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I agree with you. I collect all kins of sites. I teach 1st - 5th grade. I use the BBC Schools site. I has interactive games. I have a smartboard and use it to play with them. We stop and discuss concepts as we practice through the activities. It is a great supplement for the hands on I do.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/science/
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http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/vlabs/
We dissect a leech and probe for leech neurons every year at HHMI. They have many other simulations as well.
Will be using the malaria life cycle from the dnatube. Thanks Adah. BBC site is cool as well.
Thanks to both of you.
Steve
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Hi Adah,
A friend had suggested a great website for science educators. This is also a very helpful site for students studying to be teachers.There are numerous resourses where teachers share their resourses, lessons, ideas, group projects with other teachers.
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Oops! In my previous posting I forgot to add the name of the website.
It is called the sciencespot.
Here is the link for it.
http://sciencespot.net/
- Nadia
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Steve
Thank you so much for the link to the HHMI virtual labs. Outstanding
Pam
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I have used the PhET simulations. It is not life science but is valuable, challenging and very entertaining for the students. I will try to check out some of the sites suggested and will be on the look out for more. We use some simulations from the SMART exchange.
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Adah and group
The virtual microscope was offered as a web seminar! What an awesome opportunity and resource to use in the classroom. The seminar should be archieved, and there is information to be able to communicate with the scientists and send them bugs and other objects to view.
If you get a chance to watch the seminar, do it! It was one of the best I have particpated in...
Happy Friday,
Liz
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I know we have SciLinks available but I have found that having a Delicious (www.delicious.com) account for saving internet bookmarks a blessing. I used to have time, when the NSTA Reports arrived, to go through and add bookmarks for the recommended sites. Not so much anymore but I did add the DNAtube to my account today. The great thing is that we can share our sites and tags at Delicious. You can find my tags by looking up icanwingit as a user on the website. It is just another way to share sites easily. I also created a username for my students to access. It is called mrscarlislescience. Anyway you might want to check out the site for help finding sites other people recommend.
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I just checked out DNAtube it is really cool.
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Talking about the Virtual Lab that was offered by NSTA in one of their web seminars (now archived)-WOW! Archive: The Virtual Lab December 2, 2010 I have since downloaded; a luna sample, a Martian sample, a space shuttle tile sample, and a meteorite sample. I use these in my space science unit....(along with 'real' luna simulant soil, 'real' Mars simulant soil that I received from NASA (just by asking), and a 'really real' space shuttle tile with which to compare samples with). I know this is about Life Science, but I wanted to let everyone know how clear & sharp the images are. The program is huge, so allow time for it to download. And each file for each sample is also large. Using the program is easy to learn and your kids are going to love the pictures. There are LOTS of samples for life science, something for every grade level. This is one site that you need to check out for something 'different'.
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It is great to have a place to share great, free web resources. And, don't forget that NSTA is providing collections of vetted and evaluated web resources in the SciGuides. While SciGuides cost $4.95 (members) and $5.95 (non-members), the developers have scoured the Internet to identify the top resources in the subject area.
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One amazing bonus that NSTA provides its members is a 'free gift' of assorted SciPacks. SciPacks are 10 hour online learning experiences that you can use to help you better understand the content you teach. SciPacks are aligned with the national science education standards.
Currently, NSTA is offering 2 free SciPacks:
Resources and Human Impact
The Resources and Human Impact SciPack explores the role society plays in environmental degradation, and the technological solutions, including resource management, that arises from environmental issues. Human beings modify all components of Earth’s ecosystems as they use and consume available resources.
Earth, Sun, and Moon
The Earth, Sun, and Moon SciPack explores the phenomena that can be explained by the position and motion of Earth, the Moon, and the Sun. The focus is on topics supporting Standards and Benchmarks related to the heating of Earth’s surface by the Sun, phases of the Moon, and the apparent changes in the position of objects in the night sky.
Celebrate spring and continue your professional growth with a free NSTA SciPack!Alyce
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Speaking of freebies, I have been going crazy this past week downloading and categorizing all of the free resources our generous NSTA San Francisco presenters have placed online for everyone to enjoy and use. If you are not sure how to access these free conference resources, feel free to click on Live Support when it is "online" and ask. One of the online advisors will be happy to help!
