Discovery

Science Resources

Here's contact information for some interesting science and educational material available over the Internet.

Electronic Weather

Edinburgh University has produced this excellent piece of educational software that would be useful for any teachers undertaking a unit on weather. This program on cloud identification is a refreshing and exciting piece of software that uses the computer effectively, not just to entertain. The program does not require much teacher supervision and is easy for the students to work with. There are built-in tests and educational material relating to the context of aviation. It requires an IBM-compatible computer running Windows in enhanced mode (so at least a 386) with a SuperVGA monitor (640x480 resolution and 256 colours).

The program is freely copyable for educational, non-profit purposes, and can be obtained:

• electronically from Calmet at the following anonymous ftp address: ftp.met.ed.ac.uk
• as a module of five floppy disks with an automated self-extraction and setup program, by sending A$27 (including postage) to:

Bureau of Meteorology Publications, GPO Box 1289K, Melbourne 3001, Australia

BAD Planes

NASA's Basic Aircraft Design pages challenges students to design a subsonic transport plane that can provide a non-stop service from New York to San Francisco (about 4,000 km). The students can decide the number of passengers and the speed at which the plane will fly. The goal is to design an airplane that will allow the operators to make the maximum profit while charging the lowest ticket price and using the minimum amount of fuel. To make things easier, you start with a Boeing 737 on the drawing board and work from there. The analysis has been simplified to allow for quicker computation times. This can be found at:

http://fornax.arc.nasa.gov.9999/badweb/badweb.html

Chain Reactions

Polymerase chain reaction techniques are used to multiply tiny fragments of genetic material into samples which can be usefully tested. This PCR demonstration software could be used with Form 7 (Year 13) students. It introduces students to gene amplification techniques and in situ PCR.

Available at: http://www.perkin-elmer.com/pcr/

Science Fair Ideas

Looking for ideas for science fairs or for school science projects? Try looking at the following for ideas from Britain, Canada and the US.

http://www.usc.edu/CMSI/CalifSF/
http://www.educ.wsu.edu/fair_95/index.html
http://gauss.nmsu.edu.8000/sciencefair/studhb.html
http://www.scienceworld.bc.ca/SCIFAIRS.HTML
http://www.scri.fsu.edu/~dennisl/special/sf_hints.html
http://www.scri.fsu.edu/~dennisl/special/sciencefair95.html
http://quark.physics.uwo.ca/sfair/scifr.html
http://zep.lightside.com

BP Educational Resources Catalogue

BP Educational Services has published its latest 1995-1996 catalogue, which lists over 200 resources that are available to schools. There are resources for use at primary through to senior secondary levels. The resources are designed to meet the needs of British teachers but could easily be used in the New Zealand classroom. The resources include booklets, brochures, resource packs, posters and wallcharts, videos, CD-ROMs and PC-based resources.

Copies of the BP Educational Catalogue are available from:

BP Public Relations, PO Box 892, Wellington

Greg Walker, NZSM