

What we love most: the projects try to make use of what might be found around the house, although a few may require a trip to the hardware store. The projects are best for the middle or high school student, but younger students could also enjoy the projects with adult supervision. Students can make things ranging from a steamboat to a solar-powered marshmallow roaster. Remember making your own crystal radio or a clock from a potato way back when? Science Toys has collected the best of these old-school science projects for the current generation. Look for the parent and teacher areas that offer resources to help create lesson plans that incorporate the interactive displays. Biology, physiology, earth science, engineering, and astronomy are some of the areas of focus. The website brings some of these activities to students via their computers. This website is an extension of the Exploratorium in San Francisco, which provides hands-on experiences that teach children scientific concepts.

Parents and teachers will find this a useful resource for explaining the way various items are created and function in the world. The site uses illustrations, charts, and graphs to explain the detailed workings of everything from light bulbs to weather phenomena, space craft to submarines, nuclear fission to how ice cubes melt. HowStuffWorksĪ companion to the books and TV shows, HowStuffWorks is more for the teen or young adult, so some supervision will be needed to direct the younger student to the right information.

Be sure to check out the videos in the “Lessons In Practice” section to watch actual educators teaching science in their classrooms. The site features lots of really cool experiments in biology, chemistry, math, and engineering, as well as a growing set of lessons that reflect some of the shifts in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). A collaboration between the New York Hall of Science, IBM Corporation, and, Teachers TryScience is all about offering design-based learning strategies and lesson plans to teachers who believe in the power of science.
