Other Resources

Games, Tools, and More at Math.com

Math.com offers homework help, calculators and other tools, online practice quizzes, games, and other interactive explorations of math for all levels. In addition, you'll find assessment, on-demand modular courses that target key math concepts, 24/7 live online tutoring, and expert answers to math questions.

'Focal Points' Seeks to Spur Discussion of Mathematics Curricula

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) offers Curriculum Focal Points, which identifies three important mathematical topics at each level, prekindergarten through grade 8.

The publication is intended to bring more coherence to the very diverse mathematics curricula currently in use. It provides a framework for states and districts to design more focused curricular expectations and assessments for pre-K-grade 8 mathematics curriculum development.

"The Curriculum Focal Points are designed to promote a discussion on the refinement of mathematics curricula and address the impression that various state and district curricula are 'a mile wide and an inch deep,'" said NCTM President Francis (Skip) Fennell.

Teaching about the Water Cycle

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Water Resources, has a new Web site about the water cycle. This comprehensive site includes a diagram explaining the water cycle in 57 languages.

Trends in Math Education

A four-part series in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal takes an in-depth look at issues in teaching and learning math.

Join the Cast of 'Cyberchase'

"Cyberchase" is a daily animated adventure TV series and multimedia project for children ages 8-11. To save the day, our heroes have to use math and brain power. Check your local PBS station for schedules or visit PBS online (where teachers and parents will also find follow-up lesson plans and activities).

Infrared Astronomy

Cool Cosmos from NASA invites students into the world of infrared astronomy. Teachers and students may discover light outside the visible spectrum with these classroom activities, experiments and lessons. The site provides ask-an-astronomer videos, an infrared astronomy timeline, and more.

Build Your Own Science-athon

Online Science-athon helps students discover the science in their daily lives. It is organized around four events: "How Tall Am I?" for grades 2-3, and the "Marble Roll," "Catching Sunshine," and the "Chocolate Melt" for grades 4-8. The site makes it easy for teachers to incorporate the events into instruction, align learning with academic standards, and get students investigating their world in ways that are fun and instructive. Each event produces class data and includes questions for exploring student-generated data.

Explore Antarctica and the Gulf Stream

Study of Place presents two online science units for middle school students. "Antarctic Exploration" tells the story of Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1914 expedition to Antarctica and how, when his ship became icebound and was crushed to pieces, he and his crew survived before being rescued two years after their journey began. "Ocean Currents Exploration" describes how Ben Franklin charted the Gulf Stream to help speed mail delivery from Europe to the United States.

Directory of the Earth

NASA's Visible Earth is a searchable directory of images, visualizations, and animations of earth. Topics include soils, clouds, storms, hurricanes, droughts, precipitation, vegetation, oceans, sea ice, human population, land use, erosion, fires, rocks, minerals, regions and countries.

Middle Schoolers: Figure This!

The Figure This! Mathematics Challenges for Families Web site, offered by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) and supported by NEA, provides interesting math challenges that middle school students can do at home with their families. Glenda Lappen, Michigan State University professor and former NCTM president, says that middle school is when "students have time to experiment, to ponder, to play with mathematical ideas, to seek relationships among ideas and concepts, and to experience the power of mathematics to tackle problem situations that can be mathematized or modeled."

Math Clearinghouse

Funded through a contract with the U.S. Department of Education and housed at the Ohio State University, the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse (ENC) is a one-stop shop for math teachers. ENC offers thousands of detailed descriptions of curriculum materials, Web sites, and professional development experiences for educators. Visitors can read ENC's Focus magazine online or subscribe to the print version. Recent articles include "Data-Driven Decision Making," "Success in the Urban Classroom," and "Partnerships with Business and the Community."

'Dr. Math' and More

The comprehensive Math Forum is one of the leaders in mathematics and mathematics education on the Web. Have a question about a homework problem? Ask Dr. Math. Need a lesson on data and statistics for your second graders or high schoolers? Do a search by topic and level. The search engine on this site is particularly useful for parents, teachers and students.

Lesson Plans from PBS

PBS TeacherSource provides a database of mathematics lessons, searchable by grade level and topic. In addition, educators can check out the professional development opportunities through PBS's Mathline and other products available for use with students.

MegaMath Offers Fun Activities

A project of the Computer Research and Applications Group at Los Alamos National Laboratory, MegaMath lets teachers and elementary students explore important mathematical ideas, such as the Four-Color Theorem and graphs. In addition to student activities and detailed explanations of math concepts, the site examines math's connection to industry and business. There's also a brief discussion of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics' Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics.

Standards-based Math and Science Resources

Science Netlinks and the Illuminations math Web site, produced in cooperation with the MarcoPolo Education Foundation, support teachers in their implementation of standards-based math and science. Both sites offer online multimedia investigations, lesson plans keyed to standards, and links to reviewed Web sites.

Online Manipulatives

The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives from Utah State University presents online manipulatives (base ten blocks, algebra tiles, pattern blocks, etc.). Manipulatives are indexed by math topic and grade level.

Science Activities for Families

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has launched a public awareness campaign called "Science, It's Everywhere," designed to provide resources for parents to enhance their children's science education. You can order AAAS's A Family Guide to Science by calling 1-888-737-2061 or by visiting Try Science, a gateway to on- and offline activities with more than 400 science and technology centers worldwide.

Science Lesson Plan Swap

The Science Center at Education World has an abundance of support materials for pre-K-12 educators. You can search the science database by grade level as well as topic. In addition, you can submit your own favorite lesson plan and browse through other teachers' favorites.

NASA Space Science Resources

There are literally hundreds of sites dedicated to NASA projects  that have education components. The Space Science Education Resource Directory is a portal to help teachers find Web-based resources to support space science curricula. If you set up an account and log in (though this is not required), you can save your searches for later use.