SciGuides are a collection of thematically aligned lesson plans, simulations, and web-based resources for teachers to use with their students centered on standards-aligned science concepts.

People have known about and experienced electricity and magnetism for thousands of years. However, even accomplished ancient scientists viewed them as separate phenomena, as do novice learners today. It took experiments with electricity and magnetism about two hundred years ago to convince scientists that electricity and magnetism were intimately related. Reproduction of these same experiments can be highly effective in helping to move novice learners toward a more sophisticated understanding of electricity and magnetism. Only the most sophisticated learners can understand how electricity and magnetism are aspects of the same fundamental force, electromagnetic force.

Give your students many, rich experiences with electricity and magnetism. Don’t assume that, because they are surrounded by electrical and magnetic applications and sources, they have experimented with them.
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SciGuides are a collection of thematically aligned lesson plans, simulations, and web-based resources for teachers to use with their students centered on standards-aligned science concepts.

Human modifications to communities of living organisms in an ecosystem can change the function and processes of that system. The flow of energy through an ecosystem depends upon the diversity of organisms within it; therefore, when this flow is altered, substantial biological and geological changes occur. It is important that our students not only realize that when a local ecosystem is destroyed or negatively affected by human transformations (building, agriculture, technology); the effect is eventually felt globally. We cannot ignore the fact that everything we do impacts our natural environment. The main question is, “How can we be better “keepers of the Earth”?

It is our responsibility to educate our students so that they will become the informed citizens of our future—citizens who are capable of making good decisions based on fact rather than theory. The study of environmental systems should be an integral part of the science curriculum. Doesn’t it make sense to integrate this study with the study of Earth’s biomes, ecosystems, climatic conditions, alternative energy sources, ocean currents, and atmosphere? All of these concepts are intertwined and interactive, and all have a profound impact on our natural environment and our daily lives. Our students will be the driving force in addressing global environmental issues such as renewable energy policy, conservation of wetlands, agricultural restoration, or setting standards for global recycling. Therefore, they must understand that the Earth’s atmosphere, land, oceans, ice and life is a single, connected system, and learn science content that is relevant to their lives. This web guide is designed to help integrate the study of all Earth’s systems with your science curriculum. You will find facts, current research data, lesson plans, investigations, simulations, video clips, and more to help you teach your students about real-world environmental issues.
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SciGuides are a collection of thematically aligned lesson plans, simulations, and web-based resources for teachers to use with their students centered on standards-aligned science concepts.

The Gravity and Orbits SciGuide explores concepts related to Earth’s universal gravitation and how gravity affects the universe around us. The focus is on Standards and Benchmarks related to universal gravitation including variables that influence the amount of gravitational force and how gravity governs the motion of the solar system.
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SciGuides are a collection of thematically aligned lesson plans, simulations, and web-based resources for teachers to use with their students centered on standards-aligned science concepts.

Nutrition can be defined quite simply as the science of how the body uses food. But what is food? How does food transform into substances that nourish the body? What do those substances do, and what foods provide them? And how do we make informed food choices to sustain life? Using a variety of online resources – including simulations, games, articles, and science demonstrations to do in class -- students will learn these nutrition basics. They’ll learn a variety of tools to make wise food choices, and they’ll track and evaluate their own food choices, using science-based food and nutrition guidance.
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SciGuides are a collection of thematically aligned lesson plans, simulations, and web-based resources for teachers to use with their students centered on standards-aligned science concepts.

We don’t often stop to think about it, but underlying many of our everyday activities are chemical reactions. From the cooking of an egg to the growth of a child, chemical reactions make things happen. Although many of the reactions that support our lives are quite complex, all follow the same basic rules: matter is conserved; energy is released or absorbed; new substances form. By studying chemical reactions from the simple to the complex, scientists are able to adapt principles of chemical reactivity to developing new foods, medicines, fuels, and even consumer goods such as cleaning agents and fabrics. The investigation of new chemical reactions continues to improve our lives and increase our understanding of the world.

