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I don't know about you but I am addicted to Pinterest! I have found so many wonderful educational resources and ideas on there. I found that there are so many Language Arts as well as Math ideas on Pinterest but has anyone found good science pins?

Hi Courtney,
I like Pinterest too, especially when people give some details about the science concepts involved. The National Association for the Education of Young Children has a members' Early Childhood Science Interest Forum, the ECSIF. And we have a Pinterest account at http://pinterest.com/ecisf/
Peggy

Hello Courtney, Through my experience pinning I have found a lot of good resources by simply searching the word science. I have found fun experiments to use on various topics including solubility with http://mumsmakelists.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/10-magic-potions.html, unique creations for discussion topics with http://www.science-sparks.com/2013/03/20/science-magic-2/, and a fun way to teach kids about different properties using glowing materials to make it entertaining for the kids with http://www.growingajeweledrose.com/2012/05/mad-science-lab-fun-science-exploration.html. If you are looking for more ideas I suggest using the search bar on Pinterest to search science and see what fun experiments and resources you can find!

Hi Courtney,

Like Peggy and Rachel, I have found several excellent teaching ideas on Pinterest. Here's a sample of returns from a keyword search on Science. One of the things that I like best about Pinterest is that I can find other resources on the internet and save them to my boards on Pinterest. This make it easy for me to find great resources on the web, and then have one collective place where I can organize and easily find all of my discoveries. For more information on how to pin resources you find online, click here.

Best of luck in your search for great resources!

Maureen

I also use pinterest for a lot of ideas to use in my lesson plans and future classroom (I am still a student). I found great ideas on science experiments by searching for discrepant events. I also found a lot of activity ideas on there for a unit plan I am doing on the life cycle of frogs. Another great thing is that you can create boards specific to any topic, for example I have board specific to my frog life cycle unit plan. It also segments you into other teacher’s websites and blogs which can be excellent recourses for ideas and information as well. Happy Pinning!! Nicole White

I love pinterest as well. I follow science with kids and there are a lot of ideas that can be utilized in the classroom. It's very nice to hear that NSTA has a forum on pinterest. I will definitely check that out!!!

Hi Courtney, I am currently a student and pinterest has been so helpful when coming up with lesson plan ideas. Pinterest can be used for all subject areas. A few things I have found when using pinterest to find lesson ideas in science include plant life, discrepant events, and ideas on teaching weather patterns to students. I love this idea on teaching younger students about clouds; http://pinterest.com/pin/42643527694178039/ Hope some of these suggestions are helpful! Brittany

Courtney, I, too, am addicted to Pinterest! I am currently a student studying to be an elementary education teacher. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Pinterest had a lot to offer in the area of Education; in fact, they even have their own tab! I've found a lot of great classroom management strategies as well as math and language arts ideas. I'm not sure what grade level your looking for science lessons in, but I found a couple of things pertaining to the life cycle of a butterfly. Below are the links: http://pinterest.com/pin/174303448050276829/ http://pinterest.com/pin/174303448050276907/ I also found a neat link to making "rock candy": http://pinterest.com/pin/174303448050495805/ Jacquelyn

Like everyone else who replied, I too, am guilty of being addicted to Pinterest! I find myself on Pinterest whenever I get stuck on a lesson plan! I found a few ideas that are great for science lessons: The first link, http://www.nature-watch.com/weather-window-cloud-identification-and-weather-prediction-activity-kit-p-44.html?cPath=142_143, is of a cloud detector. The students hold up this frame-like object to figure out what cloud type they see outside. This link, http://www.nature-watch.com/weather-window-cloud-identification-and-weather-prediction-activity-kit-p-44.html?cPath=142_143, is a great way to show the food chain using stacking cups. This link, http://media-cache-ec3.pinterest.com/originals/bb/e3/02/bbe302629243c09135320c540e3bcd2e.jpg, is a fun way to show what a butterfly looks like at different stages of life using pasta. This last link, http://media-cache-ec5.pinterest.com/originals/86/39/9c/86399c4505f1eac95913d10044bab2c1.jpg, shows how rain falls when clouds get too heavy. Pinterest is full of awesome ideas! I hope the ones I shared can help. Enjoy!

