Toolbox

This page contains a collection of useful tools for doing science and science-related work both inside and outside of class.

Create A Graph

Create A Graph | A student-friendly data visualization tool

Create a Graph is an online tool where you can create five different graphs and charts by putting in your own data. You can print the graph, save it as a draft and work on it later, or even email it to yourself in a variety of file formats. If you’re not sure which of the five graphs/charts you should use, or if you’re confused about the different types of graphs and pie charts, there’s even a brief, but helpful tutorial.

SEED Magazine Crib Sheets (new!)

Seed Magazine

Back in 2005, Seed Magazine published an interesting, practical, factual set of “cribsheets,” which were designed to be quick reference cards for non-scientists seeking to learn more about a variety of contemporary scientific subjects, phenomena or processes. I’ve collected downloadable versions for you here…

Encyclopedia Britannica (School Edition)

Encyclopedia Britannica School Edition

Did Mr. M just ask you to do some research on a topic or issue? If so, then you should consider using a special online student version of the Encyclopedia Britannica. TASIS has a special subscription that allows you to use their online encyclopedias if you have a username and password. Mr. M provided both of these to you in class. This online encyclopedia offers videos, images, an articles on a wide variety of topics. There’s more…each article has 3 different reading levels and double-clicking on any word will bring up a definition of that word.

Identifying Insects

BugGuide.net

Found an insect? Don’t know what it is? BugGuide.net is an online community of naturalists who enjoy learning about and sharing their observations of insects, spiders, and other related creatures.

On their website, you can do all sorts of things…find pictures of different types of insects, find out the taxonomic information about insects, spiders and other arthropds, you can even submit a picture of an insect and get help from the BugGuide community to help you identify it. TASIS students take notice, however, BugGuide.net is mostly devoted to the insects found in the United States and Canada.

Notetaking

Below are links to downloadable templates that will assist you when your teachers ask you take notes.

Cornell notes template [PDF] [MS Word]

Periodic Tables

Periodic Table of (Known) Elements

A printable periodic table formatted for A4 paper (PDF)
A printable periodic table formatted for US sized paper (PDF)
A dynamic period table from the good folks at Ptable
An interactive periodic table from the British Royal Society of Chemistry
A highly visual periodic table with photographs of each of the elements

Prezi

Prezi | A different kind of presentation tool

Prezi is a presentation tool similar to PowerPoint and Keynote in the sense that it is a way to visually communicate information, concepts, ideas, etc. to others. Compared to PPT and Keynote, Prezi presentations (or ‘Prezis’) have an entirely different feel for viewers because Prezis are based on motion- or movement-based effects that allow for actions such as ‘panning’ and ‘zooming’ in and out from one visual element to another. One more thing…there’s an iPad App for it too.

Printable rulers

Printable Rulers

30-cm ruler formatted for A4 paper (PDF)
- 30-cm ruler formatted for US sized paper (PDF)
- You can print many more different types of rulers HERE.

IMPORTANT RULER NOTES: (1) Be sure you disable any “Shrink to fit” options when printing, (2) Accuracy with these rulers can be excellent, but it will largely depend on how your printer is set up, as well as the type of paper you use.

Printable graph paper

Printable Graph Paper

On the site linked to HERE, you can customize the type of graph paper you would like to print. For example, you can choose different paper sizes as well as grid sizes (and grid units). I have already customized the two sizes that we will use most frequently in class:

– A4 | Cartesian style | 5 x 5 mm grid
– A4 | Cartesian style | 10 x 10 mm grid

Grading Rubrics

- Dr. M provides a bunch of rubrics designed to help you consistently produce high-quality scientific work. Many of these rubrics are sprinkled throughout the SCIENCEsEDiment website. However, all of his existing rubrics are also linked here: Data Tables | Line Graphs | Bar Charts/Graphs | Pie Charts | Scientific Research Questions | Histograms

Specimen sheets

- When scientists go out into the world and come back to their laboratories, museums, institutes, and offices with specimens–both living and non-living–they must keep careful records regarding the collection of their specimens. You can see (and download) the specimen sheet we’re using for our TASIS Insect Project HERE.

TASIS Campus Map

- In our science class we’d have a hard time communicating with each other about the different parts of the TASIS campus without some sort of map. The links below connect you to different types of TASIS campus maps that we’ve used over the years in our class projects and activities.

Coming soon…

The Encyclopedia of Life project