Free Resources for Science Teachers

Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) offers an interactive website for the primary grades, Cool Science for Curious Kids, at http://www.hhmi.org/coolscience. HHMI also offers BioInteractive, which provides virtual labs and other interactive activities. Visit http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive.

The Science Inquirer newsletter has several links to free resources for science teachers. To access the list, visit http://scienceinquirer.wikispaces.com/freestuff.

Science NetLinks, a free science resource produced at AAAS for science teachers, offers hundreds of free lessons for high school, as well as K-8, science teachers, at http://www.sciencenetlinks.com.

DLESE—the Digital Library for Earth System Education—which is a searchable library of lesson plans, labs, and other activities and resources for the classroom, can be accessed at http://www.dlese.org and has no required registration.

Adam Equipment, a manufacturer of mass measurement equipment, has released The Burning Question: A Conservation of Matter Experiment. This ready-to-use classroom activity is available at the company’s education website for downloading and it may be copied and distributed for educational purposes without charge. All Adam classroom resources can be found in the Education Extras area at http://www.adamequipment.com/education. The Burning Question is the latest addition to Adam’s growing library of free science classroom resources.

"The Science and Scientists Behind the Food" was developed through a partnership between the Institute of Food Technologists, the IFT Foundation and Discovery Education to provide high school teachers with resources to use food to demonstrate scientific principles. Free resources on the site include standards-based lessons and experiments for use in biology, chemistry and physics labs, as well as the opportunity to search for food scientists willing to come to the classroom, interactive games, and videos. For more information, visit http://school.discovery.com/foodscience/science_resources.html.

Maryland Public Television's education website, http://www. thinkport.org, is free and houses numerous lesson plans, video clips, student activities for students K-12. There are also online field trips—including the one about the Chesapeake Bay.

Environmental Health Perspectives, a peer-reviewed environmental health research journal (published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, part of the National Institutes of Health), offers a free online Student Edition containing research and science news summaries and accompanying monthly lessons at http://www.ehponline.org/science-ed.

The American Coal Foundation offers free teaching materials—both online and print—about coal: its formation, production, and use in electrical generation. Activities and lesson plans are available on their website at http://www.teachcoal.org. Teachers may also order one free teacher packet (posters and booklets) and coal sample kit (containing samples of peat, lignite, bituminous and anthracite coal).

Free science fair projects can be found at the newly launched http://www.free-science-fair-projects.net, which includes award-winning projects from students all over the world.

The Wright Center for Innovative Science Education at Tufts University offers fellowship opportunities for teachers of elementary and high school science, workshops for teachers and free posters and curriculum materials on request by teachers. Some materials are available on-line for free download. Materials range from Space Science and Cosmic Evolution to the Physics of Music and Ben Franklin and Electrostatics. Visit http://www.tufts.edu/as/wright_center to learn more.

Amazing Space, an astronomy and space science education program, uses Hubble Space Telescope's scientific findings to create free, online materials designed for K–14 students and educators. For more information, visit http://amazing-space.stsci.edu.

The SouthEast Atlantic Coastal Ocean Observing System (SEA-COOS) Virtual Waves Classroom, an online resource, offers free materials for learning about many aspects of waves. Available are a "Making Waves" poster, lesson plans, real-time data, and interactive models. For more information, see http://seacoos.org/Community%20and%20Classroom/WavesClassroom.

The Last Journey of the Leatherback is a 27-minute film about the plight of ancient sea turtles that features appearances by leading marine scientists. The video is available free, along with a teacher kit, to teachers and educational organizations. For more information, visit http://www.seaturtles.org/teachers.cfm.

Urban Bird Studies is a set of free projects to study birds living in cities. Students across the continent can participate through classrooms or on their own to help scientists by counting birds and reporting their data. The projects are simple and inquiry-based, each with easy-to-understand questions of interest to the scientific community. Data submitted to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology are used for scientific and general-audience publications. All information is provided on the website. In July, "Celebrate Urban Birds!" through science, art, writing, and more. Free printed materials are available when you sign up on the website. Visit http://www.urbanbirds.org to learn more about Urban Bird Studies and Celebrate Urban Birds!

SENSORSCITY, a NASA remote-sensing site, enables students and teachers from anywhere to program the city’s elements themselves and remotely receive information and data from the city. To learn more, visit http://www.marshall.edu/LEGO/RTI-SENSORSCITYdoc.html.

Carolina E-Tips can deliver customized electronic newsletters on life science, biotechnology, AP® Science, physical science, STC® Update, and more to your desktop. Each newsletter includes a feature article, classroom news and tips, lesson plans, product updates, and other information. To sign up for one or more of Carolina's electronic newsletters, go to http://www.carolina.com/newsletter/joinpart_1.htm.

