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The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, IL is filled with many hands on activities for all kinds of science. Why does a tornado spin? Why does a wave break? Why does a flame burn? Why does lightning strike? Our questions about the world begin almost as soon as we're aware of it. I have been to this museum but it has been a long time. After trying to think of an interesting place to go and looking at several, this museum seems to be filled with many hands on science experiences and that is why I chose this museum. Also, for field trips, chaperons and students get into the museum for free but there are small fees for the omnimax and certain special exhibits. I also loved that there were labs you could rent, online resources, and they also include worksheets for activities they do in the museum. For the labs they also include standards on their website, including the next generation standards! Many exhibits interest me but this one on Science Storms would be great to take your students after doing a lesson on weather in science. This would give students an insight to mother nature, it's strength in an up close view. There are so many more to include though. So you could even do an end of the year field trip, or maybe an 8th grade trip and include an educational engaging experience for the children.

The St. Louis Science Center is a great place for children of all places to explore. It has free general admission with lots of science to explore. There are also on-site science demonstrations that cost anywhere from $40 per participant to $50-250 per 100 person group. This is a great field trip that can be free for all students or one that can become more exciting with demonstrations for a fee. In my classroom I would utilize the St. Louis Science Center as a hands on resource to cover different aspects of science taught throughout the school year. This would be an end of the year field trip. Depending on funding I would use the free aspects and have my students participate in one of the demonstrations.

"The Science Spot" is great resource for labs as well as interactive technology for the students. The general website covers all areas of science, but the specific part I have tagged here is for Chemistry students and includes interactive activities for students to participate in to learn about the periodic table, its trends, and some fun facts. I think having students complete these activities in a computer lab would be beneficial to their learning process and would offer them a chance to receive instant feedback about their work through technology.

These bell-ringer activities for science class. They get the kids focused and warmed-up. They take 5 minutes or less and it gives a teacher time to take attendance. They cover a variety of content areas (general science, physical science, biology, earth science, and astronomy). It even provides answer sheets for a nine week period.

The Biology Corner is a site that contains tons of resources for biology teachers. It provides lessons, quizzes, labs, interactive websites, and general science information. This website even breaks down chapters and topics that should be covered in AP Biology, Freshman Level Biology, and Anatomy and Physiology classes. Within these chapters power-point presentations, review guides, reading worksheets, etc. are all provided and are encouraged to be utilized and modified. I selected this resource because I can use many of the resources provided on this website in my own classroom. I also think it will be valuable to compare my own teaching materials and methods to another individual's and modify my own if I feel that they can be improved from what I have seen from this website. 

This site will be extremely useful to the science teacher. Pages include PowerPoint presentations, review guides, reading worksheets, crossword puzzles and any other specific resources used for that chapter or unit within that subject. Especially nice is the owner and keeper of this website is working to integrate Common Core into a large number of the lesson plans, especially Biology. Whereas a lot of website do not actively update and change their content this one seems to do that.

This website offers ideas for all age science classes in the Saint Louis area. It will help teachers to find a quick idea for a field trip and connect it to a science concept. It also would be helpful to connect the field trip to other subject areas as well. Grade Level: all Main Content Area: All Resource Type: Field Trip Cost: Varies

This field trip is a wonderful opportunity for students wishing to pursue a career in the medical field. Students will have the opportunity to see a cadaver used for medical research. This would not be a field trip for general science classes, but more geared toward AP or human anatomy classes.

Also look at the descriptions of distance learning and dissection options hosted at the university instead of in your own classroom, if you don't have the facilities to conduct dissections yourself.

During a field trip to the Field Museum of Science a class/grade of students can experience many new scientific experiences all in one day! Most exciting is the world-famous fossil known as "Sue"; the largest, best-preserved, and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex ever found. Sue measures 42 feet long from snout to tail and 13 feet tall at the hip. She boasts 58 dagger-like teeth and cuts a fine figure as the Museum's most popular backdrop for visitor photos. We would never be able to experience a real activity such as this inside of a classroom, and the hundreds of ancient and new scientific wonders will have the students enthused to learn more about science. I chose this museum as a field trip that I would love to experience because it has a huge variety of scientific adventures for everyone to enjoy. The main attraction of a giant dinosaur fossil is a great real life encounter to show the children just how huge these prehistoric beings were. This would be a great wrap up experience to a unit on prehistoric earth or fossils in general, and would be fun and educational for all students and teachers involved!