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A favorite of mine for intermediate and middle schools is http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/video. Steve has created short videos, generally around 5 minutes in length, demonstrating lots of investigations I can no longer do in my classroom because of budget cuts. The videos are short and can be accessed online in every school I have ever been in. The really nice part is with many of the videos, there is also a tab that tells you about the investigation and the science behind what you saw. So far there are over 300 videos you can access on a variety of Science topics.
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Check out the Howard Hugh Medical Institute. It has some great virtual labs.
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Thanks for calling attention to the Howard Hughes resources, David. The CD's are free as are the holiday lectures; they are very applicable to biology, AP bio, and independent studies in the life sciences.
http://www.hhmi.org/
the site for the 2010 series http://www.hhmi.org/catalog/main?action=product&itemId=366
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Since I am an outdoor science gal, this free site has given me lots of ideas, lessons and examples for me to try with students outside the classroom. I attended the NSTA San Francisco conference in March 2011 and attended one of their classes. We did outdoor science right in Union Square, on a patch of grass, so the lessons they offer can be adapted for nearly anywhere. The web address is:
http://outdoorbiology.com/ The site is called OBIS-Outdoor Biology Instructional Strategies developed by the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley, CA. I highly recommend you look here for free lessons!
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Hi Peggy,
I'm so glad to read your post and would love to learn more about what you are doing and what your find particularly useful in the Learning Center. Thanks so much for the great free site for doing outdoor biology. Lots of us will explore it more fully, for sure. The Lawrence Hall of Science has been a leader in curriculum design for so many years that it is great to get your glowing rec that we should visit this site.
Have you used it with your classes yet? Where do you teach, Peggy? Am I correct in thinking that you teach bio and life sciences? Tell us a bit more, please. Your enthusiasm is catchy :} I look forward to chatting with you more.
~ patty
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Hi Patty,
Actually I'm a "right out of the credential program" teacher...looking for work in CA. I do get called to substitute a lot for science teachers so I have my little bag of tricks that I bring along with me. One teacher that I work for at Oroville High School says, "Left the lesson plans on the desk, but do what you want". So I like to take them outside. I just did a lesson on plant diversity by teaming up the students, laying out a large sheet with a grid penned onto it and the students had to collect anything that was green. Then they placed their specimens on the sheet in the squares, matching the species as best they could and if they couldn't find a particular species they laid it in an open square. Before the lesson I have them look at the area and guess how many plant species they think are out there in this specific place they would be collecting in, (which isn't very big). When all the plants are placed on the grid we count the species and see exactly how many everyone found and it is always more than what they predicted. I did this lesson because the teacher was going to teach them how to use dichotomous keys and thought this would be a good lead in for him. The students loved it! Word got around school and by 4th period the students were asking me, "Are we going outside today?" I teach Biology, Anatomy, Earth Sciences...and I really love it.
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Hi again, Peggy :}
It sounds like you are storing up lots of great experience as a sub in CA. It is wonderful that you have such lee way when you step into a class; the teachers must respect your lessons and appreciate what you do with the students. Also, the admin must trust you with the little kitties as you take them outside. I rue the fact that K-7 classrooms no longer open outdoors; it used to be that many elementary schools were long one story edifices and each classroom had easy access to the out of doors - education was not limited to inside 4 walls. There was an educator, from New England, I believe (I will have to look up his name) who founded a school of thought that education must be indoors and outdoors - connected together. It makes me think of Last Child in the Woods. The lessons in this chapter on Birds, Bugs, and Butterflies may have some goodies for you to put into your 'bag of resources' for the future.
Have you used any of the other resources available from the Lawrence Hall of Science?
Keep up the good work. I enjoy your conversation and look forward to future sharings.
Patty
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Hi everyone!
I just want to also sing the praises of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) that was mentioned earlier. They lectures and videos they make available to teachers for *free* are amazing. I even use many of the animations with my middle school students. I can't say enough good things about them. This is just one of the many free resources that I found in one of my NSTA publications.
Thanks!
Kendra
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Many of these websites have been a great help for me to teach a variety of science topics to elementary students-Thank you for sharing! I will be telling others about these great links from NSTA at my school.
