Middle School Life Science Websites
Websites for Middle School Life Science
These websites support the NGSS standards at this grade level and are labeled by the type of website that it is (Student or Teacher Background, Student Online Activities, Teacher Activities, Student or Teacher Videos).
Back to our Grade Level Programs & Websites Page
| Resource Link | Abstract | Website Types |
|---|---|---|
| 101 Science Websites for Teachers | List of 101 Science Websites by Best Teacher Blog. Has a wide variety of sites for teachers and students. Sorted by topic. Great jumping off place for finding resources. | Teacher Blogs |
| 4 Girl's Health | “Girls Health” provides health information for girls ages 10 to 16. Many topics are covered from fitness and nutrition to bullying and relationships. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| 4-H Virtual Farm: Poultry | Check out the "virtual chick hatch" at this 4H farming website for nice images and facts about chicken life cycles. Link back to main site for more farming info. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Background |
| A replica of the complete John James Audubon's Birds of America | A replica of the complete John James Audubon's Birds of America (1840-1844) Includes the full text, color plates, figures and bird calls | Student Background;Teacher Background |
| Aesop's Fables on-line | This website has a collection of Aesop's Fables and related lesson plans. Nice literature tie for many types of animals | Teacher Background |
| All About Frogs for Kids and Teachers | This web site has good background information, printable activities, units for teachers of frogs, frog craft ideas. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| All About Snails | This site has a lot of general information about snails. Has some advertizements related to snails. | Student Background;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| American Arachnology Association | Professional Association for the study of spiders. Has links for a North American Spider Identification Manual | Teacher Background |
| Apples & More | A variety of educational activities and projects about apples, including lessons for social studies, science, math, writing | Student Online Activities;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Aquarium Set up for Beginners | Commercial site that has some basic guides to setting up aquariums and much, much more. | Student Background;Teacher Background |
| Ask A Biologist - Arizona State University | Ask A Biologist began in 1997 in the School of Life Sciences. The site continues to be developed, and maintained by a dedicated group of volunteers. It is designed as an educational resource for students preK-12, and their teachers and parents. Ask A Biologist is visited by over 9,000 people every day and has answered more than 30,000 questions. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background;Teacher Videos;Worksheets |
| Ask a Scientist | Index of questions and answers about basic science questions, plus links to other "ask a scientist" sites. | Teacher Background |
| ASTER Earth Image Database | ASTER = Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflections Radiometer. This site has several different ways of looking at and exploring the details of this great source for data on planet earth | Student Background;Teacher Background |
| Bat Conservation International | Photos, descriptions, $40 Bat Trunk Rental for teachers. You can also look at PDF versions of their magazine. Lots of information about bats | Student Background;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| BatsLive: A Distance Learning Adventure | This site includes videos on various species of bats and the places they live. Find lots of other resources on background information, activity ideas, printable posters and more. | Student Videos;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background;Teacher Videos;Worksheets |
| Bay Area Science | This site serves as a clearing house for public science programs around the Bay Area. Sign up for their weekly e-mail that keeps you up to date with classes and lectures and events around the area. | Teacher Background |
| BBC The Human Body and Mind | Contains information on all the body systems including some interactive quizzes. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Berkeley's Anise Swallowtail Caterpillars and Butterflies | This is a nice website created by a family in Berkeley. It has good tips on how to raise anise swallowtails. | Student Background;Teacher Background |
| BetterLesson: Middle School (5-8) Genetics | A compilation of lessons to teach genetics at the middle school level. | Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Binford Spider Lab | Greta Binford is a Spider Biologist at Lewis and Clark College. Her website has lots of infomation on all things spider. | Teacher Background |
| BioInteractive | Free resources for science teachers and students, including animations, short films, and apps. Meant mostly for Middle and High School. | Student Background;Student Videos;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Biology4kids | This site about cell structure is written for kids and has some good diagrams along with the written content. | Student Background;Teacher Background |
| Bird Songs | Click on the pictures of the birds to hear Songs and calls of some New York State birds. Some of the birds (and their families) are also in California. Also has links to other bird song sites. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Background |
| Blue Whale Feeding - Science Friday | Video and science behind Blue Whales doing barrels rolls while diving for krill. | Student Videos |
| Bone Biology for Kids | Bone Biology for Kids was created by University of Washington professor Dr. Susan Ott as an educational website for 4th - 8th grade students and as a resource for science and biology teachers. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Bottle Biology | This website contains how to's for several different bottle biology columns. Decomposition, Kimchee, and a TerrAqua Column | Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Bottle Biology Lesson Plans | This website contains how to's for several different bottle biology columns. Decomposition, Kimchee, and a TerrAqua Column | Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Bottle Habitat Lesson Plan | Students will construct an aquatic ecosystem in a two-liter pop bottle. The stock organisms will be: water plants, snails, and fish. Students will record data concerning the observations they make over a four-week period. | Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| BrainPop.com | SUBSCRIPTION ONLY - Cool animated movies, quizzes, lesson plans, and facts about science and technology; site features subjects that correspond to National Science Standards. Parents: See Family Access. Available in English, Spanish, French and an ESL Version. Inidividual license is $115 per year (as of January 2016). Classroom (4 devices is $220/year) | Student Online Activities;Student Videos;Teacher Activities;Worksheets |
