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This website is full of different hands on activities for teaching biology to high school or middle school students. All of the activities that are provided are closely linked to biological concepts. The reason why I selected this resource is because I feel that students will truly understand and be able to apply a biological concept if they are able to engage said concept in a hands on activity. It is important that the kinesthetic mode of learning is addressed in class. This resource is valuable because I truly believe that the more hands-on activities that I have in my classroom, the more effective of a science classroom it will be. I will undoubtedly use some of these activities in my own class.  

This website shows an activity using Styrofoam cups. It gives teachers an idea on an activity for students. I found this website on Pinterest and I really like the idea. I chose this website because it is a clever activity that many teachers can use in their classroom. It is also inexpensive. I would create this activity for different environments and have my students stack the animals in the correct order, to create a food chain. After a lesson on food chains, I would have my students complete this activity.

LOVE this! Would like even better if the cups weren't styrofoam.

This website provides several resources for teachers. There are several science experiment lesson plans along with supplemental materials. There is also a JustAsk section that addresses classroom issues such as bullying.

This site has a lot of neat experiments where you can choose the grade level and content. For my unit plan I would select "Earth and Space Science" in order to get ideas on different activities and experiments to do in class with my students. I picked this site because the activities are ones where the students could use their creativity to come up with something unique. For instance, they could make a homemade planetarium, make a spaceship using old CD's, or even make a solar system of students. I would use this site in the classroom to get ideas on how to get the students out of their seats, but yet keep them interested. The activities from this site are ones that the students would definately enjoy.

This hands-on activity allows students to get a better understanding of why a tree's leaves change colors. By doing this activity, we will be able to see how a leaves colors stay hidden in the leaf all year long. Students will collect leaves prior to doing this experiment, and will place them in small jars filled slightly with rubbing alcohol. Those leaves will be chopped up into tiny pieces and left in the jar which will be covered with a lid or plastic wrap. The jars will soak in water for about a half an hour. Students will then use a strip of coffee filter paper to see the colors from the leaves bleed. They will see different shades of green, orange, red, and maybe some yellow depending on the type of leaf. I chose this experiment because it allows the students to understand chromatography, chlorophyll, and different pigments found in leaves. By doing a hands-on activity, students are more engaged and anxious to find out what is going to happen. I envision this experiment being used at the end of a plant lesson in science. We would have been discussing different types of plants, trees, flowers, and why they are all different colors. There will also be many important vocabulary words that the students will need to understand, which will be present in this activity. We will conduct this experiment in small groups so that students are able to participate and see what is going on.

In this set of activities adaptable for grades K-2, parents and educators will find ideas for teaching about pushes and pulls. Of these activities, my favorite and one I could see myself using in my future classroom is the Push Pull Hunt. The teacher needs to have multiple objects in the classroom that need to be pushed or pulled or both. The teacher then breaks the students down into groups and gives them a sheet of paper containing objects they need to find on their scavenger hunt. The students then describe where they found the object and if it needs to be pushed, pulled, or both. For example, the students would need to find a door that could be pushed open. I chose this activity because I thought it would be a fun way for students to apply what they have been learning in class. I would use this activity for the day after learning about pulls and pushes. Right before the activity we would review what a push and a pull is and then I would break the students into groups to begin the scavenger hunt.

This is such a fun end-of-the week activity for teaching the various states of matter with yummy root beer floats. The teacher and students review liquid as they look at just the root beer in the cups. Then they review solids, as they add the ice cream. Finally, they observe gas when the ice cream is added to the root beer. I would definitely do this activity in my classroom. It is all about making science applicable to everyday life, and rewarding your students in the process!

With this activity, you start by having just the root beer sitting in cups at each student's desk. Discuss with the class why the matter in the cup is a liquid. Then move onto showing the students ice cream and ask what makes it a solid. Next add the ice cream to the root beer and discuss how the carbonation of the soda makes the root beer fizz which is the gas. This would be used at the end of a unit on solids, liquids and gas as a reward and fun activity to review the previous week's lessons. I chose this activity to show the students how they can see and apply science in their everyday life. This activity was free but there are lessons and units linked to this activity that cost money.

