Resources for Teaching Science

© 2012 Clipart.com To understand how and why heat is produced from things that give off light, from machines, or when one thing is rubbed against another. This lesson is intended to give students a general idea of how heat is produced from human-based activities and mechanical and electrical machines. This is great! This is a wonderful lesson designed to help students understand how heat energy occurs. It allows several hands-on opportunities for students to explore to begin have an understanding about how heat is generated. I chose this particular resource because I never personally liked learning straight from the book, and however most topics need written clarification, I love how the students can explore and witness these on their own. I could easily see myself using this lesson within the classroom. I could assign the students to conduct exploration and then have them find new items that fell into the categories of: human activity,mechanical and electrical machines.

This is an awesome interactive site. This site allows the student to guide his/her own learning while navigating throughout the solar system. It allows the user to move through the solar system and choose a planet, from there it offers several more options:pictures, recent missions, news articles, and endless facts. I could see myself using this as an exploration tool for my students, or I could potentially assign them a planet where they could use this site to gather their information. I really enjoyed exploring this site myself.

This is a simple, yet, very effective way for students to understand just what is happening during moon phases. It is a very simple activity to put together that has the students sitting in a circle around the "moon" which is stationary and half is colored black. Each student, sitting at different angles draws what it is they see demonstrating the moon phases. I love this activity, it easily illustrates any misconceptions that students may have about the moon and its phases. I could see this being a very useful lesson and activity when discussing the moon, and illustrating how parts of the moon don't actually disappear. I've always thought that being able to visualize things were the best way to learn.

This activity calls for students to use their imagination when it comes to the different colors. Students are required to know how to classify object according to their color, for example: a blue toy car, a red pony, a green tree. This activity helps younger students work on their sorting skills. In my classroom I would have construction paper divided into four parts. On each part would be a color; Blue, Red Green, and Yellow. I would provide the glue and different colored objects to sort and glue, sequins, stickers, beads, pom-poms, buttons, feathers, macaroni, and foam shapes. Each student will be required to sort and glue objects by color.

When you breathe in, your diaphragm - the muscle at the base of your lungs, contracts. This expands your chest cavity, lowering the air pressure of the cavity below the air pressure outside, and inflating the lungs. You can see this same principle at work in this 'homemade lung'. This activity will definitely keep students interested. It's all hands-on and will allow them to be able to visualize an action, breathing, that is constantly occurring within their own bodies. I chose this activity because I think so many don't actually understand what is happening within their own bodies, and by being able to visualize this action I think makes it easier to understand. This activity has the students making a "homemade lung" out of simple supplies and then observing how our chest cavities contract and our lungs inflate. I could see myself using this activity when discussing the human body, in particular lungs. It is so important that the students understand how the body functions and I think that this activity does a great job in illustrating that.

Since Fall is right around the corner, literally, I thought this would be a cute activity to show students how the leaves change colors. With simple items you can find at the store students can participate in this hands-on activity that shows them how a trees leaves changes colors. Students can either do this activity by themselves or in groups (older grade levels) and younger students can participate alongside the teacher.

Students from all over our community participate in guided field trip tours at the Museum each year. The Museum's educators, all certified teachers, facilitate experiences that support 21st-century skills and core academics as well as creative problem solving and critical thinking. This seems like an amazing field trip opportunity that would keep the students interested as well as the adults and teachers. Just by reading through the descriptions it sounded as though they had something for whichever area peeked your interest, especially in science. They have several activities dedicated to science and what makes this even more attractive to teachers is that they actually have the NGSS standard underneath the individual activity. A few examples of what they offer are: science detectives, recycling, electricity and magnetism. Although, the older students could benefit from each of these if I were teaching between K-2 I would not focus on the science detectives as much as the others. However, pertaining to recycling I could then have an assortment of trash and have the students separate the items into what is recyclable and what isn't. In the end, this would be a beneficial experience for any age.

June 19, 2015 Anatomy 4D is an excellent iPad app for science teachers and students. It provides an interactive 4D experience of the human anatomy using augmented reality technology. Anatomy 4D offers an easy to use 3-dimensional learning environment ideal for classroom use. This is resource is awesome. It is another technology based resource. To use the technology the students will have to download it to a classroom iPad, but from there they are free to explore the many areas of the human body and do so in great detail. It can pinpoint a specific organ that the student wishes to learn about or that is being discussed in class and they will be able to view that organ while learning more facts; it also allows for the example to switch between male and female letting the student notice any differences or similarities. I personally navigated through this to see just what it was about and I could see so many opportunities to incorporate this application within the classroom. For example, it could be reinforcement to a teachers' lesson when discussing human anatomy and the functions of the main organs. I think it's a great tool that should be used within the class, especially since it is interactive after guided learning the student could explore on their own.