| Bug Scope | The Bugscope project is an educational outreach program for K-12 classrooms. The project provides a resource to classrooms so that they may remotely operate a scanning electron microscope to image "bugs" at high magnification. The microscope is remotely controlled in real time from a classroom computer over the Internet using a web browser. The page also has many close up images of insects and descriptions. | Student Online Activities;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| BugGuide.net | BugGuide.net is an online resource devoted to North American insects, spiders and their kin, offering identification, images, and information. | Teacher Background |
| Butterflies and Moths of North America | Butterflies and Moths of North America,is a searchable database of verified butterfly and moth records in the United States and Mexico. This site includes dynamic distribution maps, photographs, species accounts, and species checklists for each county in the U.S. and each state in Mexico. | Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| California Condors - Science Friday | By 1982, fewer than two dozen California condors lived in the wild. By 1985, only one wild breeding pair was known to exist. That's when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service decided to capture all remaining wild California condors and bring them to live -- and breed -- in captivity. The Peregrine Fund, in Boise, Id., houses the largest breeding center in the U.S. -- with nearly sixty California condors living on site. Bill Heinrich and Taiana Carvalho take us "behind the enclosure" for a tour of the condor compound. | Student Videos |
| California Fish Video | From PBS dragonflyTV. Milan and Harison love the Long Beach Aquarium. Their favorite exhibit is the shark and ray pool where you can see and touch sea creatures up close! Our investigators are interested in how the rays eat, with a mouth on the underside of their bodies. Which leads them to ask: How does a fish’s mouth type affect what it eats? All aboard an adventure from the pool to the ocean in search of answers. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Student Videos;Teacher Activities |
| California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom | Resource that connects agriculture to your science curriculum. Simple machines, plants, life cycles, meeting needs, interdisciplinary topics and more. Lessons are split into K-3, 4-6, 7-8, and 9-12. Plus a Teacher Resource Guide. Everything is free to download. | Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| California Native Plant Society | The Kids Stuff section has educational pages that teach why plants have flowers and about chaparral and fires. Great background information on native plants. | Student Background;Teacher Background |
| California Plant Communities | Good resources for what the communities are called, where they are located, what plants and animals live in these different communities. Nice photos to illustrate. | Student Background;Teacher Background |
| Chickscope | Using computers in the classroom with access to the Internet, students and teachers are able to access data generated from the latest scientific instruments. The goals include an increased understanding of the process of gathering scientific data and the opportunity to interact with scientists from several disciplines and students in other classrooms The access to unique scientific resources and expertise provides motivation for learning science and mathematics and stimulates interest in the scientific world. | Student Background;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Children of the Earth | Activities, links, blogs on many issues of environmental education. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Common Trees of the Pacific Northwest | How to identify trees of the Pacific Northwest (Many are common to California as well). Has a nice on-line dichotomous key and a "mystery tree" section that lets you test your identification skills using the dichotomous key. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Background |
| Composting in Schools | Includes information under: Why Composting? •Teacher's Page •Ideas for Student Research Projects •Compost Quiz •Science and Engineering •Composting Indoors •Composting Outdoors •Weird and Unusual Composting •Frequently Asked Questions •Glossary | Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Dichotomous Tree Key | Learn how to identify different trees with this nice simple Dichotomous Tree Key | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Background |
| Discovery Channel-Website | Find a wealth of lesson plans by subject (math, physics, astronomy, human body, literature, technology, history, life science, physical science, earth science) and grade level. Also provides links to other websites and other resources to help engage students. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Ebird | Found a bird of a different feather? Keep track of your flighty sightings at this site for birders everywhere. You can also access data submitted by others across the country. Be a part of a nationwide effort to learn more about the habitats and habits of North American birds! | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Background |
| EduRef Science Lesson Plans | Science lessons at every grade level and topic | Teacher Activities |
| Edutopia | Thissite is produced by the George Lucas Educational Foundation. It offers articles, lesson plans and social networks on best practices in schools in all different subject areas. | Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| EEK! Environmental Education for Kids | This electronic magazine is for kids in grades 4-8. Surf around and learn more about the great outdoors. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| ElEducador.com -secundaria | Eleducador is a Colombian website full of links to lesson plans for science as well as other subjects. This page contains links to Science for middle- and highschool-age students. Lesson plans are presented in "Scientific Method" format. Vocabulary, activities, and articles for teachers are included. Site is free for use and available only in Spanish. | Teacher Activities |
| Engineering Everywhere | Engineering Everywhere is a FREE engineering curriculum for middle school-aged youth in afterschool and camp programs. EE empowers youth to tackle real-world engineering problems using the engineering design process, creativity, and collaboration. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Student Videos;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background;Teacher Videos |
