Water Cycle
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http://www.eoascientific.com/campus/ocean Name: Internet
Campus This site is divided into 4 main sections: Earth, Ocean, Atmosphere, and Space. Within each section, the site presents the concepts and exercises related to that section. The site is suitable for beginning studies in Earth Sciences with basic concepts such as tectonic plates and earthquakes, but also contains many advanced concepts that are also suitable for older students such as hydrological cycles and the Coriolis Effect. This site introduces all its concepts and then follows up with interactive exercises and games. This is a very interactive site (Shockwave required). It is an excellent site for hands-on and visual students. The text is easy to understand and important terms and concepts are bolded. Accompanying the text explanations are interactive displays, exercises, and games that will help students apply the concepts presented to them in the text, which can then potentially extend into in-class activities. This site is suitable for use by both teachers and all students. |
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http://www.kidzone.ws/water/
Name: Kidzone
Fun Facts for Kids – The Water Cycle This very simple one-page website on the water cycle is perfect for young students. It takes users through the complete water cycle with very elementary explanations. It begins with an introduction telling users that the water they use everyday is probably as old as the Earth. The second section provides a text and graphic overview of the water cycle’s 4 basic steps: evaporation/transpiration, condensation, precipitation, and collection. The subsequent sections describe each of these steps in greater detail. The final section contains printable activity pages, which are available in colour and black & white (for colouring). Each of these activity pages represent each of the steps in the water cycle, so students can print them and keep them handy for quick reference. This website is obviously designed for younger students. Older students can refer to it for quick reference, but will gain little else from it. The text is large and bolded for easy reading. The explanations are easy to understand and never use big words. Images and photographs are cute, colourful, and informative. Navigation is a non-issue, which caters well to young students. This is a very nice site for both teachers and younger students to use. |
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http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycle.html
Name: USGS
Water Science for Schools – The Water Cycle This website from the U.S. Geological Survey is well-designed for educational purposes. It is very thorough and informative in its examination of the water cycle. It’s interesting to note that although this website is very well organized, there is no particular order in which users should visit each concept. On the first page, users are presented with a brief introduction and a detailed map showing every step of the water cycle. Users can click on any of the steps on the map to begin their examination of that particular step. The website even justifies its peculiar organization by stating that the term “cycle” implies no beginning or end. So to start their examination of the water cycle, users can visit the following sections in no particular order: streamflow, surface runoff, freshwater storage, ground water discharge, ground water storage, inflitration, precipitation, snowmelt runoff, springs, atmospheric water, evaporation, transpiration, condensation, sublimation, ice & snow, and oceans. This website provides the most complete examination of the water cycle. The explanations are very informative, detailed, and advanced. There are plenty of images, photographs, and statistical data. This site is perfect for older students’ project work, and is clearly geared towards older students. Younger students would get lost pretty quickly. Although there is no particular order to the sections, each section is still accessible anytime from the always-present menu at the bottom of every page. The impressive water cycle map on the first page is also available in numerous languages. There’s even a version of the map with all labels missing so that teachers can print it and use it for appropriate activities. This is an excellent site for both teachers and older students to use. |
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US Environmental Protection Agency Kids’ Stuff This site contains very interactive exercises and games to help students learn about the above curriculum concepts. Text is kept to a minimum. The concepts are learned primarily through colourful and interactive question & answer exercises, hands-on lab-type activities such as building your own watershed, and fact sheets. The site consists of 2 main sections, one for students and the other for teachers. Within each section, all exercises and games are further subdivided into Grades K-3, 4-8, and 9-12. Inside the teachers’ section, there’s a really interesting lab activity where you and your students can actually enact the water filtration process on dirty water. Inside the students’ section, kids will really appreciate all the learning activities through games. This is a beautiful site for anyone visiting it. It’s perfect for students who learn through interactive exercises versus reading. The menu cannot be any clearer, showing the distinct sections for students and teachers, and then the different grade levels within each section. The text is easy to read and understand. Nobody will have trouble navigating the site. The only downside of this site is that the concepts are not explored in great detail. Good facts are provided, but they are never elaborated upon. This is a very good site for both teachers and all students. |
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DiscoverySchool.com This site contains complete lesson plans for studying Earth Sciences at any level from K-12, including objectives and suggestions for evaluation in each lesson plan. Teachers can look forward to lesson plans on Earth’s surface, geological phenomena, oceans, weather, and tectonic plates, but this is by no means a complete list of lesson plans that can be found on this site. If that wasn’t good enough, many of the lesson plans even contain suggestions for adapting the lesson for different grade levels. This is hands-down one of the best resources for all teachers, and not just Science teachers. The site is colourful and well laid out. All sections of the site are accessible from the always-present menu. Some of the important concepts even have sound files attached to them so that you can listen to its pronunciation. This site is mainly geared towards teachers. |
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Name:
The
Geological Society of America This site contains complete lesson plans for studying Earth Sciences at any level from K-12, including any required worksheets. Lesson plans are organized by specific topics in Earth Sciences. The section on rocks and minerals is impressive on its own. Lessons for each topic are also further subdivided by grade level. Most lessons appear to be lab-based and very hands-on. Finally, there are literally tons of links to other educational resources within each topic. This is another amazing resource for teachers, but definitely geared towards Science teachers only. The site is colourful and well laid out. There are so many lesson plans and resources that are listed that the site even provides a handy function to sort by topic or age group. If that wasn’t enough, the site also provides suggestions for readings and class discussions of critical issues. This site is mainly geared towards teachers. |