Shortest Paths, Soap Films, and Minimal Surfaces.

You know you're in for a real treat when a lecture starts off with "I just happen to have with me today this bucket filled with soap solution, water, and some glycerin." That happens to be the opening line from a talk given by Professor Michael Dorff at the Mathematical Association of America (MAA). Dorff's talk was quite hands-on and it included a number of skeletal Zometool creations and deconstructed Slinkies, among other items. The title of the talk was "Shortest Paths, Soap Films, and Minimal Surfaces" and it is available here in its entirety. In the lecture, Dorff talks (and demonstrates) the shortest distance between four points, neighborhood accessibility, and a number of fascinating topics.

http://www.maa.org/news/2012ch-dorff.html

From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2012. https://www.scout.wisc.edu

Green Chemistry Teaching Resources

The American Chemical Society (ACS) has created these excellent resources via the Green Chemistry Institute and the ACS Education Division. The goal of these materials is "to increase awareness and understanding of Green Chemistry principles, alternatives, practices, and benefits within traditional educational institutions and among practicing scientists." In the Online Resources section, visitors will find downloadable pocket guides to basic green chemistry principles, "Greener Education Materials for Chemists" from the University of Oregon, and more. Perhaps the best section of the site is Activities and Experiments, where visitors can look over activities like "Gassing Up Without Air Pollution" and "Cleaning Up With Atom Economy."

http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_SUPERARTICLE&node_id=1444&use_sec=false&sec_url_var=region1&__uuid=f757ebdd-69fa-4e3c-9d4a-0eb6bcda7234

From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2012. https://www.scout.wisc.edu/ 

Physical Review Special Topics: Physics Education Research

How do people learn about physics? It's an important topic, especially as many countries seek to train a new generation of physicists. The Physical Review Special Topics: Physics Education Research (PRST-PER) journal is committed to providing high quality research on the teaching and learning of physics. Visitors can scan through the journal's newer articles via Recent Papers, where they will find works like "Development and implications of technology in reform-based physics laboratories" and "What do students do when asked to diagnose their mistakes? Does it help them?"
There are several hundred articles which visitors can scan through at their leisure or search by keyword. Finally, users can take a tour through the News, Announcements, and Editorials section of the site to learn about new site features and updates from the American Physics Society.

http://prst-per.aps.org/

From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2012. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Macs in Chemistry

The Macs in Chemistry site was created to provide a resource for chemists using Apple Macintosh computers. It contain dozens of applications that will help users learn about chemistry (and more) through interactive activities, quizzes, and so on. In the At a Glance area, visitors can learn about the tutorials archived here, data analysis tools, and mobile science apps. This last section is a real gem, as it contains dozens of applications including everything from 29 interactive maps of the brain to chemistry formula exercises to a working seismograph. The rest of the applications are divided into alphabetical sections. Visitors should click on the Software Reviews area for timely and detailed reviews of each application's strengths and weaknesses. The site is rounded out by a contact form and a set of useful links. 

http://www.macinchem.org/

From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2012. https://www.scout.wisc.edu/ 

American Geosciences Institute: Curriculum Materials and Archives

The American Geosciences Institute (AGI) has produced high-quality educational materials for decades, and its website is a great resource for educators working in the physical sciences. On the site, visitors can take advantage of collections created to support thematic textbooks or peruse online programs such as EarthInquiry. This particular resource contains a series of web-based and print investigations that allow students "to explore geoscience phenomena using global, national, and local data." The site also contains a physical geology lab manual designed for use in college classrooms and materials for high school students, including an Earth science curriculum complete with classroom activities and quizzes. The site is rounded out by a set of links to content created by other organizations.

http://www.agiweb.org/education/curriculum

From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2012. https://www.scout.wisc.edu/ 

Map of Life

This demo release "allows you to map and produce list of species anywhere for ~ 25,000 species (including all described birds, mammals and amphibians...)"

Future releases "plan to greatly increase and enhance data coverage and functionality. We will soon add more datasets for vertebrates and extend coverage to plants and invertebrates. You will be able to:

1. Filter data based on characteristics such as seasonality, or date of observation
2. Flag and edit distribution data and provide feedback about those edits"

 http://www.mappinglife.org/

Encyclopedia of Mathematics

"The Encyclopedia of Mathematics wiki is an open access resource designed specifically for the mathematics community. The original articles are from the online Encyclopaedia of Mathematics, published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 2002. With more than 8,000 entries, illuminating nearly 50,000 notions in mathematics, the Encyclopaedia of Mathematics was the most up-to-date graduate-level reference work in the field of mathematics.
Springer, in cooperation with the European Mathematical Society, has made the content of this Encyclopedia freely open to the public. It is hoped that the mathematics community will find it useful and will be motivated to update those topics that fall within their own expertise or add new topics enabling the wiki to become yet again the most comprehensive and up-to-date online mathematics reference work"
http://www.encyclopediaofmath.org/index.php/Main_Page

MIT OpenCourseWare: Principles of the Global Positioning System

This course, taught by Professor Thomas Herring in spring semester of 2012, allows interested individuals the opportunity to learn about the principles of the global positioning system. The materials here include the syllabus, lecture notes, and assignments. The lecture notes constitute the heart of the offerings and are divided into 23 sections. These include "Coordinate and Time Systems," "GPS satellite orbits," and "Basic antenna operation." Visitors can elect to download all of the course materials at once, or they can select certain items of interest individually. Finally, visitors are encouraged to send feedback on the course and sign up for the OCW newsletter. 

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/earth-atmospheric-and-planetary-sciences/12-540-principles-of-the-global-positioning-system-spring-2012/

From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2012. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Einstein Archives Online

"The Einstein Archives Online Website provides the first online access to Albert Einstein’s scientific and non-scientific manuscripts held by the Albert Einstein Archives at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, constituting the material record of one of the most influential intellects in the modern era. It also enables access to the Einstein Archive Database, a comprehensive source of information on all items in the Albert Einstein Archives."

 http://www.alberteinstein.info/

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

"Named for American rocketry pioneer Dr. Robert H. Goddard, the center was established in 1959 as NASA's first space flight complex. Goddard and its several facilities are critical in carrying out NASA's missions of space exploration and scientific discovery"

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html