Resources for Teaching Science

Eyewitness book on matter. Allows kids to explore a world of information through pictures and real life application.

This page has some great resources for teaching children about lightning and lightning safety.

NSDL Science Literacy Maps help teachers connect concepts, standards, and NSDL resources.

PALS is an on-line, standards-based, continually updated resource bank of science performance assessment tasks indexed via the National Science Education Standards (NSES) and various other standards frameworks

This link is to the College Board's website. They set the regulations for AP classes and exams. This specific site describes the requirements for the AP Chemistry course curriculum along with what the yearly audit entails. On this site, teachers and students can also access practice tests and sample questions to prepare for the AP exam, which students must take if they want the course to count as college credit. I know schools who offer these courses are encouraging their students to take advantage of this opportunity. I will utilize this resource in the future to prepare a detailed syllabus that will allow my curriculum to meet state and national standards and help my students succeed.

As we have learned throughout our education, every teacher is a teacher of reading. Plus, by integrating science with literature, hopefully, more kids will become excited about science. This website offers literature books specifically related to individual content areas. While the website is directed toward elementary teachers, I think some of the books could be utilized by middle school teachers as well. These may be a fun way to introduce a new topic or just on shelves for students to learn more about a specific topic that interests them.

This website offers information on the major topics in Chemistry. It explains the key components and terminology and offers examples to use in class. Worksheets and answer keys are also available for each topic. One of the teachers I observed last year used these worksheets with her class often to supplement the problems in the book. The students seemed to welcome the extra practice and change of pace. I think it is a helpful website, but depending on the level of students you end up working with, the worksheets may need to be edited. Some of the problems seemed a little too advanced for a first year Chemistry class.

"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.

This site was originally published as a book to provide resources for new Chemistry teachers. It describes lab experiments that the author has done with classes. It seems very useful because it goes beyond describing the experiments by explaining common problems students have and how to anticipate or resolve them. Other helpful information includes: estimated time, equipment needed, safety concerns, special clean up information, answer keys, and where these labs fit into the curriculum. While the link and all the information provided are free, the labs do require supplies. For some of the labs, the author discussed cost and how to save money when purchasing supplies. Overall, this resource seems very valuable, especially for new teachers. Even though we have the content background, anticipating mistakes and dealing with problems comes from experience.

One example of NSTA.com's SciStarter, a collection of citizen science projects that teachers and individuals can join. Many are free. Topics range from reviewing photos from the Mars rover to listening to studying frogs in the wild. Wide variety for different ages and content areas.

Mainly classroom supplemental materials for sale, but all are produced by ABC and Disney, so quality of materials is terrific. Materials available for all grade levels. If you dig around the site, there are free science demos by Bill Nye the Science Guy.

Second grade teacher blog...scroll to September 10 and there is and entry for Common Core Science Incorporated. There is a nice overview of integrating science with other subjects.

Offerings and registration information for National Science Teacher Association Webinars.

I participated in a LL&W workshop several years ago and found it both educational and inspirational. I think taking high school students to one of their student workshops would be a great learning opportunity!

Introduction Diigo is a powerful information capturing, storing, recalling and sharing tool. Here are just a few of the possibilities with Diigo: Save important websites and access them on any computer. Categorize websites by titles, notes, keyword tags, lists and groups. Search through bookmarks to quickly find desired information.