Updated 1/18/2021
JFYNetWorks provides online resources to support remote learning in all core subject areas. To support the STEM curriculum, we have developed this annotated guide to science resources. It lists free resources in all domains of science, and details activities, multi-media lessons and teacher guides for all levels. We hope it will be helpful to teachers, students and parents.
-> Professor Dave Explains (Science and Math)
-> Crash Course (Science and other subjects)
-> The Amoeba Sisters(Biology)
-> High School Biology Lectures(Biology)
-> Stanley Bergkamp (Physics)
-> James Dann (Physics)
-> Michael Farabaugh (Chemistry)
-> PBS Digital Studios, Physics
Students are curious and anxious about the pandemic. Its omnipresence in the media and its tangible effect on daily life create a learning opportunity. Teachers can take advantage of that opportunity to develop lessons that touch on a range of subjects and skills.
-> National Science Foundation
-> New York Times
-> Washington Post
-> National Geographic
-> Lifelique
-> PBS Learning
-> Vaccine Information
-> COVID Data Tracker
-> Science Buddies
This website has videos that cover important concepts in the following areas: high school biology, high school chemistry, high school earth science, high school physics, Anatomy and Physiology, AP Biology, AP Environmental Science, AP Physics, and AP Chemistry. Major science subject areas are also organized by Next Generation Science Standards. The videos (on YouTube) have clear, colorful explanations, and some videos have accompanying worksheets contributed by teachers. The Wonder of Science website also connects to the wonder of science. There are sections of assessments and videos organized by Next Generation Science Standards. The website also features teacher resources. This is a great site for students that have limited technology access. The videos connect to YouTube and the assessments and worksheets are pdfs.
A project of Framingham State University, this website is a curated list that will help parents, students and educators looking for free resources they can use via remote learning. These resources are at a variety of levels, from pre-k to high school. The site has 5 parts with free activities. A key section is STEM at Home. This section is a curated list of free resources. When you click on a topic, you will see a list of resources with a short description. For each resource the descriptions give you a basic summary, type of activity, area covered, and appropriate age group. This is a work in progress and users should check periodically for updated resources. There is a wide variety of activities including digital labs, interactive lessons, demos, videos animations, and tutorials. This site also includes math activities that teachers can assign and parents and students can work through together. There is also a section of science sites in Spanish and Portuguese. STEM at Home also lists videos, webcasts, and WGBH broadcast options. Another section of the website is the DIY Universe. In this section you can create your own exhibit or multi-media show in three areas: Stars, Solar Systems, and Origin/History of the Universe. Users can access these resources as a parent, teacher or student. Another section, Perspectives of Earth, provides images from the International Space Station with linked educational activities. Activities are organized by UN Sustainable Development Goals. Learner and educators can explore the UN Sustainable Development Goals in 6 areas: Planet, People, Dignity, Prosperity, Justice, and Partnerships. In the Events section, anyone can either register for live presentations of the monthly Astro Night or view the session later on the Center’s YouTube channel. Last, but not least there is a link to Webinars for Teachers that will help teachers and parents hone their remote learning skills. This is one of the best websites for easy access to a wide variety of resources.
This is a collection of free resources that provides everything from illustrations and simulations to exercises you can use with your students. Although some of the links are inactive, there are plenty of resources to use. The website gives resources in all the major areas of biology. There are simulations, illustrations and online textbooks in each area. There are also informative online spreadsheets with data that can be used as the basis of many assignments. This site includes lesson plans that teachers can use to create online assignments for their students. Although this website emphasizes biology, there are resources for chemistry, physics and earth science. There are many resources to choose, but teachers will have to pick from a long list to find what will work best for their students.
This website provides resources in all areas of science. The links take you to a list of resources for each area. One advantage of this website is that it identifies the appropriate grade range for many sites. This site has organized activities in 12 different areas: Arctic & Antarctic, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Biology, Chemistry & Materials, Computing, Earth & Environment, Education, Engineering, Mathematics, Nanoscience, People & Society, and Physics. Some of these listed resources, such as Cells Alive or Chem4Kids have been around a long time, but that doesn’t mean they still don’t have valuable information. Many activities are available in different languages. This site is a vast collection of resources. Teachers can choose and assign specific activities to their students.