| EPA Ecosystems Teaching Resources | links to a wide variety of teaching resources; curriculum and lesson plans; on-line data projects, etc. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Essig Museum of Entomology | Website for the Museum of Entomology at the University of California, Berkeley. Has a section on the insects and spiders of California, including those that are endangered. | Teacher Background |
| Evolution | Extensive website from WGBH on their evolution series. | Student Background;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Explore.org Live Cams | Explore.org has a collection of live cams from around the world. Some are in museums/nature centers. Others are outdoors. Honey Bee Cam, Penguin Cam, Seal Cam, Wave Cam, kelp forest cam. Lots of options for animals and environments. | Student Videos |
| FDA food safety Website for Kids, Teens, & Educators | This has printable activities on food safety. It is not terribly dynamic, but allows kids to explore food safety in a lot of different ways. There is also an educators section at the bottom of the home page that links to more resources for teachers. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Frogs and Toads in Color and Sound | Frog and Toad photographs and calls. | Student Background;Teacher Background |
| Froguts | This commercial site has demos that provide introductions to virtual dissections. The demos include a frog, an owl pellet, and a squid. You can purchase the full versions through this site. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Background |
| Frontiers for Young Minds | Frontiers for Young Minds is a non-profit scientific journal for which young people serve not only as the target audience, but also as critical participants in the review of manuscripts written by expert researchers. We connect 8-15 year olds directly with leading scientists to provide feedback on articles about cutting-edge discoveries. The end result is a journal of freely available scientific articles that are written by leading scientists and shaped for younger audiences by the input of their own peers. | Student Background |
| Genetic Science Learning Center | Genetics Curricula on the web. Sections include The Basics of DNA, hands-on activities for home or classroom, and links to other teacher resources like workshops. Links current information to the classroom. Parents refer to "Try This at Home" for great homework/teaching ideas. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Geography Action! Habitats: Home Sweet Home | This National Geographic site has an amazing variety of habitats on the planet, so does this Web site have an amazing variety of features including habitat-specific lesson plans (grades K-12), photos; Web links; and several interactive multimedia adventures, such as piloting a mini-sub through a virtual kelp forest or taking an animated trek through the Arctic. The site also provides numerous ideas for exploring and protecting your own habitat. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| GLOBE | GLOBE encourages students to utilize on-line data to help answer questions about how the environment around them works. Through investigation projects students do science, learning the importance of creating hypotheses, analyzing data, drawing conclusions and reporting their results. | Student Online Activities;Teacher Background |
| Great Transitions: The Origin of Humans | Paleontologists have studied the fossil record of human evolution just like they have done for other major transitions, including the evolution of tetrapods from fish and the evolution of birds from dinosaurs. In this film, part of the Great Transitions trilogy, Sean Carroll and Tim White discuss the most important human fossils and how they illuminate key phases of human evolution, focusing in particular on three traits: larger brains, tool use, and bipedality. | Student Videos;Teacher Videos |
| Green Schoolyard Resource Directory | Green Schoolyard Resource Directory for the San Francisco Bay Area For schools, parents, teachers, students, designers, and community members in San Francisco and around the Bay Area. | Teacher Background |
| Growing Minds - Farm to School | This site has a nice selection of activities and resources about how to create and use a school garden and its bounty | Student Background;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Hands-on Activities for Teaching Biology to High School or Middle School Student | by Drs. Ingrid Waldron and Jennifer Doherty, University of Pennsylvania. "The expression "hands-on, minds-on" summarizes the philosophy we have incorporated in these activities -- namely, that students will learn best if they are actively engaged and if their activities are closely linked to understanding important biological concepts. For example, it is helpful to use hands-on models to engage student interest and foster multiple modality learning, but it is crucial to closely link the modeling activity to student understanding of the actual biological processes. To accommodate limited budgets, most of our activities can be carried out with minimum equipment and expense for supplies." | Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| How to Create a Zero Waste Classroom | Students need adult models and they need to be empowered to make the choices and ask the questions that help them find solutions. Start the conversation on day one and use it as a lens for all you do and use. Ask simply, “How can we consume less? Where and how can we reuse more?” For students, the experience of a Zero Waste classroom is a real and empowering step towards approaching the greater environmental challenges of plastic pollution and climate change; students learn that their choices do matter. Use math to help them understand the compounded impact. i.e. One classroom uses 100 less pencils, there are 22 classrooms in our school, there are 30 schools in our district, etc. | Teacher Activities;Teacher Background;Teacher Videos |
| HowToSmile.org | SMILE is a collection of educational materials on the web – all designed especially for those who teach school-aged kids in non-classroom settings. SMILE is a group of science museums dedicated to bringing science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) out of the academic cloister and into the wider world. All organizations are resource hubs for educational programs that involve people of all ages and backgrounds. | Teacher Activities;Teacher Background;Teacher Videos |
