[NAEP] A little bit of this, a little bit of that

[Dawn Wiseman]

Here are 3 resources from today's Internet Scout Report. If you're 
using Macs or running a Mac network in your school the last link may 
be of interest, as open source applications are free and can often be 
modified to meet your specific needs.

National Institutes of Health: Office of Science Education [pdf, Real Player]
http://science-education.nih.gov/
Created in 1991, the Office of Science Education (OSE) is a division 
of the National Institutes of Health that is primarily concerned with 
both encouraging science literacy in adults and children as well as 
attracting young people to biomedical and behavioral science careers. 
For educators and the curious public, the site is truly delightful, 
as it compiles its primary resources into topical areas, such as cell 
biology and bioethics. It also divides its materials into a list of 
resource formats, which include lesson plans, newsletters, and book 
covers. Additionally, visitors can search materials by the 
appropriate educational level, such as elementary or secondary. Along 
with this veritable treasure-trove of educational materials, there is 
the "Research Results for the Public" area. Here, visitors can read 
fact sheets that decipher some of the more complex medical research 
from highly technical language into a language that is both lucid and 
accessible.


Virtual Visit of the Canadian Space Agency [Macromedia Flash Player]
http://www.space.gc.ca/asc/eng/virtual_visit.asp
Imagine if you will, taking a tour of the Canadian Space Agency's 
headquarters in Longueuil, Quebec. After that thought passes, then 
imagine being led through some of the fascinating areas of these same 
headquarters that are normally off-limits to the public, guided by a 
narrator whose voice closely resembles the authoritative tone 
reserved for movie trailers. This is exactly what you, gentle reader, 
will find upon arriving on the homepage of this site. The site opens 
up with a series of screens that zoom the viewer onto the Agency's 
visually stunning complex, then proceeds to visit some of the 
interesting areas within that same edifice. Along the way, visitors 
will find their way to the optics laboratory, the Mars greenhouse, 
and the mission control centre, along with another dozen or so 
locations. During this visit, visitors can read a brief description 
of each locale and follow along with the aforementioned knowing voice 
of the previously mentioned narrator.

Focus/SIS 1.0
http://www.focus-sis.org/
A number of open source projects have been developed to help 
educators and administrators manage student data, and Focus/SIS 1.0 
is one of those projects that deserves a closer look. With this 
application, users can utilize the web-based interface to create 
grade books, submit attendance, generate reports, and so on. This 
version of Focus/SIS 1.0 is compatible with computers running Mac OS 
X 10.1 and newer.