Contents

1 - JOURNEY TO MARS!
2 - ASTROBIOLOGY: OUR SEARCH FOR LIFE BEYOND EARTH
3 - WEATHER STATION
4 - FEATURED PATHWAY: ELECTRICITY, MOTORS, AND METERS
5 - PHYSICS TREASURES FROM K-12 INSTRUCTIONAL MEDIA CENTER

1 - JOURNEY TO MARS!
http://www.exploratorium.edu/mars/index.html
From microbes to mysterious faces to meandering canals: Is there proof of life on Mars? What do snowflakes look like on Mars? Explore these possibilities and more, including the inner workings of the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, which will land on Mars in January. This site will also display our month-long Journey to Mars Webcast series, bringing near-live images of the red planet to our audiences on the museum floor and the Web.

Check out the amazing teacher resource material specifically for the Journey to Mars project: <http://www.exploratorium.edu/mars/teachers/index.html>.

2 - ASTROBIOLOGY: OUR SEARCH FOR LIFE BEYOND EARTH
http://www.exploratorium.edu/origins/arecibo/index.html
Find information about life throughout the universe with resources garnered from such diverse sources as NASA, the SETI Institute, TERC, the Japan Science and Technology Corporation, and more. Learn about the tools used to search for life beyond earth, meet the scientists who study astrobiology, and watch our Webcasts online. Be sure to visit TERC's Astrobiology Curriculum site at <http://astrobio.terc.edu/>.

3 - WEATHER STATION
http://www.exploratorium.edu/weather/
What is barometric pressure? What is the relationship between barometric pressure and wind speed? Is there a correlation between outside humidity and air density? Ask students to translate the graphs into words that describe what happened over the last week or month. Get students interested in a phenomenon they experience every day: weather!

4 - FEATURED PATHWAY: ELECTRICITY, MOTORS, AND METERS
http://www.exploratorium.edu/pathways/guided/electricity_teacher.html

When tiny, negatively charged particles called electrons flow through a wire, you have an electric current. When you bring an electric current and a magnet together, interesting things can happen. Explore a Pathway that shows what happens when magnets and electricity work together.

Pathways are collections of support and assessment materials for teachers who bring their students to the Exploratorium. However, the principles in the Pathways can also be used with our Online Snacks, scaled-down versions of our museum exhibits: <http://www.exploratorium.edu/snacks/>. Each Pathway has two versions: one for teachers and one for students. The teacher version includes links to state science standards and provides additional support materials, as well as sample answers to the worksheet questions.

5 - PHYSICS TREASURES FROM K-12 INSTRUCTIONAL MEDIA CENTER
http://www.k12imc.org/pg1257.cfm
The Little Shop of Physics at Colorado State is not horrific at all. It contains 60 experiments that use hands-on materials and computers: <http://littleshop.physics.colostate.edu/>.

Find unsolved mysteries of physics, investigated by Stephen Hawking, at WNET:
<http://www.pbs.org/wnet/hawking/html/home.html>.

The Physics Of.... hosts student-project Web pages depicting the physics of guitars, baseball, breakdancing, eyeglasses, and handstands (among other explorations):
<http://www.kent.wednet.edu/staff/trobinso/physicspages/PhysicsOf.html>.

Explore the connection between atomic physics and biochemistry:
<http://sciencenet.tpl.toronto.on.ca/>. (The site is in both English and French.)

Some students harbor a "fear" of Physics. This site can dispel some confusion, such as why satellites don't fall to the earth and how seesaws work:
<http://www.fearofphysics.com/>.