Ask a Scientist

This week, we had to ask a scientist a question. I never knew this website existed and would have loved to use it last year with my fifth graders. The website link is: http://www.hhmi.org/askascientist/

My question this week that I asked was: "If cancer is just a growth of irregular cells and seems so simple, why is it so hard to find a cure for cancer?" However, this was too complex of a question for the search engine on their page. So, I had to email it to a scientist and have not yet received a response.

I thought this was an incredibly cool page, however, that would be wonderful to introduce to a class during computer lab time. This would give students an opportunity to find a resource where they can find answers to their scientific questions.

Lastly, the interactive website I love to use is called Kidwings and I like to introduce this during computer lab time and during our Ecosystems unit. In this unit, we study animals, the food chain and many other things. One of the fun activities (and messy) I like to do with students is dissect owl pellets with them to see what type of rodents their owl ate. After we do the dissections, I take the students to the computer lab and we virtually dissect owl pellets and utilize prior knowledge of our lessons while doing this. It is really a great experience and one that is hard to forget. The website address to this is:

http://www.kidwings.com/index.htm

Check it out this week and also the Ask a Scientist website for a fun time!