Free Interactive Web Resources for Teaching Science
- 1 February, 2022 //
- Teaching Resources //
- Tags : science, STEM, teaching resources, teaching tips
- Comments Off on Free Interactive Web Resources for Teaching Science
Science is a wonderful subject to teach. It’s all about exploring, learning, and discovering how the natural world works. The Internet is positively busting with amazing (and questionable) resources, which can lead to hours of your time being spent looking for quality resources to use in your classroom.
We hear your calls and have put together a list of Free Interactive Web Resources for Teaching Science that we love. While we’d all love to have operating rooms, telescopes, and a laboratory in the classroom, we’ve kept things simple. All you’ll need is an Internet connection, tablets, and computers, which we’re sure you already have in your teaching toolbox. With these interactive resources, your students can experience science unlike any generation before.
e-learning for Kids provides animated mini-courses covering many scientific disciplines for elementary and middle school students. Students can work their way through each course and take the provided quiz when finished.
YouTube channels for kids such as SciShow Kids and NatGeo Kids
https://www.youtube.com/c/scishowkids/featured https://www.youtube.com/natgeokidsplaylists/featured
offer a wealth of well-researched information you can rely on in the classroom whether you’re teaching the body, volcanoes, or how we grow food.
Edheads offers a variety of exceptionally well-designed interactives with accompanying teacher guides. For example, let your students discover physics with the virtual Simple Machine.
VisionLearning https://www.visionlearning.com/en/glossary this is an excellent resource for providing explainers and definitions of scientific terms and concepts.
KS2 Bitesize by the BBC brings science alive with their collection of living things, materials, and physical processes interactives. Each topic includes animated activities, background reading, and a quiz.
BrainPop is an amazing resource to have in your teaching toolbox. It offers a wide variety of subjects and grade levels. It’s video lessons are well crafted and come with other teaching materials such as quizzes, worksheets, graphic organizers, related readings, and many more.
Smithsonian Learning Lab is a free and interactive site that provides teachers with literally millions of digital resources and tools that can be downloaded and even adapted. You can create personalized lessons and share them with colleagues as well as class rosters.
Learner.org provides dozens of interactives across scientific disciplines and is searchable by grade level. Be sure to try Amusement Park Physics, where students investigate the physics of amusement park rides by constructing animated roller coasters.
NASA Quest brings the expanses of the universe to K-12 classrooms with its innovative collection of interactive resources. Challenge students to design robotic airplanes to explore Mars, solve air traffic problems, or take part in the next NASA Quest Challenge.
PBS LearningMedia offers an extensive collection of interactive STEM resources. Search this collection of videos, audio files, interactives, and images by discipline and grade. The “Background Essays” and “Discussion Questions” offer great starting points for classroom use. Resources are free, but you need to register for an account after viewing three.
Scholastic offers a range of interactive activities geared toward elementary and middle school students. Check out the “Weather Watch” module. Students will enjoy playing Mother Nature with the Weather Maker interactive and solving real-world “weather mysteries” with the Weather Detective Web Quest.
Wonderville will grab students’ attention with their engaging collection of science-themed activities, comics, games, and videos.
Mystery Science Their Open-and-go lessons inspire kids to love science. Their K-5 science curriculum is loved by kids all over and they’re aligned to Next Generation Science Standards and Common Core!
PhET Science Simulations This site offers free, fun and interactive simulations on math and science that are research-based. PhET tests and evaluates each of its simulations extensively so that they provide the most educational value and effectiveness.
Stem Rising This is a US Department of Energy initiative aimed at inspiring and educating students to set them on an upward trajectory into a career in the STEM. It provides programs, competitions, events, internships, resources, and much more.
Exploratorium offers educational media perfect for classroom lessons and activities that center on playing to learn. It provides resources for a wide range of ages and ability levels and supports different educational philosophies from informal unschooling to more traditional classroom structures.
California Academy of Sciences is a treasure trove of diverse, research-rich lessons that will inspire budding scientists. This can be used along with the academy or as a standalone.
Defined Learning This website provides a stellar line up of resources that are perfect for project-based learning from kindergarten all the way up to 12th grade. It empowers students to thrive with research-proven methods.