Court TV has developed, in cooperation with NSTA, two new online forensic science units. Download this free standards-based curriculum supplement at

http://www.courttv.com/forensics_curriculum.

National Science Digital Library (NSDL) is a digital library of exemplary resource collections and services, organized in support of science education at all levels. Starting with a partnership of NSDL-funded projects, NSDL is emerging as a center of innovation in digital libraries as applied to education, and a community center for groups focused on digital-library-enabled science education. Consult http://www.nsdl.org for more information.

The Digital Library for Earth Science Education (DLESE) focuses on Earth sciences. DLESE lets users annotate some of the digital resources with tips, suggestions for using the resources in addressing concerns like diversity, and other review-like comments. Visit http://www.dlese.org for more information.

Project Oceanography is a live television program designed for middle school science students. Each week during the school year, you can learn about various ocean science topics right in your classroom. Programs are taught by real scientists and feature a call-in question-and-answer session at the end of each lesson. Tune in direct from the satellite; contact the program's staff about local cable channel access and videotapes; or watch past programs right from the web at http://www.marine.usf.edu/pjocean/index.html.

Conservation Central (National Zoo) is a habitat education program that explores the temperate forest, home of the giant panda and black bear, through online activities. See http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Education/ConservationCentral for more information.

The K–20 School Technology Solutions Center includes detailed company profiles on more than 3,750 school technology vendors. Visit the K–20 School Technology Solution Center at http://www.eschoolnews.com/bg/index.php.

Pics4Learning is a copyright-friendly image library for teachers and students. The Pics4Learning collection consists of thousands of images that have been donated by students, teachers, and amateur photographers. Unlike many internet sites, permission has been granted for teachers and students to use all of the images donated to the Pics4Learning collection. Formerly known as PhotoShare, a recipient of the ComputerWorld Smithsonian Award, Pics4Learning is a partnership between Orange County Public Schools Technology Development Unit of Orlando, Florida, and Tech4Learning, Inc. Click http://www.pics4learning.com for more information or to view images.

Partnership for Learning produces the Learning Guide. It lists 10 signs that can indicate to parents that their child needs a tutor, discusses the different kinds of tutoring available, and provides four steps for finding an excellent tutor. The guide also includes comparison charts, self-tests, cost estimates and hands-on advice for saving money, suggestions for identifying learning disabilities, tips on monitoring student progress, and a pullout guide to finding a tutor. Click http://www.partnershipforlearning.org/files/TM-3922%20LrnGuid1st%20final.pdf to download the guide.

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), Apple Computer, and AT&T have joined forces on a project designed to promote accomplished teaching with technology. The Digital Edge Learning Interchange is an online library featuring National Board Certified Teachers exhibiting exemplary teaching. Each exhibit includes an introduction, lesson plan, video clips, student work samples, assessment tools, resources, research, and teacher reflection. Click http://ali.apple.com/ali_sites/deli for more information.

Video Placement Worldwide makes an ever-growing list of high-quality educational videos and teaching materials available to educators and youth leaders. This list is updated and changes as new programs are added or existing programs are discontinued. Visit http://www.vpw.com for more information.

TrackStar helps instructors organize and annotate websites for use in lessons. The resource list remains visible, allowing the user to easily stay on track. It is a searchable database of teacher-designed internet-rich lessons. Visit http://trackstar.4teachers.org/trackstar/index.jsp for more information.

RubiStar can help the teacher who wants to use rubrics but does not have the time to develop them from scratch. While many teachers want to use rubrics or are experimenting with writing them, they can be quite time-consuming to develop. RubiStar provides generic rubrics that can simply be printed and used for many typical projects and research assignments. RubiStar is unique because it provides these generic rubrics in a format that can be customized: Teachers can change almost all suggested text in the rubric to make it fit their own projects. Consult http://rubistar.4teachers.org for more information.

The 21st Century Skills MILE Guide was created by the Partnership for 21st-Century Skills to allow educators and administrators to measure the progress of their schools in defining, teaching and assessing 21st-century skills. This hands-on tool can help schools integrate 21st-century skills with basic skills for a stronger, more effective curriculum that successfully prepares today’s students for tomorrow’s workplace. Visit http://science.nsta.org/enewsletter/2004-06/P21_MILE_Guide.pdf to download this guide.

iLoveSchools.com is a free matchmaking service—for education! Teachers request materials and supplies, while school supporters search for a school in need of their gifts of money, new or used goods, or other educational supplies. Supporters can search by school name, location, requested item, or economic profile to find the school most in need of donations. Supporters also can register their favorite schools to receive instant notification of any requests made. iLoveSchools.com supports any institution that educates children, including preschools, home schools, and private schools, as well as more than 95,000 public schools already in the database. Visit http://iLoveSchools.com for more information.

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