Hello Courtney Fullmer, their is you have to go under food and you will see different things in science that has food. Also it is cool and their are good ideas to use for your classroom and different project you can use to do with your students Samba, Marie

Thank you all for your wonderful replies! I've found some awesome life cycle pins, which I will be using in the next few weeks! I also wanted to ask about apps for iPads. Our school recently bought every teacher one iPad to use in the classroom. I have been using the iPad mostly hooked up to the Elmo, which then projects to a big screen that all the students can see. I've of course found a ton of alphabet and counting apps but not a whole of of science ones. I'm looking at buying Sid the Science kid app, has anyone used it yet? Are there other hidden science apps that others would be willing to share?!?!

I love Pinterest and feel that I am quite addicted like the rest of you ;) Anyway, I have found a couple of really cool experiments to do with children to get them thinking. A lot of the activities are very fun too! One of my favorites so far is a colored xylophone using glow sticks and glasses. It is a spin on the classic spin of the water xylophone making it even more exciting and enticing for children. I have yet to try it, but I know that the kids will love it! It would be a great one for discussing sound and sound waves with your students!! I hope you found a lot of good stuff on Pinterest. I will definitely be using Pinterest as a great teacher resource!!

I love Pinterest and feel that I am quite addicted like the rest of you ;) Anyway, I have found a couple of really cool experiments to do with children to get them thinking. A lot of the activities are very fun too! One of my favorites so far is a colored xylophone using glow sticks and glasses. It is a spin on the classic spin of the water xylophone making it even more exciting and enticing for children. I have yet to try it, but I know that the kids will love it! It would be a great one for discussing sound and sound waves with your students!! I hope you found a lot of good stuff on Pinterest. I will definitely be using Pinterest as a great teacher resource!!

I have never played with Pininterest; I did not realize it could provide useful teaching resources. I will have to check it out! Thank you to everyone for sharing.

Does anyone have a list of criteria for assessing the science activities that are available on Pinterest or any other website? What do you look for? Peggy

Hi Peggy, Great question! I do quite a bit of my lesson planning by searching for ideas and activities on the internet. Like all resources on the internet, you do need to be cautious of information and ideas you find online to ensure they are legitimate and valid. Here's my mental checklist that I run through when I'm evaluating an internet resource: 1. Is this an activity/resource that meets my lesson objective/goal? 2. Is this activity on grade level (or can I easily modify it)? 3. Is this activity reasonable to complete in my classroom? 4. Is this activity safe? 5. Is this activity affordable? 6. Will this activity engage my students? Also, whenever I am downloading a resource or looking up content knowledge, I try to validate the information from several sources to ensure the information is accurate. I'm looking forward to hearing others' thoughts on how to evaluate online resources. Maureen

I am also obsessed with Pinterest! I use it as much as possible for everyday life, which includes helpful education tips. I have my own personal account and board for all my education studies. If you would like to look at it you can find me at jasvazquez5. I don't have it seperated by subjects but I have an education folder. I find the site so user friendly that by simply just searching science lessons I found a lot of great ideas. Below I have a link to the search I did as well as one website I found through the search that stuck out as extra great for me. I hope this helps! http://pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=science+lessons http://lesson-plans.theteacherscorner.net/science/

I love Pinterest! Here are some science pins I thought were pretty cool: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/319966748503476750/ https://www.pinterest.com/pin/319966748503476747/ https://www.pinterest.com/pin/319966748499175091/ https://www.pinterest.com/pin/319966748499174929/ https://www.pinterest.com/pin/319966748496552202/

Pinterest is very addicting! I am not sure if you have ever seen this lesson https://www.pinterest.com/pin/81909286945393535/ however I did this in one of my undergrad classes and it is so cool! I found it interesting as an adult so I know the kids would love it.

