Resources for Teaching Science

Take your students on an exciting adventure to the Saint Louis Science Center Planetarium to experience hands-on and visual learning. This resource allows students to take part in a self-guided or small group exploration of not only our galaxies stars, but also its many planets. I chose this website because of it wealth of factual knowledge and easily accesible tools. This field trip could take part during a planet lesson, and/or an astronomy lesson.

This is Bill Nye the Science Guys website. I picked this website because I know of many kids who really enjoy his videos. The website contains some free videos, and you are able to shop the store for more and books. The website also contains at home demos, which are something that can be used in the classroom. I believe this could be used for almost any grade level throughout the elementary school. There are also quizzes that students can take. There is also a contact Bill section. I think it would be great to write a class letter to Bill.

This would be a great field trip for children to go on. Eckert's offers tours around the farm and children can do pumpkin picking and apple picking. Children can learn about apples or pumpkins and the growing process. Students can be taught about different material depending on the grade level. I have visited Eckert's many times throughout my life and have enjoyed it. I think children would enjoy it as well. Although, it does cost money for the tours, it is still low cost.

This website includes many science fair ideas and projects. It is appropriate for kids in grades K-12th. I believe this resource could be used in the classroom if you were to have a science fair. Students can use this website to help give them ideas. This website woudl also be helpful to teachers because some of the experiments could be done in the classroom.

Grade level- K-5 This is a great website that has alot of games for kids. I believe it would be good for grades K-5. It covers many topics about science including bugs, animals, ozone, and ways to go green. I think this resource would be a great resource to use in the classroom to incorporate computers. It is also a good way to get kids out of the regular classroom and lecture. Many children learn very well from the computer. This resource is also a great resource for teachers, because it has many printables and and videos that can be incorporated into the classroom.

This is a fantastic site for science projects, as well as guides for teachers on topics such as how to use a microscope. This site also offers products for sale for your science classroom, but the project ideas and printables are free. It is very user friendly, broken down by age group (students k-12 are covered), and discipline (Life Science, Physics, etc.). I would use this to begin researching something I haven't taught before to look for inspiration and supplemental material.

This resource has a huge collection of early elementary science activities, projects, and labs. It also includes homework that is less pencil-and-paper based and more activity/exploratory based. Each category has different types of lessons outlined within it. Each of these lessons in meant to be 90 minutes long but they can each be changed very easily.

This website contains activities for all grade levels and covers many different topics including how new medicines are found in the ocean, climate/weather, lesson sets addressing ocean littering/pollution, make your own weather station, and more. It includes basic fact sheets or interactive projects and games for students to work on. NOAA also heads up a Teach at Sea program where kindergarden through college educators can spend a given amount of time on a boat with scientists, researchers, and the boating crew to gain new experiences about human impact on the ocean, marine life, weather, etc and bring that new knowledge back to the classroom. I have also included a link to the Teach At Sea Program below. http://teacheratsea.noaa.gov/

This website is really cool. There is a ton of great information on topics that I think would be interesting for kids of all ages. The images included with the information are awesome.

This site contains activities and projects for students to work on like creating their own space probe or looking at interactive maps. Its full of videos, current events, extra teaching resources and even describes way that everyone can get involved with helping the environment. It's a great interdiciplinary resource that can tie together a broad range of subjects and topics. The webiste resources are free but the magazine subsription does cost money. In addition to the teacher resources link there is also a special page just for young learners that includes music, games, movies, and more.

This app could work great for teacher or student-directed learning. It shows the universe in a way that is more engaging that simple, flat pictures. It's a versitile app that can be adapted for a variety of in-class or at-home activities. Students can use it to find out how close planets/contellations are to a given object in space or they can simply pick a planet/constellation they want to learn about and teach the class about it. It could be used as a great introductory or motivational tool. It can also be used as a fun reward for students who finish their work early.

