Kris Brust
Web Link Bibliography for
Biology
CELLULAR BIOLOGY:
The Virtual Cell Web Page This web page provides a three dimensional view of the inside of a cell. It is an interactive website that allows students to visualize cell components at several different levels as well as provides the students with description of each components function. This is a good site to use with students in grades 9-12, especially for students who are being introduced to the cell for the first time.
Date visited:
http://personal.tmlp.com/Jimr57/textbook/chapter3/chapter3.htm
ECOLOGY:
Whats It Like Where You Live? This website provides students with the opportunity to traverse the different biomes and ecosystems of the world from their classroom. Students can learn about the different plants and animals that inhabit the different biomes as well as being able to learn about the creation of the different ecosystems. There are also links provided by the site for further research. This website is good to use with children in grades 6-12 for an introductory lesson into ecology.
Date visited:
http://mbgnet.mobot.org/fresh/index.htm
Fact Monster- This website provides information in ecology, physiology, chemistry, and general sciences. It provides pictures, definitions, and descriptions of different scenes in a friendly, understandable manner. This is a good site for teachers to show students when they are introducing a new topic, when using extra sources for support. This site could be used in grades 8-12 especially for teaching ecology lessons or the periodic table of elements.
Date visited:
http://www.factmonster.com/science.html
Biomes and Habitats This is a great web site for adding supplementary information to lessons focused on specific biomes and habitats. The site features a description of each biome, and a list, with visuals, of plants and animals that inhabit the ecosystem. Each animal picture can be clicked upon to review a detailed description of facts about its composition and life cycle. This is a great website to use with grades 6-8, but can be converted to higher grades, 9-12, when the extensive information on the inhabiting organisms is used.
Date visited:
http://www.allaboutnature.com/biomes/tempdecid/tempdecid.shtml
Noble Foundation Plant Imagery This site is a great resource for students who are taking a botany class, or who are learning about plants that inhabit specific biomes. There are great pictures provided of many different species of plants, shrubs, and trees. Students can search under the common, scientific, or family names. This site provides students with information on the type of environment the plant can be found in, when it blooms or fruits, and provides information on how to cross reference the different types of searches possible. This web site, due to the complexity of the information provided, would best serve as a reference for grades 11-12.
Date visited:
http://www.noble.org/imagegallery/
Nature and Wildlife Field Guide - This site is a good resource for students to use when they are learning about different types of mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, insects and plants. The site provides pictures of the different species along with a description of the organism. For animals, the site provides information on their habitat, breeding, diet and other interesting facts. This site provides a good opportunity for students in grades 5-12 to discover facts that are commonly overlooked within text books.
Date visited:
http://www.enature.com/guides/select_group.asp
Food Webs - This is a great site to use in grades 3-5, where students are just learning about the food chain. Here, students can participate in an interactive game where they build the food chain that exists in the different ecosystems provided. Students are able to test their knowledge of producers and consumers while having fun at the same time. This is a great supplementary site teachers can use for a different look for food web lessons.
Date visited:
http://www.gould.edu.au/foodwebs/kids_web.htm
EVOLUTION:
Evolution Library This site is a great resource for teachers. There are several different topics that provide interactive lessons that teachers can use with their classes. The topics included on this page deal with evolution, genetics, and mating. There are videos provided with each lesson topic that students can watch to gain information that they might otherwise miss in a textbook. In addition, there is a link for more useful information teachers can include in their lessons. This site is geared towards teachers with students in grades 9-12.
Date visited:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/01/index.html#natural_and_sexual_selection
GENETICS:
Children Resemble Their Parents - This site provides an interactive video presentation that explains different concepts in genetics. This site would be a great companion to a classic text book since it mirrors how genetics is generally taught, from its history forward. This site provides an entertaining way to help kids visualize the concepts that are discussed in texts, while still maintaining a highly educational setting. In addition to the videos, there are links to other useful site provided and an interactive problem solving section that allows students to apply the information they are learning. This website is well suited to students in grades 9-11.
Date visited:
http://www.dnaftb.org/dnaftb/1/concept/
Your Genes, Your Heredity This site has information on select genetic disease, mostly those that are not a result of a discrepancy in the number of chromosomes present. Each disease provides information on what causes it, what the symptoms are, how it is diagnosed, what the hereditability is, and what treatments exist. While the number of genetic disease covered by this site are limited, the information that is provided for each disease is extensive and very reliable. This is a great site to sue for students in grades 10-12 who are learning about genetic mutations for the first time.