This activity steps out of the normal lesson in the classroom, but I think it would keep the students entertained because of the candy that is involved. Each student would have a paper plate and would glue different pieces of candy on the plate representing the sun, each of the planets, and the asteroid belt. I really like that this activity steps out of the comfort zone that most teachers have and allows the students to do such a hands on activity that involves something that they like!

This activity allows the students to make their own mini solar systems out of different sized/shaped pieces of candy. The class can discuss the planets size, their color, and even how far away they are from each other through this activity, and using candy will make it a hard lesson to forget.You can either draw your orbits on black construction paper or a paper plate. Sun- butterscotch, Mercury- orange jujube; Venus- Nestle's sno caps; Earth- blue Skittle; Mars- red Skittle; asteroid belt- candy sprinkles; Jupiter- peppermint with red hot stuck on top; Saturn- lemon drop with twizzler wrapped around; Uranus- green Jujube; Neptune- aqua Skittle; Pluto- tart n tiny. I chose this lesson because I think it would be a great activity to help the class remember this important topic. Often times it is hard to recall which planets are next to which and so on, but by the use of candy we can build representations that are sure to stick with the. All of the small candy pieces listed are also easy to find and inexpensive! I would use this activity after learning the basics of the solar system, maybe as a review a few days before an assessment.

This link has lesson plans and activities that would useful in learning about food chains. It also has standards, objectives, and rubrics for the teacher to use. I like this link because it will be useful to guide off of for lesson plans, objectives, and activities. You can use the lesson plans and activities, or you can change them for your liking.

A great place to start for science activities for kids (chemical change, states of matter, motion, plants, human body, etc) This site includes free activies that can be done in the classroom and then a section where the teacher can asses his or her students on their knowledge of the content. I picked this website because it has so many ideas in different aspects of science that I can always come back to this site in order to get a new idea for an activity. I can use it in the classroom to either begin or follow up a lesson with because students are always engaged with hands on activities and that is what this site mainly includes.

This activity shows students how strong the hollow bones of birds are. Students roll computer paper into a hollow tube (3 of them), tape a paper plate to the top of the rolls (which are standing up), then add pennies to the plate to see how strong the "bones" are. This is a great activity to help explain to students that birds' bones are hollow in order to allow them less weight for flight and hollow bones require less food for the bird. But their bones are still strong! I like this activity because it's hands on and I think it would be engaging for children learning about birds and their bones. It's also an easy activity to put together.

This activity is a great way to stretch your student's imagination and creativity and build up those all-important critical thinking skills by bringing the fascinating world of archeology right into your own backyard. This activity begins with the teacher taking everyday household items and burying them in an area outside. Then the teacher sets up the area as a "dig site" with string and using different tools, the kids dig for the items and then clean them off, inspect them, and record their findings in their notebooks. This is an excellent activity for letting your students BECOME archeologists! I can't wait to use this activity with my class. I can set it up in an area on school grounds and let my "archaeologists" dig around.

This resource is game the students can play that helps them identify the food chain and what animals hunt others. I think this resource would be used as a good extra activity for if the students finish an activity early. This is a great introduction to the food chain to let the students guess and explore what they already know. They could journal after about what they found and if they were wrong or if they were right and characteristics about the animals.

This game shows different living organisms that can be in the food chain and can be a fun way to add upon your lesson concerning food chains.

In this activity, students are shown a picture of wildlife and are asked to click on eight living things. Students can click on animals or plants. I chose this activity because younger students could use this as a starting point when learning about wildlife. I envision this being used in the lower grades as a beginning activity.

This is a brief explanation on why the sky is blue followed by an activity. I chose this source because I have always wanted to know the definitive answer to the question: Why is the sky blue? I would use this in an older elementary classroom as a lesson followed by a lab activity.

This is an activity illustrating how the tiny particles of the ringed planets can be seen so far away despite their small size. I chose this activity because I liked it, and because I liked that it had a discussion after its completion. I imagine my class will complete this activity and then we will discuss our findings as a whole group.

