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Explore NOAA weather data in CODAP

Screenshot of CODAP comparing Boston, MA, and Concord, MA, weather data

We experience weather every day. And it’s often the easiest icebreaker to start a conversation—“What’s the weather like in your neck of the woods?”—since weather is, well, everywhere! We know a lot about weather, too, thanks to datasets collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The NOAA database includes data from thousands of […]

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Short ConnectedBio Lessons Teach About Adaptation, Punnett Squares, and More

Screenshot of ConnectedBio Simulation Population Level

Rebecca Ellis is a research associate at Michigan State University. The Connected Biology project (ConnectedBio), a collaboration between the Concord Consortium and Michigan State University, recently released Deer Mouse Fur Color: From the Field to the Beach. This free, Next Generation Science Standards-aligned set of 15 lessons guides students through a nuanced understanding of the […]

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New project will transform how plate tectonics and the rock cycle are taught

Stone formation showing fault lines

Earth science classes typically present plate tectonics and the rock cycle as separate and unrelated concepts. Yet land and rock formation are directly related to the tectonic environments in which they form. Indeed, plate tectonic interactions are fundamental to understanding geological processes. A new project funded by the National Science Foundation is focused on teaching […]

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Crafting learning ecologies for remote professional learning and summer camps

Paper Mechatronics projects during a “gallery walk”

Educators know that learning happens not just in the classroom, but all the time and across all settings—from school and to home other formal and informal spaces. In learning sciences research, this is described by a learning ecology framework. Like an environmental ecosystem that sustains biodiversity, learning ecology is a set of complex relationships and […]

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