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At the beginning of the semester, I have my pre-service elementary students visit and describe several websites that I have found useful and I want them to know about.
http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/ is a web site sponsored by AAAS. This website provides a wealth of information. It has inquiry-oriented lesson plans K-12 (organized by grade groupings K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12), websites for different tools and resources, and alignment to Benchmarks for Science Literacy.
Another website I’ve found useful is Teachers Domain http://www.teachersdomain.org/ which provides a resource of digital media (especially from PBS).
The Exploratorium Website http://www.exploratorium.edu/ is a great resource website for inquiry based teaching. I especially like the Science Explorer http://www.exploratorium.edu/science_explorer/ that provides easy activities for kids.
Kathy
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Thank you Kathy! These are wonderful media links that I can use with my SmartBoard and projector-
My students enjoy short clips from our studies-their latest favorite is the CritterCam from National Geographic for Kids.
Tamara
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Thank you all for your wonderful contributions. sciencecourseware.com is a free inquiry based simulation site that has a teacher workspace where you can assess your student's learning on the site. The site offers interactive, online simulations for the life science laboratory or for earth science field studies. Below I attached an NSTA article from Science Scope that integrates this site into a top-notch lesson.
Thank You,
Angie
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Another teacher I work with shared this link today. It has other disciplines as well, but the *free* elementary resources are pretty good.
Kids Know It!
Thanks!
Kendra
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Angie, thanks for the website and article. I just skimmed the article for now and looked at the website. It’s definitely something that I will offer to my high school biology student teachers in the future.
Kendra, thanks for the Kids Know It website. This will be a great website for my pre-service elementary teachers to explore. It never ceases to amaze me how many educational sites are out there.
I have another site that I have have my pre-service elementary methods students do before we do an actual owl pellet dissection in class. It is a virtual owl pellet dissection. When the students finish their virtual dissection, they can fill-in a Barfologist Certificate documenting that they completed the online dissection. My students love it! http://www.kidwings.com/owlpellets/flash/v4/index.htm
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I may make this post in a couple of different places since it is so very cool. I participated in a webinar yesterday about the LADEE satellite that will be launched in the near future. Did anyone ever take part in the:
Lunar Samples Program?
They will loan you actual lunar samples to display in your classroom - for free.
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I did not read through every post, so someone may have mentioned this. Adah said something that caught my attention, "textbooks are obsolete". There are some you might want to consider at www.ck12.org They are standards based, free and what is really cool you and your class can customize the content. It can be published in 3 forms: e-reader, pdf for printing, or html for live links, java applets, video. My students need to do a semester project that showcases their understanding with lessons, games, videos, poems, art, however they feel they can prove their deep understanding of a concept. If the class and I feel a student project beats the book, we put it in the book. Truly a living document controlled locally but backed by billionaire philanthropists. Nice.
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http://www.physicsclassroom.com/ and http://www.iop.org/education/index.html are two effective resources.
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Fred,
I really liked what I saw in the ck12.org "textbook" link. Lots of solid starting materials with the ability to create custom content. You could build a course, and plug in the pieces on a website with relatively little effort. Definitely worth a look.
Also have used the physicsclassroom site, and find it useful for students to use to reinforce concepts learned in class. I found the force and motion sections very useful.
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http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/begin/tour/ here is another great web site....plus you have the option of saving it on your hard drive....
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I agree, Jennifer! The Free Textbooks website is a great resource for money-strapped districts in particular.
Stephen, welcome to the discussion thread! Yes, the Genetics Science Learning Center from the University of Utah is an excellent resource. Have you tried the Click & Clone yet from that site? Very cool!
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agree with you re the free websites.
look at dnai.org
for life/biology teachers
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I just received this email and thought some of you might be interested in the certification:
[i]The Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) is currently developing the Green Classroom Professional (GCP) Certificate Program, which will enable preK-12 educators to gain knowledge on maintaining a healthier and sustainable classroom. Armed with a strong understanding of sustainability in educational settings, Green Classroom Professionals create and advocate for healthier environments in which to work and teach. A certificate holder’s classroom can serve as a living laboratory, creating foundational awareness of greener lifestyles, energy savings and environmental health in students.
