Open-Source Educational Tools

In September I began teaching a new crop of hormonally challenged youngsters. Eighth graders, that is. This year I am teaching integrated science to my non-Regents classes and that includes meteorology, biology, earth science (physical science) and a little genetics and chemistry mixed in somewhere. Somehow they also have to learn graphing, charting, data tables, measurement, sketching, reading comprehension, language acquisition, vocabulary, writing skills and the scientific method. Of course, I have my mandated Word Wall, too. And that's just my class. They take a NY State test at the end of the year that runs the gammut from fourth grade to their current year of study.
I can use all the help I can get.
That said, the world of Open Source software is riveting, eye-opening, fascinating. I didn't even know it existed. If I weren't already working more hours than the day has, I'd be perusing the seemingly never-ending options for use of this source. I did manage to peruse the OpenScience site and I found intriguing options.
The blogs are great, I scrolled through a few and particularly enjoyed Dr Ben Goldacre's Bad Science site. He manages to combine humor and scientific discussions in the proper balance. Check out his blog on "The caveat in paragraph number 19". (http://www.badscience.net/category/uncategorized/) You'll never read an article the same way again...(which paragraph am I on now? Maybe I should stop here...)
In addition to great blogs, the OpenScience site provides truly incredible and usable software for the science classroom. Many of the applications were geared more towards research, applications in the working world of science, or, at the very least, high school and college science. I did find some applications for my middle school classroom, though. Under the software heading, Converters and Calculators, Measurements and Units, I found some great conversion software. My favorite was http://ostermiller.org/calc/ . This software allows for conversions of almost any nature in measurement. Many units that are no longer even used were included and I thought this could imply uses for cross-curricular work. For instance, discussing the meanings of terms used in some of the classic novels that students may not be familar with. The ability to convert them to current units brings Lit class into the Science lab and vice versa. Also, boy could I have used the converter for practicing measurement this year. It's clear, concise and easy to use. Oh - and nothing to download! Score.
Among the many other software options I plan on sharing with my high school and college teaching network were the Stellarium and Jmol. I did not download Stellarium for fear my already taxed CPU might just give up and commit RAM-icide, but if you are an Astronomy teacher it looks like a must-have. Allows you to check out just about any view of the stars (and available planetary views) at the click of a button. Amazing. Jmol is an interactive site that allows you to view the molecular structure of just about anything in 3D, among other applications.
It's going to take awhile to find the sources I'll end up depending on, but it's going to be worth the time spent.