News Archive

STEM Homeschooling Resources

April 12, 2020

This is a companion blog post to the April 2020 episode Homeschool STEM Resource Extravaganza which first aired during the midst of the coronavirus pandemic lockdown. Hosts Bethany Brookshire and Rachelle Saunders discuss all of these resources in that episode, which were sourced by the entire SftP team. If you're looking for science, technology, engineering, and math resources online to keep your stuck-at-home student entertained and engaged, this is the list we'd start with if we were also parents. And if you're a stuck at home adult... well, there's probably some interesting stuff here for you too!

Podcasts

Tumble Science Podcast for Kids
Exploring stories of science discovery. Tumble is a science podcast created to be enjoyed by the entire family. Hosted and produced by Lindsay Patterson (science journalist) and Marshall Escamilla (teacher).
Age range: 6 - 12

Wow in the World
Hosts Mindy Thomas and Guy Raz guide curious kids and their grown-ups on a journey into the wonders of the world around them. We'll go inside our brains, out into space and deep into the coolest new stories in science and technology.
Age range: 4 - 8

Stuff You Missed in History Class
Join Holly and Tracy as they bring you the greatest and strangest Stuff You Missed In History Class in this podcast by iHeartRadio.
Age range: 10+

ScienceNews for Students

Experiments Collection
This series is meant to teach about how science is done, from generating a hypothesis to designing an experiment to analyzing the results with statistics. You can repeat the steps of one of these experiments and compare your results – or use this as inspiration to design your own experiment.
Age range: 9 - 14

Explainers Collection
Background pieces for a deeper dive into a broad range of pivotal topics.
Age range: 9 - 14

Classroom Questions for Features and Explainers
Discussion questions to accompany Explainers and Features on ScienceNews for Students to help dig into what kids have learned and understood.
Age range: 9 - 14

Technically Fiction
Combining scientific thinking with fantasy, pop culture, and magic.
Age range: 9 - 14

Scientists Say
A weekly word defined, in a sentence and in context.
Age range: 9 - 14

Let's Learn About Collection
A series intended to hel kids learn more about a topic in STEM – with a bit of fun.
Age range: 9 - 14

Video

CrashCourse
Free, high-quality educational videos used by teachers and learners of all kinds.
Age range: 10+

SciShow
SciShow explores the unexpected. Seven days a week, Hank Green, Michael Aranda, and Olivia Gordon delve into the scientific subjects that defy our expectations and make us even more curious!
Age range: 10+

SciShow Space
Hosts Hank Green, Caitlin Hofmeister, and Reid Reimers share everything from just after the beginning of time to the most recent breaking news in space exploration.
Age range: 10+

SciShow Kids
SciShow Kids explores all those curious topics that make us ask "why?" Every Tuesday and Thursday, Jessi and her robot rat Squeaks answer your questions and explain fun, complex science concepts for young, curious minds. Whether conducting experiments, researching new questions, or talking with experts, there's always something new to discover with SciShow Kids, no matter what your age!
Age range: 6 - 10

Numberphile
Videos about numbers and mathematics.
Age range: 14+

Vihart
Math, music, and doodles.
Age range: 14+

Periodic Videos
Your ultimate channel for all things chemistry. A video about each element on the periodic table. And we upload new videos every week about science news, interesting molecules and other stuff from the world of chemistry.
Age range: 10+

Gross Science
Bizarre stories from the slimy, smelly, creepy world of science.
Age range: 6+

Reactions
Reactions is a show that uncovers the chemistry all around us.
Age range: 10+

Scientific American
Official YouTube Channel of Scientific American.
Age range: 10+

The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures
Started by Michael Faraday in 1825, and now broadcast on national television every year, the Christmas Lectures are the UK's flagship science series.
Age range: 8+

TED Ed
TED-Ed – TED's youth and education initiative – aims to spark and celebrate the ideas and knowledge-sharing of teachers and students around the world.
Age range: 8+

HippoCampus.org
Free educational resources for middle school to college. Over 7,000 free videos in 13 subject areas.
Age range: 12+

Mystery Science
Lessons designed to engage students, achieve learning outcomes, and be easy to use. They have short mini-lessons that are completely digital and full lessons that include an activity. All of the activities are designed to use simple supplies a parent will likely already have at home.
Age range: 5 - 10

Gamified Learning

BreakoutEDU Fun@Home
A collection of digital games that students can play at home. Students can click on any game and start playing!
Age range: 5 - 18

Math Playground
Created and maintained by teacher Colleen King. Math Playground includes a wide variety of math topics, from problem solving and mathematical art to real world math and thinking games.
Age range: 6 - 12

