Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

CO2 Science offers journal reviews on environmental topics, an online environmentally minded journal, and under the education tab some excellent laboratory ideas. There are videos, weekly blog entries, an educational center, and more. This is a great teacher and high school student resource.

tag(s): carbon (17), climate (84), environment (252)

This do-it-yourself activity from the wonderful folks at Scientic American' Science Buddies is a neat way to have students think about how a thermometer works. Many times we just expect that they understand these things, just like using a calculator, there is a process to understanding how a thermometer works. This activity has students create their own thermometer with everyday, reusable materials.

tag(s): temperature (34)

Find excellent videos about a variety of physics and astronomy topics with this great site. Choose a symbol and view the video that explains and depicts the meaning of the symbol. View a variety from total solar eclipse to pressure and vacuums to magnetic susceptibility. Videos are hosted on You Tube. Schools that have this resource blocked will need to ask for it to be unblocked to use in class. Click on planets to view great videos of each of those in our solar system. View information on scientists and the sixty symbols project by clicking on the tabs across the top.

Caution: Be sure to preview the videos before sharing them with your students. Our editors found one that included alcohol in the experiment, all others appeared appropriate.

tag(s): magnetism (36), motion (47)

Find great 60-second science podcasts about a variety of topics on this site. Subscribe to an RSS or iTunes feed to receive the latest podcasts instantly. Listen to the podcasts directly on the site by clicking the play button. Download a single podcast by clicking the "Download" button. Be sure to scroll down the page and look for the section on Podcasts near the lower right. Click the links to view other 60 second podcasts such as "60-second Earth." There are too many topics to mention here. Check it out!

tag(s): listening (93)

Join the Green Revolution! Choose videos that showcase the inventiveness, creativity, and passion of researchers and inventors who will be part of powering our future. At the time of this review topics included: wind, solar, green roofs, microbes, city car, smart grid, and biomass. You are also able to embed videos into a wiki, site, or blog. Click "Print Educator Info" to download a PDF for use with classes. In the future, transcripts will also be available.

tag(s): conservation (102), environment (252)

Looking for great science animations? Find amazing interactives, key vocabulary, overviews, and even quizzes on a variety of science topics. Choose from categories such as "General Biology," "Biotechnology," "Statistics," "Chemistry," "Astronomy," and "Ecology" to name a few. View a variety of animations in each of these topics. Choose to view as a complete animation, step by step, and even with narration if desired. Be sure to link to the actual animation in your site, wiki, or blog to satisfy copyright.

tag(s): animation (64), atoms (43), cells (82), meiosis (8), mitosis (9), molecules (43)

Calculator Soup collects all sorts of online calculators in one free site. Calculators range from basic to complicated and have specific functions like conversion, time, finance, and chemistry. A great tool for students who do not have specific calculators or forget them.

tag(s): calculators (36)

Find great materials about cells on this fabulous site. Find background information and worksheets as well as the amount of time required, learning objectives/benchmarks, and links to related materials. This site offers a preview or to download and print and go.

tag(s): cells (82)

This site, brought to you by Florida Aquarium Incorporated, offers teaching materials that can be printed and kids activities. Find teaching materials in PDF format, videos, and kids activities such as build a hydrometer, press seaweed, or create a mangrove tree (click the heading Education from the top menu and slide to Digital Resources). The activities are simple enough that they could be used in lower grades or at home.

tag(s): conservation (102), field trips (8), virtual field trips (128)

Looking for games to review science concepts from a variety of topics? Look no further. Use this free site to access interactives in Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science, Environmental Science, Forensic Science, Geology, Meteorology, Nature of Science, Oceanography, or Physics. Click on a subject to view a list of games. Click on the teachers section to receive great tips, create your own games, and download study sheets for use in class.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): crosswords (19), game based learning (205)

Use this database to find teacher created sheets that follow movies shown in the classroom. Provide a change of pace for your students by using different questioning to challenge them. Be sure to preview, as this collection is only as good as the materials submitted. Check with your administration on rules for using "home videos" as they can be a violation of licensing or deemed inappropriate. Even though videos appear here, they may not be educationally appropriate. Be sure to check out the notices at the start of any "entertainment" video to be sure of legality. Keep in mind that these worksheets should not replace good interactive and thought provoking activities. Be sure to use other means to involve students in thought and action beyond the worksheets themselves. Find worksheets in either PDF or Word formats.