This science guide is organized into four sections of Web resources that support curricular activities related to chemical reactions. The first section focuses on atomic rearrangements and changes in electron configurations within reacting atoms and molecules as the basis of chemical reactivity. The second supports the application of these principles to three types of chemical reactions: oxidation-reduction, acid-base, and free radical reactions. The third and fourth sections provide resources for teachers and students to delve into factors governing reaction rates and changes in energy as the result of reaction. Sites describing everyday examples of chemical reactions (such as those involved in making bread and cheese) are emphasized to help students develop an understanding of the importance and relevance of these reactions to everyday life. Sites are also included that explain some of the newer applications of chemistry, such as its uses in forensic science, medicine, materials science, and engineering.
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SciGuides are a collection of thematically aligned lesson plans, simulations, and web-based resources for teachers to use with their students centered on standards-aligned science concepts.

Whether planning a trip to mars, determining the structure of atoms and molecules, or using tire marks to recreate an automobile accident, many of the applications of science involve prediction of what objects are going to do and how they will interact. Fortunately, we know a great deal about such motions and interactions, thanks to centuries of scientists studying just these things.

This SciGuide addresses four main themes—describing position and motion, Newton’s first law, Newton’s second law, and Newton’s third law. Accurate and reliable descriptions of where something is and what it’s doing are essential for laying a groundwork for the causes of motion and changes in motion. Newton’s laws, used by scientists and laypeople alike, provide the solid framework of those causes. The contents of this SciGuide will provide resources for understanding and applying all these concepts in a way that will tie the formal statements with practical experiences and applications.
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SciGuides are a collection of thematically aligned lesson plans, simulations, and web-based resources for teachers to use with their students centered on standards-aligned science concepts.

Our conception of "life" on other planets, especially what life on Mars may resemble or has resembled in the past, is based upon the media. Our images have been of "little green Martians." Before we can learn and understand the complexity known as Mars, we must first learn about Earth. Using "Earth-The Making of a Planet" by Roy Gallant and Christopher Schuberth, discovering and exploring Earth will assist us in our journey to Mars. Before searching the wide variety of web sites, we will also review the Astrobiology Goals mentioned in the Astrobiology Roadmap. See web site-http://astrobiology.arc.nasa.gov/roadmap/

With our two explorer rovers, Opportunity and Spirit, both traversing the surface of the red planet, together with the research data and pictures that we have previously received from the Viking and Pathfinder missions, we now speculate that life may exist now or has existed in the past on Mars. Scientists believe that life on Mars was/is life in the form of bacterial-type organisms, many of which are invisible to the naked eye.

Come, join us in a voyage from Antarctica, at the bottom of the world, to Siberia, at the top of the world; from Baja, California to the Bahamas; and from Earth to the Meridiani Planum on Mars. The Internet will connect you and your students, using content and activities, to the study of life on earth and its relevance to the discovery of past and perhaps present life on Mars.
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SciGuides are a collection of thematically aligned lesson plans, simulations, and web-based resources for teachers to use with their students centered on standards-aligned science concepts.

Estuaries are bodies of water and their surrounding coastal wetlands typically found where rivers meet the sea. Estuaries harbor unique plant and animal communities because their waters are brackish—a mixture of fresh water draining from the land and salty seawater.

Estuaries are some of the most productive ecosystems in the world. Many animal species rely on estuaries for food, places to breed, and migration stopovers. Human communities also rely on estuaries for food, recreation, jobs, and coastal protection.

Of the 32 largest cities in the world, 22 are located on estuaries (e.g., New Orleans, London, etc). Not surprisingly, human activities have led to the decline in the health of estuaries, making them one of the most threatened ecosystems on the Earth. NOAA's National Estuarine Research Reserve System in partnership with coastal states monitors the health of estuaries and helps communities manage their coastal resources.
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SciGuides are a collection of thematically aligned lesson plans, simulations, and web-based resources for teachers to use with their students centered on standards-aligned science concepts.

The study of chemistry requires an understanding of the structure of atoms, the properties of chemical compounds, the types of bonds formed as compounds are made and the types of reactions that can occur. All of these areas are examined in the themes listed below. These resources vary from text-based review documents to some very interactive web sites.
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SciGuides are a collection of thematically aligned lesson plans, simulations, and web-based resources for teachers to use with their students centered on standards-aligned science concepts.

The Interdependence of Life SciGuide includes a variety of resources that explore organisms and their environments, species relationships, population balance in biomes, and aganets of change in ecosystems.
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