Maths Factor
The Maths Factor is an online maths tutoring site for 4-11 year olds. The content is ordered to match the 2014 national curriculum in England, but the site is used successfully by children all around the world.
Age range: 4 - 11

Prodigy
Prodigy is a curriculum-aligned math game for Grades 1‑8.
Age range: 6 - 14

Activities, Experiments, and Practical Hands-On Learning

Scratch from MIT
With Scratch, you can program your own interactive stories, games, and animations – and share your creations with others in the online community. Scratch helps young people learn to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively – essential skills for life in the 21st century. Scratch is a project of the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab. It is provided free of charge.
Age range: 8 - 16

Codecademy
Free and paid programming courses. HTML, Python, Javascript, Java, PHP, C#, C++, Go, Swift, Ruby and more.
Age range: 12+

Code Club Canada: Virtual Code Club
Code Club Canada is a nationwide network of free, volunteer-led coding clubs for children aged 8-12 to build and share their ideas and learning along the way.
Age range: 8 - 12

MakerFUN from Brilliant Labs
Brilliant Labs is a not-for-profit, hands-on technology and experiential learning platform based in Atlantic Canada. Challenges, activites, daily problem solving and more.
Age range: 8+

LEGO and Minecraft Challenge Cards
Challenges for LEGO builders and Minecraft players to engage their creativity while they play.
Age range: 8+

Skype a Scientist
Chat with a real life scientist from the comfort of your own home.
Age range: All ages

Exploring by the Seat of your Pants
Each month during the school year they host 25+ Google Hangout events for classrooms. They regularly host full day, week and month events focusing covering themes like oceans, biodiversity, women in science, space exploration, ocean plastics, climate change and more. Follow and connect with exciting expeditions around the world.
Age range: 12+

Steve Spangler Science Experiment Library
Science videos and experiments you can do at home.
Age range: 8+

Letters to a Pre-Scientist
The mission of Letters to a Pre-Scientist is to demystify STEM careers and empower all students to see themselves as future scientists by creating personal connections between students from high-poverty schools and real scientists.
Age range: 10+

Oxford Owl for Home
UK resource for students between the ages of 3 - 11, Year 1 thru Year 6.
Age range: 3 - 11

MyMiniMaths.co.uk
UK mathematics, curriculum aligned for the UK. Mini-lessons, activites, worksheets, and maths exercises.
Age range: 6 - 12

Virtual Field Trips

The Ultimate Guide to Virtual Museum Resources, E-Learning, and Online Collections
A truly astonishing collection of links to museums and resources worldwide.
Age range: All ages, depending on which resources you use!

San Diego Zoo Kids
Kids area on the San Diego Zoo website.
Age range: 5 - 12

Yellowstone Virtual Tour
Explore Fort Yellowstone, the Fountain Paint Pot, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Mammoth Hot Springs, Mud Volcano, and Norris Geyser Basin.
Age range: 10+

San Diego Zoo Live Cams
Baboons, penguins, pandas, polar bears, apes, koalas, giraffe, butterflies, elephants, tigers, burrowing owls, and condors.
Age range: All ages

Monterey Bay Aquarium Live Cams
Aviary, coral reef, jellyfish, kelp forest, penguins, sea otters, and sharks.
Age range: All ages

Georgia Aquarium Webcams
Beluga whale, jellyfish, sea lions, piranhas, puffins, and gators.
Age range: All ages

Great Wall of China
Virtual tour of the Great Wall of China.
Age range: All ages

New England Aquarium Virtual Visit
Live presentations, new videos, and activities to try from home.
Age range: 8+

Access Mars
Roam Mars with the Curiosity Rover!
Age range: 8+

Natural History Museum
Find answers to your big nature questions. Delve into stories about the Museum's collections, scientists and research. Uncover the history of life on Earth, from the smallest insects to the largest mammals.
Age range: 10+

Science Sites and Resources

National Geographic: Classroom Resources
Classroom resources, including lesson plans, maps, and reference resources.
Age range: 5+

National Geographic: Education Resource Library
Searchable by topic, grade, type, and subject matter.
Age range: 5+

National Geographic Kids
The online component to National Geographic Kids magazine. Lots of educational games, kid-friendly information.
Age range: 6+

CPAWS Southern Alberta "Bring Nature Home" Education Kit
The Southern Alberta chapter of CPAWS has put together an collection of resources, many of which provide learning opportunities tied to local ecology. A reminder to look at your own community's educational and science advocacy groups for educational STEM resources and acitivites with a local bent.
Age range: 6+

BBC Bitesize
Formal yet fun learning content for students aged 6 - 16, aligned with UK coursework and exam preparation. Beginning 20 April BBC Bitesize will be publishing daily online lessons for all ages.
Age range: 6 - 16

