10 Resources Every Middle School Science Teacher Should Know About
Over my years of teaching, I have come across dozens and dozens of resources that are simply amazing to use in the middle school science classroom. Some of them I plug in to provide extra support and a new way to look at the content, others I provide for students to use on their own, and some become mainstays as part of my regular curriculum. Here I share my top 10 favorites from over the years.
How the Body Works by Nemours Kids Health
https://www.kidshealth.org/en/kids/center/htbw-main-page.html
This is one of my favorite websites when teaching about body systems. It’s not something I use all the time, nor do I use all parts of the website, but the videos in particular are fantastic. They are just cheesy enough to make my 7th grade science students feel less uncomfortable about talking about body systems but still highly accurate and scientifically sound. The articles and worksheets are handy resources as well, when you are in a bind. They don’t provide a fully comprehensive lesson, but when you are in a pinch for a sub-plan, it’s not a bad place to go. (Plus, they offer quite a lot in Spanish which is a huge bonus!)
California Academy of Science (Educator’s Area)
https://www.calacademy.org/educators
I honestly can’t say enough good stuff about the California Academy of Science. If you happen to be in the Northern California region, it’s worth taking a trip out to the museum (which includes a 4 story, living rain forest exhibit) but their website is packed with enough good stuff for educators that you don’t have to be nearby to reap the benefits. I use the science video vault most often, which includes a wide collection of short (and some long) videos perfect to add to any lesson. Some of my favorites include Travel Deep Inside a Leaf and Take a Virtual Dive in A Kelp Forest. Both videos are no more than a few minutes long and include no talking but they are fantastic visuals for when we are studying photosynthesis and ecosystems respectively. Aside from their science vault, the California Academy of Science website also includes lots of lesson plans and professional development opportunities as well.
National Geographic’s Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure
https://cosmicpicture.com/films/sea-monsters/
While I love incorporating some video clips into my lessons here and there, I rarely show a full-length film- with one exception. I have shown the movie Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure to my 7th grade life science students nearly every year since it came out in 2007. The run time is 40 minutes, so it usually takes one full class period, but its worth it. The film combines real-life archeology work (re-enacted) with CGI to simulate and tell a story of life on Earth 82 million years ago. It does a beautiful job of showing how scientists use fossil and geological clues to piece together what could have occurred in the geological past. Over the years, National Geographic has put together educational resources to go along with the film which you can find here. Admittedly, I have never used any of them. I show the film to introduce our Life Science section on Biological Evolution where we cover the units of The History of Life on Earth, Adaptations, and Natural Selection. We do a fantastic project in which students “discover” a previously unknown species from another era and tell a story about it, much like what we see in the movie.
Genetic Science Learning Center, University of Utah
https://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/basics/
This is a website I randomly stumbled upon several years ago, and I’m so glad I did. The overall Genetic Science Learning Center site contains a wealth of amazing information and resources but this “basics” subpage is perfect for middle school science students. The short videos included in the “Tour of Basic Genetics” section provide excellent, thoughtful explanations with animations about the basics of genetics. The rest of the site is packed full with articles, additional videos, and interactives. It’s great to discover as a class or to provide to students for independent learning (especially early finishers who are highly interested in genetics and want to dive deeper).
Bitsbox
Bitsbox is one of my favorite coding websites for students. A lot of coding programs designed for students use a block coding method where students are essentially locking together blocks that have underwritten pieces of computer code. Bitsbox goes a step beyond that. It’s not quite the level of C++ or JavaScript computer coding but students start to learn to write lines of code using commands and functions and other basic aspects of coding. It’s very guided, students are given a line of code to type, but also has room for student freedom and creativity. There are a few programs on the site that students can use without needing to purchase anything, but bitsbox does work best when used with their coding books that can be purchased on their site.
UCDavis C-STEM Lab and RoboBlocky
https://c-stem.ucdavis.edu/teachers-administrators
UC Davis’s C-STEM lab and RoboBlocky program is another step above Bitsbox, and basically one tiny step down from coding with complete knowledge of C++. It’s a little less user-friendly, but if you are willing to put a little time into getting to know the program, it’s worth the effort. Everything on the site is currently free to use, including the numerous and amazing video tutorials. But, you can purchase RoboBlocky link-bots which can be programmed with the coding system. The link-bots and the coding program on the site work within a matrix, so there is a lot of math that can be incorporated into the exercises as well. This program requires a lot of patience but it also allows for a lot of creative freedom and is really great for students who have a strong interest in computer coding.
Chem4Kids and the entire Andrew Rader Studios suite of websites
Andrew Rader Studios operates several fantastic websites (if you scroll to the bottom of any one of them, you will see links to the rest). Unfortunately, the sites have a lot of ads on them but the information provided is useful and easy for students to understand. I like to use these sites as a resource when I am having students conduct independent research and I am providing them with a few websites they can use (either because time is limited or because I want to narrow their search). Besides, the ads, each page may also have a video link and a list of related searches, which can either be very useful or send you down a rabbit hole, but overall, I’ve found these sites very helpful over the years.
Cells Alive!
The interactive models on this site provide a nice visual for students, though the written content is a bit high for middle school level (though some students might find it interesting and enjoy the opportunity to dig a little deeper into the cell). What’s really great about this site is the “How Big Is…” section and the microscope videos you can find under the “Immune Response” section (complete with sound effects). I like to use this website as an opener for lessons during our cells unit to grab the students attention, since there are some pretty interesting things on here that don’t take a lot of time to show.
Nasa (for students 5th-8th grade)
https://www.nasa.gov/stem/forstudents/5-8/index.html
Nasa has done an incredible job over the years creating an educational space on their website for students. The page is sectioned into themes such as “Build It!” and “Explore It!” and “Watch It!” Left on their own, students will undoubtedly gravitate (pun intended… haha!) to the “Play It!” games section, which I guess is fine since the games are all relatively (another pun… oh my!) educational. But the “Build It!” and “Explore It!” sections are the ones I recommend checking out. Nasa has provided a number of really fantastic, fairly simply STEM activities that you can incorporate into your classroom, as well as a great collection of information that addresses many of those curiosity questions students bring up.
Phenomena for NGSS
https://www.ngssphenomena.com/
This is a website I found early on in its development and it has grown and changed quite a lot since then but it’s still a pretty neat place to go. The homepage (which used to be the only page) contains still photos and short videos of phenomena, sometimes with an explanation and sometimes without. I would use these as class starters here and there, picking one, asking students to consider the phenomena and write about what they thought might be happening. It’s especially great for 8th grade physical science since much (but not all) of the phenomena is related to that curriculum. The website has grown quite a bit and the developers are working hard to create a space that is very educator friendly and helps bring phenomena to the classroom. It’s a little difficult to navigate through everything but there is a lot to explore.