| iBiology | Includes long and short lectures/seminars on a variety of biology topics. They also have a specific free site teachers can register for that includes lesson plans. http://www.ibiology.org/ibioeducation.html is a good page on the site to begin with. iBiology's mission is to convey, in the form of open-access free videos, the excitement of modern biology and the process by which scientific discoveries are made. Our aim is to let you meet the leading scientists in biology, so that you can find out how they think about scientific questions and conduct their research, and can get a sense of their personalities, opinions, and perspectives. We also seek to support educators who want to incorporate materials that illustrate the process and practice of science into their curriculum. This project is made possible by the good will of many biologists who are committed to making their work broadly accessible and to conveying the excitement of biology to a worldwide audience. iBiology.org (formerly ibioseminars.org and ibiomagazine.org) was developed to bring the best biology to people throughout the world for free. | Student Videos;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background;Teacher Videos |
| Illuminating Photosynthesis | Explanation and animated puzzles and games about photosynthesis at the most basic level. | Student Background;Student Online Activities |
| Innerbody.com | Students can use this interactive web site to build on their knowledge of the human body and its systems. | Student Background;Teacher Background |
| Japanese Rhinoceros Beetles - Science Friday | The horn of a Japanese rhinoceros beetle (Trypoxylus dichotomus) can grow to be two-thirds the length of the rest of its body. And size matters. The male beetles use their horns to battle over feeding sites, where they also get access to female beetles. The longer the horn, the more reproductive success. So what limits horn-size? And why do some beetles have big horns and others puny ones? Biologists Doug Emlen and Erin McCullough of The University of Montana are looking into it. | Student Videos |
| K-12 Soil Science Teacher Resources | Online resources from the Soil Science Society of America. Includes links to lesson plans, background information about the science of soil, connections between the land and people, soils around the world and more. | Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Khan Academy | This website has videos and practices exercises to support Upper Elementary, Middle School and High School science and math. Good background for teachers. New videos being added all the time. | Student Background;Teacher Background |
| Kids Gardening Website | Great ideas for teaching from the garden – check out the unit on creating dyes from plants! A teacher resource website with information on grants, classroom stories, and ideas for getting gardening into the classroom. | Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Kids Health | KidsHealth has separate areas for kids, teens, and parents - each with its own design, age-appropriate content, and tone. There are thousands of in-depth features, articles, animations, games, and resources. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Background |
| Kids Health in Classrooms | idsHealth in the Classroom offers educators free health-related lesson plans for all grades and subject areas. Each Teacher's Guide includes discussion questions, activities, and reproducible handouts and quizzes ? all aligned to national health education standards. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Background |
| Kids' Health - the Facts About Broken Bones | Nice article written at an elementary level about what happens and will happen when you break one of your bones. | Student Background;Teacher Background |
| KidsHealth in the Classroom | Get on board with KidsHealth's new online resource for educators! KidsHealth in the Classroom offers free health curriculum materials for all grades and subject areas. Each teacher's guide includes discussion questions, activities, and reproducible handouts and quizzes - all aligned to recently updated national health education standards. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| KQED QUEST website | The QUEST Website produced by KQED is a wonderful place to explore for videos, interactive maps, blogs and science resources and stories from around the Bay Area. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Learning A-Z | This website offers a host of worksheets on all different topics and grade levels. It is free, but you must register to have access to all their resources | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Life has a history | introduces students to the history of life and how it results in today’s biodiversity. | Student Online Activities;Teacher Background |
| Microbe Zoo | The Microbe Zoo has several different sections to browse with Using a zoo metaphor, Microbe Zoo explores microbe ecology, the study of microbes in their environment. Created for upper-elementary and middle school students, the site is divided into five environments: Animal Pavilion, DirtLand, Snack Bar, Space Adventure, and Waterworld. | Student Background;Teacher Background |
| Microbes in Action | For teachers and homeschoolers, Microbes in Action provides dozens of microbiology activities for grades three through twelve. Each unit (in PDF for easy printing) contains both a teacher's guide and student worksheets. An excellent link section completes the site. | Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Microscope Imaging Station | This section of the Exploratorium website allows you to look at different kinds of plant and animal cells, structures and organs. Beautiful photos, research stories, and video. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Background |
| Minds-on Activities for Teaching Biology | Lessons ideas and printouts and some videos for * Intro and Biological Molecules *Cell Structure and Function *Cellular Respiration and Photosynthesis *Cellular Respiration and Photosynthesis *Molecular Biology * Ecology and Evolution *Human Physiology and Health | Teacher Activities;Teacher Videos |
| Missouri Botanical Garden Rainforest Pages | General site that has pictures and background information about the plants and animals of the rainforest, both temperate and tropical. Includes a page of rainforest links. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Background |
| Monarch Watch | Provides background information and lesson plans for teachers as well as fun educational pages for kids. Information for how to start a butterfly garden, the life cycle of the monarch butterfly, its habitat, what they eat, and where they migrate to. Includes photographs, essays, and different multimedia about Monarch butterflies. | Student Background;Teacher Background |
| MonarchWatch Butterfly Gardening | A comprehensive web site dedicated to the cultivation of butterfly gardens with links to purchase plants, larvae, and other needs. | Student Background;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Monterey Bay Aquarium Activities Page | This site has both printable and on-line acitivities for kids about the animals that live at and around the Monterey Bay. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| My First Garden | Has audio in both English and Spanish that allows the site to be used by younger students. Get ready to learn about gardens, flowers, vegetables and the principles of horticulture. The Teacher guide section of the website has good ideas about activities with insects for the classroom | Student Background;Student Online Activities |