As the GCP is developed for official launch in 2012, GBCI is seeking preK-12 educators to participate in the Beta test of the program, taking place entirely online from November 7 – 21, 2011. The Beta will consist of taking an online course and an online virtual animated assessment, with a total duration of 2-3 hours over the two week period. In exchange for their participation, the first 150 participants will be able to earn the GCP certificate for free. The Green Classroom Professional Certificate Program will be fully available beginning in 2012.
To sign up for the Beta next month, educators simply need to complete this survey as soon as possible: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22DEWEZJ3C7 ' target="_blank"> http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22DEWEZJ3C7 " target="_blank"> http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22DEWEZJ3C7 ' target="_blank"> http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22DEWEZJ3C7 . Please share this information with any preK-12 educators in your networks, including teachers, paraprofessionals and administrators, and encourage them to sign up for participation in the Beta test.[/i]
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Thank you everybody for sharing all these websites!
One website that I could not live without is the University of Utah's Learn Genetics. It's great for general Biology or Genetics electives. I can't wait to look through ever more resources!
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Great posts. I have been able to look at some of the suggested sites, but not all of them yet. I created a collection with most of the sites which anyone else is willing to save to their library.
Thanks to all those who have shared.
Websites to look into Collection
(17 items)
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I used to use that site all the time when I was teaching. My kids LOVED Mouse Party!!!!!
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As part of an assignment for my Science Methods class, I came upon this website:
http://www.newyorkscienceteacher.com/sci/
Here, wonderful Braille and large-type editions of reference tables for Physics, Earth Science and Chemistry can be found on this site. A unique feature of this site is the lesson plans that educators around the country have uploaded for other teachers to use. Additionally, an immense number of links are provided to other sites for more in-depth lesson planning material. While this site started off having material to meet New York State learning standards, everything can be adapted to any state standards
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Adah,
DNA tube http://www.dnatube.com/ is an awesome site. Definitely be useful as my scholars begin to study Cells and Heredity.
Thanks so very much for sharing.
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Thanks for mentioning all the free resources!
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Among my favorite "free" PD resources are online classes and lectures through
Academic Earth
http://academicearth.org/
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Bored over the holiday? Check out FREE online learning
Open Course Ware Collection
(7 items)
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I found another great website powermylearning.org. I am going to get my students logged on to it. Has anyone else tried this site.
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Im sure of you have heard of brain pop . But if you havent, i wanted to share that it is working well with my students this year. They watch a short video and they are able to take a quiz right after. They are learning the textbook information so much quicker this way.
There is a fee if you want full privaleges . My school bought a membership
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Im sure of you have heard of brain pop . But if you havent, i wanted to share that it is working well with my students this year. They watch a short video and they are able to take a quiz right after. They are learning the textbook information so much quicker this way.
There is a fee if you want full privaleges . My school bought a membership
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The Apollo Lunar Educational Sample Loan mentioned by Carolyn Mohr is one that is run free for educators by NASA's AESP Education Specialists and the LPI personnel. It is truely an "only as NASA can" opportunity since no other organization can loan Apollo samples to teachers for use in their classrooms or educational programs.
I am proud to be one of the AESP specialists who can provide the training and certification programs. I am located at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, but there specialists around the country who can work with you and your school district to come to you to provide this service. With major reductions to the travel budgets across federal agencies, you will need to contact one of us very soon in order to get on the calendar for such a training. These days, we would need to be able to work with ~30+ educators in order to make the trip.
You can contact me through this NSTA site or my email address: Richard.S.Varner @nasa.gov and I can conected you with your area specialist.
Beyond this free workshop, the lunar sample loan and rich educational materials, the www.nasa.gov site is packed with free materials and opportunities for teachers. The AESP specialists can also help you find NASA and related organizational materials that support your efforts in the classroom.
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Wow, great posts guys. Keep 'em coming. I haven't been able to go through them all, but DNAtube was awesome!
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I love the HHMI site. They have great information and you can also get free dvds
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You can find all the websites with free materials that were listed in NSTA Reports at www.nsta.org/publications/freebies.aspx.
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