• Sponsor: American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS)
• Mission: To promote bioscience literacy. The site features the following topics: biodiversity, environment, genomics, biotechnology, evolution, and new frontiers. It includes a topic directory arranged alphabetically by topic but searchable by author, educator resources, and an e-newsletter. See the link below to lessons within the educator resources section.
  • Lesson Directory, This site provides “original peer-edited lessons, written by science educators, to specifically accompany peer-reviewed articles on the site. Each lesson contains questions related to the article, as well as a variety of student activities that promote active learning and inquiry into current issues in the biosciences. The site is endorsed by the National Association of Biology Teachers.”
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• ANTHOS is a program that was developed in accordance with a specific agreement between the Fundación Biodiversidad(Biodiversity Foundation) (Ministry of the Environment) and the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (Spanish National Research Council) – Real Jardín Botánico (Royal Botanic Garden) (Ministry of Education & Science) in order to show assorted information about the plant life of Spain on the Internet.

• Sponsor: American Botanical Council
• Mission: This site provides access to a number of different websites that include botanical knowledge databases; alternative and organic farming resources; information regarding the dietary and genetic nature of different food resources; links for men’s, women’s, and veterinary health resources, along with alternative health insurance plans and access to information regarding oriental, ayurvedic, and herbalist healthcare. Additionally, the links include information to help Americans make more informed healthcare decisions and access online atlases and a number of conservation alliances. Finally, the website also directs visitors to various medical and ethnobotanical journals and publications of both mainstream and alternative healing systems.
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• Sponsor: Frostburg State University, West Virginia University and the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute
• Mission: Develop online, web-based education modules for public outreach and distance learning.
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• Mission: ASLE provides access to content that is emerging and innovative for educational instruction. 

• Sponsor:  National Zoo, Smithsonian Institution
• Mission: Includes a short introduction to basic statistics, as well as a section on patterns and writing hypotheses, all written for the public.
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• BEN is the National Science Library’s Digital Pathway for biological sciences education. The AAAS manages BEN’s open digital portal for education for a number of collaborative organizations. It gives access “to over 4,700 reviewed sources covering 77 biological sciences topics.”  You can browse by subject, resource type, or audience. You can search by audio, data, image, interactive resource, text, or video. The resource allows networks to be created, information shared, and ideas to be dispersed through a network of educators and students. Streaming video, pictures, and articles make it possible to fully experience the world of biology without leaving a classroom.

• BSA has a strong and varied online resource on Science Education and Outreach .The BSA web page contains links and information about publications, conferences, resources, news & announcements, careers/jobs, and outreach. Of particular interest is a charming collection of autobiographical sketches by botanists on why they became botanists and what research they do. Under Resources find What is Botany and its specialties?, classroom plant talking points, lab resources, plant image collection, carnivorous and parasitic plants, a statement on evolution, lists of references for specific states, and suggested web sites. Under Outreach, find K-14 outreach, which includes podcasts and plant videos, online resources, botany in the news, and more. It links you to  myPlantIT.org, “A new opportunity for secondary school teachers and students to solve plant-related biology problems and explore career connections featuring the technology and skills that support modern plant science! Online investigation spaces provide access to real world problems and workpace applications of plant ecology, biotechnology, evolution, and physiology. This NSF ITEST project is a collaborative effort among the BSA, BioQUEST Curriculum Consortium and Texas A&M University. ” It hosts Summer Teacher Institutes and Student Summer Career Camps. BSA features an Online Science Mentorship Program,  PlantingScience.org, “an inquiry and science mentorship program led by the BSA that brings together students, plant scientists, and teachers from across the nation. Students engage in hands-on plant investigations in their classrooms and collaborate online with peers and scientist mentors, building their understanding of science through first-hand experience and expert guidance. For scientist mentors, the program offers an outreach opportunity to share their knowledge and enthusiasm for plants with high school students and teachers.”

