Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Use this resource site to find curricula, lessons, and other material for use in the classroom. Find your science class under the classes section. Find worksheets by topic as well as images. Be sure to check out posts such as "How to measure with a microscope" as well as spotlight lessons. Print worksheets directly from the site or download to edit in Word. Ignore the advertising as this site is worth it.

tag(s): worksheets (69)

This large variety of drawings and photographs is a great resource for K-12 students and teachers. Either choose from drawings or photographs related to science, social studies, math, and language arts. These images will support classroom instruction, presentations, multimedia projects, websites, or reports. Useful tags will help you search for images. Educational use of Edpic images is free of charge.

tag(s): animals (295), digital storytelling (154)

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)

The "Layers of Life" interactive from the fantastic folks at National Geographic offers a detailed, informative infographic of the Gulf of Mexico's ecosystems, the organisms that thrive there, and the conditions that need to be maintained for the health of this environment. This interactive has two layers of information that can be clicked through easily. The download arrow, on the upper right of the infographic, significantly increases the size of the image to read about the different zones of the ecosystem with ease.

tag(s): biomes (110), diversity (40), environment (252), oil (22), oil spill (13), water (102)

Great for a foundations of science class or middle level environmental science class, use this activity to have students "get their hands dirty" solving real life problems with real life activities. Life After Trash is an excellent lesson for having students think beyond the obvious uses of everyday products. Concepts such as landfills, the three R's (reduce, reuse, and recycle), and basic environmental awareness are partnered with the skills of working in groups, critical thinking, and problem solving to create an interesting and fun classroom activity. There is little cost (if any) to doing the lab.

tag(s): critical thinking (127), engineering (129), problem solving (233)

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 (65), atoms (44), cells (82), meiosis (8), mitosis (9), molecules (44)

This site has an amazing collection of unattractive animals, their photographs, and some interesting information about each. Some are indeed uglier than any artist could have imagined! Included is information about their habitats, rarity, behavior, and other odd facts that add to their ability to arouse interest in readers of the site.

tag(s): animals (295), evolution (89)

Wikimedia Commons is a huge database of free media files (images, sound, and video clips) available in a wide range of languages. You can both access or contribute files. Using the same technology as Wikipedia, you can edit, upload, and embed media file projects into any Wikimedia project. Every media file comes with a description, name of the author and complete licensing details. Search for videos, images, or sound media by keyword, content categories, nature, science, or society. This is an amazing resource to use when searching for any multimedia content.

tag(s): creative commons (28)

Prince William Sound Regional Citizen's Advisory Council provides a free curriculum that is geared toward teaching about oil and oil spills. While this curriculum is about Alaska's Exxon Valdez oil spill, the information would be very helpful in teaching about other oil spills in recent news. It would be a great place to help develop lessons where students compare and contrast two spills, their magnitude and their effects on the environment. Scroll to the bottom of the page to locate the lessons under Exxon Valdez Spill.

tag(s): disasters (37), environment (252), oil (22), oil spill (13)

This classroom simulation of an oil spill encourages students to think about how engineers work to find fast but effective solutions to oil spills. There are PDF student handouts.

tag(s): environment (252), oil (22), oil spill (13)

Follow the footprint of the Gulf Oil Spill 2010 in this interactive map. Use this information to compare the impact of this spill to others past and present. The site provides details about mapping the spill, as well as the geographic range the spill has affected.

tag(s): disasters (37), oil (22), oil spill (13)

Learn about the impact of oil spills. Use these lessons and information to compare the impact of spills past and present. The site provides details about cleaning up oil spills, as well as the science of oil dispersal, how to clean animals, and more.

tag(s): disasters (37), oil (22), oil spill (13)

Learn about the lasting impact of oil spills and how the environment does and does not recover, specifically from the Exxon-Valdez spill of 1989. Use this information to compare the impact of this spill to others past and present. The site provides details about the impact the spill had on the sound and wildlife, as well as how recovery has progressed over the years.

tag(s): disasters (37), environment (252), oil (22), oil spill (13)

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)

Are you looking for sources to enrich your science instruction? Primary Resources has an extensive science page full of experiments, handouts, presentations, vocabulary cards, and even rubrics for student assessment. The broad range of categories includes scientific inquiry, life processes and living things, materials and their properties, and physical processes. These valuable resources come from teachers across the world. Contributions range from how to conduct a scientific investigation, SMART board lessons on how to separate mixtures of materials, to PowerPoint presentations on renewable and non-renewable forms of energy. Most activities include a key that indicates the appropriate age group, grade level, or required skill level needed as well as its file format. If you have some of your own scientific resources you treasure, feel free to contribute them to this site. On the left sidebar, you will find links to similar activities in nearly all subject areas: geography, art, history, math, English, welsh, music, and more.

tag(s): classification (22), electricity (61), environment (252)

Find a vast array of science materials on this free site. View presentations, slide sets, classroom lessons, or resources along the top navigation of the site. Read discussions and articles about research and issues in biology. Listen to podcasts (many of which include lessons.)

tag(s): dna (43), genetics (80)

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

The Story of Stuff Project is named after a 20-minute web cartoon that illustrates how all the "stuff" we use affects our lives and our planet. While the cartoon clearly has a liberal-leaning political agenda, that should not deter you from using it. In fact, asking students to point out its biases would be an important lesson in sorting out perspective in a persuasive argument. The site adds cartoons and movies dealing with other "wasteful" topics fairly often, such as the "cap and trade" plastic beads, microfibers, water issues, energy issue, bottled water, and electronics. The "downloads" tab offers PDF versions of the script, posters and other promotional material, and short teaser video clips of the film.

tag(s): environment (252), sociology (23)