Science+Websites+for+Teachers

[|www.exploratorium.edu]
 * Exploratorium **

The Exploratorium of San Francisco, CA has a wonderful site chock full of activities, apps, videos, and websites that will help you explore physical sciences. The site really excels in providing resources related to the physics of sound, as well as electricity and energy. The video page on the site will be especially useful to educators, as you can scroll down by topic (physics, life science, and general science, earth science) to narrow your search and find a great anticipatory set or input for your lesson. The site holds over 141 videos for physics alone!

[|www.billynye.com]
 * Bill Nye: The Science Guy **

What I love about this site (despite the fact that I remember watching his show when I was young), is the section “For Kids and Teachers.” Within this section, you can chose fun science experiments from the following categories: Life Science, physical science, and planetary science. Each activity comes with a materials list, great step by step directions, and then a brief explanation of the science involved. The photos are helpful, and the materials are typically common household items that would be friendly to a teacher’s budget. You can use these experiments in class, or send your enthusiastic students to the site to explore at home. And who knows, if your school has the resources, you can even book Bill Nye through this website J

[|www.msichicago.org]
 * Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry **

Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry has a great site with games, videos, and activities. The games are a great resource for students who want to explore science outside of school, or possibly as a choice time activity at the end of the day. The simple machines game (great for a mechanics unit) helps students understand the differences between the six simple machines in a fun robot-themed game. The activities on the website would really appeal to students, for instance students can build a rollercoaster, build levers, create gasses, or make a circuit board. The site also hosts a classroom activities page. As an educator you can select the grade you teach, as well as the subject area to search for results. In terms of physics, the site holds 41 detailed activities for use in a classroom.

=Annenberg Learner= [|www.learner.org]

The purpose of this website is to advance professional development opportunities for teachers. The medium through which they spread this knowledge is their video series. Each video series contains video workshops (an average of eight videos) that follow a progression in the explanation of a concept. Each video is an hour long. The series also contains a workshop guide, and a website related to the series. Each series is free, although if you need continuing education credits you can purchase graduate credit. I can see this website as an incredibly useful tool for an educator who doesn’t have a strong background in science. The concepts are clearly explained, and the progression could be transferred to a classroom setting. Most of the topics are meant for K-6 teachers. Furthermore, the website offers curriculum development. You can browse lesson plans by grade level and discipline. You can also find an entire unit plan. For instance, a unit plan on physical science covers eight sessions. Each session contains learning goals, a background of the information covered, what your students might already think about the concept and common misgivings (a unique feature of this site), then it highlights a teacher in the field and provides his or her lesson plan. I plan on using this site to help flesh out my own curriculum.

=The Why Files= [|www.whyfiles.org]

We know that in order to increase retention and buy in, we have to make knowledge relevant. This website helps educators do that. By providing the science behind the news, you can take recent and relevant happenings in the United States and use them as teachable moments for your students. Depending on the age of your students, you could show them a news clip of a recent science event and then be able to go into an in-depth lesson on why it happened. Search the archives for the most recent, applicable news stories. Then under each story you can explore discussion questions and lesson plans/activities. You can also search science images to add a little spice to your worksheets or visual displays. The website lists science standards by state, and has another link for classroom activities.

=EIA Energy Kids= [|www.eia.gov/kids]

This website, created by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, provides a kid friendly interface for students to explore the topic of energy. Geared for elementary students, kids can learn what energy is, where it comes from, how it’s used, and how we can reduce our use. They can play games and activities as well. I would use this as a research tool for students. It would be a great way for students to learn the background information on energy and refine a research topic. I would also point them towards it for science fair experiment ideas, or as a choice time activity.

=How Stuff Works= [|www.howstuffworks.com]

Within the How Stuff Works website, you can explore the topic of physical science. Within physical science the website explores acoustics, chemistry, electricity, and forensic science, the history of physical science, magnetism, matter, mechanics, nuclear science, and optics. Under each of these subcategories are more subcategories. For instance, if you look into magnetism you can explore electromagnetism, compasses, and how magnets work. I see this website as particularly useful to an educator who needs to brush up on a topic before introducing it to students. The interface is not kid friendly, and the likelihood of a child stumbling upon age-inappropriate content is likely. Also, the text is not written at an elementary level. I would use this almost in replace of Wikipedia if I needed to learn about a concept more in depth. You could also use it as an educator to find science related videos to show in class, but be prepared to have a thirty second commercial before the video starts.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) [|www.education.noaa.gov]

NOAA isn’t just for checking the weather. This website provides education resources arranged by topic (ocean and coasts, climate, weather and atmosphere, marine life, and freshwater). It would be an excellent resource for both physical and life science units. The website provides digital visualizations of climate, weather, currents, and vegetation. The most helpful feature I found was the resource collections. Say you’re creating a unit on weather. Not only can you check the weather each day with your students via the NOAA website, but then when you access the resource collection on weather systems and patterns, you’re met with a multitude of multimedia, lessons and activities, real world data, background information, and you can even meet experts in the field. When I introduce weather and climate to my students, NOAA will be my go to stop for imagery, videos, and background information.

Understanding Science [|www.undsci.berkeley.edu]

All elementary teachers instruct science. However, do all elementary teachers know why science is important? Or what it even is? Furthermore, do our students know why it is important? This website doesn’t provide resources so much as it provides a framework and understanding for why science is important and what it really is. Created by the University Of California Museum Of Paleontology, this is a helpful planning guide when creating your curriculum. You can choose your grade level and then learn the implications for instructing particular ages, tips and tools, and then how to decide what the learning goals are going to be and how to devise appropriate curriculum.

American Museum of Natural History: Ology []

This kid-friendly website, a product of the American Museum of Natural History, allows kids the opportunity to explore different “ologies.” Students choose from 14 different “ology” topics, which range from anthropology to zoology. Within each, they can read stories, play games, watch videos, and find science experiments to do at home or in class. Again, I see this as a resource that could be used at choice time, or with students who are self-directed and want to learn more. It would be a great resource to introduce to parents in a newsletter if they’re looking for appropriate websites at home. It might even be a great jumping off point for a research project at school.