• Sponsor:
• Mission: This site has an information list of relevant academic journals, a list of recent and approaching international meetings, and a directory of scientific societies and educational resources.  Those who are interested can join a listserve, participate in an online discussion forum, and explore available educational courses and other opportunities.
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CET Connect Series

• CET is a leading provider of education and enrichment in classrooms and living rooms throughout Greater Cincinnati. Through PBS and local programming, innovative multimedia curriculum projects, parent workshops and teacher training, CET positively impacts millions of lives in our community.
• CET’s Education Department provides the best in educational media services, and instructional television. In addition to broadcast programs, CET features award-winning multimedia curriculum kits, high-quality professional development and enrichment workshops for teachers in grades K–12, a unique Arts Integration program, and workshops for parents, childcare providers, teachers and other early childhood advocates in the CET broadcast region. 

• Sponsor:
• Mission: presents student teams with an authentic research and analysis task.  Working in small groups of four, students research, analyze, and evaluate information about eight Latin American countries and then defend their choice for the location of Mega Opus International  in written and oral presentations.”   The site emphasizes and explains why and how Peter Knowles (a teacher at Columbia High) utilized working together, using workspaces, learning assessment, and supporting success in the mentoring and supervision of his students throughout the course of this project.
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• Relevance: This is a webpage designed by the Complementary and Alternative Healing University. It offers you a database to search Chinese herbs.

• Sponsor:
• Mission: Their resource center provides access to lots of information about the use of Information Technology the academic environment.
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• FREE’s EnviroMapper allows you to create maps with federal, state, local infomation about environmental conditions

• This publication, unfinished yet but also avaliable online, is the biggest floristic compendium of the Iberian flora, including the Balearic Islands. You may search at the left side of the main page for the “flora iberica” column, and then select on of the options “clave general” (General taxonomic key), “Familas” (botanical famnilies), or “Géneros” (botanical genera) for downloading the pfds with the monographs. You can also search by the common Spanish name of the plant at “nombres vernáculos”. Unfortunately, it is only in Spanish.

• Located in Frostburg, MD, FSU offers a Major or Minor in Ethnobotany

• Offers courses in Ethnobotany through the Department of Anthropology

• Historical database on Estonian Herbal Folk Medicine (in Estonian)

• PhD dissertation by Dr. Renata Soukand

• This is a website created by Cornell University. The site provides answers to basic questions about the safety adn efficacy of medicinal plants.  Be sure to read the fine print on the home page.

• Example: An Edible History (Podcast) [Thanks to Al Chock] An Edible History of Food is published by the National Public Radio (NPR) as an episode of their radio show, Talk of the Nation.  It is an interview with author Tom Standage, as he talks about his book with the same title.  He goes through history, explaining how the evolution of food was helped by, and helped with the evolution of humans.  He begins by explaining this simultaneous and complementary evolution with the transition from hunters and gatherers to agriculture communities, he transitions to how food helped form the Americas, and he finishes with a theoretical future of rebuilding civilization with an agriculture seed bank.  He also answers questions from callers, defending the use of GMOs, and explaining the environmental impact of food.  This resource also contains links to other NPR podcasts about the importance and effects of food.

• Sponsor:
• Mission: This “is the Nation’s online library for education and research in Science, Technology, Engineering, [and] Mathematics.” You can search by audio, data, image, interactive resource, text, or video.
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• ATTRA’s Education page

• Database of foods, drugs, dyes and fibers of Native American Peoples, derived from plants.

• Sponsor: The National Institutes of Health (NIH)
• Mission: A web page with free resources for Science Teachers arranged by topics, grade level, and resource formats. Resource formats include Lesson Plans and Supplemental Curricula; Espanol (Spanish); Multimedia; Newsletters; Online Exhibits; Online Resources; Photos, Images, and Graphics; Posters; Print Materials; Professional Development; Slides and Presentations; and Tutorials and Reviews.
  • LifeWorks: Allows exploration of over 100 health and medical science careers through first-hand statements.
  • SciMentorNet : “A free e-mentoring program that helps high school and college students who are interested in behavioral and social science, biomedical science, dental, and healthcare careers find a mentor. Mentors are carefully screened science, healthcare, and education professionals who volunteer to provide information, guidance, and support as students develop their careers.”
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• PPI is a “non-profit organization of ethnoecologists devoted to conservation and the sustainable use of plant resources around the world.” If follows in the footsteps of the 12-year People and Plants Initiative of UNESCO, the Royal Botanic Gardens (UK) and the WWF. It aims to bring science and traditional knowledge together to rescue sustainable agriculture and traditional medicine in Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Cameroon, Uganda, southern Africa, and China. They create books, working papers, handbooks, videos, and newsletters to encourage these practices and to support practitioners. Handbooks, working papers, and the newsletter are available online, but videos and books must be ordered.