This website has a very large collection of resources and activities in almost every subject. Once you choose an area, you can filter by grade and type of activity to narrow your choices. There are complete interactive lessons and activities. Most activities have support materials so that teachers have a complete assignment for students. Activities are varied and there are games, multiple choice and short answer questions for students. Teachers can create classes and give students assignments. Teachers can view student activity and these reports can be exported to Excel. The program can be fully integrated with Google classroom.
This is a large collection of resources. Activities vary and some activities are more comprehensive than others. The teacher can filter by grade, standards and subject. Although this website is known for science, teachers can choose activities in life science, applied science, physical science, mathematics and history.
You can enter this site as a teacher or a student. If you are a teacher or a parent, you should look at their webinar which gives advice on using their program. This website includes resources in science (starting at grade 1), math (grade 1 through college), language arts, and social studies. Teachers can use the Flexbooks. These are online textbooks that have accompanying activities. There also individual activities and videos available. For example, students can move the chromosomes to display the phases of meiosis. Although this site does not filter by Massachusetts standards, you can use the Common Core filter. This site is very comprehensive. [account creation required]
These resources have been vetted and recommended by the National Science Teaching Association. You can browse from their list of websites and Google docs.
Thoughtco provides resources for educators in all areas of science. In each area, you can find lists and articles. These resources can serve as the basis of an activity, but they are not interactive and the articles do not include comprehension questions. Teachers would have to develop questions and accompanying activities to convert these resources into complete assignments. If your students have limited tech resources, this might be a good website for your class. This website also includes humanities and language resources.
If you prefer your students to work with a more traditional method, then choose Khan Academy. Khan Academy provides a very comprehensive selection of short videos and accompanying online exercises for some topics. Khan Academy’s science offerings cover Biology, Chemistry and Physics with separate courses for AP science. The videos are lecture style and the video is basically an explanation in a mini-lecture. It’s not for every student, but some students really do better with Khan’s straightforward approach. Teachers can enroll classes and check on student progress with reports.
This website is sponsored by Harvard. You have to sign up, but it’s free. There are online learning assets, including videos, assessments, and simulations. The focus is biology, but there is a good selection in other areas such as Chemistry, Physics and Global Health. If you are looking for activities to help understand COVID-19, this website had many activities. Teachers can create online classes and teach lab skills remotely. The virtual experiments and simulations might be particularly useful for teachers seeking to provide continuity through hybrid and remote learning.
This is a large collection of resources. You can filter by level, activity, and topic. Activities include videos with a pdf teacher guide and student handout. There is also a small section on earth science.
Concord has a small collection of engaging biology resources. Some of these activities are simulations that teachers can use to design a lesson for their students. If you have your own webpage, you could post the links to the activities and also add questions. Other activities already have accompanying questions. Please note that a few activities do not function, so be sure to preview them first.
This website, a joint effort between Busch Gardens and SeaWorld, has a variety of activities. Although it features K-12 activities, many of the activities are geared for lower grades. Both teachers and students can access lesson plans and activities. In classroom activities, there are workbook style lessons. Teachers can download these activities and assign them. Teachers can substitute class discussion sections with written responses and video conferencing. There are also teacher guides in many areas that are online textbooks with readings and assignments. Another useful, dynamic section is Saving a Species. This section has many videos and a teacher toolbox goes with the videos. Animal Bytes has one-page fact sheets on interesting animals. Teachers can use these sheets to spark interest in research projects. The videos are on YouTube, so students can watch these shows on their tablets, laptops, phones or smart TV.
This website includes complete activities for teachers that make great online lessons. In order to access many of these activities, you have to be a member of AACT. There is still a wide variety of activities that you can access without membership here. Some of the activities are better for classroom work but there are activities that feature simulations. You can give directions to your students to complete the activities on their own or you could do this work as a group by Zoom or Google Meet. The advantage of these activities is that they include a teacher guide and student activity sheet. These activities cover 14 different areas of high school chemistry and there are lessons for your students. There are also activities for middle and elementary school students.
This website includes a collection of resources that you can use to teach topics. There is good information, but many of the activities are not as dynamic or interactive as other websites. Please note that these activities use Adobe Flash (support ends 12/31/20) and may not work on all devices.