This would be a great field trip idea to the St Louis Science Center for students of all ages. The general admission is free but it is 4.00 per child to see the planetarium show. The planetarium includes the SBC Learning Center, that give visitors a glimpse of what it's like to live and work on the International Space Station. In the Crew Quarters, students can see how astronauts eat, exercise, sleep and dress in space, as well as how medical needs and the stations internal and external environments are maintained. The planetarium show features more than 9,000 stars onto an 80 foot dome and includes special effects such as eclipses, meteor showers. The show lasts roughly 25 minutes and each session is designated for certain age groups. I would love to someday take my class to this planetarium because I think it would be an amazing opportunity and a great learning experience.

Teaching Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Engineering Design Through Media is a collection of activities and professional development resources drawn from programs such as WGBH's Design Squad Nation and the Engineering is Elementary® project at the Museum of Science, Boston. Add your description and what you like/why you chose this resource. How would you use it?

In this inquisitive and hands-on lesson the students get to learn about heredity visually. Mini "creatures" are made out of craft supplies of different colors, and on the first day students observe and take note of their characteristics. Upon opening the creatures (plastic eggs) up the students find seeds/babies. The next morning when class begins the students go to their creatures and notice the seeds have turned into mini monsters and resemble their parents in many ways. Day three even digs into survival characteristics. I love this lesson, and personally think it would be fun for many different ages. Heredity is often confusing for young students, and by giving them a visual representation that they can see and feel the class can become engaged. I like how this lesson can be easily spread over a three day period, and it would help enhance the heredity/genetics unit as a whole. I would go to the activity at the beginning of each period and let the children explore the new changes as an intro into science for the day.

I loved this 3 day lesson/unit on heredity. This lesson breaks down a complicated concept by using different colored easter eggs and google eyes to create a "species." Students notice similarities and differences over three generations of the species and are introduced to the idea of "traits." What I loved most about this source was that it linked this lesson to three different STEM standards. This way, students are having fun with science and you are still assessing them on the correct skills! -After reading some of the comments on the post, people did bring up the fact that some students could be adopted and not look like the rest of their family. If this is the case for one of my students, I would use that as an opportunity to talk about what makes us all different and special, and how that student is going to pass on a special set of traits.

This is a free 5-minute animated video that explains how animals adapt to changes in their environment for survival.The video also touches on the topic of natural selection by explaining that the traits suited for survival are then passed on from one generation to the next. I like this video because it's fun and would appeal to third graders but it's still teaching them the concepts that are introduced when teaching about biological evolution (3-LS4). I would show the video before delving into the variation among species and survival of the fittest topics where introduced. I think it's helpful when teaching concepts to make them relevant to the students, and this video shows how animals that the students are familiar with, such as tigers, obtained and use their camouflage.

This is a lesson on the properties of the electromagnetic spectrum. It is structured much like a lesson plan that we learned about in EDU 309, and as such, is easily broken down into individual parts. The lesson itself provides introduction to the electromagnetic spectrum, UV beads, prisms, and diffraction gratings, and also explains the origins of rainbows. I selected this resource because it provides a clear example of the use of the Next Generation Science Standards (despite its origins in California) as well as a valuable way for elementary students to look at the world around them in a different way. It also provides reading and mathematics connections. I would use this resource as a guidepost to structure my own lesson about light waves and the electromagnetic spectrum.

Excellent first post! you've got the hang of Diigo!

This is a video I found on YouTube featuring an experiment that shows how light can be "bent" using water and reflection. I selected it because it goes well with the Next Generation Science Standard that I was given (1-PS4-3). I feel that it lends itself well to explaining to students the reflective properties of light, and I would use the video along with my own version of the activity to explain this. I tagged both K-3 as well as 4-8, though I feel that the activity could be used at any grade level. The video itself uses more advanced language and vocabulary, but I feel that by using grade-appropriate terminology, it could be useful for younger students as well.