Like all of you, I am very addicted to pinntrest! I appreciate all of your ideas and please follow me. I pin new ideas daily. Thank you

We have a very active and popular STEM Pinterest page with 21 boards and almost 6,000 followers. Our focus is only science and STEM on all of our boards with specific categories to help you find what you need. We hope you pay us a visit when your searching for ideas ( but be forewarned ...it is addictive!) https://www.pinterest.com/getcaughtengin/ Wendy and Cheryl

Pinterest is the best resource to go to in a time crunch of finding an activity!

I'm also a pinterest fan! I have found several other science teachers to follow that always have great ideas!

Wonderful! Let us know which of the boards you use are focused on which grades, and which align with the Next Generation Science Standards three dimensions of core ideas, science and engineering practices and crosscutting concepts.

I am an avid pinterest visitor as well. My favorites are the anchor charts. My students love the anchor charts and you can make them engaging by allowing the students to draw pictures on the anchor charts. My students love anything that is hands on and allows them to present their creative side.

Yes! There are so many great ideas for interactive journaling! Do you just search pinterest or do you search and then use pinterest to "pin" your ideas? Have you checked out Teachers Pay Teachers?

Pinterest is one of my go sites for awesome ideas for everything from anchor charts to actual lessons.

I am currently a student studying Elementary Education, but I love looking on Pinterest for ideas to use in my future classroom. This science project for a lower elementary classroom that I found on Pinterest combines art and science into one project. The students first have to create the flower and background (art) before they move on to labeling the important aspects of the flower itself and what it needs to survive (science). https://www.pinterest.com/pin/194710383861987399/

Thanks everyone for the great Pinterest leads! I think using Pinterest is a great resource, but like anything out there on the internet, it can be a lot to wade through. I am former science teacher who is now focusing on science writing and science curriculum development. I am pinning all sorts of science activities on my Pinterest page: https://www.pinterest.com/shareitscience/ I try my best to evaluate pages before I pin them, and some are my own articles and resources from my blog, www.shareitscience.com so hopefully you will find my board to be a good resource. I know the Get Caught Engineering ladies spoke up earlier in this thread, they have some great Pinterest pins too!! Good luck scientists!!

I love the idea of using Pinterest as a source for Science lessons and ideas. I have created a board specifically for teaching ideas. I think Pinterest provides great hands on learning ideas and lessons for students.

Yes pinterest has the best ideas for teachers. I have found it very useful in planning lessons and getting great ideas. For some good science lessons you can go to pinterest and type in science lessons. Many different creative science lessons pop up. I have found it more educational if you type in a certain subject you are looking for in a science lesson. Good Luck!

Pinterest is a great location to find fun and creative ideas for teachers. I have been able to find a wide variety of activities for the elementary level. I love the fact that teachers are able to upload their own lessons to Pinterest so that other teachers can benefit from one another. It is such a great resource! I haven't seen many full science lessons on Pinterest but rather interesting and creative experiments and activities to supplement your lessons. Happy pinning!

Pinterest is great for finding activities for children, but are all of the experiments reliable? Has anyone found any great, reliable experiments on Pinterest or any other websites?

Our Pinterest page continues to grow with more boards and lots of STEM ideas. https://www.pinterest.com/getcaughtengin/ Wendy Get Caught Engineering

Hello! I am currently a student and love using Pinterest for all different types of lessons. I really like how there are so many ideas for hands on science activities to do in the classroom. My question for y'all is what has been one of your favorite science lessons you've done with your students that you found on Pinterest?

I have not only found great activities for students, but I have also found creative ways to take other pins and connect them to science, making adjustments to be used in a classroom!

Pinterest is full of great ideas! I usually find science pins mixed into the "History" category which I have found to be mostly education pins.

Does anyone know of any good online links to use on the iPad?

I think Pinterest is a great resource when it comes to finding science lessons and ideas. There are so many pins out there that are ready for you to go and use in the classroom right away.Pinterest is an easy to use website and is a great way for teachers to become inspired by other teachers. What are some of the boards you have found that you believe to have some great science lessons?

There are an abundance of ideas and great possible experiments or projects with a class on Pinterest. I have found several on the water cycle that I used in a Pre K class last semester. I have used boards titled Science Ideas, Science Experiments, Kids Science Activites to name a few for you.

