Technology Applications for Learning part of the Education Reform Network

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Unit of instruction

A sequence of lesson plans designed to teach a set of skills, knowledge, and habits of mind.

• Between the Lions
  Tying in with the television program of the same name, this site offers interactive stories and games for children learning to read and write. Information for parents about the importance of reading to their children, using the local library, and ways to connect art and writing is also included.
• Inventive Kids
  Inventive Kids - From the tasty chocolate chip cookie to computer programming, inventions by women are everywhere! Play fun, interactive games at this site to learn more. By the Canadian company IW Media.
• A Brush with Wildlife
  How do you use balance, contrast, movement, and proportion to compose a powerful work of art? This marvelous website is both a tutorial with animated examples and an interactive tool. You can select a background, select subjects, position and resize them within your composition, create a final draft; then submit it for Critique.
• ArtsEdge
  Developed as a cooperative agreement between the National Endowment for the Arts, the United States Department of Education, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, ArtsEdge offers standards-based teaching materials, activities, and resources.
• Mega-Mathematics
  This is Mega-Mathematics! is filled with elementary school lesson plans that teach unusual concepts in higher math: knot theory, map coloring, infinity, formal logic, etc. Each lesson includes background information, vocabulary, lesson, and evaluation activities.
• The Fun Works: For Careers You Never Knew Existed
  This website allows students ages 11-15 to explore various careers in the arts, music, sports, science, technology, medicine, and engineering suited to their personal interests. It includes quizzes to focus on aptitudes, games and puzzles to provide a glimpse of the jobs, and information about necessary education, typical salaries, and the nature of the work.
• Virginia Historical Society (VHS)
  This organization, founded in 1831, had Chief Justice John Marshall and former president James Madison as founding members. The site provides information about current and past exhibits on topics such as Patrick Henry, car racing and rodding in Virginia, and "The Story of Virginia, an American Experience Long-term exhibition ..
• 4 Minutes About Podcasting
  Podcasting is a kind of homespun Internet "folk radio." Podcasts can be listened to on computers and MP3 players (including the iPod). "Four Minutes about Podcasting is a short film that tells you why podcasting can make your life better, and shows you everything you need to know to set up a simple program to have new podcasts downloaded automatically." By writer and blogger Lisa Williams.
• :The Center for Theoretical Biological Physics (CTBP)
  combines the intellectual resources of the University of California, San Diego, Division of Physical Sciences, the San Diego Supercomputer Center, The Scripps Research Institute and The Salk Institute for Biological Studies. It brings together theoreticians and experimentalists from around the world to advance research, using the theoretical tools of physics to understand the fundamental principles governing complex biological systems.
• A Guide To NASA Educational Programs
  Teacher/Faculty Preparation And Enhancement ProgramsoK-12oHigher EducationStudent Support ProgramsoK-12oHigher Education*Educational Technology Programs*Support of Systemic Improvement Program*Curriculum Support and Dissemination*Research and Developmenthttp://ehb2.gsfc.nasa.gov/edcats/2000/nep/programs/index.html.
• A Tapestry of Time and Terrain
  http://tapestry.usgs.gov/ Through computer processing and enhancement, we have brought together two existing images of the Nation's lower 48 states into a single digital tapestry. Woven into the fabric of this new map are data from previous U.S.
• actDEN (Digital Education Network): Software Tutorials and Online Courses
  High-quality software tutorials and online courses for educators, parents and students of all ages.
• Advisory Resources
  Links to over a dozen briefly described advisory resources http://www.schoolredesign.net/srn/server.php?idx=861.
• Africans in America
  Presentation of Americans journey through slavery in 4 parts. For each section, you will find a historical narrative, a resource bank of images, documents, stories, biographies, commentaries, and a teacher's guide.
• Afrigeneas
  A site with specialized resources, links, and message goards dedicated to the particular challenges of researching African-American ancestors.
• America's Story (Library of Congress)
  America's Story from "America's Library" wants you to have fun with history while learning. Using a story-like format, you will be taken back in time and shown things you never heard or saw before.
• Anacostia Museum and Center for African American History and Culture
  The Anacostia Museum is a community based and constituency focused museum that increases public awareness of the Black experience through research, programs and exhibitions.
• AncientScripts.com
  According to the site creator, Lawrence K. Lo, "The aim of Ancient Scripts is not to replace texts books or instructional web sites.
• Art of the Rain Forest Program
  Art and biology of the Costa Rican rain forest, in English and Spanish Art, Science, History, and Culture of the Rainforest with simulations to use from a base of knowledge which is on the site.
