General Science Resources

PreK – Grade 5 Science

Science Literacy

Professional Science Organizations

There is an increased effort to participate in the No Child Left Indoor initiative by encouraging educators to become members of ESA and participate in this organization. There is data that is available for students to analyze (sometimes you do not have time to collect your own data set in the middle or high school setting). Search through the journal (on-line) Teaching Issues in Ecology and the Environment for some potentially relevant articles for the 5-12 classrooms. You can also learn about professional development opportunities and the annual conferences, at which one whole day is devoted to ecology education!
The journal published by NABT is called The American Biology Teacher. When you become a member of NABT you can access their on-line journal, as well as, their paper journal, which have different articles. The "How to" column is great for easy to implement activities; however, there are longer, more involved high school biology and chemistry lesson plans published in this journal too.
This organization has few teachers who attend the national conference; however, if any of you decide to continue your graduate studies in science education, it is essential that you aware of this organization. About 20% of the members are international. About 900-1,000 people attend the annual conferences. There are a couple of strands devoted to the middle and high school classrooms. The journal published by this organization is called JRST.
Overall, this is the best science teacher resource in the country! You should become a member and choose one of the four journals: K-4 Science and Child; 5-8 Science and Scope; 9-12 The Science Teacher; or13-16 Journal of College Science Teaching. There are research articles, book reviews, essays on important topics in science education, as well as, lesson plans published in this journal. When you become a member of NSTA, you will receive regular emails with information about education legislation, state and federal laws that relate to science teaching, and "hot" discoveries in science that you can share with your students. You will also receive regular information about professional development workshops and conferences held around the U.S.

General Science Resources

110 Misconceptions about the ocean. This is a very extensive list of student misconceptions about different oceanography topics such as waves, tides, pollution, marine life etc.
This site gathers resources for biology teachers of all levels. This includes lessons, activities, power points, worksheets, and other useful links. Resources can be adapted to fit your particular needs.
Mr. Anderson is an amazing AP Chem science teacher who has created a series of videos that explain complex science concepts in simple terms. The videos are often about 4-13 mins each and have many graphics for visual learners. He has videos on anatomy/physiology, earth science, statistics and graphing, AP and non-AP physics, biology, and chemistry as well as videos on Next Generation Science Standards that are meant for educators. He probably has hundreds of videos at this point and is adding new videos everyday.
CSU's College of Natural Science Education and Outreach Center (CNS EOC) offers Professional Developmental opportunities for area teachers in all areas of STEM
This is the website of Concord Consortium, devoted to curriculum development. This site has two interactive activities: one about Mendelian pea genetics and the other called Dragon Genetics. I love the Dragon Genetics activity. It can easily be modified to be a non-computer activity. Have students draw or create their own dragons using the chromosomes and alleles that you generate beforehand.
This website is a great list of resources. There is a list of fifteen different science websites. Their resources include scientific articles, interactive games, simulations, videos, and virtual labs. Many different things to look at so allow some time to play around and find just what you're looking for, enjoy!
An extensive look into student misconceptions and how educators can help remove these barriers to student learning. Great resource for any educator, not just science.
This web link is to the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's teacher resource page. Check out the other pages on this site. There are virtual labs and interactive hands-on labs described, and the topics range from Evolution to Obesity to Stem cells.
This website has some great links. It also has all of the chapters of Science for all Americans available by permission of the publisher. The main focus of literacynet.org is to promote literacy of Americans. There are many links that focus on reading and writing literacy of adults; however, if you search, you can find other useful links for the P-12 teacher.
This website (Understanding Science, developed at UC Berkeley) lists common misconceptions aboutscience in general.
Don't forget museums as great resources! Here is a useful site from the Bay Area's Tech Museum in SanJose, CA.
Created by National Science Digital Library and WGBH/PBS. There is a lot of content searchable by grade level, and content. You need to create a login/password and associate yourself with a school in order to get the correct standards to show up within the lesson plans. You can also create your own public or private groups.
Do you wonder how teachers in Europe teach the same biological principles that we teach in American schools? This website is for teachers in the U.K. and describes several high school level biology activities. The site is associated with the Society for Biology in the U.K., an organization that is committed to finding forms for scientists, students, teachers, and industrial biologists to communicate and share ideas.
Some students learn by touching, manipulating, and doing! Here are tons of fun gadgets, gizmos and exhibits that you can recreate in your own classroom. This is the Science Snacks webpage from the San Francisco Exploratorium Museum.
This is a page full of lesson plans developed and written by high school teachers who attended the summerscience teacher program at Columbia University.
Lesson plans, pedagogy, forums, philosophy and culture... this site seems a little out there compared to most science stuff, but the lesson plans look pretty thorough and they have a constructivist approach to learning.
STARS (Science Teacher Access to Resources at Southwestern) makes many resources from UT Southwestern Medical Center available to teachers. These are very helpful for Anatomy and Physiology, but also contains other resources, including chemistry and mathematics.
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