HEALTH 
Ask a Scientist (click on title)
Howard Hughes Medical: Ask a Scientist is an easy way to get answers to your biology questions. Just click on the question mark and follow the instructions
This site explores mental and physical health using simple printable activites, anatomy lessons, information about health issues, and helpful advice. There is also a cool Shockwave body tour; be sure to click "down" to see further inside the human body. Note that there are links to health information for grown-ups.
Becoming a Scientist (click on title)Howard Hughes Medical : What qualities do you need to succeed in biomedical research? Some of the world's most prominent biomedical researchers may surprise you with their answers. As you'll see in their video responses, they say that intelligence alone is insufficient; success in science also depends on several other qualities.
This is a health, science and technology site for kids ages 6 to 14. It presents animated movies, comics, experiments, quizzes and fun facts that make learning fun. This is a colorful, but busily designed, site with a lot of quality information. Includes advertising. Developed by Dr. Avraham Kadar.
See how penicillin destroys bacteria, how cells keep their shape, how they communicate, view microscopic parasites, and more. This fascinating site includes pictures, animations and clear explanations to help you understand cells. Includes advertising.
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute invites curious kids to explore biology...on screen, off screen, and in between.
Coming To Your Senses -
This ThinkQuest Junior site teaches you about your senses of sight, touch, smell, taste and hearing. There are explanations, neat illustrations, optical illusion activities, and links so you can learn more. Site created by 5th and 6th-grade students.
All living things are made with DNA. Learn about it in this fascinating online exhibit from the Tech Museum of Innovation. Zoom in on magnified DNA in skin cells, write your name as a DNA sequence, ask yourself ethical questions. Note: click the Next button at the top of the screen to move through this exhibit.
Follow the colorful lizards around this site to learn about the major systems in the human body. There is also a true story about organ donation. This well-designed site has interesting information, and uses large text and lots of illustrations. A 1999 ThinkQuest Junior contest winner created by students.
Go on a journey through the human body's systems using an imaginary micro-camera. This site features lots of facts, explanations and illustrations. When you're done the tour, test yourself with the quizzes. Created by a 7th grade life sciences teacher.
Microbes are everywhere--even inside you and crawling on your skin. Yuck! When you Meet the Microbes you'll learn that most of these single-celled organisms are harmless. See picturestaken with a high powered microscope and read quick facts. At this site you'll also learn about bacteria in food,infections, the flu, and the scientists who study microbes. There are lots of games, pictures, Shockwave activities, a mystery to solve, coloring pages, and more. From the American Museum of Natural History. Makes learning fun
Presents games and activities for children ages 1 to 5 and 6 to 9. There is a maze, online coloring and games, fun with shapes, I Spy, plus cute animations and sounds. This site is designed to help children develop their cognitive thinking skills, deductive reasoning, and also to have fun. Uses Shockwave, and some games use Java. From Magination Press and the American Psychological Association BAD THING about this site is you can not use your back button to get out!
Find out how to say no to smoking, drugs and alcohol. There are also facts, crosswords and other activities. From the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information. English, Espanol, Portuguese
Find interesting facts about the brain, see why some people need to wear eyeglasses, and learn how the brain works. Some of this information is geared toward high school level students. Maintained by Eric H. Chudler, Ph.D.
Help budding scientist Sara Bellum answer 4 questions about how marijuana affects the brain. Visit other areas of this site for information on other types of drugs. From the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
National Institute of Health: This American organization studies the impact of the environment on our health. The Kids' Page includes games, coloring pages, riddles and jokes, science word scrambles, a spelling bee, an environmental art and poetry gallery, and more. Also available in Spanish.
Learn a bit about autism, cerebral palsy, deafness and blindness, and read interviews with children, teachers and parents who deal with these challenges every day. Try the activities and simulations to experience what it is like to have a vision impairment, autism and restricted mobility. A ThinkQuest Junior 1999 contest winner created by students.
This online version of The U.S. Surgeon General's Report for Kids About Smoking teaches you the facts about smoking cigarettes and chewing tobacco, how these addictions harm your health, and what you can do to make your environment smoke-free.
