Science Education Resources: Lesson Plans and Teaching Activities

Eek! Environmental Education for Kids

EEK! is created by the Wisconsin Green Schools Network and features all different aspects from the great outdoors. In the "Critter Corner",you can read about all different animals, bugs, fish and reptiles. Under "Our Earth" section, this area focuses on the environment and ways to help our planet. Most important is the "Teacher Pages" section with lesson plans that incorporate Science, Math, Social Studies and English.
Grades: 1 - 8

Environmental Kids club

This website offers something for both teachers and students. Under the "games" section, students can play interactive games, word searches and crossword puzzles on all different environmental topics. The teachers section has lesson plan ideas, school project ideas, and free printable materials.
Grades: 2 - 8

Environmental Literacy Council

A virtual library of information about a variety of environmental topics. The teacher section includes lesson plans and labs, as well as reviews of teaching resources. The student portion includes background information, additional resources and links to web resources and Ask an Expert websites.
Grades: 6 - 12

Exploratorium Sport Science

This site created by the Exploratorium Museum in San Francisco, CA helps students not only learn about a specific sport (baseball, cycling, surfing, etc), but teaches them the science behind each one. You can even try some of the experiments with your students, such as the "Thrown for a Curve".
Grades: 6 - 12

Exploratorium: Explore, Play, Discover

The Exploratorium is science museum in San Francisco. In the Explore section of this website you can: Browse by Topic, or Browse by Type for different hands-on activities for kids. In the Education section Tools for Teaching and Learning discusses many of the resources available from the website, including podcasts, videos, and links to other websites.
Grades: 4 - 10

Garbology

An interactive game that asks, "Where should my waste go?" The website includes lesson plans and handouts. Developed by NatureBridge, and environmental science education group that is a partner of the National Park Service.
Grades: K - 8

GLOBE Program

GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) is a hands-on, inquiry-based science program. Many resources are provided to help teachers participate in the many GLOBE data collection projects. The website can be translated to French, Spanish, German and Russian.
Grades: K - 12

K12 Science: A Portal to SERC's Resources

The Science Education Resource Center (SERC) @ Carleton College has organized this extensive collection of lessons, activities, lab investigations, projects and field trips on a wide range of topics. Searchable by type of type of activity, subject and grade level.
Grades: K - 12

K8Science

A project sponsored by the Center for Educational Outreach at the Baylor College of Medicine, K8 Science includes curriculum units in Life Science, Physical Science and Earth/Space Science. Within each unit are resources such as videos, slide sets and lesson plans.
Grades: K - 8

learningscience.org

A collaborative project of the Central Bucks School District and The College of Education at Temple University, learningscience.org identifies "learning tools" for science education. Organized by the National Science Education Standards (1996)this website highlights the best free, web based tools including real-time data collection, simulations, inquiry based lessons, interactive web lessons, and others.
Grades: K - 12

National Geographic Education

Covering a variety of subject areas National Geographic Education tries to inspire the spirit of adventure. Videos, games, lesson plans, unit plans and other learning activities are searchable by grade level and subject area.
Grades: K - 12

National Science Digital Library (NSDL)

An extensive collection of links to websites and other online educational resources for teaching and learning. Searchable by subject, education level, resource type and standard. Entries include link, description, grade level and identify standards. Most resources are free.
Grades: PreK - 12

New Jersey Agricultural Society

The mission of the New Jersey Agricultural Society is "to preserve and enhance agriculture, farming and related activities and businesses in New Jersey through educational, informational, and promotional programs." The Learning Through Gardening link provides lesson plan and teaching activities about agriculture, weather and other science topics.
Grades: 2 - 6

Ology-Climate change

This site created by the American Museum of Natural History is both educational and entertaining. There are several interactive games, stories and hands-on activities that explain different aspects of climate change. The " for educator" link at the bottom opens another screen where a teacher can find dozens of OLogy articles and paired with vocabulary lessons and formative assessments. These units cover Earth, life, and physical science content and are available for elementary through high school students.
Grades: 3 - 12

PBS Teachers: EcoInvestigators

Using the principles of both inquiry-based science and CmPS (Community Problem Solving) instruction this website includes lesson plans focusing on four environments: air, land, freshwater and saltwater. Included are handouts, rubrics, links to other websites and other resources.
Grades: 3 - 5

