TeachSpark can pull real records from public institutional and government databases and ground an activity in them when a connected source is selected \u2014 so the facts in those activities trace back to a citable source you can check yourself. This page lists all 11 currently connected sources, who publishes each one, what data it provides, why it is trustworthy, and the kinds of TeachSpark activities it powers.
Every source below is public, government, or nonprofit \u2014 no paywalls, no proprietary datasets. A provenance badge on each activity that draws from a connected source names the specific source and record used, so you can verify the data the same way you would verify any cited reference.
Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics (RCSB) at Rutgers University, funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, and National Institute of General Medical Sciences.
The global, open-access archive of experimentally determined 3D structures of proteins, DNA, RNA, and other biological macromolecules. It is the canonical reference that working structural biologists consult worldwide.
Atomic-resolution crystal and cryo-EM structures — the exact 3D coordinates of every atom in a protein or nucleic acid — along with metadata such as resolution, deposition date, and the originating research paper. Examples include hemoglobin, insulin, lysozyme, antibodies, the ribosome, and the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.
Public domain and open-access. The PDB is a founding member of the Worldwide Protein Data Bank and is sustained by long-running U.S. federal research grants; every structure is peer-reviewed and tied to a published study.
Powers 3D Explorer activities in biology, biochemistry, and anatomy. Students rotate and tap a real protein structure — the same file a researcher downloads — to learn about active sites, binding pockets, and molecular shape.
National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The world’s largest open chemistry database, collecting chemical information on hundreds of millions of compounds from hundreds of data sources.
3D structures of small molecules and chemical compounds, plus molecular formulas, weights, synonyms, safety data, and bioassay results. Students can explore real molecules like water, caffeine, aspirin, ethanol, glucose, and methane.
U.S. government database, public domain. Maintained by the NLM as part of the NIH’s mission to make biomedical information freely available.
Powers 3D Explorer activities in chemistry and physical science. Students rotate and tap a real molecular structure rendered from the actual PubChem 3D conformer data.
NASA (the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration).
NASA’s library of downloadable 3D models of the spacecraft, rovers, landers, telescopes, satellites, and rockets it has built and flown.
Real .glb 3D model files of Apollo-era hardware, the Perseverance and Curiosity rovers, the James Webb Space Telescope, the International Space Station, the Space Launch System, and more.
U.S. government work, public domain — no attribution required. These are the same model files NASA shares with educators and the public.
Powers 3D Explorer activities in astronomy, space science, and engineering. Students rotate and tap a real spacecraft to learn about its instruments and mission.
NASA.
NASA’s searchable, public-domain library of photographs spanning every NASA mission and field of study — space, astronomy, earth science, aeronautics, and human spaceflight.
Real 2D photographs: galaxies and nebulae from Hubble and Webb, the surface of Mars, astronauts on the ISS, earth-from-space views, hurricanes, wildfires, and aeronautics imagery. Each image carries its NASA ID and original mission metadata.
U.S. government work, public domain — no attribution required. The same images used by news organizations and textbooks.
Real NASA photography is embedded directly into activities on space, earth science, and history — so students learn from the actual image, not a generated approximation.
NASA.
NASA’s library of public-domain video footage — rocket launches, Apollo and Artemis missions, ISS operations, spacewalks, landings, and satellite imagery.
Real MP4 video footage embedded directly from NASA’s CDN, with poster frames and optional subtitles. Students watch the actual launch or spacewalk, not a re-creation.
U.S. government work, public domain — no attribution required.
Real NASA video is embedded directly into activities on space science and history, streamed from NASA’s own content delivery network for classroom-friendly bandwidth.
The Smithsonian Institution — the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex.
The Smithsonian’s Open Access initiative, which releases millions of 2D images and 3D scans from its museums under a CC0 public-domain mark — no copyright restrictions and no attribution required.
Real 3D scans of museum artifacts (spacecraft, fossils, historical objects, sculptures) and real 2D photography of natural-history specimens — butterflies, insects, plants, fossils, minerals, and cultural artifacts — from the National Museum of Natural History and other Smithsonian museums.
CC0 (public domain). The Smithsonian chose to release these items with no rights reserved, specifically so educators and the public can use them freely.
Powers 3D Explorer activities with real museum artifacts (rotate and tap a fossil or a spacesuit) and biology activities with real specimen photography — the go-to source for nature imagery NASA’s space-focused library doesn’t cover.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH).
A repository of biomedical 3D models — anatomical and medical — submitted by researchers and clinicians and made freely downloadable.
Real .glb 3D models of the human heart, brain, skull, kidneys, bones, and other organs and body systems. Several models were created specifically for K–12 education, including a Public Domain heart model designed for classroom use.
U.S. government, public domain. The heart model (3DPX-022787) is explicitly Public Domain and was designed for K-12 education.
Powers 3D Explorer activities in anatomy and physiology. Students rotate and tap a real anatomical structure — a heart, a brain, a skull — to learn how its parts fit and function.
GovTrack.us — a civic, nonpartisan project of Civic Impulse, LLC that has tracked U.S. federal legislation since 2004.
A tracker of every bill and resolution in the U.S. Congress — what it says, who sponsored it, where it is in the legislative process, and how members voted.
Real bill text, sponsors and cosponsors, committee referrals, vote records, and legislative status for every piece of federal legislation, updated continuously from Congress.gov and the Senate and House.
Built on public U.S. government data (Congress.gov, the House and Senate). Free and open; the source data is produced by the legislative branch itself.
Powers civics, government, and political science activities grounded in real bills actually before Congress — students analyze the actual text and sponsors of legislation, not a generic example.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The CDC’s open data portal — a catalog of public-health datasets on disease, chronic conditions, vaccinations, mortality, and health behaviors.
Real public-health statistics: disease incidence and prevalence, vaccination rates, mortality, diabetes and obesity prevalence, flu surveillance, and COVID-19 data. Each dataset is downloadable and updated by the CDC.
U.S. government, public data. The CDC is the nation’s health protection agency; its data is the same data state and local health departments use.
Powers health, biology, and social studies activities grounded in real epidemiological data — students work with the actual numbers public-health officials use.
NASA.
NASA’s archive of technical reports, engineering specifications, and research documents — the papers NASA engineers and scientists wrote while designing and flying missions.
Full-text technical reports on aerospace, propulsion, thermal protection, materials, aerodynamics, orbital mechanics, navigation, and life-support systems. Each report has its NASA ID, authors, date, and abstract.
U.S. government work, public domain — no API key required. These are the original engineering documents behind real NASA hardware.
Powers engineering, space science, and physics activities grounded in real NASA engineering reports. A TeachSpark activity can cite a specific NTRS report by name — for example, report 19670002787, “Advanced Liquid Propulsion Systems” (1966, NASA/JPL) — and pull its metadata and abstract directly into the lesson.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) — a U.S. government physical sciences laboratory and standards agency.
The NIST Chemistry WebBook — the standard reference database for chemical and physical properties of compounds (NIST Standard Reference Database 69).
Real chemical reference data: molecular weights, thermochemical properties (enthalpy, entropy, heat capacity), and phase-change data (boiling point, melting point, critical point, vapor pressure) for thousands of compounds.
NIST Standard Reference Database 69, public access. NIST is the U.S. government’s measurement science laboratory; its reference data is what chemists and engineers calibrate against.
Powers chemistry and physics activities grounded in real physical-property data — students work with the actual boiling points, enthalpies, and molecular weights a chemist would look up.
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