Revised 16 August 1999
There are several reference pages on the GCSEC site that may be of interest to families:
A mathematical discussion on the physics of fly fishing, including animation and figures. (08/16/99) http://space.mit.edu/%7Ekommers/fly.html
Extreme Science (08/16/99)
"A fun compendium of natural excess - deadliest creature, deepest cave - along with informative links." http://www.extremescience.com/
Illusion Works (08/16/99)
A collection of visual puzzles. http://www.illusionworks.com/
Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology's Citizen Science
A collection of projects in which families, students and classes can participate, including the new Nest Box Network. Select Citizen Science at http://birds.cornell.edu
"Combinatorial Games, Other Fun Math, Silly Math" http://compgeom.cs.uiuc.edu/~jeffe/mathgames.html
World Wide Web Virtual Library: Mathematics
"A math index which provides links to online resources for math teachers and students." http://euclid.math.fsu.edu/science/math.html
Mathematics problems of the week for elementary, middle school, algebra, geometry, and trigonometry and calculus http://forum.swarthmore.edu/pow
Teacher 2 Teacher
Parent and teacher questions about mathematics teaching and learning, including an archive of past questions. Readers can submit new questions. http://forum.swarthmore.edu/t2t
Plate Tectonics Online at NASA's Observatorium
"In this article, web surfers can view a map of how our planet might have looked in the early days and learn about the three types of faults involved in plate tectonics.
"Scientists have long theorized -- and NASA research and radio astronomy studies support -- that Earth's inner furnace powers the movement of independent tectonic plates, which rest upon a layer of the planet known as the lithosphere. It is upon these moving plates that today's continents sit ... but not totally still.
"Plate Tectonics is fully illustrated, offers both a quiz and a wordsearch game, and contains links to several related sites." http://observe.ivv.nasa.gov/nasa/earth/tectonics/Tectonics1.html
A mathematical discussion on the physics of fly fishing, including animation and figures. http://space.mit.edu/%7Ekommers/fly.html
Neuroscience for Kids
An introduction to the field of neuroscience. Includes a number of links http://weber.u.washington.edu/~chudler/interr.html
"An Introductory Sketch to Game Theory" http://william-king.www.drexel.edu/top/eco/game/game.html
"Combinatorial Games from the book "On Numbers and Games" by John Conway" http://www.cs.uidaho.edu/~casey931/conway/games.html
The Abacus
"The abacus is the earliest form of the calculator. This site contains information about the Japanese, Chinese, and Aztec versions and instructions on how to use the abacus." http://www.ee.ryerson.ca:8080/~elf/abacus
Extreme Science (08/16/99)
"A fun compendium of natural excess - deadliest creature, deepest cave - along with informative links." http://www.extremescience.com/
"Y2K for Kids
Gives a short explanation at the grade school level of the Y2K problem and has links to technical discussions." http://www.fema.gov/kids/y2k.htm
Franklin Institute's Flights of Inspiration
Information on the Wright Brothers and how they succeeded despite many obstacles. Information on the first people to fly non stop across the Atlantic. Investigate the forces involved in flight - lift, weight, thrust and drag - and design, build and test some model aircraft. Many related web sites. http://www.fi.edu/flights
Illusion Works (08/16/99)
A collection of visual puzzles. http://www.illusionworks.com/
My Health My World Explorations for Children and Adults http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/baylor.htm
Science Resources for Parents
"Science is a way of understanding the world, a perspective, and a pattern of thinking that begins in the very earliest years. That is why parental involvement is so important in a child's science education. Families who explore the world together nurture scientific thinkers and good students!" http://www.nsta.org/parents/
BRAINLINK: Adventures in Health and Science Education
Materials designed to make neuroscience concepts easily accessible to children, teachers and families" http://www.son.washington.edu/~makcon/brainlink.html
TERC recently published a very interesting article in their Hands On magazine on the educational potential of educational games. In the context of the article, students are observed using two particular mathematics games. http://www.terc.edu/handson/f98/Murray.html
Welcome to Nanoworld
"View ants, blood, cells, rat hairs, et cetera magnified thousands of times by electron microscopes and light microscopes." http://www.uq.oz.au/nanoworld/nanohome.html
Virtual Anatomy Image Browser
"This site provides a fun, interactive way to view computer-generated images and movies of internal human organs and bones." http://www.vis.colostate.edu/cgi-bin/gva/gvaview
Hands On Children's Museum
"A colorful, fun place for young students to learn about science." http://www.wln.com/~deltapac/hocm.html
History of Mathematics Archive
Developed initially as part of the Mathematics MacTutor system for learning and experimenting with mathematics. Includes biographies, history topics, articles on famous mathematical curves and a search capability." http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk:80/~history
My Health My World: Riff and Rosie's Clubhouse http://www-sbp.bcm.tmc.edu/mhmw/clubhouse.html
If a trip or vacation is in the future, there are a number of education centers around the United States and the world. Some online lists of centers follow. (The GCSEC neither endorses or recommends any center on the following lists. Centers vary in size, content, ages served, hours of operation, et cetera. Before making a special trip to visit a center, consider calling it to obtain more information.)
The GCSEC would appreciate suggestions for ways to better serve parents and families. Please let us know your thoughts.
The GCSEC needs volunteers to help in a number of different ways. Please let us know if you would be willing to volunteer.