This nature center is a great way to teach students about their local environment. The staff address issues like littering, pollution, life-cycles of plants, animals, and insects as well as coastal and forest environments. This trip isn't limited to science content but also touches on Oahu history/traditions and art. This nature center also has weekend activities for children to participate in with friends and family members. This could lead to great class discussions and show students that science is all around them.

This website is a great resource for staying up-to-date on current events in elementary science. It provides information about upcoming conferences for professional development and also has a section for useful magazines, textbooks, and other print resources to use in class. It includes articles that can cover a range of topics or address very specific lessons for a particular grade level. This website could be a great way to demonstrate to students how science is being used right now. It also includes a section of interactive resources and lab ideas.

This is a link to the US Geological Service's website. The education portion is really neat. Since i have met my boyfriend, he is a miner, I have become more and more interested in rocks and the earth. This webpage makes it easy to find what you need. Their resources are broken down into categories (K-6, 7-12, and undergraduate). The best part about this is there is a place to look at 3-D pictures of major landmarks. You would need your own glasses, but I think if these were projected on a smartboard, it would be a great way to show students what Mother Nature can accomplish.

This is a link to the Missouri Botanical Garden website which makes for a great field trip. At the Missouri Botanical Garden, students explore plants from around the world and go into greenhouses. There is also a Children's Garden geared specifically toward younger students. I selected this resource because I have experience with the Missouri Botanical Garden. Kids really enjoy exploring and learning about the plants. A field trip to the gardens could be used to bolster units involving plant life, photosynthesis, and changing seasons.  I could use this resource at any grade level because the Garden does a good job at having activities for kids of various ages.

This is a video of a song that shows the basic parts of a plant and how a plant grows to the tune of "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes." This song would be really fun for kindergartners or first graders. I selected it because I want to infuse music and movement into the curriculum whenever possible, and I think this resource does both. This would be great for musical and bodily-kinesthetic learners. I could integrate art as well by having students create little props for use during the song. All of this could happen at the same time as they are learning about plants.  

This link is to a lesson that helps students understand photosynthesis by engaging in dramatic arts. It also helps students understand the relationship between photosynthesis and decomposers. I chose this lesson because I think it is very creative. I like the idea of having dramatic arts in a classroom, and I think it would be a good way for visual and bodily-kinesthetic learners to remember the material. I would use this resource when discussing photosynthesis in an upper elementary classroom. The lesson allows for the process to take place over a week.

This lesson plan helps teach students about pollination and the different ways that plants are pollinated by different animals. Students create flowers and try to match animals to the different flowers based on characteristics. I like this resource because it combines art and science. Kids get to make their own flowers. Also, I think it is a really creative way of talking about pollination and gets kids thinking about how bees are not the only creature that pollinates flowers. I would use this resource during a plant unit in an upper elementary classroom. I would use this resource when we are discussing pollination and the reproductive parts of a plant. I would modify it to meet the needs of my students and the constraints of my classroom.

This resource includes numerous books that can be used in the classroom to teach kids about plants and get them engaged in the topic. I chose this resource because I view children's literature as a very powerful tool in getting students interested in academic material. Some of the books included are very well-known and popular with children, and I remember reading some of them myself as a student. I would use this resource when planning a unit on plants. I would gauge the level of the book with the grade level of my classroom.

This YouTube video is a 25 minute episode of the Magic Schoolbus. In this episode, the class takes a field trip into outerspace. They travel around the sun and to each planet. I picked this video because I always loved The Magic Schoolbus series. They keep children's attention but are very educational as well. I would definately use this video in my classroom. After a long week of studying the planets and solar system, I could play this on a Friday to wrap up the unit.

This is a YouTube video that lasts about 5 minutes that discusses the solar system. It explains how the planets were formed, the two regions of the solar system, dwarf planets, and also incorporates several facts. I picked this video because it explains the material in a way where the students would be able to understand without being completely confused. It delivers the content of the video very well. I would be able to show this video in class so that the students can visually see what takes place in our solar system.