| National Atlas | This is a site that contains all kinds of data in map form. Geology, history, biology, political boundaries, environment, climate. You can print some maps yourself, order others, and use many online. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| National Wildlife Federation | Links to all kinds of wildlife activities and information, wetlands, habitat, endangered species. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Background |
| National Zoo Reptiles and Amphibians | Good site for background information on a wide variety of reptiles and amphibians. Limited kids page. | Student Background;Teacher Background |
| Nature Lab | Nature Lab is The Nature Conservancy's youth curriculum platform. Nature is the fantastic factory that makes the building blocks of all our lives—food, drinking water, the stuff we own, and the air we breathe. That’s why The Nature Conservancy and its 550 scientists have created Nature Lab: to help students learn the science behind how nature works for us and how we can help keep it running strong. | Student Background;Student Videos;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Natureworks | Linked to the public television services of the same name, offers loads of information on specific animals, well-written background information, and hands-on classroom activities. The Nature Files are also appropriate for student learning. | Student Background;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Neuroscience for Kids | This home page has been created for all students and teachers who would like to learn more about the nervous system. Enjoy the activities and experiments on your way to learning more about the brain and spinal cord. Online and other types of resources. Brain Facts, Memory and Learning, Brain Imaging and Atlases, Neuroanatomy and more. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| NOAA Artic Them Page | This page from NOAA has lots of links to technical information but also has great stuff like a north pole web cam and links to whale and seal sounds. and more... | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| NORINA - database for dissection alternatives and supplements | NORINA is an English-language database containing information on over 3,800 audiovisual aids that may be used as alternatives or supplements to the use of animals in teaching and training, including dissection alternatives.. | Teacher Background |
| NOVA's Earth system science collection | NOVA's Earth system science collection highlights important Earth processes normally invisible to the human eye. The standards-based media resources below expose the intricate web of forces that sustain life on Earth, allowing educators to explore the astonishing beauty and complexity of our dynamic planet with their students. For additional classroom resources, visit NOVA Labs http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/labs/ , a new digital platform where students can actively participate in the scientific process. NOVA Labs participants can take part in real-world investigations by visualizing, analyzing, and sharing the same data that scientists use. Try your hand at classifying clouds and investigating the role they play in severe tropical storms, research solar storms using images from NASA telescopes, or explore ways to make the most of renewable energy sources and use real data to design your own virtual power systems. | Student Background;Student Videos;Teacher Background;Teacher Videos |
| Oakland on the Move: The Ohlone | This site has background information on the Ohlone living in the Oakand Area. | Student Background;Teacher Background |
| Oakland Zoo | This website lets you look at all the animals at the zoo in pictures and descriptions. | Student Background;Teacher Background |
| Ocean Oasis | This is a website in conjunction with a large format film showing in many science centers around the country. The site has a teacher guide and oceain field guide that is very useful. Can be used without seeing the film. | Student Background;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Ology - Biodiversity Everything Counts | Take a look at what common items are made from, the biodivesity of life in the city and the rainforest. | Student Background;Student Online Activities |
| Ology - Marine Biology | Explore many aspects of marine biology with this site from the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Many on-line games and student content. | Student Background;Student Online Activities |
| Ology - Paleontology: The Big Dig | Join the Ologists at the american Museum of Natural History as the ask and answer some questions about paleontology. | Student Background;Student Online Activities |
| Ology: A Website for Kids from the American Museum of Natural History | Join the Ologists at the american Museum of Natural History as the ask and answer some questions about paleontology. | Student Background;Student Online Activities |
| PBS Kids | Games, Teacher Source, information on educational shows. Extra support for parents found in "PBS Parents" section. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Activities |
| PBS Learning Media (formerly Teacher's Domain) | PBS Learning Media is a free digital media service for educational use from public broadcasting and its partners. Easy to search!!! You’ll find thousands of media resources, support materials, and tools for classroom lessons, individualized learning programs, and teacher professional learning communities. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Student Videos;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background;Teacher Videos |
| PBS Teacher: Forensic Science Resources | Links to videos, lesson plans, books and lesson plans | Student Videos;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background;Teacher Videos |
| Penguins - Scientific Informaton | From the education department of Sea World, this site contains detailed scientific background but is very accessible to non-scientists. | Teacher Background |
| Pete & Barb's Penguin Pages | This page provides a large range of background information on all types of penguins. | Student Background;Teacher Background |
| Pete's Power Point Presentations | Lot's of free power point presentations on all kinds of science (and other) topics. Some are designed for use in teaching lessons wih the class. Others are designed for students to explore on their own. Generally uses simple terms and explains them, so it is useful with ELL students. Not sorted by grade level. | Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Photosynthesis for Kids | This site has an online quiz, online games, and short videos about different aspects of photosynthesis | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Student Videos;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background;Worksheets |