Here's a great Science lesson for students in 3rd, 4th and 5th grades. This lesson helps students learn about magnets. Storytelling, journaling and teaching from the heart all play a part to make this an effective Science lesson. _____________________________________________________________________ This lesson is taught by Mr. Rutherford. This lesson discusses magnets and allows students to participate in hands-on learning. Students create a journal allowing them to follow what they are learning as well as keep track of the data they are finding. I chose this resource because not only does it give a good idea on an effective science lesson, but it also encourages teachers to be effective as well. I think this lesson is effective because it allows students to become engaged in their own learning. Mr. Rutherford allowed his students to be in charge of their learning, which helps keep all students involved in the lesson. I would definitely teach this lesson in my class. All the students seemed to stay focused on the activity. I would use this lesson to help students learn more about magnetism and how think can effect the magnetism of an object.

The concept of metamorphosis is fascinating to children of all ages. Help your child's creativity take flight as she makes her very own butterfly life cycle. _____________________________________________________________________ I think this is a really cute activity/craft to use when learning about life cycles. This activity allows students to create their own butterfly life cycle with just a paper plate, dry pasta, and crayons. Students use different types of dry pasta to represent the different phases of a butterfly's life cycle. I chose this resource because I think it provides a really good visual for what each stage of the butterfly life cycle looks like. It's important for students to not only learn the material, but understand the material. I think this activity allows students to understand the butterfly life cycle better and visualize what each stage looks like. This resource could be used during a lesson about life cycles. The butterfly life cycle is short and easy for students to learn, so it would be a good life cycle to teach to students. This resource would be a good hands-on activity to add to the lesson.

A popular St. Louis destination since 1954, Grant's Farm is the 281-acre ancestral home of the Busch family, named for Ulysses S. Grant who once lived on the land. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Everyone from the St. Louis area has probably visited Grant's Farm. Grant's Farm is very educational and fun for kids. Not only are students learning about the different animals at Grant's Farm, they are also able to interact with some of the animals. This allows the students to be more engaged in what they're learning. Grant's Farm has many opportunities for students to learn, starting from the second they board the tram. I chose Grant's Farm for my field-trip opportunity because I know that I loved going there as a kid, and I also learned a lot when I went. The hows they have allow students to learn a lot while also having fun. I think this would be a good field-trip for any school near the St. Louis Area. If I were to take my students to Grant's Farm for a field-trip, I would discuss some of the animals that are seen at Grant's Farm and certain aspects about each animal. If I were teaching older students, I would assign each group an animal. After the field trip, I would have each group present to the class information they learned about their animal.

As you hold your phone up and point it towards the sky, Star Walk Kids follows your motions using the built-in gyroscope to match the map on your screen to the stars seen from your location. Cartoon-style interface and friendly voice of the narrator effortlessly guide you through the night sky. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The winner of 8 awards, Star Walk Kids is a great astronomy app for students! Kids can learn about planets, stars, and constellations. The app is informational and interactive and completely kid friendly with engaging graphics and colors. I love that this app speaks to the operator and helps to verbally label items, so that children will know how to pronounce a name. The most incredible part of this app, in my opinion, is that it is available in ten different languages. I know that if I had a non-English-speaking student in my class, I would be thankful to have an app that offered a comfortable language for that student. Throught the vitotechnology link, one can access the app's manual to better understand its features and how to operate it. This app does cost $2.99, but I believe that is a small price to pay for such a wonderful app. The following is a YouTube link to a review video that goes through some of the app's functions. This video might be nice to view in order to get a better feel of the app. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d9zUbXsY6U

This website is amazing! It offers over 100 interactive online games on more than 30 different topics and it is completely free. Science games are excellent assets to any Science lesson. Interactive games make learning complicated concepts fun and easy for some children. As an adult playing some of these games I felt like I gained a better understanding of certain topics, so I know some children would find these games beneficial and effective extensions to lessons. This website seems to have a little bit of everything from animal classification to biomes to physics and motion. Some of the games offer a short assessment at the end to really see if the children are learning the concept. Having games like these available would make a great addition to a remediation plan if students are having difficulties grasping a particular topic. I will definitely be visiting this site again when I am teaching!

The San Angelo Nature Center is a collection of animals, along with related exhibits and information, that are native to the Southwest. Among the animals are bobcats, skunks, a porcupine, hissing cockroaches, tarantulas, scorpions, turtles, lizards and snakes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The SANC is an incredible place. There are many different types of mammals, reptiles, bugs, and insects for children to experience. Being a former volunteer of the SANC, I know first-hand all of the possibilities this place offers. One of my favorite things about this place is the up close and personal experience children get with the animals. Children can choose to hold various reptiles including snakes, box turtles, or the center's two bearded dragons, Bonnie and Clyde. If they desire, children may hold or touch a hissing cockroach, a cave cockroach, a tarantula, or my personal favorite creature, the vinegarroon! Children can also meet Opus and Juliet, two African spurred tortoises. This place contains many facts and trivia about the various animals and is an exciting place for adults and kids alike.

