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Environmental Science Web Sites

Resources for Teaching Middle School Science-Environmental Science, National Academy of Sciences, provides a comprehensive overview of sources of information, books, periodicals, museums, subject indexes, and other material for teaching environmental science. By hitting the title list button at the top of the page you are directly linked to core material, supplementary units, and science activity books.

The Environmental Education Network’s K-12 Environmental Resources for Teachers on the Internet. Links to more than 20 environmental education lesson plans.

Georgia Tech’s Ecology/Environment Page. This site contains reference and search tools for environmental education and links to sites by biomes, biospheres, geographic regions, endangered species, education programs, K-12 lesson plans, and water quality.

National Consortium for Environmental Education and Training, EELink-Environmental Education on the Internet. A comprehensive Internet site designed to help school teachers find and use environmental information with information on resources, literature, regional EE programs and sites, conferences, professional development, and links to classroom activities. Hundreds of classroom activities are categorized under headings of Earth day, agriculture, air, water, conservation, energy, wildlife, and waste.

Earth Science Explorer, Wheeling Jesuit University, Classroom of the Future. This site provides the interesting option of student and teacher entrances. The student entrance has text and graphics geared toward younger students. The teacher entrance provides teacher notes. Through either entrance go to the Earth Floor, which provides information and activities about Diversity, Cycles, and Biomes. There is a problem solving section, in which information is provided to help the teacher use the web site as an educational module. A reference list is also provided.

U.S. Geological Survey’s Adventures in the Learning Web. Provides teaching packets, posters, booklets, and fact sheets on a wide variety of environmental subjects. An exciting feature called Earth Shots lets you view satellite images of areas of the globe that have undergone environmental changes with an explanation of the changes. If you’re a Mac user, there’s also paper models that are available through Hypercard 2.0.

National Wildlife Federation. This site provides a wealth of information concerning wildlife in the environment including sections devoted to endangered habitats, land stewardship, water quality, and wetlands. Particularly useful are instructions on the Backyard Wildlife Habitat Program, teacher resources, on-line versions of articles from their publications Ranger Rick, National Wildlife, International Wildlife, and Your Big Back Yard, and a section just for kids, called Animal Tracks (which is annotated separately).

National Wildlife Federation Animal Tracks. This site is divided into (1) Games, which includes several environmental games and quizzes, (2) Cool Tours, which includes information for children on water, wetlands, endangered species, and public lands, (3) Ranger Rick, the on-line version of the popular children’s magazine, and (4) More Fun, which includes a page called Explore the Outdoors that provides ideas for attracting wildlife into your backyard, and the Ranger Rick exercise of the month.

The Explorer’s Natural Science Outline. Developed by the Great Lakes Collaborative and University of Kansas Unite Group this service provides an outline of science topics with links to K-12 instructional materials. Under the heading Ecosystems and Hydrosphere there are links to hundreds of teacher packets, instructional materials, and field trip ideas. Most require downloading PDF or HQX files.

Environmental Protection Agency’s home page. This site is divided into sections about wetlands, oceans, coasts, estuaries, and watersheds, and water pollution. Most of the sections offer facts about the topics, science education and resource reference links, summaries of projects involving the EPA, laws and regulations concerning the topics, and a kids page with home and classroom projects specifically designed for children.

K–12 Earth Science On-Line Classroom Activities, Society of Sedimentary Geologists. This site is the on-line version of the society’s popular K–12 publication that has three environmental lessons; Water Works, Acid Rain, and Is the Earth Warming?

University of Massachusetts, 4-H Energy Education Review. Provides a guide to resources for curriculum development with emphasis on youth-led community-based learning, ideas for integrating environmental education, and many more curriculum resources and programs (some for free and some at low cost).

The US Geological Survey,  Water Science for Schools.  This is a recently released education-based web site with lots of information about water and includes activities and a quiz.

 

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