Web sites
Discovery Education is a partner-sponsored web site for educators to find and share curriculum and tools. It includes Science Fair Central (co-sponsored by Home Depot) to help students find, organize and present science fair projects.
The Environmental Inquiry web site at Cornell is a guide for high school students who want to conduct research in ecology, toxicology, biodegradation and watersheds.
PBS Learning Media, sponsored locally by KQED, has standards-aligned videos, interactives, and lesson plans in Science, Math, and Engineering & Technology for California educators at all grade levels.
Research @ Home offers Inspiration and guidance to “support student research, even in these unusual times.” It is sponsored by the Society for Science (SSP).
Schmahl Science Workshop offers Family Science lesson plans.
Science Buddies offers “hands on science resources for home and school.” The Topic Selection Wizard suggests projects based on student interests.
Tech Interactive At Home is a guide to activities that can be done with inexpensive materials by aspiring young scientists, makers and computational thinkers.
Organizations
nano@stanford – Intending to develop teacher and student interest in nanoscale science and engineering, nano@stanford offers tours, professional development and outreach programs. Free access to online learning is available via EdX and YouTube. They also offers webinars with STEM Superheroes and the Nanoscience Summer Institute for Middle School Teacher.
Society for Science Free STEM Resources
Science News in High Schools is now Science News Learning. Open enrollment has begun for the Society’s Science News Learning for the 2023-2024 school year! A free resource for any public school.
Enroll your school in Science News Learning
Science News Learning program; Regeneron and other sponsors are funding the participation of over 5,600 public middle and high schools during the 2023-2024 school year, including 110 full districts or geographic cohorts. Over 60% of the schools are Title I eligible. Over 18,000 educators and over 6 million students have access to program resources. Spots are filling up fast, so fill out the interest form today. Middle schools are encouraged to apply. Sponsorships won’t last long.
Each school participating in the Science News Learning program receives:
- 10 print copies of each Science News issue throughout the school year
- Year-round access to sciencenews.org and its full archives
- Access to the Digital Educator Guide Library with over 300 interdisciplinary lesson plans, each one paired to a Science News article and aligned with NGSS
- Programmatic newsletters that highlight the current Educator Guide & provide other teaching resources
- Access to a digital Educator Community of teachers to share ideas & best practices for integrating the program resources into their classroom
Do you manage a group of STEM teachers from different public schools or are you a district STEM coordinator? Sign up all of your schools as a cohort and receive additional support integrating the resources to meet your group’s specific goals.
For more information about Science News, contact: snhs@societyforscience.org.
Anna Rhymes, Director of STEM Literacy & Curriculum: arhymes@societyforscience.org
Raina van Duym, SNHS Specialist: rvanduym@societyforscience.org
Synopsys Outreach Foundation
The Synopsys Outreach Foundation has announced the opening of its new Building STEM Classrooms initiative (formerly the Science Project Package Program).
Part 1 of this program includes applications for the following:
- Grants for K-12 project-based STEM events, activities, and programs
- Raft mobile Maker Van visits
Everything is available 100% FREE of cost. Applications for these opportunities open September 15, 2021, and close November 15.
Part 2 of this program will include teacher training and materials packages (all also free of charge).
All applications and FAQ’s are available on the website.
The program is open to educators at public schools, dependent charter schools, nonprofits, independent charter schools with 501(c)(3) public charity status and private non-profit schools with 501(c)(3) public charity status located in Greater Bay Area counties including Santa Clara County.
Questions? Please send email to hello@outreach-foundation.org.
Presentations
Science Fair 2021 (Student clinic presentation with narration or slides only)
Engineering_Workshop
Introduction for Teachers (2017)
Science Fair 101 by the Synopsys Outreach Foundation
Workshop on computer science projects in response to COVID-19 was recorded on Sept. 30, 2020. A replay of is available: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzVggKHOitp3zhQrk4Yd5ow/.
Agenda: Gen Z and the digital world (4th industrial revolution); Demo of 5th, 6th, 10th grade CS project work in response to SARS-CoV-19; Step-by-step look at some online AI tools.
The workshop leader is Catherine Fang, PhD computer engineer and instructor at the Integrated Innovation Institute, CMU Silicon Valley.
Books
Best Science Fair Book: Painless Science Projects
The directors of the Synopsys Championship recommend this book for parents, teachers, and students. It’s the best science-fair book that we’ve ever seen. The book is out of print, but used copies may be available from amazon.com or other resellers.
More suggestions:
- Science Experiments and Projects for Students
- Classroom Creature Culture: Algae to Anoles
- A+ Science Fair Workbook and Project Journal grades 7-12
- Science Projects Book 1 Project Ideas in the Life Sciences also available for Chem/Biochem and Physics/Engineering.
- Using Statistics in Science Projects, Internet Enhanced (Science Fair Success)
- Science Projects: How to Collect, Analyze, and Present Your Data
Library Resources
All the public libraries in Santa Clara County have science experiment resources.
To find books listing experiments you can search science experiments in the library’s online catalog. To get even more specific, add a topic keyword in your search like science experiments magnets or science experiments plants.
Finding Books
Science books will be shelved in the nonfiction area under a Dewey Decimal call number. Here are call number ranges for common science subjects:
000 Computer science
520 Stars, planets, astronomy
530 Physical Science – force and motion, electricity, magnetism
540 Chemistry, Atoms and Molecules
550 Volcanoes, Earthquakes, Weather
560 Dinosaurs, Prehistoric Animals
570 Forests, Deserts, Mountains, Oceans
580 Plants and Trees
590 Animals and Insects
610 Human body, Disease
620 Engineering
Some encyclopedias cover only scientific topics and can be a good source of background research on your experiment. Some can be borrowed with your library card. Find these books in the library’s online catalog by searching science encyclopedia. Two examples are The Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia (Juv 503 K54) and Super Science Encyclopedia (Juv 503 C43).
Magazine Articles
The library provides online databases where you can find and read full text articles free of charge. You can do this from home with your library card. For access, visit the Santa Clara City library website, click on the Books & More tab and select Research Tools > Databases by Subject. Under the topic Research & Students, you’ll find sources that cover a wide range of subjects for student researchers including the Science Reference Center.
Top Secret Tip for 6-8 grades
Are you comparing the performance of items like laundry detergent in your experiment? Look at Consumer Reports – the library has it online as well as in print.