Date visited:
http://www.yourgenesyourhealth.org/index.htm
HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY:
Probe the Brain This is an awesome site to use with students! PBS has provided an interactive lesson for students that allow them to probe different parts of the brain and see what part of the body they control. This is not only a fun assignment, but students can learn a lot from playing with the brain. This is a great site to have students use when they are learning about the parts and function of the human brain. The level of use for this site can range from grade 5-12, with teacher supervision at the lower grades.
Date visited:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/tryit/brain/#
Human Body Adventure This site provides students with an interactive video that they can navigate through to learn about the human body. Each step of the video provides informative facts about a specific part or function of the body, and is amusing to navigate through. The site provides quizzes the students can take to check on how much they are learning. This site, due to the necessity of independent work is best used in classes where students are more likely to be able to work on their own or used as a class activity.
Date visited:
http://vilenski.org/science/humanbody/index.html
MICROBIOLOGY:
A Simple Guide to Small and Microscopic Pond Life This website is a great reference tool for students who are first being introduced to unicellular and microscopic organisms. There are in depth descriptions of organisms along with their adaptations which can help students understand what the text is saying. There are also several digital pictures taken under a microscope so that students can visualize what they are reading. In addition to a text supplement, this website is a good resource for teachers to use prior to giving students a microscopic organism lab to do, because students can see real pictures of what they are supposed to be seeing in their microscope.
Date visited:
http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/index.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/pond/index.html
Molecular Expressions Microscopy Primer This site is a good supplement for the introduction of microscopes to students in grades 8-10. There is an interactive demonstration the students can perform that allows them to change the magnification of stained slides and see the change in detail. This site also provides information to the students on terms used to describe how microscopes function. In addition, the site provides information on different slide techniques that can be used by students.
Date visited:
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/virtual/magnifying/index.html
The Microbe Zoo - This web site provides an interactive zoo students can visit to learn about the different microbes that exist in different ecosystems. Students can navigate through the different areas of the zoo and learn about the microbes that inhabit different niches of the world. They can learn interesting facts about bacteria and other microbes that normally are overlooked in typical lessons. This is a great site to use with students in grads 10-12, who are learning about microbiology for the first time.
Date visited:
http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/dlc-me/zoo/
Microbiology Microbes and Bacteria This site is a great resource for high school teachers and a great learning source for students in grades 9-12. This site provides information on different fields in microbiology. There are also links information about common microbial diseases and to the CDC (Center for Disease Control), which provide tremendous information on current health trends. In addition, there is a link to access journal articles relating to microbiology research.
Date visited:
PALEANTOLOGY:
Life Has a History - This is a great website to use with students in grades K-12. This site focuses on prehistoric history, looking at life that existed in the past. It touches on the development of fossils, and the extinction of different species. The site has three different lessons that encompass varying degrees of difficulty so there is something for every age range (K-4, 5-8, 9-12).
Date visited:
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/education/explorations/tours/intro/
RESEARCH/REFERENCE RESOURCES:
Scientific Dictionary This site provides a great reference to students in grades 8-12. While limited in focus, this dictionary provides in depth definitions, explanations and diagrams that will help explain terms, concepts, and organisms to students. This is also a good site for teachers to reference because it can help them gather ideas about what terms will be necessary for their students to know, which might otherwise be left out of a lesson.
Date visited:
http://www.allaboutnature.com/biomes/tempdecid/tempdecid.shtml
Talking Glossary of Genetic Terms This website provides a dictionary that has an extensive list of terms commonly used genetics and cellular biology. Due to the complexity of the definitions of terms, this site is useful for higher ability upper grades, 11-12. The teacher will need to preview terms before hand to determine if the difficulty level is too great for the students. A unique feature of this site is the presence of a link that allows students to hear a verbal explanation of the definition as well as a visual one. This is great for students with reading difficulties, or those who are auditory learners.
Date visited:
http://www.genome.gov/10002096
The Science Spot: Kid Zone This is a great site for students of all ages to use for research. Students can find links to other websites based on specific categories. While there is no actual factual information at this site, the number of links per catergory provides students with a way to search the internet without having to put in a query. This site makes gathering research a much less daunting task for students. This site is especially helpful to younger students who are not familiar with how to search the web properly and to those older students who do not feel comfortable with their searching skills.
Date visited:
http://sciencespot.net/Pages/kidzone.html