This article, part of Biodiversity Counts, takes a look at collecting plant specimens. The article discusses what tools are needed to collect specimens, how to press and dry specimens and has tips for numbering and labeling specimens.
This AstroBulletin article takes an in-depth look at the newest technology and instruments used to study the Cosmic Microwave Background. The site includes text and a seven minute video. There are links to three essays: "What Is the Cosmic Microwave Background?", "Antarctica: A Hotbed of Cold-Weather Research" and "DASI Does It."
This online article is from the Museum's Science Explorations, a collaboration between AMNH and Scholastic designed to promote science literacy. Written for students in grades 6-10, this article from Science World magazine has an interview with AMNH astrophysicist Mike Shara, in which he explains what space objects are and what happens when they collide. There are Web links that offer further opportunities for learning about space objects and their collisions.
In this hands-on OLogy activity, kids learn how camouflage allows flounders to blend into a variety of backgrounds. The illustrated, step-by-step directions challenge kids first to color a flounder drawing so that it matches the provided background, and then to create their own backgrounds and make more drawings of camouflaged flounders. It includes an overview of three other sea animals that use camouflage: the sea dragon, the stonefish, and the mimic octopus.
In this classroom activity, students record the temperatures in and around a walk-in refrigerator or freezer to see how cold air behaves when it meets warmer air. The printable five-page handout includes a series of inquiry-based questions to get students thinking about how the temperature of air changes its density, detailed experiment directions and a worksheet that helps students use the experiment results to obtain insight into the wind patterns of Antarctica.
Create Your Own Time Capsule is part of OLogy, where kids can collect virtual trading cards and create projects with them. Here, they build a time capsule to help future generations understand how they lived. The activity begins with a brief explanation of artifacts and time capsules.Students are then given step-by-step directions for how to select significant items and build a time capsule to store them. As an example, two kids and the time capsules they built are shown.
In this OLogy activity, kids learn how a compass works and why it will always point north. The activity begins with an overview that discusses our reliance on directions and how a compass works. Students are then given step-by-step, illustrated directions for creating a compass with a sewing needle, a small bar magnet, a small piece of foam, and other household items. The activity includes ideas about how to try out your compass.
In this OLogy activity, kids learn how a compass works and why it will always point north. The activity begins with an overview that discusses our reliance on directions and how a compass works. Students are then given step-by-step, illustrated directions for creating a compass with a sewing needle, a small bar magnet, a small piece of foam, and other household items. The activity includes ideas about how to try out your compass.
In this hands-on OLogy activity, kids learn about coral reefs by building a diorama. Students are introduced to coral polyps and reefs and given illustrated, step-by-step directions that show how to construct a diorama containing models of a brain coral, a sea fan, a sponge, and sea anemones.
This Web site examines Charles Darwin and his theory that changed the course of science and society. The site includes information that was presented in the Museum's Darwin exhibit. Society's beliefs about the natural world and the Earth's age at the start of the 1800s are summarized. Darwin's education and work and the development of his theory of evolution by natural selection, including the reasons he kept his theory secret for so long and the consequences of finally publishing his work are presented. There is also a look at how today's knowledge and tools have helped advance Darwin's theory.
The AMNH Darwin Manuscripts Project is a historical and textual edition of Charles Darwin's scientific manuscripts, designed from its inception as an online project. The database at its coreŰÓDARBASEŰÓcatalogues some 45,000 Darwin scientific manuscripts. These are currently represented by 15,125 high resolution digital images. Thus far 7,428 manuscript pages have been transcribed to exacting standards and all are presented in easy to read format. New material will be added.
This online article is from the Museum's Science Explorations, a collaboration between AMNH and Scholastic designed to promote science literacy. Written for students in grades 6-10, this article from Science World magazine has an interview with AMNH paleontologist Niles Eldredge, in which he explains how the eye-opening sights Charles Darwin encountered during his five-year voyage on the HMS Beagle inspired his thinking about the diversity of life on Earth. There are Web links that offer further opportunities for learning about Darwin and his years after the voyage.
This online gallery of photos, illustrations, and videos provides a snapshot of deep sea vents and the ancient forms of life that can be found within them. Transcripts of the videos are provided, and the photos and illustrations are accompanied by explanatory texts.
Students learn about ultraviolet light in this Moveable Museum unit, where they detect UV rays and then explore ways to block them. The four-page PDF guide includes suggested general background readings for educators, activity notes, step-by-step directions, and information about where to obtain supplies. Students make a bracelet from beads that respond to UV light by changing color, and test it in different light environments.
This reference tool allows students to identify an arthropod's order by making a series of guided decisions, such as six legs or more, well-developed or missing wing, and chewing or sucking mouthparts. The key, which includes only adult arthropods, is available as an interactive key on the AMNH's Web site that can be downloaded to your computer.
This lesson looks at the structures and functions of the digestive system with illustrated diagrams and assessment.
For most of human history, recording a star meant describing it with words or drawing a picture. The 19th-century invention of photography changed that—only to be revolutionized by digital imaging. This Moveable Museum article, available as a six-page printable PDF file, takes a look at the technology of digital imaging. It discusses how digital images are pictures stored as numbers and explains how computer manipulation can enhance images and reduce distortion. Some suggested resources are provided for further research.
In this classroom activity, middle school students explore the Greek and Latin root words used to create dinosaur names. The activity opens with background information for teachers about how dinosaurs are named. As a class, students explore the Greek and Latin roots of the words photograph, terrace and other familiar terms. Working individually, students complete a worksheet that challenges them to translate the meaning of seven dinosaurs' names. Then, working in pairs, students create their own dinosaur; name it; and describe how it moves, what it eats, how it raises it young, and how it behaves.
This activity sheet for young children is designed to be completed during a visit to the Museum's Hall of Biodiversity. The printable two-page handout includes an explanation of biodiversity, a "scavenger hunt" and a writing and drawing activity using the Forest Floor Diorama, a classification activity using the Spectrum of Life Wall and a treasure hunt using the Rain Forest Diorama.
Created to accompany Exploratorium AMNH, ts guide helps visitors fully explore the 35 hands-on exhibits. The PDF guide for this bilingual exhibit is available in Spanish and English. It contains a glossary of terms, and activities and questions to guide visitors along five different exhibit paths:Things that TurnĺŃan exploration of rotation and how its physical laws allow us to understand the world around usFluids in MotionĺŃa look at how liquids, gases, and even granular solids moveCan You Believe Your Eyes?ĺŃan experiential journey designed to demonstrate the risks of making conclusions based only on past experiencesChange One ThingĺŃan exploration of the scientific approach and the value of changing one variable at a timePendulum PlayĺŃa look at the remarkable properties of pendulums