| Photosynthesis: A Survival Guide for Teachers | Includes background information on photosynthesis and lesson plan ideas set up in a series of power point presentations that can be used for planning or in the classroom. | Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Pinterest: Bottle Biology Projects | This pinterest page has lot of links to bottle biology projects | Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Pinterest: Ecosystems Activities | Pinterest Explore page on Ecosystem activities. | Teacher Activities |
| Plants and Animals: Partners in Pollination | These lessons are adapted from Smithsonian in Your Classroom. Ultimately, all life on Earth depends on plants to provide food, shelter, and oxygen for other living things. Consequently, plant reproduction is crucial to all other life on this planet. The first step in plant reproduction is the intricate process called pollination, which occurs when pollen grains, the male germ cell of a plant, reach the stigma, the female reproductive part of the same species of plant. Depending on the plant species, a flower can produce male, female, or both structures. Pollination can also occur within the same flower. | Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Project Feeder Watch | FeederWatch helps scientists track broad scale movements of winter bird populations and long-term trends in bird distribution and abundance. Groups put up a feeder, count the birds that visit, and send their data to scientists. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Background |
| Puma-Prey Simulator | The Puma-Prey Simulator demonstrates the natural balance of a healthy ecosystem, in contrast with the changes that occur as a result of human encroachment. In a natural ecosystem, the interaction between predator and prey is a delicately balanced process. When the prey population is large, more predators will succeed in finding prey, which then causes the predator population to grow. As the predator population grows, more of the prey get eaten, which then reduces the prey population. With the prey population reduced, fewer predators find prey, and the predator population also then decreases. In a natural system, this cyclic pattern continues in a state of balance. When human development intrudes into a natural ecosystem such as this, the natural balance is thrown off and the ecosystem is forever changed. | Student Online Activities;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| QUEST Exploration - Alum Rock Park, San Jose | Vitual fieldtrip to Alum Rock Park in San Jose. A good pre-trip activity but can stand on its own as well for information on local history, geology, and ecosystem | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Background |
| Reeko's Mad Scientist Lab | Fun filled site with lots of experiments to choose from. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Salmon in the Classroom activity guide | From Oregon. Some lesson plans and some graphics/worksheets. | Teacher Activities;Worksheets |
| Salmon Life Cycle Sing Video | about 3 minutes. A parody of " I will Survive"- this educational video takes an inside look into the lives of salmon- their dangerous journies, emotional struggles , and ironically, their eventual deaths. | Student Videos |
| Salmon Life Cycle Video - Discovery | about 3 minutes. Good general information. Live action. | Student Videos |
| San Francisco Bay Lesson Guides | These guides provide a valuable resource for teaching about the San Francisco Bay and its watershed in your classroom. Discover new ideas for teaching students about everything from salmon to climate change to the Farallon Islands. Each guide contains multiple lesson plans focused on local animals and ecosystems and is aligned to state standards, including the Common Core and the Next Generation Science Standards.With twelve guides spanning multiple grade levels and a variety topics, you can be sure to find lesson ideas to support your classroom curriculum. | Teacher Activities |
| Save the Redwoods League | The website has many valuable resources about redwood trees and their habitats. Older students will enjoy the Redwoods Transect Lessons. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Scholastic: Study Jams | This short animated video clips are nice introductions or reviews to different science topics. Each general area has about 10 supporting videos. *Plants, *Animals, *Human Body, *Ecosystems, * Landforms, Rocks and Minerals *Weather, Climate *Solar System *Matter *Force and Motion *Energy, Light and Sound (includes electricity and magnetism) *Scientific Inquiry | Student Background;Student Videos |
| Scholastic: StudyJams | Browse through the topic headings to find links to the subjects you are studying. Across the links are fun pages with vocabulary, informative slideshows, quizzes, and games for students. | Student Background;Student Online Activities |
| Science Friday Educate | Science Friday has a host of activities for classes and students to do. Wide range of topics. | Student Videos;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background;Teacher Videos |
| Science News Explores | Articles written for students on current topics in the news. Science News Explores was launched in 2003 by Society for Science & the Public (SSP) as a youth edition and companion to the Society’s Science News magazine. The Society is a nonprofit membership organization based in Washington, DC. Founded in 1921, and first known as Science Service, the Society advances the popular understanding of science through publications and educational competitions and programs. Its mission is to promote the understanding and appreciation of science and the vital role it plays in human advancement: to inform, educate, and inspire. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Background |
| Science Trek | From Idaho public television. Geared towards elementary level. A good place to find a wide range of resources. | Student Online Activities;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background;Worksheets |
| Science, Optics & You | activities are provided to help you investigate light, optics, and color. They were written by educators with input from scientists, researchers, students, and teachers. Students, teachers, and parents are encouraged to work together to begin an exploration of concepts that help us learn about how we see our world. | Student Background;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Scientific American: Ask The Experts | Ask the experts questions about astronomy, biology, chemistry, computers or geology. | Student Background;Teacher Background |
