Great Sites for STEM Educators

Science

Lawrence Hall of Science Easy to use site, offering labs on an assortment of topics for teachers to use with their students in class or after school. Students can play informative games and assess their prior and  newly found science knowledge through quizzes. Professional development opportunities are available through online modules!! Discovery Kids An extraordinary site catering to child science enthusiasts everywhere!! Students can choose from a seemingly endless array of games, quizzes, videos and texts about almost any science related topic they can think of. Subjects include dinosaurs, sharks and space. A class favorite for years!! CSI The Experience A must-experience site for friends interested in criminal investigative science professions!! Students can pick from 5 different crime scene scenarios to investigate scientific evidence in hopes of catching the shady culprits!! Teachers benefit from guides (for each crime scene investigation), demo videos, online activities and a list of related links. NASA Spaceplace NASA sites need no introduction as the name speaks for itself!! This site is the best site for students (and educators) to find answer their space and earth related questions like "What is a gravitational wave?" and "How long is one day on other planets?". Students also have the option of choosing an umbrella topic like the universe and playing games, watching videos, reading text and completing offline activities!! DK Find Out If your students love DK Findout books, they'll absolutely love the DK Findout website!! This site is ideal for research projects and vocabulary definition. Students can choose from an almost infinite list of umbrella topics like sports, computer coding or the human body and find information on sub topics like swimming, PHET Science Simulations Innovative site offering learners interactive simulations detailing phenomena like static electricity, changing states of matter and the relationship between speed and velocity. Another class favorite!!

Math

Front Row Education Front Row is a must site for any educator looking to introduce, enrich or accelerate math skills. It's an application that not only challenges students on Math but also Reading and Language Arts Common Core Standards and allows teachers, parents and administrators to track student progress effortlessly. Lesson modules are successive. With it's super cute interface and easy to use dashboards and controls, Front Row is a staple in my classroom every year!!

Programming

Code.org (Block coding, View/ Write HTML feature, JAVA underneath) If you’re looking for ways to teach programming basics to your students, look no further than Code.org!! Known best for their Hour of Code contributions and initiatives. Teachers can assign lesson seeds for specific students to complete. Students learn how to write the most efficient lines of code through the completion of puzzles using familiar characters like Angry Birds. Age/Level specific units include successive lessons with culturally responsive videos introducing the concept being practiced. Once students are ready they can create their own applications and send them to friend’s phones! How sweet?! Scratch Programming (Block coding, View/ Write HTML feature, JAVA underneath) An excellent site created by student coders at MIT for student coders everywhere!! Users can view or play other Scratcher’s creations and remix them and create their very own!! If they’re ready, users can start a project completely from scratch. Pun intended!! Rich tutorials are there to help them along. The possibilities on Scratch are endless!!