Wow! I'm so excited to hear that other teachers are using pinterest as a resource. .As a future educator I am always looking for resources to use when I begin teaching. I love the multitude of educational resources on pinterest, but I have always been afraid of being made fun of because some people only view it as a social network. Anyways, I am really excited to see that other teachers and professionals use pinterest. YAY!

I have a question about the use of Pinterst as a resource. Would educators and professionals say that the activities and/or lessons on pinterest are more academically based or more "fun" activity based, or is it easy to find both? Second question: Has any teacher had a problem with their team teachers because they find lessons on pinterest?

What do you search under when you look at pintrest? what are the best key words?

PINTEREST is life. SUCH a great resources for teachers!

Pintrest is a great resource for teaching strategies and ideas. You can find anything on there!

Pinterest is an amazing resource for science activities. Such a helpful tool for all subjects!

As a preservice teacher I am constantly on Pinterest pinning ideas and lessons that I can not wait to incorporate in my classroom. I too have had similar experiences of not finding a whole of science stuff. But the ones I do find, I try to use my imagination to build off of them or if there is a literacy one I find I try to build off of it.

Hi Courtney, I agree Pinterest is a great resource for teaching. I have found some great pins for science when I was looking for an activity for one of my lessons. There are some great posts about activities to do when discussing weather. There is even an activity I found where students can make their own clouds and rain. It was very interesting and the students love it! is there a specific area of science you were looking on pinterest for? I find that if you look up a topic and type education at the end you get better results.

pinterest is such a great resource!

I LOVE Pinterest! It is full of ideas, I have found many activities from there. One thing you should always do is check the source.

I'm also a Pinterest addict.

I have always wondered if its ok to use pintrest in the classroom and how much is too much. I also don't know much about it do what is the best way to find ideas. I am doing a two science lesson plan for a class I am taking at UMBC and the whole idea behind it is go big or go home. I have thought about using pintrest or even this site but was wondering if anyone had any good ideas of where to start. It can be for any grade in elementary school and my teacher has recommended starting with an idea and then going to the objectives. I would love to do something very hands on and geared to having the class outside as much as possible.

I definitely agree with everyone, Pinterest is an excellent source all teachers should use to integrated in their lessons.

Pinterest has really great ideas! However, I have also found it difficult to find good pins for students in grades 3-5.

I am a kindergarten teacher and one of the Science Standards is teaching about weather and its patterns. I love the finger puppet activity to reinforce and make my weather lesson fun. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/525584218985112602/ I have also used Pinterest for many science experiment ideas.

Hi! I have found many posts about science, most of them show different kinds of activities for in class along with home activities. You just have to choose your search words wisely.

Hello, I have very recently learned out about Pinterest because numerous teachers at my field placement talked about it...so I had to find it for myself! Pinterest has so many teaching ideas and examples I could use for different subjects and I used one to teach language art. I think it's a great tool to use when teachers run out of ideas and etc. 

Pinterest is super awesome! Like a teacher once told me "DONT REINVENT THE WHEEL." When I get ideas from there I tend to put my own twist to it. It helps to kind of get your idea started. Other times I completely steal the whole idea. I think it is great to have a website like this available. I am always looking for ways to spark up my lesson and we don't always have all the answers. 

I haven't used Pinterest much really but I am always hearing great ideas that people find from there. It would be nice to have some interesting ways to jazz up a science lesson. I wonder about some of the activities that would be helpful for students learning about the weather cycle?

I LOVE Pinterest! I have gotten many ideas there as well.  Here is a website that I have found on Pinterest with some fun hands on activities: http://www.icanteachmychild.com/science-fair-projects/ 

I knew Pinterest was wonderful, but I had no idea it could help with science in elementary schools.  I will definitely have to go check out what resources teachers have posted.  Thanks for the tip!

Yes, there are so many science ideas on Pinterest. They give you different experiments to do with you students and they even tell you all the materials you need. You can even search experiments by a specify concept topic. 

