Teaching science online- resources

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WCrs3mswnAaon6YNuYpI_r9ROr_lA_czZKWNrV0-vkY/
edit#

Biology
Learning resources
https://www.khanacademy.org/ has so much, especially now
For example, daily schedules!!: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-
1vSZhOdEPAWjUQpqDkVAlJrFwxxZ9Sa6zGOq0CNRms6Z7DZNq-tQWS3OhuVCUbh_-P-
WmksHAzbsrk9d/pub
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/education/classroom-resources/
https://www.mbari.org/products/educational-resources/

Cool interactives
https://www.biointeractive.org/classroom-resources
Ex: https://media.hhmi.org/biointeractive/vlabs/cardiology2/
Includes playlists https://www.biointeractive.org/planning-tools/resource-playlists
https://interactivescienceteacher.com/

Lab supplies and kits

https://esciencelabs.com/
https://www.carolina.com/
Specifically the kits for distance learning:
https://www.carolina.com/distance-learning-science-kits-solutions/21105.ct?
intid=hom_t_nav_21105

Cool case studies

http://datanuggets.org/
Cool TEDx talk compilations
https://www.ted.com/talks?sort=relevance&q=biology
https://www.ted.com/talks?topics%5B%5D=marine+biology

Cool live streams

https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/live-cams/monterey-bay-cam (links to many
others)

Chemistry
Find OER resources that parallel commercial textbooks (have the same topics in the same
chapter and section numbers):
https://chem.libretexts.org/

Lab Kits for Collegiate Chemistry

https://www.holscience.com/

Online Proctoring for Quizzes, Exams, and Experiments

https://proctorio.com/

Visual Chemistry Problem Solving (HW or active learning)

https://101edu.co/

Physics
Quarknet compilation of resources for remote teaching during COVID-19 crisis:

https://quarknet.org/content/resources-teaching-physics-online

Online apps:

https://phet.colorado.edu
http://www.falstad.com
https://www.physicsclassroom.com
https://www.wired.com/tag/physics/
https://www.ted.com/topics/physics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn6fE8PvVCE (Feynman: The why?)
https://youtu.be/P1ww1IXRfTA (Feynman : Fun to Imagine)
Astronomy
There are a lot of things that students can do to get thinking about astronomy that are super-motivating.
One simple assignment that I have them do near the beginning of the year is to find their dimmest star.
That would have to be an at-home assignment anyway because it has to be done at night! (Students
*love* having to go outside at night to do science assignments. Seriously, I have gotten so much positive
feedback about these observing assignments. Though that might have to do with my telling them that
they could tell their parents I said hot chocolate was a "necessary supply".) I'm attaching the protocols for
three assignments that don't require a telescope: limiting magnitude, sunset, and meteor shower. These
were developed by one of my former-students-now-TA's. One extension of this that I would have them
do if I were giving the assignments now would be to find Betelgeuse! Betelgeuse has been getting
abnormally dim over the last few months and no-one really understands why--it used to be as bright as
Rigel but now it is nowhere close to that. It's also due to go supernova any day now (where "any day
now" means "any time in the next 10,000 years or so), and it might have already *gone* supernova back
when Earth was in the middle ages because it is 600 lightyears away! (*That* will get them thinking
about scale!) They can take pictures of it with their phones and be part of this exciting event!

I have another one in which they sketch the full Moon and label some of its features--that would tie in
well with geology. I'm not attaching that protocol because the way I do it has them use a telescope (they
find their telescope's field of view and then calculate the angular size of the Moon from that), but you
could simplify the assignment to have them just sketch the Moon and label as many features as they can
look up.

Astronomy Project Ideas from Bob B:

Project 1: Everyone has seen the Sun rise in the east, pass overhead at noon, and set in the
west. Surprisingly, quite a few people don’t recognize that the stars act similarly. A few kids
working is (virtual) teams could photograph the nightly motion of stars – one kid aiming
east, one south, one west, and one north. Might be surprised at what they learn.
· Project 2 and Project 3: The length of a 24-hour “day” depends on how you measure it. It is
defined by the motion of the Sun (“solar day”). Is the length of a “day” measured by the
motion of the stars the same, or different, from 24 hrs?
· Projects 11, 12, 13: For students who have a telescope and can mate a camera to it, they
can spend a month mapping the changing phase of the Moon, and it changing angular size
(due to changing distance form Earth) ... and measure the length of a lunar (“synodic”)
month.
 · Project 14: We’ve all been told that “the Moon keeps one side always pointed toward
Earth” ... which is one of those facts that is “sort of true”. I was surprised just how
pronounced the nodding of the Moon is, when I did this project!
· Project 23: For the kids who have a telescope, this is a good season to map the phase of
Venus (as it changes over the next several months) .
I’ve put these onto my DropBox at https://www.dropbox.com/s/rdpsba17vgpfubw/Projects
%201%20thru%2014.pdf?dl=0 and https://www.dropbox.com/s/6tgwye6j6r4qinp/Project%2023.pdf?
dl=0