• Sponsor:
• Mission: is an informal alliance aimed at building strong undergraduate programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). “PKAL disseminates resources that advance the work of academic leaders tackling the challenging work of ensuring that the undergraduate STEM learning environment . . . serves 21st century students, science and society most effectively, efficiently, and creatively. PKAL presents these resources under seven umbrella themes: ” institutional transformation, the human infrastructure, the physical infrastructure, the academic program, the pedagogical tools, the national context, and the 21st century student. Under Resources, find covered What Works Visions, Publications, and Facilities Planning. Under Initiatives, find Collaborations and Networks; Spaces for Science; Leadership Development; Facilitating Innterdisciplinary Learning; and Pedagogies of Engagement.

• Website dedicated to information on the orchids found in Spain.

• The Royal Botanic Garden, on account of its rich and lengthy history, has a magnificent collection of antequarian botanical books. Apart from the intrinsic value of this historic and scientific heritage, the collection is constantly consulted by researchers investigating the organization and distribution of organisms, or the relationship between scientific names and the organisms they are applied to. Digital Library

• Sponsor:
• Mission: A site devoted to ethnobotany and ecotravel with a range of related links and opportunities to explore in both areas. It was set up over a decade ago by Kat Morgenstern, a world traveler with knowledge in a variety of areas. The site offers a wealth of plant and indigenous culture knowledge “which aims to bring the concepts of ethnobotany conservation to the grassroots level.” Explore links about plants and nutrition or their medicinal qualities, plants and spirituality, as well as indigenous knowledge, education, and sustainable living resources, and more.
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• Sponsor: Thinkfinity (partnership between the Verizon Foundation and 11 education organizations, including the AAAS).
• Mission: Provides free, internet-based standards-aligned resources for K-12 science education.  This comprehensive site features lesson plans, web resources, and science updates.  The site is organized by Lessons, Tools, and Collections. Each lesson lists also related lessons.
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• Sponsor: The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
• Mission: It is focused on the use of plants in the United Kingdom as well as arid and semi-arid environments.
  • See Also: Economic Botany Collection: This contains 90,000 botanical raw materials and ethnographic artifacts.
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• This four year project which began in 2009 comprises 20 European natural history museums, universities, and botanic gardens. It aims to create an integrated European infrastructure for researchers in the natural sciences.

• Digital Media for the Classroom and Professional Development: Science

• Edible Tropical/Edible Temperates?
• Mapping Food in Our Community
• Patterns in Nature
• Tree Bagging (Photosynthesis)

• Breads from Around the World

USDA Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN) 

• The Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN) web server provides germplasm information about plants, animals, microbes and invertebrates. This program is within the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service.

Western Mediterranean Virtual Herbarium

• This website was born out of the virtual herbarium of the Balearic Islands. It collects information and a wide gallery of images of the vascular plants in the Western Mediterranean basin. This project is led by the Botanical Area of the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB). At present the Universities of Barcelona and Valencia are also participating. It has been structured in index entries or individual web pages for each vegetable species considered. The most important aim of each entry are the images of the plants; however, a brief information in the form of a text is also included together with the scientific names of the plants both in Catalan and Spanish. The main image has been obtained by scanning a fresh specimen.

Yuthog Foundation for Tibetan Medicine

• Tibetan Medicine was founded for the purpose of preservation and development of traditional Tibetan   medicine.