In this lesson students earn the basic parts of seeds and what they need to grow into a plant. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I cannot rave about this website enough. It is incredible. The lesson here is on seeds and this website has many portions of the McKendree template prepared already. There is an introduction, instructional sequence, resources, materials, and assessment. I really appreciate the depth of this lesson. It starts with an engaging introduction to get kids thinking and then allows for group work and a hands-on opportunity with seeds. I really like that kids get to hear what the parts of a seed are, view it on a diagram, and also witness it inn reality with an actual seed. This site provides an accompanying video from Sesame Street as well as other websites that would extend the lesson if desired. I would absolutely use this lesson in my classroom. I think something like seeds could be seen as a "boring" topic to some children, but if I used this lesson, I think it would help the topic to come alive and really get the children engaged. I would carry out this lesson as it is constructed, but add my own flair where needed.

So, what does a parade and this lesson plan have in common? A lot of waves! People wave in a parade and this lesson is about waves. Get it? Oh well, that's why I'm a science teacher and not a stand-up comic. Anyway, last lesson we talked about vibrations and frequency. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is a great lesson on waves! I think this particular lesson would be appropriate for 3rd through 8th grade. Of course there are adaptations that may need to be made to ensure that it meets the appropriate grade level needs, but overall, I think it would be an interesting and engaging lesson for many grades. This lesson does not include an exact instructional sequence but it is quite informative and teachers will be able to read through the lesson and choose what he or she wants to say about waves. I really like the funny little tidbits throughout the lesson. I really like that there are many experiments available to demonstrate and experience waves. Also, there is a short assessment at the end of the lesson which I think would be a great formative assessment and might even be a great resource for questions of a future summative assessment. Personally, I would use Plickers or iClickers with the assessment to gauge how well the children grasped the material.

Inspired by content from the upcoming PBS series EARTH A New Wild , the Ecosystem Explorer is a collection of videos, games, and infographics designed to take students deep into the ecosystems of three thrilling animals: vultures, wolves, and sharks.

Remove "science" tag and leave the biology one, which is more specific. Use an additional tag to designate what kind of resource this is: activity, lesson, video, field trip, etc.

Inspired by content from the upcoming PBS series EARTH A New Wild , the Ecosystem Explorer is a collection of videos, games, and infographics designed to take students deep into the ecosystems of three thrilling animals: vultures, wolves, and sharks. This is such a wonderful interactive site, which allows students to explore three different animals in their world: the vulture, wolf, and shark. I selected this resource because after navigating through myself I thought how beneficial and intriguing students would see it as well. The site gives facts about why these particular animals are essential to the environment, it also provide pictures of these creatures and games. This resource could be used when students are learning about animals and how essential they are to our environment, and what habitat and how these creatures live. I enjoyed this site and think that it could be a great tool for a future classroom.

Plastic Bottle Scrooge is being haunted! Follow Scrooge as he learns about plastic, where it comes from, how it litters the land and oceans, and what can be done to stop pollution. _____________________________________________________________________ As cheesy as this app sounds, it's actually really cute! Earth Day Carol is an app that provides a story (based on The Christmas Carol) that follows a little character who is plastic, and he learns all about himself and pollution. This app is awesome because not only does it provide a cute story line for kids to follow and be engaged with, it also has some interactive components. This app allows students to tap on the screen, providing pop up facts about pollution and our Earth. I chose this resource because I think it's really helpful in teaching young students the importance of a clean environment. In today's society, phones are becoming more and more prevalent. Students will automatically become engaged knowing that they're going to be learning through a phone/Ipad. This resource would be good to use around Earth Day. It adds a bit of a twist to the typical "board and marker" learning. Students can be in groups of two or three, and if Ipads are available in the classroom, students can listen to the story and take turns with the interaction parts. Once each student is done, a group discussion can follow to discuss what each student has learned.

Online 3D simulation of the Solar System and night sky in real time - the Sun, planets, dwarf planets, comets, stars and constellations ______________________________________________________________________ This website provides a 3D simulation of the Solar System including everything from the plants to comets and stars. Students can use this simulation to learn everything they want to know about the Solar System. This simulation allows students to click on each individual planet to learn more information and also allows students to locate the major stars and constellations found in our solar system. Students can also watch the planets orbit around the sun (in real time) and go to any day of any year to see where each planet was at that time. All for free! I selected this resource because I think it will really benefit visual and hands-on learners. Giving students the opportunity to research the Solar System on their own gives them a feeling of independence, even while they are learning. I think this resource is very valuable in the classroom because it provides a lot of information about everything there is in the Solar System. This resource could be used during a lesson about the Solar System. Students could each be given an individual planet, star, or constellation to research, and students could create a poster with information on their individual planet, star, or constellation. This resource would benefit in their researching.

This place always delivers fun, education and family friendly memories. Get the annual membership and come back often! It's the biggest and best children's museum in the world. It is worth the trip and plan to spend the whole day. There is something for all ages and it is a wonderful family experience. The Children's Museum of Indianapolis provides students with hands on experiences as well as exploring and adventuring in different science subjects. During this field trip students can understand how science works by the different hands on activities. The museum provides all types of subject matters that deal with science and therefore you can plan a field trip at anytime throughout the school year, that will work with the lesson you are teaching. I believe that this field trip can be fun and exciting as well as convenient for the teacher, when it comes to the science lesson that's being taught.