![]() For teachers, there are downloadable teaching guides that a teacher can search by grade, science area, and type of activity. The website of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration focuses on earth and space sciences and offers teachers and students many virtual experiences around the Earth and through the universe, including space exploration. The features range in grade-level appropriateness, from very young through secondary students, and many of the activities can be done by students independently. The website of the children’s science museum in San Francisco offers an array of virtual exhibits that are interactive and include videos, podcasts, photo essays, articles, digital library resources, activities for students, science teaching information, blogs, and much more. The following is a list of recommended websites for science education. ![]() ![]() Identify a website that offers a virtual science field trip for students, which can be used in concert with hands-on experiences in the classroom, lessons, and reading nonfiction science trade books on the chosen topic. They can also allow children to travel in virtual space, not just in our world but all over the universe. An advantage of these websites over print media is that they can be updated rapidly and can make new, complex, and controversial information readily available. Using these technology tools can help students experiment and think critically about phenomena they are experiencing first-hand in the real world by using controlled, hypothetical, or virtual environments (Songer, 2007).īecause they have an educational mission and are expected to provide authoritative information, museums and government agencies have created many excellent web-based virtual environments and science field trips for students K through 8 that are recommended by science educators (Bodzin & Cates, 2002 Smith, 1999 Stevenson, 2001). Technologies associated with these learning dimensions include thinking critically with (1) modeling, visualization, and simulation tools (Gobert & Pallant, 2004 Keating, Barnett, Barab, & Hay, 2002 White & Frederiksen, 1998) (2) online interactive and discussion tools (Guzdial & Turns, 2000 Hsi & Hoadley, 1997 Lee & Songer, 2003 Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1994) (3) online scaffolding tools (Davis, 2003 Quintana et al., 2004) and (4) data collection, analysis, and interpretation (Penuel & Yarnal, 2005 Songer, 2006). Learners use appropriate tools to gather, analyze, and interpret data.Learners formulate scientific explanations from evidence.Learners critically evaluate and communicate scientific ideas.Learners think critically and logically about scientific ideas and compare them with real-life conditions.Technology can play an essential role in science instruction through the use of virtual environments in four areas identified by the National Research Council (2002): ![]() ![]() The students were on a virtual field trip called “Voyages of Discovery: NOAA’s Okeanos Explorer” on the website of the Exploratorium museum (opens in a new window). The 3rd-grade students bounced up and down with excitement as they looked over the shoulders of ocean explorers using sonar technology to map the deep sea nearly 20,000 feet below the water’s surface near Indonesia. ![]()
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