Physclips: A multi level, multi-media resource

Developed by UNSW (University of New South Wales) this website includes videoclips and animations to illustrate the physics concepts of momentum, sound and waves and light, as well as electricity and magnetism and thermal physics. Supporting materials are also available.
Grades: 9 - 12

PhysicsCentral: Learn How Your World Works

Divided into three sections, Explore the Science, Ask and Experiment, and Physics Buzz, this website sponsored by the American Physical Society answers questions about how things work. It includes information about the latest research, activity books, Ask-A-Physicist, experiments and competitions for students.
Grades: 6 - 12

Read to Feed: Heifer International

Using the "teach a man to fish" philosophy Heifer International has been working to end hunger and poverty since 1944. Available in both English and Spanish "Read to Feed" is a collection of lesson plans that focus primarily on the environment and world cultures while also integrating language arts, mathematics and the arts. The Global Study Guides are written for middle school through high school.
Grades: PreK - 12

Schools Science Clips

Organized by age levels these interactive activities teach a variety of science topics. The Resources for Teachers includes lesson plans, worksheets and activities. Sponsored by the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation).
Grades: K - 5

Science Buddies

Over 1000 science project ideas can be found in this collection. Students can use the Topic Selection Wizard to identify interests and get project recommendations. The Teachers section gives resources and suggests activities to support science learning. Ask An Expert gets students and teachers in touch with experts in many science fields.
Grades: K - 12

Science Explorations

Through this Scholastic webaite students can explore six different science areas: Science Web Quests, Classify Insects, Journey into Space, Soar with Bats, Uncover Lizards and Snakes, Investigate the Giant Squid and Animals, Adaptation and the Galapagos Islands. Most topics begin with a video clip, followed by suggested activities. Each section has a Teacher's Guide.
Grades: K - 8

Science NetLinks

A project of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, this website includes lesson plans and online learning tools (searchable by grade level and branch of science), collections of resources relating to a single topic, and updates of science news.
Grades: K - 12

Sing about Science and Math

Greg Crowther of the University of Washington Created in February of 1999, this web page. It offers songs I have written and co-written about various topics in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). Many of these songs attempt to deliver content accurately (and some have been validated by educational research), while others are silly. Relatively good ones are marked with gold stars (recommended).
Grades: PreK - 12

Smithsonian Education

Created by the Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies this website provides lesson plans and other resources from the Smithsonian Institute. Searchable by keyword, grade level, subject area or standards, the resources range from activity sheets, photos, videos and across all subject areas.
Grades: PreK - 12

Smithsonian Learning Lab

There are over a million resources available in the Learning Lab representing the Smithsonian's 19 museums, 9 research center and the National Zoo. Educators can use the content and collections for free.
Grades: 3 - 12

Understanding Science

Developed for pre-service teachers of science, K-16, this website explores the scientific process. The Resource Database is searchable by grade level, topic,etc. Correcting Misconceptions corrects common misconceptions. This free resource was produced by the UC Museum of Paleontology of the University of California at Berkeley, and funded by the National Science Foundation.
Grades: K - 12

Waste in Place

This website created by Keep America Beautiful is a resource for educators to help their students learn about about litter prevention, beautification and community greening, recycling, and managing solid waste. Each activity comes with fact sheet, the lesson and parent resources. A detailed glossary is also included.
Grades: K - 6

Weather Wiz Kids

This site is designed and maintained by Meteorologist Crystal Wicker of WRTV in Indianapolis. It offers lesson plans and simple experiments on all aspects of the weather. Under the Kid Zone area, you will find links to weather jokes, folklore stories, games and questions that help students absorb all kinds of weather information.
Grades: 3 - 6

Web Weather for Kids

This site is sponsored by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. Students learn information and answer questions related to climate, weather,sun/space and atmosphere. The learning zone provides games, simulations, videos and images. Under classroom activities, teachers can find lesson plans, teaching boxes, and experiments that coordinate with these topics.
Grades: 7 - 12

Wonderville

Sponsored by MindFuel (a charitable organization) this Canadian website features videos, interactive games, comics and science experiments to teach science. Divided into broad categories: Living Things, How Things Work, and Our World, activities can be search by topic and grade level.
Grades: 2 - 9

ZOOMsci

Based on the PBS program, ZOOM, this website includes a variety of science activities for elementary students. Organized by broad subject areas, e.g. chemistry, my five senses, etc. Each entry lists materials needed, instructions and feedback from students who have tried the activity. Includes games and printables.
Grades: 2 - 6