Recommended Website:
Pulse Of The Planet
ClickScholar Michelle Tyler recommended this website, sponsored by the National Science Foundation, that offers daily (Monday-Friday), free, engaging two-minute sound portraits that blend science, nature, and culture worldwide.
These audio clips contain fascinating information that may springboard you to further science investigation and learning. Just take a look at what’s available September 22-30, 2009:
- Sep 22 — Reading Slug Slime In the slug world, much can be gleaned from the trail of slime a slug leaves behind.
- Sep 23 — Wasps Without so much as a diet, wasp waists are incredibly thin; and their structure is inspiring engineers to create a new kind of packaging.
- Sep 24 — Dragonflies: Myths and Truths Can nature’s flying insect carnivores bite people?
- Sep 25 — Dragonflies: Migration It’s a rare event, but a grand sight to behold – thousands upon thousands of dragonflies.
- Sep 28 — Pogo Stick If you’ve bounced on a pogo stick, you’re already well on your way to understanding how animals run.
- Sep 29 — Novel Robots Robots can be so, well, robotic. But bio-inspired engineering is pointing the way to a new and nimble breed of robots.
- Sep 30 — Mites and Bees An epidemic of mite infestations is threatening North American bee colonies.
Not only that, but the site also offers in-depth “Monthly Features” on science topics as well.
But there’s more! In the “Educator Resources” section you’ll find free lesson plans with activities “suitable for classrooms or home-schoolers” using Pulse of the Planet programs. The lesson plans for grades K-12 contain downloadable audio files. You must register (free and painless) to access the lessons.
When you get to the site, just listen to the featured sound clip (and print out the transcript if desired). Then, use the menu to access all of the “Daily Programs” audio clips from 1998-2009.
Click on “Monthly Features” for the in-depth studies, and peruse the rest of the menu for other wonderful science surprises.
This site earns a ClickSchooling Award (CSAW) for excellence.