Pinterest is amazing! I want to say that there are ideas on there for almost everything. From baby showers and weddings to organizational boards and science ideas (as well as science fair project ideas). This is not only helpful for educators but also makes life a lot easier for parents. I believe that it is the best way to share ideas and help others in a click of a button!

Pinterest is a wonderful website for educators. It offers tips on classroom management, organization, and behavior control. On Pinterest you could also find numerous activities for children. These activities include worksheets, arts and crafts, and experiments. Pinterest leads you to the website where you can either print or buy these artifacts. Plenty of science experiments are described. The page will lead to the instructions of the hands on learning experience as well as all the materials that are needed. I have used pinterest to attain ideas for classroom lessons and it has been a great help.

I love Pinterest, I think this website is a great source for teachers. Pinterest offers great ideas on lessons, organization, classroom management, classroom decorations, behavior control, children games, and science experiments. Pinterest also has a variety of classroom activities for example arts and crafts, different subject worksheets, and science experiments. I have actually used pinterest for different ideas in my lesson plans this is a very helpful website and I know that I will continue to use this website in the future once I become a teacher. 

I love Pintrest as well! It is a great tool for teachers. I have a board just for elementary lesson plans. There is always something to find, if not to do the exact lesson or just give a starting idea. The only issue I have with Pintrest is that I have so many pins it is hard to navigate a specific pin I am looking for. I am only an education student and I think once I become a actual teacher I am going to have a separate Pintrest account just for my classroom, so I do not have other pins interfering.

I have recently begun to use Pinterest as an inspiration for coming up with my own ideas and activities but I was worried on the correct way to cite my sources. Like each pin is from a person but sometimes if I click on a pin it leads me to an external website. Any suggestion on how to APA cite such sources?

As a young educator I feel as if Pinterest is an easy way for me to get ideas on lessons and activities to work on with my students. They have really great ideas and many teachers go on there and share as well. I think it is a valuable source for teachers and just about anyone who has a project in mind. It is always nice to get ideas and then build off of that. The resources you can find on Pinterest are endless.

I love Pinterest!! I have found some great science experiments and tips for teaching to the students. I would suggest creating a board for science because they suggest more boards that have great ideas.

There is so many great Science pins on pintrest! There are so many simple experiments that you can use in your classroom. I have used a few with my daughter who is in kindergarten and she LOVED THEM! Kids in general just love hands on activities and there are so many to find on pintrest!

I use pintrest 90% of the time to create my lessons! It's always so useful and gives very creative ways to make assignments! A lot of the time I just search "Science" and "Elementary" and a lot of the times I'll find some useful activities!

I am currently a student studying to be an elementary education teacher, and I love Pinterest. Anytime I was out of good ideas I found something good on Pinterest. I also like Teachers pay Teachers, especially Science Doodles are great with ideas for science lesson plans. 

I'm currently an elementary education student, and am currently working on a STEM project with my 5th grade class. I found a TON of STEM lessons and activities on Pinterest. I also found several other interesting activities that I hope to use in my future classroom! :)

Yes, I am also addicted to Pinterest!!! It is definitely one of the best apps ever! The site offers pictures, DIY own crafts, recipes, and more! The pins I find the most useful, as a preservice teacher, are the educational resources. There are a multitude of resources available to anyone who has an account. Teachers can find printable worksheets/handouts, activities, lesson plans, and templates for every grade level and subject area. I would definitely recommend this website.

Pinterest is the greatest invention! Especially for teachers because this is a great way we can communicate as a teaching community to share and use others ideas and resources. I love that we do not have to reinvent the wheel! Another great source is Teachers Pay Teachers!!

Speaking as a fellow Pinterest lover myself, I believe that Pinterest has a lot of good activities for all subjects on their website. However, I have yet to find many full lesson plans and real resources that I can access for free that I would actually be able to use as a teacher. That being said, even though the content or actual lesson plans may be lacking, I believe it is a great resource just to foster creativity and find unique ideas that other people have tried. It is a great resource to base a lesson plan off of, but may require some work and modifications.

