Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

This "plain vanilla" looking site offers science help for parents, students, and teachers with simple explanations of science topics and ideas for experiments and projects. Here you'll find the answers to the ever popular questions "Why Do Leaves Change Colors" and "Why is the Sky Blue."There is an extensive section devoted to creating a wonderful science fair that includes project ideas, how to pick a topic, presenting projects, judging, and parent information. There are also many at-home ideas for projects using simple, easy to find materials such as swinging cereal to demonstrate static electricity. You can sign up for their free newsletter to stay informed of new materials added to the site. There is an online store; however, it isn't necessary to purchase materials to use most of the information offered onsite.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): colors (63), electricity (61), experiments (55), photosynthesis (21), plants (146)

The International Dark Sky Association website promotes understanding of light pollution, ways to prevent it, and methods for reducing it. There is information about different projects to reduce and study light pollution. Also, this site contains an Education webpage that provides resources, a glossary, and lesson plans among other features.

tag(s): conservation (102), light (56), pollution (52), stars (71), telescopes (11)

This site offers media (found on YouTube, Vimeo, and Flickr) on a broad spectrum of topics, not created for kids but appropriate and interesting for children 3 years old and up. Media isn't divided into categories. The newest items appear first. However, you can search the site by keyword. Information ranges from animal stories of a dog without legs to video of Ella Fitzgerald scatting. Obviously, this site is updated frequently, so contents will change. Students and adults alike will love browsing for interesting stories and information.

tag(s): news (228), speaking (26), video (266), writing prompts (61)

Find answers to the most interesting and intriguing questions that can be asked. Uncover cool science facts by looking at these answers. Enter a search term to find related questions and answers. Browse categories such as Agriculture, Zoology, Meteorolgy, Food and Nutrition, and Technology. View related resources and other interesting information on each page.

tag(s): agriculture (49), animals (294), climate (84), energy (133), planets (113), plants (146), questioning (36), resources (83), seasons (37)

The Hayden Planetarium has created a free download of their atlas of the universe. The video, which does a great job of showing the scale of what we as humans can see in the universe, can be viewed directly from the website. There are two different versions of the download. Both are free. Be patient with the download, it takes a little while, however the atlas, educator activities, and simulations are well worth the time it takes. One of the hardest concepts for middle to high school level earth and space science learners to understand is size and scale of the universe. Their misconceptions of color and size stem from both brain development and images that they are exposed to of the solar system from young school ages on to middle school. This video and activity set help to clarify this misconception, and provide your learners with a better understanding of their size within the universe.

tag(s): earth (184), light (56), solar system (110), stars (71), sun (71)

Globe at Night shares resources that encourage citizen scientists to submit and share observations of the night sky to compile information on the impact of light pollution. To guide citizen scientists, information on the site includes guides to assist in locating constellations that summarize the mythology behind each constellation's name. Additional links contain information on light pollution, links to educational standards, and interactive maps with observation details.

tag(s): citizen science (27), earth (184), globe (12), moon (73), space (222), stars (71), STEM (297)

This website has a list of exciting and simple experiments. The instructions are clear, concise, and printable! Topics include Newton's Law, making a film canister rocket, a levitating orb, how to make Slime, optical illusions, bend water with static electricity, and many more for a variety of different sciences. Experiments make good use of cheap, recyclable and other easy to find items. Many experiments have video clips of people doing the experiments.

tag(s): chemicals (39), electricity (61), experiments (55), magnetism (36), newton (21), optical illusions (10), rockets (11), sounds (43), volcanoes (55)

This webpage provides weekly answers to student submitted questions. Answers are student friendly, and offer pictures to help explain the answer.

tag(s): questioning (36)

This site is a compilation of many math and science resources along with a social networking component. Currently there are almost 2000 activities, lessons, and videos and the site is constantly growing. There are several ways to use the site both as a registered user or without registration. Without registering for the site you can search and access lessons and information through the different search methods such as keywords, subjects, source institution, and more. Free registration allows the site to become much more personalized. After registering, you can make lists of resources for any different topic, share lists or searches with others, add comments, or add your own resources. Most activities on the site are free; however, there are some searches that deliver lessons that are paid - these are clearly indicated and not frequent enough to discourage use of this site. Searches can also filter out any paid activities and return only free items. Teachers may also want to subscribe to the site's blog and newsletter to receive updated information as it is added to the site.

