“Exploring Bioethics,” from the National Institutes of Health, helps students grapple with ethical issues posed by advances in the life sciences. This supplemental curriculum for students in grades 9-12 (one of dozens from NIH) focuses on real-life cases involving vaccinations, genetic testing, and more. Six inquiry-based modules help students address questions such as: What are the ethical questions involved in these areas of science? And, who could be affected by these decisions? http://science.education.nih.gov/supplements/nih9/bioethics/default.htm

Teachers looking for ways to incorporate the Olympic Winter Games into their instruction have a new resource they can use: NBC Learn, the educational arm of NBC News, has teamed up with the National Science Foundation (NSF) to produce a 16-part video series focusing on the science behind the games. How does angular momentum help figure skater Rachael Flatt achieve the perfect triple toe loop? How does elastic collision allow three-time Olympic hockey player Julie Chu to convert a game-winning slapshot? How do Newton’s Three Laws of Motion propel short track speed skater J.R. Celski to the finish line?  These are just a few of the scientific principles explored in the new video series, called “The Science of the Olympic Winter Games.” (NBC is broadcasting the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver Feb. 12-28.) The videos capitalize on students’ interest in the Vancouver Olympics to make science more accessible to them by illustrating how scientific principles apply to competitive sports. Narrated by NBC News anchor Lester Holt, the series is available to educators free of charge on the NBC Learn web site as a timely way to incorporate the Olympics into their classroom teaching. In each video segment, an NSF-supported scientist explains a particular scientific principle, while Olympic athletes describe how these principles apply to their respective sports. The science is explained by capturing the athletes’ movements with a state-of-the-art, high-speed camera called the Phantom Cam, which has the ability to capture movement at rates of up to 1,500 frames per second. This allows frame-by-frame illustrations of Newton’s Three Laws of Motion, the Law of Conservation of Angular Momentum, friction, drag, speed, velocity, and other scientific concepts.

 http://www.nbclearn.com/olympics

The NACCP has launched a new web site called the NAACP Interactive Historical Timeline, a multimedia site that tells the story of the 101-year-old organization and documents the civil-rights movement in general through words, pictures, and video. Funded through a $500,000 grant from the Verizon Foundation, the site’s many multimedia resources also will be made available to teachers, students, and parents through Verizon Thinkfinity (www.thinkfinity.org), a free educational web site from the foundation. Each point on the timeline includes a written narrative, historic video or photos, and an audio narrative read by a celebrity, such as actor Lawrence Fishburne. http://www.naacphistory.org

Research suggests that peer teaching can be an effective instructional strategy, both for the students being taught and those doing the teaching.

In that spirit, Mathtrain.TV is a free educational “kids teaching kids” project from sixth-grade math teacher Eric Marcos and his students at Lincoln Middle School in Santa Monica, Calif. Lincoln students create math video lessons that are used for classroom instruction and also posted to Mathtrain.TV and other web sites, such as iTunes, YouTube, TeacherTube, and Google Video. The students use a tablet PC and screen-capturing software from TechSmith, called Camtasia Studio, to create the math tutorials. Anyone can use the tutorials as is, free of charge, under a Creative Commons license. All videos are reviewed (and sometimes further edited) by a credentialed math teacher, Marcos says. The Mathtrain site is powered by PHPmotion, a free video-sharing software platform, and viewers can rate and comment on the videos. Topics range from completing the square and prime factorization to finding the missing angles of a triangle.

http://www.mathtrain.tv

In celebration of Black History Month, A&E Television Networks’ History Channel and its companion web site, History.com, have compiled several online resources. An interactive timeline of milestones in United States black history ranges from slavery in America in 1619 to President Barack Obama’s inauguration last year; clicking on any of the milestones takes users to video clips and additional information. Short video clips include a portion of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, as well as footage of Jackie Robinson breaking baseball’s color barrier in 1947. Site visitors also will find profiles of 65 African-American icons, as well as interactive maps showing slave trade routes, the Underground Railroad, public school segregation by U.S. state in 1954, and more.

 http://www.history.com/content/blackhistory

A new booklet released by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and other government agencies helps parents and teachers steer kids safely through the online and mobile-phone worlds. The booklet, titled “Net Cetera: Chatting with Kids About Being Online,” was unveiled last month at Jefferson Middle School in Washington, D.C., by FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski. It tells parents and teachers what they need to know to talk to kids about issues such as cyber bullying, sexting, mobile phone safety, and protecting the family computer. According to the FTC and U.S. Department of Education, talking to kids about these topics can help them avoid rude online behavior; steer clear of inappropriate content such as pornography, violence, or hate speech; and protect themselves from contact with bullies, predators, hackers, and scammers.

http://www.onguardonline.gov/pdf/tec04.pdf

High schools / Deadline: February 5 (deadline extended)

The Division of Teaching and Learning’s Office of Social Studies and Office of STEM have partnered with the National High School Public Speaking Competition to present the Words that Shook the World Environmental Solutions Eco-Warrior Competition. $54,000 in scholarships, internships and prizes are available to high school students and teachers who submit videos to this competition. There are also opportunities to receive public speaking instruction and visits with communication and environmental experts. The deadline to submit videos is February 5. For more information, visit http://www.wordsthatshooktheworld.com/.

High schools / Deadline: February 17

High school juniors and seniors can apply for Bank of America’s Neighborhood Excellence Initiative Student Leaders Program. The program recognizes high school students identified as exemplary young people with a passion for helping their communities. Selected student leaders will participate in a paid 8-week summer internship with a local nonprofit organization, where they will experience first-hand how they can help shape their communities. They will also participate in a week-long, all-expense paid Student Leadership Summit in Washington, DC in July. You can download a flyer about the program or encourage students to apply online. The application deadline is February 17.