Life Science Websites

“The Yuckiest Site on the Internet” is aimed at children between 2nd and 5th grade. It is set up in a very kid-friendly manner, with a cartoon worm, “Wendell the worm reporter” as the guide through the website. The website features information about worms and roaches, and human bodily functions. Kids can write in to “ask Wendell” questions about “gross” and “yucky” things, or just things having to do with life sciences. There are also games that have to do with worms and roaches that kids may play; the games themselves are not as educational as the rest of the site, but might be used as a resource for kids to play with in the computer lab if they finish with a project early. This website is a sub-site of http://kids.discovery.com. I would be very comfortable allowing my students to use this website without direct supervision. They'd probably find it hilarious because of the “gross” factor, and they'd be learning a considerable bit about the why and how of those “gross” things.
University of California Museum of Palaeontology has resources aimed at grade 6 to adult. This website has internal links to information about: the history of life through time, an interactive tour of geologic time, understanding evolution, “the Paleontology Portal” (the fossil record of North America), educational resources for K-12 students and teachers, field notes from “faculty curators, staff, and students” about their experiences in the field, research profiles of scientists at UCMP, a thorough exploration of the world's biomes, a frequently changed “mystery fossil” that invites the reader to guess and then provides information about the fossil depicted, and descriptions of the special exhibitions at the UCMP museum proper. As this is geared toward older people and has few exterior links, I would be comfortable allowing my students to use this website without direct supervision.

Rader's BIOLOGY4KIDS! This site is part of a series of “4kids” science sites aimed at children in grades 4-8. This particular site has links to different groups of life science: cells, microorganisms, plants, invertebrates, vertebrates, and animal systems. Each link goes to another section of the website and contains easy to understand and comprehensive information about the subject in the link. Graphics are clear and well labeled, and each subsection of the website is broken down into manageable chunks with a link for the next “page” at the bottom of the screen. Each section has the option to self-assess using a quiz link. The quiz I looked at was a fairly simple multiple choice, but it may be worthwhile if your students are trying to commit the facts to memory. If they are not, the site is fun and easy to explore and full of neat pictures and good information. I would keep an eye on a student using this website as there are extraneous links to other websites that may or may not be child-friendly.

CELLS alive! This website looks to be aimed at children between grades 4-8, possibly younger with assistance. There are many interactive images of different kinds of cells and cell processes, as well as short flash animations of several different kinds of cell processes. The website is divided into 4 main sections, each has many subsections that are navigable in several different ways, all easy to locate. The 4 sections are: Cell Biology, Microbiology, Immunology, and Microscopy. The information is pretty wide-reaching, from the size of different kinds of cells/bacteria/viruses compared to the head of a pin, to how a bacteriophage destroys e. coli, to how human skin and circulatory cells deal with an invasive object like a splinter. As with Rader's websites, this one has ads and so I would want to keep an eye on a child using the website. The only other drawback in my adult point of view is that the interactive features make obnoxious repetitive noises, which a lot of kids I know would actually find entertaining.

Sea World's website. Any child who has fairly independent reading skills would be able to use this site. The links are not as easily navigable as those on the CELLS alive site, and many of the links in the “animal bytes” section were broken when I was trying to click through them. However, the links that are not broken show decent short information about a prodigious number of species, so if your class is doing a project on animals, it may be of use. There is a lot of information about the Sea World parks themselves, and a “Fun Zone” with coloring pages, a matching animals to continent game, a “Simon”-like memory game, and promotional materials for the Sea World affiliated parks. It's not terribly surprising that Sea World's website would promote their organization, however, I found the site to be a little disappointing in the glossing-over nature of many of its bits of information. There is more trivia here than real info, and I would expect a child doing a research project to use something more than this site if they were to use it. It would be a good beginning point.