Handout
Optical Society

Optical Society of America: Optics for Kids: Lenses and Geometrical Optics

For Students 3rd - 8th
Article explaining what lenses are and how they work. At the end of the article, there are links to several hands-on activities for investigating lenses.
Activity
Education.com

Education.com: Educational Activities for Kids

For Students Pre-K - 1st
[Free Registration/Login Required] Great activities for you and your little ones! Extreme Hopscotch, Taste Test Science, Build Writing Muscles, and much, much more! Links to worksheets and education-related articles.
Website
US Geological Survey

U.s. Geological Survey: Earthquakes for Kids

For Students 3rd - 8th
A collection of articles, games, printouts, facts, science fair ideas, and links through which students learn about the history and science of earthquakes and also explore what it takes to be an "earthquake scientist."
Activity
Optical Society

Optical Society of America: Optics for Kids: Make Money Appear Before Your Eyes

For Students 3rd - 8th
A simple experiment that clearly demonstrates how light bends when it passes through water. Accompanied by a good explanation of what's happening, and a link to an article on refraction.
Activity
Optical Society

Optical Society of America: Optics for Kids: Make a Green Gumball Black

For Students 3rd - 5th
An experiment to investigate what colors are seen when light is absorbed or reflected by colored gumballs. With links to scientific, academic articles that explain what is happening.
Activity
Optical Society

Optical Society of America: Optics for Kids: Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

For Students 3rd - 5th
A simple experiment that clearly demonstrates angles of reflection when light hits a mirror. Accompanied by a good explanation of what's happening, and a link to an article on reflection.
Lesson Plan
PBS

Pbs Kids Afterschool Adventure!: Operation: Martha's Stem Stories Activity Plan

For Students 1st - 3rd
Welcome to Martha's STEM Stories! STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. You may already know that doing STEM means testing ideas, collecting data, making calculations, and drawing graphs and charts-but you...
Handout
Optical Society

Optical Society of America: Optics for Kids: What Causes Rainbows?

For Students 3rd - 5th
An experiment to demonstrate how to make a rainbow and why they form.
Handout
Optical Society

Optical Society of America: Optics for Kids: Polarized Light (Pdf)

For Students 6th - 8th
An investigation into how polarized light behaves, with instructions on how to make a polarizer using glass slides. With a link to an article explaining about polarized light. PDF (requires Adobe Reader).
Activity
Optical Society

Optical Society of America: Optics for Kids: Mirrors and Images

For Students 3rd - 5th
An experiment to investigate how many images appear as the angle between two hinged mirrors is increased. Accompanied by an explanation of what is happening, questions for students to consider, and a link to an article about reflection.
Handout
Optical Society

Optical Society of America: Optics for Kids: Guiding Light Optical Fiber

For Students 3rd - 8th
This experiment demonstrates the concept of total internal reflection, using basic materials. Accompanied by a detailed explanation of what's happening, and links to articles on reflection and refraction.
Activity
Optical Society

Optical Society of America: Optics for Kids: Interference in a Ripple Tank

For Students 3rd - 8th
An investigation, using a ripple tank, into how waves behave when they collide with each other. With an explanation of what is observed, and a link to an article on refraction.
Activity
Optical Society

Optical Society of America: Optics for Kids: Black Is Black or Is It?

For Students Pre-K - 1st
An experiment with a coffee filter and a marker to see what happens when water touches a black dot, or any other color. With links to several scientific, academic articles that explain what is happening.
Activity
Optical Society

Optical Society of America: Optics for Kids: Shimmering Lenses

For Students 3rd - 8th
An experiment using Jell-O to create lenses, to see how light behaves with flat, concave, and convex lens surfaces. With an explanation of what is observed, and a link to an informative article on lenses.
Activity
Optical Society

Optical Society of America: Optics for Kids: Bending Light

For Students 3rd - 8th
An experiment using a water lens that demonstrates how the eye sees an image. Accompanied by an explanation of what's happening, and a link to an article on refraction.
Article
Society for Science and the Public

Science News for Students: Nature Resets Body's Clock

For Students 9th - 10th
Article reports on a recent study which found that people who spent a week in the woods experience a shift of two hours in their internal clocks. Includes a list of vocabulary words from the article.
Website
NASA

Nasa: Space Place: Kids

For Students 1st - 6th
This collection of resources for children includes games and articles about space exploration. Topics also include the sun and weather.
Website
Society for Science and the Public

Science News for Students: Dinosaurs and Fossils

For Students 3rd - 5th
This section of Science News for Kids features articles on dinosaurs and fossils that are tailored for children. Many of these relate to recent discoveries or topics of debate.
Article
Society for Science and the Public

Science News for Students: Climate Change Could Stall Atlantic Ocean Current

For Students 9th - 10th
When carbon dioxide levels rise, the currents slow, which leads to temperatures dropping because of the lack of water movement. Europe could suffer as a result of this change.
Website
NASA

Nasa: The Space Place

For Students Pre-K - 1st
This site is geared towards elementary learners, but most lessons can be modified for older learners. Space-related classroom activities, printable images of Earth and space, thought-provoking Space Place Musing podcasts and math-related...
Professional Doc
Reading Rockets

Reading Rockets: Stem Literacy

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st
Learn about how to strengthen literacy, inquiry, and problem-solving skills, and how to connect kids with high-quality nonfiction and informational books. Provides videos, articles for parents and for teachers, webcasts for teachers, and...
Article
Curated OER

Kids Health: Take a Look at Cooking

For Students 9th - 10th
At this site discover the world of cooking and meal preparation through these simple guidelines for finding recipes and creating meals. This article is organized into the following sections: "Kitchen Basics," "The Best Kinds of Recipes,"...
Website
Kidsource OnLine

Kid Source: Building Self Esteem

For Students 9th - 10th
KidSource offers a brief article with useful tips for parents on how to help a child with low self-esteem.
Unit Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: American Museum of Natural History Resources for Learning

For Students 9th - 10th
This site presents a collection of scientific learning resources for educators, parents, kids, after-school coordinators, informal learning center staff, and anyone else interested in teaching or learning about science. The site provides...