If you look up stem lessons on pointers there are so many! If you have a particular topic you want to look into, there are a lot of great ideas for projects, booklets, pamphlets, and experiments for students of all ages. Some of them you may tweak slightly to better fit your classroom.

Thats such a great idea! I did not think to use Pinterest as a resource. 

I have had some trouble finding stuff that is free, it often directs me to teachers pay teachers, which is also a great site! They have some free stuff and some stuff you have to pay for. It usually isn't too expensive but they have some pretty great resources and lessons. 

Great blog post, 'An Open Letter: To Pinterest, from a Teacher,' by Mary Wade, encouraging us all to make our education and activity pins a valuable resource with information about the concepts in the activity, links to the source and research about ECE, and explaining how the science activity extends student understanding.
I am going to try to make my Pinterest pin choices richer by reflecting on Mary Wade's questions, including: 
'Will this help me better understand and reach my students?
Will this enhance student ownership over learning?
Will this encourage the 4 C’s (critical thinking, communication, collaboration, or creativity)?'
Plus the cute picture, of course!

What makes a Pinterest pin a valuable resource for you?

Pinterest is for more than just looking at photos of clothes you want or recipes you love. It’s a powerful tool for teachers and students around the world.

Research paper writers

I definitely share your obsession with Pinterest! It has actually replaced my need for google. In regards to science ideas on pinterest, I have found some interesting concepts and projects on their but they are mostly geared towards the younger ages. In general i think there is a lack of coverage for science out there because it is not given as much importance as a core subject. My little brother just turned 17, so he is basically the generation before mine, and he was not taught science nor the concept of the scientific method till about 5th grade. I thought it was crazy that he was learning how to write an "if, then' statement and had only just heard of it. 

I definitely share your obsession with Pinterest! It has actually replaced my need for google. In regards to science ideas on pinterest, I have found some interesting concepts and projects on their but they are mostly geared towards the younger ages. In general i think there is a lack of coverage for science out there because it is not given as much importance as a core subject. My little brother just turned 17, so he is basically the generation before mine, and he was not taught science nor the concept of the scientific method till about 5th grade. I thought it was crazy that he was learning how to write an "if, then' statement and had only just heard of it. But as for science, looking through pinterest and even sights like brainpop can help spark some interesting ideas. you just may have to think outside the box a little. 

As a college student that is getting a teaching degree, Pinterest is the best thing ever! I do not have a lot of lessons at the moment, but I am always looking on Pinterest for lessons for my future class!

I have found tons of lesson plan ideas as well as ways to incorporate science into any classroom environment!  One of the ideas that I found very fun and interesting for a younger classroom was using root beer floats to teach states of matter! This would be fun for all your students as well as a great way to visualize and explain the topic! I hope you find what you need on Pinterest, because I know it has so many ideas! 

As most of you have mentioned, Pinterest is amazing! However, it is very easy to get lost jumping from pin to pin. I am always looking for new and creative ideas for lessons so if there are any suggestions on boards or other Pinners to follow I would love to know about them! :) -Megan

I love Pinterest, it really is an amazing way to find activities to do in any subject. Thanks to Pinterest I have been able to find different activities for my students to do in the classroom. Whether they are activities just to do for fun or activities so they can actually learn a concept. One activity I found through Pinterest with the worksheet and everything was 'Is It Magnetic?' This activity was something that students enjoy doing and will help them understand what object are magnetic and which are not.

This is the link is order to find it: http://www.themeasuredmom.com/free-magnet-worksheet-for-kids/

Thanks for sharing.  I love pinterest and think there is tons of information available.   Cielo 

Pinterest is such an amazing website. They give you many different activities on how to create your lesson. I love how many teachers have different ideas for each subject. 

I am currently student teaching in a fifth grade science classroom.  My cooperating teacher found a foldable that explains the seasons, including a picture of the eart's tilt on its axis during each season.

I have found a lot of cool ideas on Pinterest as well but, I have noticed a lot of times they do not explain the activites thoughouly.  I prefer teachers pay teachers because it is other teachers sharing their resources and usually they give you their lesson plan that you can differentiate according to your own classroom and students needs.  Pinterst is great for some but not all science ideas.