In case you are wondering about the title, SMILE is the Science and Math Informal Learning Educators pathway of the National Science Digital Library (NSDL).

tag(s): resources (83), social networking (61), STEM (297), video (266)

This site is the ultimate resource for any measurement or conversion need. Calculators are included for Math, Science, Cooking, Time, and much more. Categories are listed in alphabetical order from Acceleration to Weight/Mass. Within each category are the different converters/calculators. For example, after choosing volume, choices include acres, barrels (dry, federal, liquid, and wine), cubic units, gallons, quarts teaspoons, yards, and more. Other interesting conversions include your weight on other planets, your age in dog years, and translations to and from Pig Latin. You are sure to find exactly the conversion for any need within this site along with others to use just for fun!
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): conversions (37), measurement (122), temperature (34), time (91)

This is a collection of interactive activities that teach mathematical concepts from algebra up through calculus, and well-written instructional modules that introduce scientific concepts, primarily in physics and life sciences from grades 3-12. Each module includes interactive elements that let students experiment with the topic concept. The presentation and subject matter are excellent for these high-interest interactives. A free acount gives you 20-40 free Gizmos, lesson materials, to teach with,

tag(s): earth (184), engineering (129), equations (119), forensics (12), life cycles (21), measurement (122), numbers (120), probability (99), scientific method (48), space (222)

This site contains links to many lesson plans and resources for teaching Earth Science. The top of the page links to different topics of Earth Science such as Astronomy, Earthquakes, Rocks and Minerals, and others. Within each category are links to interactive information. One excellent portion of the site may be easy to overlook so be sure to look on the left side of the page for Categories. Here you will find a wealth of information on diverse topics such as historical geography, world records, careers, teacher resources, and more. Within these links are news, videos, and popular items. Note: many of the links will take you to different websites so you will want to review before using with students.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): earthquakes (46), erosion (15), fossils (41), hurricanes (32), maps (220), rocks (35), tsunamis (15), volcanoes (55), water (102), weather (160)

Enjoy NASA's images of planets and spacecraft used in space exploration. This site is a great reference site for concise information about planets, and spacecraft. An online glossary contains space terms, and the origins of names for planets, moons, or spacecraft that are from Greek mythology, Latin, or famous people. Spacecraft information includes the assembly, lift off, and mission information. Spacecraft information comes in an audio format too. A CD is offered for sale from the National Space Science Data Center.

tag(s): earth (184), planets (113), solar system (110), space (222)

NASA offers a daily selection of pictures from its various space exploration on this site. Each day the image is explained by a professional astronomer.

tag(s): planets (113), space (222), stars (71)

Scroll down the page to find this resource in HTML 5 that will work on most devices. Demonstrate how the moon and sun appear to us on Earth using this clever application. View the main window to start the simulation and follow daylight and the movement of the Moon. Skip forward by minutes, hours, or days, or change the speed of the animation. The side window shows the phase of the moon present as it passes between the Sun and the Earth. Click angle, lunar landmark, or time tick marks to add more information for even greater understanding of moon phases. View the horizon diagram at the bottom to reveal how the Sun and Moon would move about the sky if one were standing on Earth.

tag(s): earth (184), moon (73), sun (71)

Find information about all of the oldest and latest NASA missions alphabetically or by topic at this site. Choose any link to go to the specific project page. Each page provides details about the mission including a mission overview and images.

tag(s): careers (156), nasa (30), space (222), STEM (297)

Looking for an easy to use free jeopardy game? Look no further than this site. Download the application for free or create the activity to be played online. View and try activities already created online. If you like your project you can save it to a folder on your computer. There is a short video in the "How To" section that will walk you through the process of making, saving, and playing a Flash Jeopardy game. Those of you who have used the PowerPoint Jeopardy will find this flash version much less time consuming to create and to recreate new Jeopardy games.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): grammar review (31), matching (8)

View real time celestial positions with this 3D interactive model of space. Move through space and change your orientation as you move through. Double click on a planet to visit it. Use the Panoramic and Geocentric views for a different perspective (find these in the tools along the left hand side of the screen.) Use the planets distance calculator to understand the actual distances between them. Move forward and back in time to view movements of planets and other objects.

tag(s): space (222)

The New York Science Teacher Movie Sheet page offers fast help for turning good movies into academic endeavors. How many times do we find a regular movie that we would like to use for science class but do not have the time to create a good guide or question sheet for it? This is a good solution. Movie sheets, all submitted by teachers, are searchable by subject content and a few are searchable by series. The guides are printable, and they make a great "in-a-pinch" solution.

tag(s): movies (54), worksheets (69)

eGFI Online Magazine is great nonfiction reading in science and math. It is completely portable as it is online. It can be shared to your Delicious or Diigo site or other social networking sites. Use this site to enhance cross curricular teaching and learning of reading and interpreting nonfiction text. Plus, this is current and exciting stuff to read for students who are even vaguely interested in science. There are also video links throughout the magazine connecting the text to different, relevant videos. There are lesson plans and activities for grades K-5, 6-8, and 9-12. Some of the recent entries (at the time of this review) included the topics of velocity, Earth Day, robots, sports physics,

tag(s): engineering (129), tornadoes (14), watersheds (8)