Science Kids – A Website Devoted for Exploration!

Free!

Science Kids is a website that contains multiple online activities, resources, and content for users to access. After launching the website, users can navigate to the website’s different sections with the buttons at the top of the screen. The “Experiments,” “Projects,” and “Topics” sections offer dozens of experiences for users, and they can click on one of interest. When they do, the website provides an overview of materials needed, instructions, and an explanation of what happened during the experience.

The “Games” section offers several games broken down into topics, and users can select a game of interest. The website will then load it and along with instructions, and users will have to manipulate the game based on the instructions. The “Facts” section include several categories, and users can click one to access facts related to a specific topic. The “Quizzes” section includes several topics, and users will need to click one to access a quiz. Next, the website will present users with questions about the topic they selected along with an answer key at the bottom of the screen. The “Lessons” section contains several topics for teacher users to select, and users can access a complete lesson plan by clicking a topic. Finally, the “Images” and “Videos” section contain content organized by topic, and users can select the content they wish to view.

Instructional Ideas for Science Kids

1. As an at-home project, teachers can have students select an experiment, project, or topic from this website and complete it. As they do, students can be required to take pictures of their work at the beginning, middle, and end of the experiment. Students can then post those pictures to a class website along with a description of the experiment, what they were doing in each of the pictures, and the results of the experiment. That way, classmates will have the opportunity to view the images and descriptions to learn about what took place.
2. In pairs, students can pick a topic from the “Facts” section and then study that topic together. When studying, students can look up key terms and ideas related to the topic, create images that represent different examples of the topic, and summarize key points. When finished, students can then look for questions about their topic in the “Quiz” section. One student can then ask the other student questions about the topic and check the answers using the answer key. When finished, students can swap roles or pick a new topic and begin the process again.
3. Teachers can have students take on the role of “Teacher for the Day” and choose a lesson to teach from this website. Students can then prepare the lesson. As part of that preparation, students can meet with the teacher to discuss their plans. Then, when ready, students can teach their lesson to the class. After the lesson, the students who were part of the lesson can tell the student who led the lesson what they learned.
4. To reinforce learning after a lesson, teachers can have students play a game that relates to the lessons topic. After playing the game, students can click the additional options to learn more about the topics discussed in the game. When finished, teachers can ask students: (1) What they learned, (2) What they still want to learn, and (3) If they will change anything in their daily lives based on what they learned from this experience.
5. During or after a lesson, teachers can have students view the content under the “Pictures” and “Videos” sections. Next, teachers can have students explain the connection between the lesson and the content they viewed. Students can then share their connections with the class in a whole-group discussion.

Screenshots of Science Kids