Lesson Plans, Assessment, Misconceptions, Science Education Research, Inclusion, Children's Literature, Demonstrations, Interdisciplinary Connections & more!
This will connect you to several sites that have teacher created lesson plans, links to websites with children's stories and reviews of children's literature & suggestions for interdisciplinary connections. There are also links to sites that address science misconceptions.

Children's Literature
The Children's Literature WebSite This website offers reviews of books, ways to incorporate children's literature into various aspects of the curriculum (including science) and information about authors. There is an on-line newsletter which you can access through the website. You can also sign up for the newsletter when you visit the site.

The Children's Literature Web Guide has numerous connections to children's literature sites. There are resources for parents & teachers, book reviews, listings of award winning books and much, much more!

Carol Hurst & Rebecca Otis have a Children's Literature Site. Each month they send out an electronic newslettter. The themed issues are archived and can be viewed on their site. In addition to themed issues, the site includes a listing of children's books by topics (including many science topics) and curriculum areas. Visit the site to sign up to receive the monthly letter.

The Calfiornia Department of Education (CDE) announces the opening of a new website, Literature for Science and Mathematics: Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve This site is searchable by topic, grade level and standard (math or science).


Misconceptions
The Bad Science Website warns us to "be very, very careful what you put into that head, because you will never, ever get it out." Cardinal Wolsey (1475?-1530) This site is devoted to addressing misconceptions in science. From here you can link to several other pages that examine student's preconceived ideas about science topics.

Misconceptions about weather - a review of the literature. (A revised version of this article was published in School Science and Mathematics in May 2002.)


Lesson Plans/Activities
National Science Teachers Association has put together electronic newsletters. Each month focuses on a different theme. There are links to NSTA articles and activities. Click here to see the archived newsletters.

A great teachers resource, this site has lesson plans and activites for the taking. This site was put together by folks at CSU-Northridge. There are science lesson as well as bilingual lessons and plans for other discipl ines. Enjoy!

Another EXCELLENT site -- The Sourcebook for Teaching Science has hands-on activities, discipline specific sites, science education resources and a reference section. Check it out!

Microsoft corporation has done of work to create a very useful websites for K-12 teachers. They have Encarta On-line Schoolhouse, an encyclopedia/lesson plan file and a good K-12 teaching resource website.

 I recently found a site that has lesson ideas, interdisciplinary connections, and lots of other resources. Everything contributed to the page is put there by teachers. It is updated weekly! You might want to add a bookmark for this site: Teachers Helping Teachers - the homepage by teachers for teachers.

Another neat site with lesson plans, teaching activities and places to write for materials and funding is the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse for mathematics and science education.From there you can sear ch for lessons and activities based on grade level, topics, cost you are willing to pay, etc. There are some great things for you to see and get. Check it out!


Science Education Research for the K-12 Teacher

Ideas for inclusive science teaching practices are found at this site. Information about IEP's, teaching strategies and related information.

National Association of Research in Science Teaching has a series called Research Matters to the Science Teacher. Many topics are reviewed here and a synopsis of research on the topic is presented (references included).

ERIC Digests are summaries of research and findings on thousands of different topics. This is a searchable site with lots of useful information.

The ERIC assessment clearninghouse has lots of useful information.

Inclusion
This website will provide background information related to issues of inclusion in your classroom.

This site provides suggestions for modifying labs to accommodate all students. Developed by the DO-IT group, the site has lots of valuable information.


Assessment & Rubrics
In teaching, we must first decide what it is that we want students to know and be able do. This is guided by the science standards (national, state and/or district level) and by the goals we have for our students. We must then figure out if students are able to do what we've set out for them. Have they learned the content? Are they able to apply their scientific knowledge to the real world? Can they work cooperatively? Are they able to conduct scientific investigations? Do they communicate effectively?

Some of our goals can be evaluated through paper-pencil tests, some through projects or reports, others via our observations of their in-class performance. For many projects and performances we use rubrics, or scoring guides, to score student work. Below are links about rubric development and sample rubrics.

Rubistar is a site that will help you create rubrics. You can use their templates as is or tweak them to meet your needs.

This site is a good place to start! It provides guidelines for rubric development, sample rubrics and suggestions for their use in class.

Here's another overview of rubrics and their development. This site includes information about what rubrics are, what they contain, how to design them and some example science rubrics.

This site provides examples of alternative assessments in science as well as background information. This site was developed by a teacher in Texas who also works at Rice University on some teacher enhancement projects.

Deb's Science Page has a link to generic science rubrics. They can be tweaked to match your assignments.

This site has an article by Craig Mertler of Bowling Green State University entitled "Designing Scoring Rubrics for Your Classroom." As the name implies, the article takes you through designing rubrics for your classroom.

This site, Exemplars, is a commercial site which sells science performance tasks and scoring rubrics. It includes sample assessments and sample rubrics for the K-2, 3-5, and 6-8 levels.


Other Resources
  • Ask ERIC Science Lessons 
  • Franklin Institute Collaboratory 
  • Franklin Institute Units of Study 
  • Franklin Institute Wind Study 
  • Genetics Project 
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  • JASON Pro ject Expedition 
  • NASA Spacelink Curriculum Materials 
  • Newton*s Apple 
  • Quest! Home of NASA's K12 Internet Initiative 
  • Sami K-12 Science Curriculum 
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    A nice resource for you is a book called Nobel Prize Women in Science. It's an enjoyable book and provides you with insight into their lives and struggles.
     

    DEMONSTRATIONS
    Discrepant Events -- Discrepant events are an interesting, unique way to introduce a new topic and most importantly, to get the students actively involved in scientific inquiry  and problem solving. Here is a listing of websites with directions for how to do the demonstrations.
    A listing of Discrepant Event Demonstrations developed by a Canadian biology teacher.

    Discrepant Events & Inexpensive Physical Science Demonstrations -- Dr. Brent at Stephens College has put together a collection of demonstrations that you and your students will like!

    Listings of method students' demonstrations from other schools. Looking for a demonstration to do in class? Visit this website to see what students at Northern Colorado did for their methods demos!
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