• Astronomycenter.org
  Features reviewed resources for teaching about asteroids, astrobiology, the big bang theory, black holes, cosmology, dark matter, galaxies, the Milky Way, telescopes & satellites, planet formation, planetary atmospheres, space exploration, stars, the sun, & more. (NSF) Welcome to the alpha test version of astronomycenter.org, a collection of Astronomy 101 digital resources for teachers and students.
• Astronomycenter.org
  features reviewed resources for teaching about asteroids, astrobiology, the big bang theory, black holes, cosmology, dark matter, galaxies, the Milky Way, telescopes & satellites, planet formation, planetary atmospheres, space exploration, stars, the sun, & more. (NSF) Welcome to the alpha test version of astronomycenter.org, a collection of Astronomy 101 digital resources for teachers and students.
• Basic Internet Searching Seminar
  Basic 3-step tutorial with practice exercises This online tutorial is primarily set up to be used in a live, hands-on instructional setting. It is also made available here as an example of hands-on instructional techniques and for those who would like to try it on their own.
• Bridge to Classroom Understanding of Earthquakes
  Designing and building a bridge to withstand earthquakes is no easy challenge. Explore the science, technology and people involved in the bridge with these interactive learning modules and simulations! http://www.newbaybridge.org/classroom/index.html Features: Lesson ideas Online interactivity Graphics/Multimedia.
• Center for Media Literacy
  All about teaching media literacy The components of inquiry-based media literacy using the Five Core Concepts and CML's Five Key Questions of Media Literacy.    I.
• Chemistry of How Things Work
  Chemistry of How Things Work and Decisions - Good and Bad - that Bring Chemistry into Our Life Twelve case studies of chemistry in the products we use and the situations we meet. ChemCases.com helps you evaluate the decisions behind these products and situations.
• Children in History
  Children sailed with Columbus, mediated between English colonists and Indians, were kidnapped into slavery, fought in the Revolution and the Civil War, labored in coal mines and factories and stood at the forefront of the Civil Rights movement. Hear their words and see their pictures in this Web site put together by historians Steve Mintz and Sara McNeil presenting American history through children's voices.
• Coastal Explorations
  Coastal Explorations is a virtual photojournal that allows learners to explore the coasts of New Jersey and California. explore a variety of coastal formations and unique features in many different locations along the California and New Jersey coasts.
• Computer Crime: A Lesson Plan for Teachers of Elementary and Middle School Children
  Computer Crime: A Lesson Plan for Teachers of Elementary and Middle School Children looks at issues in the field of computer crime, including predatory behavior and breaking into systems to vandalize and/or steal information and intellectual property. The site also offers a "Code of Responsible Computing" as developed by the Computer Learning Foundation.
• Create a Graph
  Create a Graph helps students create their own graphs and charts. This online tool can be used to make 4 kinds of charts and graphs: bar graphs, line graphs, area graphs, and pie charts.
• Developing WWW Research Lessons
  This site helps teachers to develop and post a WWW integrated lesson, that creates opportunities for students to solve problems and create new answers, and gives teachers ways to use the WWW as a tool in their classrooms.
• Dinosphere: Now You're in THEIR World
  Using actual specimens from the Dinosphere: Now You're in Their World exhibit, The Children's Museum staff along with local educators and university professionals collaborated to create engaging, K-8 standards-based online activities and WebQuests. There are eight activities for K - 2, divided into nonreader, early reader, and reader categories.
• e-Mission: Operation Montserrat
  e-Mission: Operation Montserrat is based on a real historical event. The volcano on the normally tranquil island of Montserrat has come to life.
• Genetics Basics
  looks at how genes work, exceptions to Mendel's rules, how DNA gets replicated, genes and disease, current research and recent discoveries, and how applications of genetic research (biotechnology) are being used in agriculture, health, and medicine to change our world for the better. (NIH) .
• Interactive Physics Curriculum
  Sample Exercises Click on images below to see examples of the workbook exercises. You will see demo lessons and examples of various physics lessons.
• JASON Project home page
  Grades: Kindergarten - 12 Synopsis: Don't worry, this is not another scary movie installment! This JASON is an educational program that lets students and teachers perform exciting scientific fieldwork from their classrooms, exploring regions from the polar ice caps to the steamy rain forests.
• Jazz Appreciation Month
  What does bebop sound like? How did jazz evolve? Learn about Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and others. See ideas for celebrating jazz appreciation month and for studying jazz in U.S.
• Leonard Berstein, An American Life
  is a guide to an 11-part documentary illuminating the life and work of one of America's greatest classical musicians, Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990). An audio overview -- and websites for learning about Bernstein and classical music -- are provided.
• Literacy Link
  LiteracyLink This site contains "basic education and GED preparation tools" designed for "underserved and hard-to-reach adults and their teachers." Contains online lessons with a teacher, video clips, and programs to help adult learners improve reading, math, writing, GED, and basic workplace skills. Also includes professional development and training resources for educators.
