What is this?

As the tag line says, it’s “science class when you’re not in class.”

Ultimately this site is intended to be a community. Like most communities, I anticipate that this one will evolve and grow stronger because of the contributions and ideas generated by its members. It is a place for me to share things with students and parents but it is also a place for students to create their own content and discuss science topics with their classmates.

What’s with the name?

I started a website for my science classes on August 20th, 1998. It was not-so-cleverly titled “Mr. Basler’s Homepage.” At that time there were few classroom websites. However, I was fresh out of college and I thought I’d put my webpage design skills to work for my students.

In 2006, I started a podcast, titled “BaslerCast,”  which provided physics tutorials for my students. The name, only slightly more original than the previous, proved to be valuable in one important way- it was easy to find in search engines such as Google. Because of this, I decided in 2009 to make it the name for my entire classroom website.

Who is Mr. Basler?

I’m a science teacher at Appleton East High School in Appleton WI. I have been teaching science for the Appleton Area School District since 1998. You can find a more complete biography here.