Terrific Scientific
Terrific Scientific brings science to the heart of teaching with fantastic investigations and exciting resources linked to the UK curriculum.
Age range: 6 - 16

Birds of the World from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Birds of the World brings deep, scholarly content from four celebrated works of ornithology into a single platform where biologists and birders alike can find comprehensive life history information on birds.
Age range: 10+

Wonderopolis
From the National Center for Families Learning (NCFL) works to eradicate poverty through education solutions for families. Wonderopolis was created by the National Center for Families Learning (NCFL) in 2010, and it has become one of the most popular education sites today.
Age range: 8+

NASA STEM Engagement
STEM resources from NASA for students in Kindergarden to grade 4.
Age range: 5 - 10

Scholastic Learn At Home
Day by day projects to keep kids reading, thinking, and growing.
Age range: 5 - 14

Scholastic Teachables Free Worksheets and Activities
Use these resources to keep kids engaged and learning at home. No printer? No problem! Just use the OPEN button to view the materials on-screen and have your child write their answers on a sheet of paper.
Age range: 5 - 13

Scholastic Resources for Families
Scholastic resources for keeping the learning going from home. They are adding more each day.
Age range: 5 - 14

Ingenium List of Educational Programs
Online resources, activities, and videos for students from grade 1 - grade 12 with links to the Ontario and Quebec school curriculum in Canada.
Age range: 6 - 18

Citizen Science Projects

Zooniverse Active Projects
The Zooniverse is the world's largest and most popular platform for people-powered research. This research is made possible by volunteers — more than a million people around the world who come together to assist professional researchers. Home of Nest Quest Go: Robins, Nestcams, Chimp & See, Penguin Watch, and more.
Age range: All ages

iNaturalist Never Home Alone: The Wild Life of Homes
No one is ever really home alone. With this new iNaturalist project they seek your help in recording the species in homes around the world. They suspect that in boldly studying basements, bedrooms and bathrooms that together we can make big new discoveries even before we open the front door.
Age range: All ages

NASA Citizen Science
Want to work on some real NASA science? Who doesn't! Citizen science from NASA inclluding planet hunting, mapping penguine populations, help identify bird species, and help spot wildlife in trail cameras among other great projects.
Age range: All ages

Journey North: Tracking migrations and seasons
In its 25th year, Journey North is one of North America's premiere citizen science programs for people of all ages. The project has broad participation, with over 60,000 registered sites in the US, Canada, and Mexico — including families, teachers, schools, nature centers, professional scientists and novices. Journey North provides an easy entry point to citizen science, with simple protocols, strong online support, and immediate results. Reported sightings are mapped in real-time as waves of migrations move across the continent. People report sightings from the field, view maps, take pictures, and leave comments.
Age range: All ages

NatureWatch
NatureWatch monitoring program are suitable for all levels and interests, designed to develop your scientific observation and data collection skills so that you can actively contribute to scientific understanding of Canada's environment.
Age range: All ages

Government of Canada Citizen Science Portal
A collection of excellent citizen science projects within Canada.
Age range: All ages

National Geographic Citizen Science Projects
A directory of citizen science projects curated by National Geographic.
Age range: 10 - 18

SciStarter
Over 3,000 projects and events are searchable by location, scientific topic, and age level, and by joining SciStarter, members can track their contributions and provide valuable feedback.
Age range: All ages

Foldit
Foldit is a revolutionary crowdsourcing computer game enabling you to contribute to important scientific research.
Age range: All ages

IceWatch
As citizen scientists, IceWatch volunteers contribute to a scientific understanding of climate change. By analyzing citizen records, scientists have found that the freeze-thaw cycles of Northern water bodies are changing.
Age range: All ages

Project Splatter
Project Splatter collects data on the location of UK wildlife roadkill reported by members of the public. You can help by reporting the roadkill you have seen on roads in the UK, such as birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles.
Age range: All ages

eBird
eBird is the world's largest biodiversity-related citizen science project, with more than 100 million bird sightings contributed each year by eBirders around the world.
Age range: 8+

MOOCs and Online Courses

Coursera
Hundreds of free courses give you access to on-demand video lectures, homework exercises, and community discussion forums.
Age range: 16+

Khan Academy
Khan Academy offers practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard that empower learners to study at their own pace in and outside of the classroom. They tackle math, science, computer programming, history, art history, economics, and more.
Age range: 5+

edX
Their students come from every country in the world. With courses in computer science, languages, engineering, psychology, writing, electronics, biology, and more.
Age range: 16+

OpenLearn Free Course Directory
Introductory, intermediate, and advanced courses on a wide range of topics.
Age range: 16+

CK-12
Courses for grade school students aged 6 thru 18, often tied to standards in the US and within specific states.
Age range: 6 - 18