• Musical Plates: A Study of Plate Tectonics
  This project taps into some of the exciting applications of the Internet in education by having students access real time earthquake data, interact with experts online, and publish their own work Features: Hands-on investigation Lesson ideas Assessment Data sources Ask an expert Inquiry materials http://www.k12science.org/curriculum/musicalplates3/en/index.shtml .
• NASA's new Kids Club Web site
  NASA's new Kids' Club Web site features animated, colorful, entertaining, and educational activities for K-4 students. Interactive games on the site teach children about exploring space, building and launching rockets, keeping airplanes on schedule, and how a comet travels through the solar system.
• New Horizons; NASA's Pluto-Kuiper Belt Mission
  The NASA New Horizons mission, scheduled to be launched in early 2006 and to reach Pluto in 2015, "is the first mission to the last planet -- the initial reconnaissance of Pluto-Charon and the Kuiper Belt." Find a mission overview, a FAQ, and facts about mission spacecraft and science. The section "P-K Bits" includes amusing facts.
• Ology
  A cleaver, animated site with activities related to "ology", the study of something. Website includes activities about genetics, paleontology,astronomy and biodiversity.
• Physics Education Technology ( PHET)
  produces fun, interactive simulations of physical phenomena. More than 35 simulations let students experiment with circuits, string tension, kinetic & potential energy, radios waves & electromagnetic fields, balloons & static electricity, ideal gas & buoyancy, velocity & acceleration, sound waves & the Doppler effect, & more.
• Preparing Young People to Excel in Computer Science
  Although computer science is an established discipline at the collegiate and post-graduate levels, its integration into the K-12 curriculum has not kept pace in the U.S. As a result, a serious shortage of information technologists exists at all levels.
• Project Based Learning
  Part One, Guided Process, is designed to give participants a brief introduction to project-based learning. It answers the questions "Why is Project-Based Learning Important?"; "What is Project-Based Learning?"; and "How Does Project-Based Learning Work?" The Guided Process includes the Teaching About PBL section and a PowerPoint presentation, including presenter notes.
• Science of Music: Exploratorium's Accidental Scientist
  [MacromediaFlashReader] The science of music may not be something most people think to wonder about, but for those who do, this lovely online collection of exhibits and activities provided by the Exploratorium will be of great interest. Visitors can explore the science of music through these different exhibits, short movies, and questions.
• Strange Matter
  Visit this site to explore materials science "the study of stuff. Meet a material (MR fluid) that can help keep buildings safer during earthquakes, and learn how hollow carbon molecules ("Buckyballs") may someday deliver drugs directly to sick cells in your body.
• The Globe Program
  This is a time tested environmental program that is truly international. What is The GLOBE Program? GLOBE is a worldwide hands-on, primary and secondary school-based education and science program.
• The K-12 Aeronautics Internet Textbook
  The principles of aeronautics for elementary and middle school children, presented in three levels in English and Spanish for beginning, intermediate, and advanced students. Curriculum Bridges provides activities that show the relationships between aeronautics and math, language arts, social studies, visual/performing arts, and literature.
• The Math Forum
  For mathematicians, math teachers, math students, and parents. Resources are broken down by grade level and type of math.
• The Valley of the Shadow
  The Valley of the Shadow Project takes two communities, one Northern and one Southern, through the experience of the American Civil War. The project on Augusta County, Virginia and Franklin County, Pennsylvania, creates a social history of the coming, fighting, and aftermath of the Civil War.
• Traditional Japanese Music
  This Internet Guide presents annotations of Web sites that address generally the issue of traditional Japanese music and sites that focus on particular instruments (koto, shakuhachi, shamisen, and taiko). Music plays a large role in the traditional dramatic arts of kabuki and noh, so the guide concludes with annotations of sites addressing these art forms." From the National Clearinghouse for U.S.-Japan Studies, Indiana University.
• Virtual Jamestown
  Virtual Jamestown is a research-teaching-learning project to explore the legacies of the Jamestown settlement and "the Virginia experiment." .
• Visible Proofs-Forensic Views of the Body
  Companion to a 2006-2008 exhibition that teaches about the history of forensic medicine, items in a forensic laboratory, and recent developments in forensic science. Features galleries of significant cases (such as the autopsy of President Lincoln), technologies, biographies of prominent scientists, and artifacts.
• Voices from the Days of Slavery: Former Slaves Tell Their Stories
  Features interviews with 23 former slaves (the oldest was 130 at the time of the interview). These nearly 7 hours ofrecordings provide a glimpse of what life was like for slaves & freedmen.