This website is similar to Concord’s biology page. There are many resources for teachers to use. These activities vary. Some are simulations and other activities are meant for classroom work (although some activities might be done at home through teacher instruction). Lessons vary from activity general plans to complete lessons with accompanying guides for students and teachers. To access all of the website’s features, sign up for the free membership.
This website has a large collection of resources for teachers and students. There are many links to varied resources that include online textbooks, interactive activities, physics videos and complete physics lessons (Concept Builders) with varied activities. The website also includes a review section, ACT Science tutorials, Curriculum Corner worksheets, NGSS Corner, Teacher Toolkits and the Mind on Physics phone/computer app. Teacher accounts are available, which allow teachers to access more features such as task tracking.
This is a very large collection of resources that varies in quality and functionality. Some activities are excellent, but others are either non-functional or old-fashioned. Since this is a large collection of sites, it is definitely worth investigating. There is a new guide for Project -Based Learning and activities. Some activities require a sign-up to use. There is a short description of each website, so you can quickly decide if this activity would work well for you.
The Physics Front has complete lessons and online activities. You can browse by course, level, or topic.
Although this is a very basic website, you might want to use it if your students have limited access to online curriculum. Some of the materials are simple to download, so students could access the work easily on their phones.
This is a Google doc (with hyperlinks) collection of activities that students can do at home. This site is useful for teachers looking for activities to assign or parents trying to engage kids in stimulating work.
Students can explore games, activities, robotics and engineering careers. There is information on university engineering programs and summer institutes.
This is the companion website for teachers. Teachers can find lessons plans to download and activities for their students on a wide variety of engineering topics. In this large collection of resources, you can filter by subject, topic, lesson type and grade level. You can also choose a curricular unit with multiple activities. There is a time estimate and description for each activity. Activities are available in other science disciplines.
This website emphasizes practical activities that teachers can assign. The activities focus on creating inventions. There are separate activities that focus on many high interest topics such as the relationship between engineering and tattoos or 3-d printing. The website includes sections for kids and teens.
Professor Dave offers short simple video explanation on a wide range of topics in science and mathematics. These videos are mini-lectures. Although the videos are good, teachers will have to develop accompanying lesson plans or pull activities from another source.
These are short, easy to understand explanations on many topics. You can study biology, chemistry, engineering, math, history and many other subjects. They are colorful and easy to understand. The videos have caption options, which will be helpful to ELL students.
Two sisters (a former high school teacher and a former program analyst) started this channel to demystify science. These are fun, colorful videos that your students will enjoy. Some of the videos may be suitable for middle school students. They also have a website that has GIFs, handouts, resources, and science comics. You can also access the videos from this website.
If you prefer more traditional lectures, try this channel. This is not a complete course in biology, but there are 28 videos on YouTube. The narrator has some interaction with the students, but mainly lectures. The videos have good graphics and they vary in length. No videos have been added to this channel in several years, but there is still some valuable content.
These videos focus on higher level physics and chemistry topics. The teacher covers AP Physics, Honors Physics and AP Chemistry. These videos are traditional classroom lectures and each video is 45 minutes to an hour. The explanations are good, but they are not flashy. You get a high-quality detailed lecture on physics and chemistry topics. This will appeal to students who like detailed explanations and prefer a lesson that mimics a classroom setting.
James Dann gives short explanations on a variety of physics topics. The videos are mini-class style lectures, whiteboard demonstrations, students performing experiments and physics demos.
This channel provides a complete chemistry course with class lectures, concept video demos, labs and unit quizzes (with explanations).
This channel is sponsored by PBS. These are high-quality videos that are engaging and easy to understand. There are experiments students can try at home, as well as a group of video puzzles to experiment with and figure out.
Information on COVID-19 is continually evolving. These resources will enable teachers to develop lessons that help their students understand the pandemic. Let’s hope it all becomes a history lesson soon.
This activity is for high school and above. Students can watch an animation and then complete a worksheet. The worksheet is available in English and Spanish.
This lesson provides a general explanation of how viruses cause disease. There are also sections on how a pandemic spreads and a general explanation of COVID-19. There is a video with a quiz and tables with accompanying questions.