| Sea World: Teacher's Guides | This site has downloadable teacher guides on many topics and grade levels having to do with Marine life. Examples are "Orcas,"Sea Lions and Seals," and "Penguins." | Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Seeing the Invisible | This animated documentary celebrates the 17th-century citizen scientist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, whose discovery of microbes would change our view of the biological world. | Student Videos;Teacher Videos |
| Share My Lesson | Share My Lesson is a place where educators can come together to create and share their very best teaching resources. Developed by teachers for teachers, this free platform gives access to high-quality teaching resources and provides an online community where teachers can collaborate with, encourage and inspire each other. Share My Lesson has a significant resource bank for Common Core State Standards, covering all aspects of the standards, from advice and guides to help with dedicated resources that support the standards. Share My Lesson was developed by the American Federation of Teachers and TES Connect, the largest network of teachers in the world. Membership is always free | Teacher Activities |
| Shedd Educational Adventures | Shedd Educational Adventures (SEA) contains a treasure trove of aquatic science resources for K-12 teachers and students. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Background |
| Signals of Spring | For middle and high school teachers, Signals of Spring is a website dedicated to cool ocean curriculum with great maps and data. Learn about summer workshops available through their ACES program. | Student Online Activities |
| Skulls | Learn about skull structure and function, skull diversity, the living tissue associated with bones, and the role of the academy's skull collection in scientific research. | Student Background;Teacher Background |
| SMILE Program of Biology Lesson Resources | Teachers participating in the SMILE (Science and Mathematics Initiative for Learning Enhancement) summer session programs each create a single concept lesson plan. Caution: Since there is a wide number of authors who have contributed to the database, the detail and quality of the lesson plans will vary. | Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Smithsonian Learning Lab | The Smithsonian Learning Lab puts the treasures of the world's largest museum, education, and research complex within reach. The Lab is a free, interactive platform for discovering millions of authentic digital resources, creating content with online tools, and sharing in the Smithsonian's expansive community of knowledge and learning. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Songs for Teaching | Creative teachers can use music to teach content across the curriculum -- to students of all ages. A host of experts brings you tested ideas for using the magic of music in your lesson plans. | Teacher Background |
| STEM Cell Differentiation Lesson | From HHMI - This game uses a modified Uno deck to review concepts related to stem cell research and diabetes. Specifically, it covers material in the "Pulse-Chase Primer," "Pancreatic Beta Cells," and "Microarrays and Stem Cells" activities from the same resource which may or may not be necessary to complete prior to this activity (depending on learner's prior knowledge). Learners accumulate points and answer questions about stem cells, development, and microarrays so that they can be the first to differentiate into a pancreatic beta (?) cell. This activity is recommended for learners studying Biology at the High School (honors, IB and AP) or Undergraduate level. - See more at: http://howtosmile.org/record/6652#.dpuf | Teacher Activities |
| Study Guide for Human Body Systems | List of resources for studying different human body systems (Circulatory System, Respiratory System, Skeletal System, Muscular System, The Digestive System, Nervous System). Includes some videos and online games | Student Background;Teacher Background |
| Sun Safety | To help educators raise sun safety awareness, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has developed the SunWise School Program for grades K-8. SunWise Partner Schools sponsor classroom and school-wide activities that raise children's awareness of stratospheric ozone depletion, UV radiation, and simple sun safety practices. When you sign up to be a Sunwise school, you can share data online with other individuals. Your kit will include lessons, a UV-sensitive Frisbee, and the On the Trail of the Missing Ozone comic book. Registered SunWise Partner Schools can enter daily UV forecast and intensity data, map and graph data online! | Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Talk About Trees | You will find seven complete lesson plans with objectives, skill area, vocabulary, and focus items. The curriculum is designed for grades 4-6, but is easily adaptable for other grade levels. Each lesson includes activities, many of which can be found in the "interactive games" and "forest activities" sections of the web page. Feel free to print the lesson plans and activities to use in your classrooms. Other parts of the website are geared towards student learning. | Student Background;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Teacher Resource Guide to Agriculture issues | Search the guide on-line or order your free copy. Has resources on all sorts of things related to agriculture. How to grow plants and animals and how farming is related to nutrition and habitat health | Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Teacher's Corner | Many websites and lesson plans about plants and seeds, plant behavior in different seasons, etc. Includes book suggestions with links fo ordering info at Amazon.com. | Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| The Chick Hatchery | This site from the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago features a Quicktime video of chicks hatching. | Student Background |
| The Crab Street Journal | This page offers teaching ideas, background info and a kidzone all on hermit crabs. | Student Background;Teacher Background |
| The Eskeleton Project | To study human and primate comparative anatomy, this sitehas a unique set of digitized versions of skeletons in 2-D and 3-D in full color, animations, and much supplemental information. | Student Background;Teacher Background |
| The Forest Foundation | This website has lots of free resources for teachers and students when studying the forest habitats of California. Geared for grade 3+ but lots of good content for teachers of the younger grades. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Background |
