10 Interesting science blogs/websites!

Science resources are literally all around us. Internet and web-sources are great things to use to gather ideas for science activity and curriculum. Here are 10 interesting blogs/websites that I have found that relate to science understanding and teaching.


1. http://www.sciencebob.com/index.php
The website has a TON of science experiments and activities that students can do. The site also has interesting videos,  a question and answer section and an interactive blog. The videos are step by step instructions to experiments and explanation of how those experiments connect to science understanding.

Here's an example:
http://www.sciencebob.com/experiments/videos/video-blobs.php
This video explains how to make a lava lamp with a water bottle, using water and oil. The instructor really makes it interesting!


2. http://bainbridgeclass.blogspot.com/2012/01/handy-way-to-learn-about-texture.html?showComment=1326237729188#c3605442248393128809
This is an extremely specific and detailed teacher blog. The link I provided is a specific lesson that I personally used as a guide to complete me texture box a few weeks ago. Christina Bainbridge (blog creator) has tons of lesson ideas for all subject areas. I personally found amazing science lessons that could be incorporated in a number of different ways. Personally I like to take some of her lesson ideas and rearrange them on my own. It is definitely something worth checking out.


3. http://www.housingaforest.com/dancing-oobleck/
Amazing site that gives you a step by step process to making colored oobleck!

Dancing oobleck is essentially the same thing as oobleck only with a lot of bass and food coloring. Nevertheless, the website has really cool images and pictures and has the exact ingredients required to make the dancing oobleck work.


4.  http://tekyteach.blogspot.com/2011/12/more-force-and-motion-fun-marble-races.html
This is an interesting blog that has a variety of different lessons. It is not as detailed or intense at the blog mentioned earlier but it is still very interesting. One particular post really caught my eye where students built ramps for marbles to race down  and adjusted the level of the ramp to see how the speed of the marble changed.

I thought that this marble race activity was a really interactive science lessons that kids would really love to do in the classroom. Check out the details for this lesson and others on the blog!


5. http://www.modernparentsmessykids.com/2011/09/more-science-at-home.html
This next website is designed for parents who are homeschooling. I thought it would be a useful resource for ideas that can incorporate science into common everyday household things. The common theme with all the activities and projects is do it yourself. The activities are really interesting and teach a bunch of different science ideas and understandings. Check this website out if you are looking for science activities that are simple and can be done at home!

6. https://www.quirkles.com/about_the_quirkles/about.htm
This next website isn't really something that you can complete online and its not really something that guides you toward an idea for a science activity. This website is a portal to ordering something called Quirkels. Quirkels are books and materials that teach literacy and phonics understanding through science process and terminology. For example, some books are categorized by letter; Andy Acid, Colorful Caroline, Density Dan. Each book teaches particular phonics rules connected with science understanding. It is really something that is worth understanding and possibly ordering!


7. http://www.howtosmile.org/
How to smile is a very well known, high quality site. The site has literally hundreds of science and math activities. Frequent users can subscribe and the site even offers a smart phone app where the science and math games can be downloaded or played on the go. The site also has a search bar so that you do not have to pan through all the incredible games that are offered. This is a site I would highly recommend subscribing to; the benefits are absolutely amazing!


8. http://kids.discovery.com/
Discovery for kids is a popular highly visited site. It is comprised of quizzes, videos, science and social studies lessons and so much more. There are literally tons of interactive games that kids can play on this website. The website can be used for adults too; there are really good science activities and ideas that can be pulled from the site. I have observed students using this site in classrooms throughout the area. It really is a neat activity site.


9. http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/

National geographic for kids is another very popular site (just like discovery for kids). I thought I would finish off the list with some more popular kids sites that I think live up to their reputation. This site is certainly not exception. It features a strong variety of games, videos and activities that visitors on the site can follow . I think the real strength in this site is the real life video features that it offers. It simply is a great site to expand the knowledge of science and social studies.


10. http://8plus1science.org/
8 plus one is an interesting science website that offers interesting ideas and insights in the understanding and incorporating of science into the classroom as well as everyday life. I chose 8 plus one because it touches on all grade levels from the elementary to secondary level. This site is a great site that promotes scientific thinking; logic and reason processing. Check it out!

Science Prop Box!

I wanted to give people viewing a chance to take a look at one of my first prop boxes I have created. The box is a themed science box that deals with different types of texture. The idea behind the box is that it is a comprised materials box that children can open up and immediately understand the task they are supposed to perform and conceptualize the content in which the box is suppose to help them understand. My box that I created was an activity in which students organized different items into five categories of texture. In order to aid them in this process they will have a multitude of resources and tools so that they can understand the classifying of the objects. Some objects could go in more than one category of texture causing students to really analyze the texture of items when classifying. Anything that creates a higher order of thinking is always a good thing!

This is what the box looks like with everything packaged inside. It is small and can be easily moved so it can be stored anywhere in the classroom. It is really a child friendly size!

Inside the box children are given a number of resources to help them classify the items. These are four books at different levels that relate to some form of texture. Two are non-fiction and two are fiction.

This is another resource that can be used to help the children classify the forms of texture. On the left are hands that have examples of each type of texture on each finger. On the right is a "texture table" in which each form of texture the students are classifying is defined.

This is an example of some of the small items children would be classifying in different texture groups. I stored them in small plastic Tupperware containers.

This is the finished product! Students use their resources and sort the items in different texture categories.