A Web site developed and supported by the University of Wisconsin-Extension and the University of Wisconsin System is helping teachers across the state find high quality, web-based curricula, content, and professional development opportunities. The IDEAS Portal Web Site (www.IDEAS.Wisconsin.edu) is a searchable database that provides Wisconsin educators electronic access to resources and materials that have been evaluated for quality and are aligned with the Wisconsin Model Academic Standards. IDEAS has attracted and maintained a repeat user base of more than 30,000 educators and provides more than 3,000 resources online. Professional educators from more than 60 kindergarten-12th grade school districts, University of Wisconsin institutions, and Cooperative Education Service Agencies (CESAs) have partnered to create, maintain and continue building the site since its launch in August 2001.

IDEAS is featured in Dr. James Lerman�s new book from Scarecrow Education �Essential Websites for Educational Leaders in the 21st Century. �This is a great honor for the University of Wisconsin, IDEAS, and all of our partners in education,� said John Fischer, IDEAS Project Director.
In addition to finding cataloged resources and lessons at each grade level in 18 subject areas, educators searching IDEAS will find a news and events section and a links page that puts educators in touch with agencies and organizations dedicated to education in Wisconsin. New features to the site also include streaming video about science, youth gardening, and American Indian history and culture. VideoIDEAS offers streaming video content about American Indian history and culture in Wisconsin from programs produced by the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board (ECB) and Wisconsin Public Television (WPT). VideoIDEAS clips are taken from instructional series such as the ECB's Cultural Horizons of Wisconsin and Investigating Wisconsin History. And, each of the videos is aligned with Wisconsin's Model Academic Standards in Social Studies and Information & Technology Literacy.
IDEAS also provides video clips from Dr. Bassam Shakhashiri�s Science is Fun television programs. Professor Shakhashiri, a UW-Madison professor in the Department of Chemistry and director of the Wisconsin Initiative for Science Literacy, thrills audiences with his sell-out science shows, demonstrations, and home experiments.
Finally, coming to IDEAS in 2005 is a digital youth gardening service-learning curriculum, inspired by a Milwaukee County Cooperative Extension 4-H youth horticulture program. This project will provide video clips from WPT�s Wisconsin Gardener series with supplemental classroom materials. This project, called the Wisconsin Young Greens project, will give teachers access to innovative, interdisciplinary ways to connect their students to hands-on, experiential learning opportunities, through the integration of service-learning, gardening, and nutrition education.
For more information about the IDEAS Web site, log on to www.IDEAS.Wisconsin.edu or contact John Fischer at (608) 262-3340 or email him at: fischer@conted.uwex.edu .
Guest author: Amy Pikalek, Communications Group, Division of Outreach and E-Learning
University of Wisconsin-Extension