science Learning
Last Updated: Sat, 07 Nov 2009
How to recruit, train, supervise, and reward volunteers in informal science institutions.
sciencegeekgirl
Last Updated: Wed, 04 Nov 2009
Cool science tricks; pedagogical tips for grades 9-14 educators; research on learning and teaching; hands-on activities
Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears
Last Updated: Sat, 31 Oct 2009
This blog is focused on helping elementary teachers become more knowledgeable about the polar regions and providing best practices on how to integrate polar concepts into their teaching. Ideas for connecting science and literacy through literature and writing, exemplary science activities, incredible pictures, tales of adventure, and stories of indigenous people and amazing animals will be part of each posting.
Chemical Education Digital Library
Last Updated: Sat, 24 Oct 2009
Opinions from the PI of ChemEd DL; Editorials, Especially for High School Teachers, and other material from the Journal of Chemical Education
Learning DigitalK12
Last Updated: Fri, 23 Oct 2009
Discover and discuss the latest resources, tools, educational issues, and professional development topics for K12 educators
NSDL Pathways News
Last Updated: Thu, 22 Oct 2009
News from NSDL's Pathways Partners
Exemplary Resources for Middle School Math and Science
Last Updated: Wed, 21 Oct 2009
The NSDL Middle School Portal is hosting this blog to help middle school math and science teachers find the best resources on the web.
The Savvy Searcher’s Monthly Resource Highlights
Last Updated: Mon, 12 Oct 2009
Each month, we highlight resources from the NSDL Collection on a particular topic of interest for the savvy searcher.
Unpacking Speak Up 2008
Last Updated: Tue, 15 Sep 2009
A discussion and question/answer forum for the NSDL community on results and data from Project Tomorrow's Speak Up 2008 survey. Speak Up is an annual survey of students, teachers, and administrators conducted by Project Tomorrow, collecting and analyzing data on education, technology use, 21st century skills, schools of the future and science instruction.
Connecting News with National Science Education Standards
Last Updated: Mon, 14 Sep 2009
The NSDL Middle School Portal is hosting this blog to encourage teachers to use current events as teaching opportunities. Every Thursday, MSP staff will link a current news article to related teaching resources that connect specific content standards to that event. Articles may be appropriate for students to read directly, or they may serve as background knowledge for teachers and inspiration for subsequent instructional activities. The related middle level, grades 5-8 content standards of the National Science Education Standards are included as well as ideas for turning the news event into an inquiry-based lesson.
Pat's Picks for STEM Educators
Last Updated: Sat, 15 Aug 2009
Pat Viele is the Physics & Astronomy Librarian for the Edna McConnell Clark Physical Sciences Library at Cornell University. Her weekly round-up of exemplary Web resources for STEM educators will appear in this blog.
Expert Voices: Careers in Science
Last Updated: Fri, 23 May 2008
This blog accompanies the 2007-2008 NSDL/NSTA Web Seminar Series showcasing our presenters as they share their experiences in pursuing careers in science and science education. Associated resources within the NSDL collection are also featured for educators to incorporate into their teaching.
R.A.D Inquiry, Neuroscience, and Brain-based Learning
Last Updated: Thu, 15 May 2008
Neuroscientist and middle school classroom teacher Judy Willis discusses what neuroscience can inform us about teaching through the use of inquiry brain-based learning
New in NSDL
Last Updated: Fri, 07 Mar 2008
Information about collections recently added to the National Science Digital Library.
Teacher Talk
Last Updated: Fri, 16 Nov 2007
Using Online Science & Math Resources in Your Classroom
Real Place, Virtual Space
Last Updated: Tue, 11 Sep 2007
As a group of 9- and 10-year old students are introduced to the new computer lab in their apartment complex's community room, we will describe our experiences learning about the Internet, blogs, and virtual world technologies.
Selecting and Using Digital Phenomena and Representations
Last Updated: Wed, 20 Jun 2007
This blog accompanies the NSDL/NSTA Web Seminar on June 19th
Classroom 2.0: What works?
Last Updated: Tue, 29 May 2007
This blog accompanies the tenth seminar in our NSDL/NSTA Web seminar series, "Making Digital Resources Work For You"
Science on TV
Last Updated: Wed, 16 May 2007
Hit television shows about math and forensics are making science exciting to students. We explore how the shows work and how classrooms turn the glitz into teachable moments.
Engineering Curricula in the Schools
Last Updated: Mon, 09 Apr 2007
This blog accompanies the recent NSDL/NSTA Web Seminar, "Teach Engineering" on April 10, 2007
Charging into Electrostatics
Last Updated: Thu, 01 Mar 2007
NSDL seminar Web Seminar (January 30th, 2007) , Charging into Electrostatics with ComPADRE, the NSDL Pathway Portal for astronomy and physics. Great questions and discussion!
Small Creatures Under the Microscope: The Exploratorium
Last Updated: Tue, 20 Feb 2007
In conjunction with the NSDL/NSTA Web Seminar on February 20th, Charlie Carlson, the Exploratorium's Director of Life Sciences will discuss content and resources related to this seminar.
Chemistry Comes Alive!
Last Updated: Mon, 19 Feb 2007
Join our conversation for our upcoming NSDL/NSTA Web Seminar on chemistry and sign up for the free seminar on March 8th
Meeting web kids on their own turf
Last Updated: Tue, 02 Jan 2007
Students are getting information in new ways, and this gives publishers a new challenge. The success of educational media now depends on how well publishers form partnerships with commercial search engines, video gamers, and social media like MySpace. We're talking about the promises and pitfalls of using these new media as learning tools. Participants include Brad Edmondson; Kate Wittenberg of Columbia University; Julie Evans of Net Day; researchers from The Education Arcade; and more.
Plate Tectonics Made to Order
Last Updated: Mon, 18 Dec 2006
NSTA Seminar #4 - As a part of our NSDL/NSTA Web Seminar series, we will be featuring experts from NSDL partner organizations in order to extend the web seminar experience. Meet our experts Dr. Chris Symons and Dr. Anthony Koppers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography as they talk about their research studying the hot spots of our globe!
Bringing the Field to the Classroom: Birds
Last Updated: Wed, 11 Oct 2006
NSTA Seminar #2 - As a part of our NSDL/NSTA Web Seminar series, we will be featuring experts from NSDL partner organizations in order to extend the web seminar experience. Meet our expert from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Chris Jennelle, as he talks about how his research is tied into data collected by Citizen Scientists from all over the country!
Boneyard Science: Investigating Forensics
Last Updated: Tue, 10 Oct 2006
The Boneyard Science discovery team talks about forensics, why it is interesting, and what students want to know as they explore the field.
Teaching Measurement at the Middle School Level
Last Updated: Fri, 02 Jun 2006
Hello! I'm Terese (Terry) Herrera, a math teacher of grades 6-10 for many years, and now a creator of online units for the NSDL Middle School Portal found at http://msteacher.org. Teachers have a lot to share with one another, so it seems efficient to provide a space for you to talk about your successes, great or small, in teaching math. Our students find measurement a challenge in all its forms--from using a ruler to finding volume to solving distance problems. So we're setting out measurement as a first topic. We'll recommend full-scale projects you can use in your classroom, but also simple problems that can start your students thinking. We hope you'll do the same--recommend lesson ideas that have worked for you.
The links below describe a neat way for your students to do research on a particular element and display their results to your entire class. Each student constructs an icosahedron with a different kind of information about an element on each of the 20 faces. The icosahedra are then hung from the classroom ceiling in [...]