The Lab-Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Gateway to Science
http://www.abc.net.au/science/
At this site, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation offers an informative, fun, and interesting “gateway to science” for all ages. Explore the main portion of the page for the latest science news, links to podcasts, and science topics. Scroll to the bottom of the homepage to find links to the teacher and kid sections of the site.
Within the teacher section of the site, there are links to lesson plans, activities, videos, demonstrations, and other useful tools for the classroom. Some topics include food and nutrition, the water cycle, electricity, careers in science, ecology, astronomy, and the environment. The link to Surfing Scientist is particularly helpful for demonstrations (with teacher notes in PDF format), and “conundrums” that include blackline masters for students, as well as solutions and tips for use.
In the kid section of the site, a link of particular interest is for Greena, the Worrier Princess. This section,Planet Slayer, is entertaining as well as educational, but is recommended for upper middle and high school students. Other features include fun experiments for students, quizzes, scientific career videos, games, a blog, and video clips of the station’s science shows.
This site is Australian, so it uses the metric system for all measurements. Also, there are some language differences from the United States, but in general they should not cause major difficulties.
There is a section of this site that provides a straight forward, practical opportunity to do some cross subject instruction, combining language arts and science. This section of activities for Astronomy and Space and Ecology and the Environment offers a selection of eighteen scientific articles with activities, student instructions, and teacher guides for free use. The activities include making meanings, answering questions, clozing, summary, debate, and research. Not only do these activities help students improve their reading comprehension for nonfiction, they also require them to utilize a range of thinking skills. At the same time, the content of the articles helps support scientific learning. Reading levels for the articles differ somewhat, but most seem appropriate for students at the 6-9 grade reading level.