This website was designed by a teacher that has taught biology and chemistry to middle school and high school students for 37 years. This is the culmination of materials and resources that she has created, modified, and gathered over the years. She provides a multitude of various links to different activities, worksheets, labs, demos, test reviews, etc. She even provides her email information so you can be in contact with her and discuss the material on the website and other teaching strategies. I selected this resource because there are so many different activities that can be used by middle and high school biology and chemistry instructors. It is particularly valuable to me because I will more than likely use many of the materials and resources provided from this website in my own classroom. Personally I find it challenging to create really fun and yet beneficial, educational activities for students on my own, so it is very useful to have some ideas available for me to start with. 

This is the webpage for Mrs. Sharp's 4th Grade classroom at Friendsville Elementary School. This activity is similar to a field trip because the students get to leave the classroom and investigate, but they do not actually leave the school grounds. The students get to go outside and walk around their school to find signs of erosion. They will keep a notebook with them to record their findings. I chose this activity because it is a fun interactive way for students to learn. They get to get out of their seats and learn through a hands on activity. I would use this activity to wrap up the erosion unit and to show students that erosion is everywhere. We would end the activity by coming back into the classroom and discussing the findings.

In this activity, students create a nonfiction windsock about rain (or anything, really!). First, students draw a diagram of rain. Then, because nonfiction text includes labels, students label 3 different colored strips of streamer paper with facts about rain. On the fourth label, they write a story about rain from their lives, on the fifth strip they write about how rain affects the environment, and on the sixth they write about a nonfiction book they have recently read. I love this activity because each child makes his/her own windsock and it is a cross-curricular activity....weather and nonfiction! I would use this activity in my class as a cross-curricular activity to teach about nonfiction and weather.

I will use this website to have my students make lightning using an aluminum pie plate, styrofoam, glue, ballpoint pen, thumbtack, and a wool sock. Manipulating these materials will create a harmless mini-lightning bolt. This website provides instructions and detailed explanations for this activity.

I will use this website to have my students make lightning using an aluminum pie plate, styrofoam, glue, ballpoint pen, thumbtack, and a wool sock. Manipulating these materials will create a harmless mini-lightning bolt. This website provides instructions and detailed explanations for this activity.

After having a lesson on plants, this activity would be a great way for students to learn how to grow plants and also learn about the kinds of things that promote growth (warmth, sunlight, water, soil). Their activities involve learning about how seeds and plants grow and participating in a simple, in-class gardening project. I would provide plastic cups, soil, seeds, and water for each individual student and allow them to plant their own seed. This would be a great way for my students to see first hand what plants need to grow, and for them to learn how to records their observations of their plants.

After having a lesson on plants, this activity would be a great way for students to learn how to grow plants and also learn about the kinds of things that promote growth (warmth, sunlight, water, soil). Their activities involve learning about how seeds and plants grow and participating in a simple, in-class gardening project. I would provide plastic cups, soil, seeds, and water for each individual student and allow them to plant their own seed. This would be a great way for my students to see first hand what plants need to grow, and for them to learn how to records their observations of their plants.

This activity shows students how certain animals stay warm in the winter by providing a life-like representation of the effects blubber. A zip-lock baggy containing Crisco is placed into a bucket of ice water. Students then place their hand into the baggy and note the temperature. I chose this activity because it provides an actual representation of how animals stay warm in the winter that students would likely remember in the future. If the lesson is properly constructed, this activity also encourages critical thinking, making predictions, and discussing observations. When using this activity in my classroom, I would first discuss various polar animals with my students, making sure to ask them their opinion on how the animals manage to stay warm. This would then lead to a discussion on how humans stay warm. After creating a list of various ways in which humans adapt to cold weather, I would conduct the "blubber" activity. I would then explain to students that polar animals have an extra layer of fat, called blubber, to keep them warm. As a class, we would then discuss how certain human adaptations mimic the polar animals' survival techniques.

I have used this activity many times along with adaptations for survival. Very clear and concrete experience for students.

This is a simple and fun experiment that is compatible for elementary school students. It teaches them about basic chemistry. This is a lab activity that can be conducted inside of the regular classroom. The students will be conducting experiments with apple slices, water, lemon juice, and oxygen to see the effects of what turns a sliced apple brown and what can prevent a sliced apple from turning brown. I would use this lab activity in my classroom when teaching students about chemistry because it is safe for younger students and is inexpensive.