| The Greatest Places | Features seven different and very distinct types of ecosystem, including great explorations of types of landforms, habitat, indigenous species, weather, etc. River Basin (Amazon), Icecap (Greenland), Waterfall (Iguazu Falls), Island (Madagascar), Desert (Namib), River Delta (Okavango Delta), and Plateau (Tibet). | Student Background;Student Online Activities |
| The Insects Homepage | Wonderful world of insects has interesting facts and links to insects with amazing adaptations, insect habitats, sexual characteristics, anatomy and insect orders. | Student Background;Teacher Background |
| The Loh Down on Science | This website has articles and radio clips on a wide range of science topics | Student Background;Teacher Background |
| The Science Bank - Alternatives to Animal Use in Education | The Science Bank offers a super low cost (you only pay return postage) place to borrow animal models, posters, software, etc. The lending library was set up as a way to offer alternatives to animal dissection and use in the classroom. | Teacher Background |
| The Science of Music | This site features on-line exhibits, movies and answers many questions about what makes music. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Background |
| The Shape of LIfe | The Shape of Life: the story of the animail kingdom is a collection of videos formatted for use in schools that shows the process of scientific discovery into the evolution of animals on earth. From their website: * Stunning animations explain the intricate inner workings of animals’ bodies, demonstrating how form and function are complementary. * Never before filmed animal behaviors show animals hunting and feeding in their natural habitats. * Scientists are shown at work, as they study paleontology, genetics and ecology, pursuing their passion for the animals they study. From sponges, to worms, to humans, each phylum is presented, showing the exquisite design of its body plan and the evolutionary developments that lead to today’s astonishing diversity. * Other topics present exciting new developments in genetics, paleontology, and engineering. All these videos align with the National Science content standards for grades 5-9 and California 7th grade science standards. | Student Background;Student Videos;Teacher Background |
| Timelapse: Photosynthesis Seen From Space | n this time-lapse video based on data from the NASA MODIS satellite, you'll witness the influence of the sun on the seasonal abundance of plant matter produced on land and in our oceans. Some questions to consider as you watch: What is "carbon absorption" a measure of? How do plants respond to seasonal changes in sunlight? Which areas of our planet are most productive, and why? | Student Videos;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| UC Museum of Paleontology | Good resource for finding more information on fossils and the geological time frames. | Teacher Background |
| Underground Adventure | The world of soil is a rich and tiny habitat for amazing creatures. Take a virtual tour of the exhibit, and see what life would be like if you were a half-inch tall. This program was developed as a fifth-grade environmental science curriculum. However, the activities are interdisciplinary and can be modified for other grade levels. | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Background |
| Understanding Genetics | Stanford at the Tech Understanding Genetics has online exhibits, background information and more resources for teachers and students | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Understanding Science | This excellent website has resources for learning all about science and science education. Practical and interesting | Teacher Background |
| USGS - Patuxent--Tools for Learning About Birds | This is a great site about birds. It has photos, songs, life histories, seasonal bird maps and a bird quiz | Student Background;Student Online Activities;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Vertebrate Circulatorium | Compare the circulatory systems of different vertebrate groups and explore how during evolution the structure of the heart has changed drastically from the relatively simple two-chambered heart of fish, to the three-chambered heart of amphibians and reptiles, and the four-chambered heart of mammals and birds. Interesting adaptations include the heart of the crocodile, which changes its circulatory pattern depending on whether the animal is diving underwater or on the surface. The heart of a mammalian fetus shows a circulatory pattern reminiscent of that of the crocodile diving underwater. | Student Online Activities |
| Video: The Coralax | This film was created by students in Maui Huliau Foundation's Huliau Environmental Filmmaking Club. Inspired by Dr. Suess's The Lorax, this claymation by our new middle school students uses 667 images to show how irresponsible shoreline development can impact our precious reef ecosystem. | Student Videos;Teacher Videos |
| WatchKnowLearn.org | This website has free educational videos on all topics (including science) for all age levels. There is specifically a section for younger learners. | Student Background;Student Videos;Teacher Background;Teacher Videos |
| When Greenville Turned Brown | A small town called Greenville was a nice place to live, with forests and ponds, it had lots to give. The people were happy in this little town, until something happened and Greenville turned brown. A poem with accompanying illustrations that recounts a tale of how important clean natural resources are. | Student Background |
| Wisconsin Fast Plants | To know a plant, grow a plant! Exploration, discovery, and the scientific process come alive when your students grow Fast Plants in the classroom. These petite, hardy, attractive members of the mustard family whiz through an ultra-short life cycle in about 35-45 days. At their peak, the tallest plants only reach a height of 30 cm (about 12 inches); most plants are even shorter. Their website is education friendly and has activities ready to use in the classroom. | Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| WISE: Web Based Inquiry Science | free sign up. Simulations and lesson plans on a variety of topics for middle and High school science. | Student Online Activities;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| Wyland Ocean Challenge | An interdisciplinary art-science curriculum promoting conservation and stewardship through understanding adaptation and water cycle concepts. Downloadable activities and other interesting background information. Lesson resources are found in the right hand column of the main page. | Student Background;Teacher Activities;Teacher Background |
| YouTube for Teachers | YouTube for teachers is designed with playlists for your classroom or search for specific topics. | Student Videos;Teacher Background;Teacher Videos |
| YouTube Teachers: Digestive System Collection | Series of short videos on digestion. | Student Background;Student Videos;Teacher Background |