Yo, It's Time For Braces -
This great site is packed with information, expert advice, and personal stories. Sections include: deciding to get braces, what happens at the orthodontist's office, living with braces, Madeline's Journal about the first few months with braces, celebrities who have worn braces. Created by students for the ThinkQuest Junior Web site contest. Over 14 orthodontists and dental specialists helped with advice, pictures, interviews
Why do we have zits, funnybones, dandruff, and sweat, belch, and snore? Find out more than you ever wanted to know about gross body functions at the Yuckiest Site on the Internet. Proof positive that learning biology can be fun. From Discovery.com for children 8 to 15. Available in Flash and non-Flash versions.
HOME WORK HELP
Provides lots of interesting information on many topics in science, history and geography, math, and English. Note that some links within articles lead to ads for the World Book Online fee-based product. From DiscoverySchool.com and World Book Encyclopedia Online. Site has banner ads.
Encyclopedias -
- Britannica - www.Britannica.com Although only paying subscribers can access the full text of the hard copy Encyclopedia Britannica, visitors will still find plenty to enjoy at the free Britannica.com. You can access the collection of condensed articles by keyword search, by browsing alphabetically, or by subject. History buffs will enjoy Britannica's Heritage, a look at how our knowledge has evolved over the last two centuries.
- www.Encyclopedia.com - Encyclopedia.com is composed of 50,000 articles from the Columbia Encyclopedia. Each entry is short but includes hyperlinked references to other encyclopedia articles, as well as links to periodicals and images in the fee-based Electric Library. A single click of the "Search Encarta" button (on the right-hand side) performs a related search at Encarta.com, making Encyclopedia.com a good place to start your research
- Kidopedia http://www.kidlib.org/kidopedia A Global Childrens Encyclopedia, written BY Kids, and FOR Kids! A Kidopedia is an encyclopedia written by children. Schools across the world are making their own ...
- Information Please Kids http://www.infoplease.com/ On-line dictionary, encyclopedia, almanacs, and homework help center designed especially for kids. NOTE Site is slow opening
- Smithsonian http://www.si.edu/resource/faq/
This great site features an almanac, atlas, dictionary and encyclopedia made especially for kids. You'll also find a daily famous birthday, event in history, a quiz, interesting topics in the spotlight, plus Funbrain.com games, and a homework help center. The Fact Monster is part of the InfoPlease.com Student area. Site has ads. Slow coming up.
B.J. Pinchbeck's: In 1996, B.J. created this collection of math, science, English, history and social studies sites. There are now hundreds of helpful sites to choose from. Part of Discovery.com. Site has ads. A+
Click on letters of the alphabet to view pages in this picture dictionary. Pictures will link you to online connect-the-dots games, Scrambled Dinosaurs, nursery rhymes and stories, as well as hundreds of activities, zoos and museums, arts and crafts, and other educational sites. Visit Zoom School for information on other topics. This site is intended for preschool and elementary school age children.
Elementary school teacher, Pat Stevens, has put music to well-known spelling rules to make them more fun to learn and easier to remember. Learn the 1-1-1 Spelling Rule, the Silent E Rule, the Y Rule and rules for forming plurals. Also includes audio files with the tunes, free sheet music, and spelling exercises with instant feedback.
DAILY WORDS
"The music and magic of words that's what A.Word.A.Day is all about." Words are usually selected around a weekly theme, and emailed free (with definitions) to over 93,000 subscribers. You can view today's and yesterday's word at the Web site
This page features a daily expression from the Cobuild Dictionary of Idioms. Today's entry was "to the marrow." "If you say that you are chilled to the marrow or frozen to the marrow, you are emphasizing that you are very cold." It can also be used to emphasize the intensity of someone's beliefs, such as "communist to the marrow." The entries can be difficult to read because of errors in spacing between words, but exploring idioms is a fun way to deepen one's understanding of our language.
Quotes of the Day provides four daily quotations from an eclectic collection both contemporary (Steven Wright: "There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.") and historic (Tolstoy: "Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.") This daily dose is but one part of a large quotations site with a search engine. You can also access random quotes from a variety of collections.
Who would have thought that a dictionary could be so much fun! Word Central is online student dictionary. It also features a kid's word of the day with audio pronunciation and vocabulary-building games and word puzzles. From Merriam-Webster.
Got two minutes? These daily puzzles for high-schoolers and adults come in five formats, playing with definitions, synonyms, antonyms, word ladder transformations, slang, even some history and geography. The games require a Java-enabled browser and are based on reference material from Merriam-Webster. Some are a little slow to load, but the game play is very quick and very addictive. Visit the two-month archive at the bottom of the page to play previous games.
