Other Government Agencies

U.S. Department of the Interior

Looking for maps to help illustrate your lessons? The National Atlas of the United States website at http://nationalatlas.gov/environment.html allows you to create maps and illustrate them with various “layers” of data from various categories, including agriculture, geology, topography, and biology. Visitors can also print a preformatted map, play with interactive maps, or read the articles that further explain what the atlas maps show. In the atlas chapter on water, for example, text explains the science of hydrology, and map-layer options include levels of arsenic in groundwater, general water-use levels, and the presence of aquifers.

National Security Agency

To encourage student interest and success in mathematics and science/technology, the NSA sponsors summer institutes for teachers. Participating teachers must author “learning units,” which the NSA has posted at http://www.nsa.gov/teachers/teach00028.cfm so that other teachers may view and download them. Topics range from projectile motion analysis to physical fitness.

Bureau of Land Management

This website presents the BLM’s existing cultural resources in an organized and interesting way. The site’s Heritage Education section includes material for teachers and students, with links to “History Mysteries” (a series of archaeology investigations with a detective theme), Junior Explorer programs, and career information. The site also lists volunteer opportunities, provides access to research and collections, and offers virtual tours of archaeological, historic, and fossil sites. Visit the Adventures in the Past website at http://www.blm.gov/heritage/adventures.

The BLM Anchorage field office’s Campbell Creek Science Center developed this interactive educational website to foster greater understanding of energy production and consumption and to explain the role of public lands in meeting U.S. energy needs. The site has three main sections: An Energy Snapshot is a two-minute introductory video segment; Watt Do You Know? is an interactive quiz; and Powering Our Planet is a portal to six detailed explorations of such topics as conservation efforts and global energy connections. Get energized at http://www.blm.gov/ak/getenergized.html.

Department of Energy

As part of DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory offers resources for teachers and students who want to learn basic renewable energy principles and find out about current research. Visitors to http://www.nrel.gov/learning can read and print extensive background information on various renewable energy methods and technologies, exploring everything from biomass power and wind energy to ways that advanced vehicles and alternative fuels can contribute to a clean energy future. Students will find links to energy-related activities, programs, competitions, and internships, and teachers will be directed to professional development opportunities.

Food and Drug Administration

CFSAN is the arm of the FDA charged with “ensuring that the nation's food supply is safe, sanitary, wholesome, and honestly labeled, and that cosmetic products are safe and properly labeled,” and it offers a web page with information for students of all ages and educators. Food- safety activities for students include many downloadable resources (such as coloring and activity pages, quizzes, songs, and games), as well as links to other relevant sites. Educators can also access a planning guide for marking National Food Safety Education Month; the theme this September is “Don’t compromise—Clean and sanitize!”
The page also provides links to resources created by the FDA and various partners (including one from NSTA, a food science curriculum for middle and high school science classrooms). Go to http://www.cfsan.fda.gov, and under the heading “Special Interest Areas,” select “Kids, Teens, and Educators.”

Next time you’re choosing between eating a bag of chips or a granola bar, ask yourself, “What would Labelman do?” This animated character appears in a downloadable interactive learning program from the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. The program, called Make Your Calories Count, helps users understand the “Nutrition Facts” labels so they can make better food choices. In three interactive learning modules, Labelman guides users through exercises that explore the relationship between serving sizes and calories, teaching them how to identify lower-calorie, nutrient-dense foods. To keep it simple, the program focuses on two nutrients that should be limited (saturated fat and sodium) and two nutrients that should be consumed in adequate amounts (fiber and calcium). Download the program from http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/labelman.

U.S. General Services Administration

The Federal Citizen Information Center (FCIC) answers questions about consumer problems and government services. Now it has created the official interagency children’s portal to the U.S. government, with more than 400 safe and age-appropriate links organized by topic area. Kids can use the site to get help with homework, explore outer space, or learn about different careers. They simply click on one of the 20 main topic choices (such as computers, science and math, or plants and animals) and then choose from the options listed. What other site could tell them where to go to identify mystery bugs and learn about crime-fighting techniques? The website address is http://www.kids.gov.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) now offers detailed soil information online through its Web Soil Survey. Inquirers define an area of interest using an onscreen map, then view the soils and related data in that area. They can print out a map of their findings. The soil data can help determine the suitability of the soils for various uses. They can also download a 64-page instructional document, Web Soil Survey 1.1—How to Use It. The NRCS website also includes a Soil Education section with additional resources. Go to http:websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/app.

U.S. Department of Agriculture

Teachers looking for a way to tie geography lessons to a school gardening program should check out an article on the USDA website titled “School Garden Project Brings Food and Education Into African Classrooms.” The article explains how the USDA and the U.S. Agency for International Development have been working together to help the people of Congo and Rwanda meet their food security challenges, support sustainable agricultural development, and promote education using school gardens. Because it produces an additional source of food, the school garden program also gives students in those nations an incentive to attend school. And just as in the United States, such a program provides teachers with a way to incorporate math, science, and social studies in practical, hands-on activities. The article, which originally appeared in FAS Worldwide, the online magazine for the Foreign Agricultural Service, can be distributed to students to introduce a lesson on similarities and differences in the history, culture, and purpose of school garden projects in Africa and the United States. A printable version can be found at http://www.fas.usda.gov/info/fasworldwide/2006/04-2006/SchoolGardens.htm.