General Science Tools

Concord Consortium – STEM Resource Finder

The Concord Consortium STEM Resource Finder features some of the best of their free open source educational activities, models, and software tools. You can search by keyword or filter by subject, grade level, and/or type (tablet- friendly, browser-based, etc.) in order to find the right resources for your learning goals.

TED – ED Videos

Within TED-ED’s growing library of lessons you will find carefully curated educational videos, many of which are collaborations between educators and animators nominated through the TED-ED platform. You can adapt and edit any lesson featured on TED-ED or create them from scratch. Using the lesson builder platform, teachers can add context, resources, questions, and discussion prompts to any TED-ED original, TED talk, or YouTube video and then assign the lessons to students.

BBC News – Science & Environment

Get the latest BBC Science and Environment News, including breaking news, analysis, and debate on science and nature in the UK and around the world. Resources include articles, videos, podcasts, and more.

MIT OpenCourseWare

MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) makes the materials used in the teaching of many of MIT’s subjects available online and free of charge. You can use, reuse, and even mix the content so long as you follow their Creative Commons licensing terms. Courses cover a wide range of topics including physics, biology, chemistry, mathematics, earth science, and more.

MIT Blossoms

Initially seeded by MIT faculty members, this website has since partnered with educators in Jordan and Pakistan to create a large, free repository of video modules for high school math and science classes.

National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science (NCCSTS)

Case studies can be a great way to teach scientific concepts and core content as well as critical thinking skills. Because the cases presented at NCCST are often based on contemporary science problems found in the news, they can make science relevant to students. Click “Case Collected” to search more than 500 peer-reviewed case studies based on subject, grade-level, and teaching method.

Bozeman Science

Bozeman Science is maintained by Paul Andersen, a science teacher in Bozeman, MT. He has created hundreds of science videos that have been viewed millions of times by students and teachers around the world. All of these videos are accessible from this website. Click any of the links to view videos within specific content areas.

National Science Foundation

NSF Classroom Resources contain a diverse collection of lessons and web resources for classroom teachers, their students, and students’ families. Materials are arranged by subject area to help you quickly find resources in your interest area and then use them to create lesson plans or at-home activities.

Science for Kids

Enjoy learning about science with a wide range of fun experiments, facts, games, activities, quizzes, videos, and projects that are perfect for kids Grades 1-8.

Dr. Fly’s Reviews

Dr. Fly’s presents a great list of STEM games, simulations, and virtual labs with reviews by Dr. Randy Russell (an educator out of Colorado).

STEM Behind Hollywood

STEM Behind Hollywood is an exciting new program created by Texas Instruments with the assistance of the Science & Entertainment Exchange, a program of the National Academy of Sciences, to get students excited about STEM education and careers using HollyWood movies.

PBS.org

PBS provides a great source of information and activities on a myriad of topics. This online compilation offers an assortment of lessons and activities for educators and students alike. The Media Infusion Blog in particular showcases strategies and resources to help teachers create engaging learning experiences using multimedia. Other science sites from PBS include:

Wolfram Alpha

Much like Wikipedia, Wolfram Alpha, in essence, is never really complete. It is a computational search engine (unlike general “textual” search engines like Google) that provides mathematical, logical, and factual responses to search items. Wolfram is particularly helpful in mathematics and science research for understanding terms, rules, laws, and statistical analysis.

Science Netlinks

Science Netlinks provides resources for K-12 science educators and standards-based online experiences for students. Check out the Lessons page for helpful and engaging internet lesson plans for all different sciences.

PhET Simulations

The PhET Interactive Simulations project at the University of Colorado provides a free website of research-based simulations that are designed to support student learning through active engagement. It features simulations such as Energy Skate Park, Salts and Solubility, Gas Properties, Density, Circuit Construction Kit, and Build an Atom.

BrainPop – Science

A very creative and engaging animated website for students between middle and early high school level. BrainPop provides a wide variety of curriculum-based content in an accessible and fun format, and is a highly recommended and extensive resource for teachers and students.

Science Daily

Science Daily is a well-established news website for the latest information on scientific research and resources for all levels of interest. It includes popular articles, videos, images, book recommendations, and more. Topics include health & medicine, the mind & brain, plants & animals, earth & it’s climate, space & time, matter & energy, computers & math, and fossils & ruins.

Turning the Pages

The British Library’s online gallery provides access to engaging, interactive virtual tours of classic books. The library includes science-related works such as Elizabeth Blackwell’s Botanical illustrations, Vesalius’s stunning 16th Century anatomy history, and scientific sketches by Leonardo Da Vinci. Many of these works represent perfect examples of classic scientific journals and illustrations of the past.

Kinetic City

Kinetic City is an online collection of interactive Science Experiments, Games and Projects for late elementary/early middle school grade level. Although the games in general are very rudimentary in nature, after completion, be sure students click on the “Learn More” feature that goes into a succinct yet informative explanation of the topics summarized in the activities.

Skoool Math & STEM

Skoool is an online learning and teaching technology tool dedicated to student development through middle and high school age levels. By providing interactive science and math activities, students can not only explore material currently being covered in their classrooms but can expand on their learning for the future as well. The Teachers section includes skill development, a technology literacy review, using ICT in mathematics, and issues in building schools and curricula. Main subjects include Maths, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics, as well as Exam A and B prep (for students in the U.K.).

MyExperiment

MyExperiment makes it easy to share digital items, workflows, and other objects associated with your scientific research with colleagues and communities. Although it requires registration, for more advanced students, this website provides a great opportunity to see what research is currently being done on topics of interest.

Science Alive! wiki

Although most wikis in science education seem to be created by teachers for teachers, Science Alive! was created by two middle school students for the benefit of other students. For each experiment they undergo, students write an introduction to the experiment, an overview of previous knowledge about the topic, discuss thoughts and questions from themselves and others, and talk about what they have learned in the experiment.

Science and Technology of World War II

This highly impressive online exhibit of science and technology of WWII contains an animated timeline, activities (such as sending encrypted messages), expert audio responses to science and technology questions, lesson plans, quizzes, introductory essays, a virtual field trip, and more. Explore not only the applications of science and mathematics during WWII, but also discuss the real-world ethical and moral implications of their uses.

Michigan 4-H Children’s Garden Tour

Although this virtual tour is aimed towards younger students (elementary ages), the interactive landscape of this Garden Tour also provides teachers with mini lesson plans and activities involving a variety of maps and videos.

Rocks, Minerals, and Precious Stones

Kids can explore the exciting science of geology to learn about the Earth’s structure and which factors have shaped the globe. Anyone who likes minerals, rocks, and precious stones will love studying geology. Geology is a popular subject since so many people like examining beautiful rocks.

Earth Science for Kids

Earth Science is not just about rocks and minerals. It also includes topics such as space, weather, and learning about the oceans. Cover the big ideas of Earth Science for kids with our best Earth Science lesson ideas! Below you’ll find a variety of hands-on science activities that use simple materials. Plus, free printable information packs to get you started!

Twenty Four Seven Science!

This kid site from the Lawrence Hall of Science provides projects, activities, and games for young science students. The Citizen Science Activities provide interactive ways for students to experiment, design, and discover about the world around them. An Educator’s Page is in the works as well.

Earth Science Videos for Kids

*** Special thanks to the Martin Family for adding more content!****

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