tag(s): business (52), climate (84), geology (62), movies (54)

Looking for an interactive Periodic Table of Elements resource? This is the site! Simply click on the element symbol and at the bottom of the screen read all of the relevant information such as weight, melting point, boiling point, and full name of the element. The site also gives a description of metals, nonmetals and metalloids.

tag(s): elements (33), periodic table (44)

Looking for ways to link current science events and skills such as reading and writing across the curriculum in your science classroom? Visit this ideal internet location! Created by the people of the New York Times, this lesson plan idea page has all the tools to put together quick, technology, reading and science based lessons in a fraction of the time it would take to pool the resources on your own.

tag(s): cross cultural understanding (173), main idea (8), news (228)

See remarkable and astounding scientific discoveries and inventions on this amazing site. Categories of science include Earth and Nature, Energy and Power, Medical Marvels, New Materials, Quantum Leaps, Space and Time, Science Fiction, and Weird Science. Young scientists will be amazed, engineers inspired, and even the disinterested will find accomplishments to make them curious. Even middle school girls will find something that they like about science on this site. There is some advertising, but the science images and information outweigh it.

tag(s): cells (82), engineering (129), inventors and inventions (80), medicine (57)

Use Chemtutor for help with the fundamentals of Chemistry. Although this site appears "plain vanilla," there is a lot of information and helpful explanations. Click on problematic areas of understanding for help with many of the most difficult to understand concepts. Read the text based information to help with a specific content difficulty and choose from a vast array of concepts. Learn how to study Chemistry by clicking on "Heuristics" which offer some great tips to surviving the first year of chemistry.

tag(s): homework (29), measurement (122)

What is Watch Know Learn? Short for "You Watch, You Know, You Learn" it provides explanations for students. Finding bits of information to help students can be frustrating as resources are disorganized on the web and may be hard to find." Watch Know Learn" is a free site that organizes small video clips to help with the understanding of a variety of topics in subject areas. Search by age (3-18+). You can click and drag the age filter to the youngest and oldest ages to include. Videos are also organized by sequence of topics taught. The site is an ongoing project with input from educators and organizations interested in education of children. Registration is not required to view the videos. Creating and saving videos to the site, as well as commenting, require registration. You can monitor site recent changes and additions using the "Change Log."

tag(s): computers (109), crafts (64), decimals (85), environment (252), ethics (21), fractions (160), holidays (187), Juneteenth (22), scientific method (48), video (266), vocabulary development (93), writing (324)

This web page is a GREAT resource of various biological animations. The site offers the options of either playing the animations via web browser or downloading the animation to the computer. Versions of the animations are available for both Mac and PC. Topics include, but are not limited to: cloning, cycle sequencing, model organisms, transformation, DNA restriction, DNA arrays, and gel electrophoresis.

tag(s): animation (64), dna (43)

Interested in the chemical changes that occur during cooking? Have food related cooking questions? Find your answer here on this free site. Learn proper food cooking techniques and identify the science behind them. The menu at the top offers topic such as Recipes, Cooking Techniques, a Food Encyclopedia, and more.

tag(s): cooking (32)

This site is filled with study tools to help students learn information in a variety of subject areas. Stacks of topics related to geography, history, math, languages, medical, tests (SAT, ACT, etc.), science and more are linked with collections of learning tools that include virtual study cards, matching games, word search puzzles, and hangman games. There really is something here for nearly all subject areas and grade levels! Students can select the tool that works best for them and work at their own pace until they are satisfied with their progress. If you can't find a stack to fit your needs, you can edit existing lists or create customized study stacks. The site also allows you to print out study cards, or export flash cards to study them via cell phones, PDA, or iPod. Email the stacks to peers or connect with Study Stack through Facebook. Some of the activities require Java. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

tag(s): flash cards (44), greek (47), hebrew (16), latin (23), test prep (69), vocabulary (238)