7 texts provide information on COVID 19: What is the Coronavirus Outbreak?; Lifecycle of a Coronavirus; Zoonosis: Animal Viruses Affecting Humans; Bat Flight and Inflammation; Bat Flight: DNA Damage and Reduced Inflammation; Why Bats Don’t Get Sick from Viruses; Coronavirus Glossary. There is one interactive activity: How is Coronavirus Diagnosed?
This lesson has some readings for advanced ESL students with grammar and writing activities. Some of the information is a little dated, but most of the supporting articles are still relevant.
This lesson explains the concept of exponential growth and how to use exponential growth to develop a model for COVID cases. Have students use data from their state or other states for this lesson.
This is an interactive simulation. Students can move the parameters to see how factors influence viral spread. Students should watch this video to understand and complete the simulation.
This lesson uses a short documentary on past epidemics to help understand how handling of past epidemics influences today’s approach. There are discussion questions and writing prompts. Teachers will also find links to additional resources.
Although information on this topic is continually evolving, there are some valuable resources that teacher can use to help their students understand the pandemic. Some of resources listed here will also include COVID resources.
This site has some FAQs and news articles on COVID.
(Free subscription)
– Coronavirus Resources: Teaching, Learning and Thinking Critically
– For daily updates and news on COVID, go to the daily briefing.
– Coronavirus World Map: Tracking the Global Outbreak.
– How Coronavirus Hijacks Your Cells.
– Coronavirus Resources for Students
This collection is a series of articles from the New York Times that teachers can use with students. At the end of every article there are some suggested teaching ideas. Articles are classified in categories so that teachers can make informed choices: current events, student opinions, writing curriculum, picture prompts. Teachers should be sure to preview these articles before assigning them to students. The New York Times is offering free access to all high schools.
– Find Your Place in the Vaccine Line
With this tool, students can type in their age, county of residence, health risks, and profession. Since the vaccine has not been approved for people under the age of 18, teachers might ask students to choose two relatives or adult acquaintances in different age groups so they can see how age and health impacts the timing of when people could receive the vaccine. Students will see how many other people will be eligible before their relative or friends. Teachers should explain that this is just an estimate. Supplies and state administration may impact vaccine distribution.
– See How the Vaccine Rollout Is Going in Your State
This article displays a map that shows what percent of the population in each state has been vaccinated.
– How Nine Covid-19 Vaccines Work
This resource will be good for teachers who want students to understand how different COVID-19 vaccines work. Students can click on 9 different vaccines. Each section explains a specific vaccine and its development history. Students can compare the technology and effectiveness of different vaccines.
– Great simulations and information about COVID-19 spread
– COVID lessons on scientific and social aspects of the pandemic. These lessons are pdfs and there are lessons for elementary, middle and high school students.
– There are several downloadable lessons with teacher plans and student worksheets. Some activities link to YouTube videos.
– PBS has videos and some lessons that teachers can use for lessons on COVID-19.
The Center for Disease Control has many resources for teachers. Here are some of the main sections:
This site is a good source of vaccine information for students. There are several subsections where teachers will find reliable information for lessons including general administration of vaccine distribution, vaccine storage and handling, and recommendations. Some sections of this website are designed for health professionals. Material is fairly technical so this website is not recommended for younger students.
In this section students can find many types of data related to COVID. Students can track data in the following areas: case trends, vaccinations, county view, lab tests, world statistics, community impact, population data. Teachers will find vetted data for research projects.
This website has four lessons related to COVID. Three of the lessons are available in a second version geared for remote and hybrid learners. The website also includes links to related lessons on health careers.
Compiled by Joan Reissman, the MCAS Maven.
This site is a good source of vaccine information for students. There are several subsections where teachers will find reliable information for lessons including general administration of vaccine distribution, vaccine storage and handling, and recommendations. Some sections of this website are designed for health professionals. Material is fairly technical so this website is not recommended for younger students. Learn more here: Vaccine Information
In this section students can find many types of data related to COVID. Students can track data in the following areas: case trends, vaccinations, county view, lab tests, world statistics, community impact, population data. Teachers will find vetted data for research projects. Learn more here: COVID Data Tracker
This website has four lessons related to COVID. Three of the lessons are available in a second version geared for remote and hybrid learners. The website also includes links to related lessons on health careers. Learn more here: Science Buddies
Compiled by Joan Reissman, the MCAS Maven.
