Share your favorite learning tools and experiments via Thought.Tools.Timpani@gmail.com, or post an anonymous comment at the bottom of the screen. We look forward to hearing from you.
Hot Weather: An Opportunity to Learn at Home
If you are experiencing the adverse effects of hot weather, this is an opportunity to study the physics of heat transfer. What strategies seem most successful in making you comfortable without turning on air conditioning?
https://thoughttoolstimpani.blogspot.com/2021/06/hot-weather-as-opportunity-to-learn.html
Wildfires and Smoke: An Opportunity to Learn at Home
If you and your children are experiencing the adverse effects of smoke from wildfires, this may be an opportunity to link direct experience and science. https://thoughttoolstimpani.blogspot.com/2020/09/wildfire-smoke-home-learning.html
Backyard Brains: Neuroscience for Everyone
Online resources for coming up with experiments you can do on your own or in a classroom. They also offer a free newsletter. Targeting 5th grade and up. https://backyardbrains.com/
Solar Cooking
Explore solar cooking with your family as a way to learn about energy and sustainability while experimenting with something both practical and fun. Build your own cooker, and cook in the backyard!https://thoughttoolstimpani.blogspot.com/2020/08/solar-cooking.html
Weather
Accuweather offers fun educational videos, home experiments, and tips for understanding what you see and hear in the sky.- AccuWeather: Weather Camp from Home
https://www.accuweather.com/en/accuweather-ready/accuweather-forecasters-school-of-weather/716916
Science Connected - Books, Blogs and a Free Magazine
"Science Connected is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit publisher of fun, engaging,
research-based science education books. We are a global group of
scientists and science communicators who are dedicated to increasing
public understanding of science and creating free and equal access to
science education. In addition to publishing Science Connected Magazine,
available free to everyone, we produce affordable, quality teaching guides for grades 7-12, lab manuals full of fun kitchen-science experiments for grades 1-6,
and paperback anthologies of scientific research findings written in
plain English. Find us online at www.scienceconnected.org and
www.twitter.com/scienceconn or www.facebook.com/scienceconn." The website is clear, easy to understand, and fun: https://scienceconnected.org/
Order a Simple Hands-On Science Kit Through the Mail
Ahmed Mahammad, a 17 year old, straight-A student in Oakland, is
producing small inexpensive kits that will open the doors of science to children during
the Covid-19 pandemic. Go, Ahmed!
The kit: https://www.kitscubed.com/impact
The young man: - Fox News, 8/18/2020 https://www.ktvu.com/news/oakland-teen-launches-non-profit-wants-science-kits-in-hands-of-all-kids-in-his-city
Citizen Science - participate directly in a research project
Citizen scientists young and old volunteer their time to work on real scientific research. If you see a project that interests you, perhaps you could become one of the team!Help NASA find the 9th planet, or an asteroid!
https://magazine.scienceconnected.org/2020/08/nasa-science-projects-teach-kids-astronomy
Zooniverse
https://www.zooniverse.org/about
Scistarter
Search for a project that you might want to participate in. There are 3,000 to choose from.
https://scistarter.org/education
"One of the most important aspects of the SciStarter mission is to help people of all ages discover and get involved in real world science: citizen science. Through citizen science, we help scientists answer questions they cannot answer without our help. When we engage in citizen science, we make and share observations, analyze data, begin to formulate questions, experiment, and ultimately construct a deeper understanding about the world, all while advancing important areas of scientific research!
We hope the projects and resources on this page help support parents, guardians, and formal and informal educators seeking at-home STEM resources."
Girl Scouts are actively involved in SciStarter.
https://scistarter.com/girlscouts/girl/landing
Earth School. A program set up the the United Nations. Earth School offers "30 Quests for students around the world to celebrate, explore and connect with nature." https://ed.ted.com/earth-school
Ask a Biologist K12
Get an idea of what biologists do, and have an opportunity to ask questions of a biologist.- Arizona State University
https://askabiologist.asu.edu/about
Science for Fun, books by Janice VanCleave
One of VanCleave's books is Biology for Every Kid; 101 Easy Experiments That Really Work, 1990 by Wiley & Sons. VanCleave has also written other books with similar titles, on Math, Physics, Astronomy, Chemistry, and many other subjects. After teaching science for 27 years, VanCleave was approached by a publisher that wanted to expand her realm of influence as a remarkable teacher. Since then, VanCleave has published 50 books and sold over 2 million copies. The exercises are easy to understand, and for the most part use materials that are readily available in a house or classroom, so are suitable for learning both at home and at school. The books are readily available through libraries and online bookstores. When purchased new, each costs about $15.00.https://www.amazon.com/s?k=biology+for+every+kid+van+cleave&i=stripbooks&ref=nb_sb_noss_2
Experiments at Home
grade school, middle school
12 Easy Science Experiments to do at Home
The overall website it a bit jumbled, but has a great spirit, and some good science experiments for children.
- KC Edventures, from Kansas City
https://www.kcedventures.com/blog/easy-science-experiments-to-do-at-home
Sometimes a Point of View is Itself a Tool. Is Science Natural to Young Children?
"In Koppelman’s view, children are born with all the traits of a good scientist: They are curious, eager to investigate their surroundings, and happy to experiment." How can we help children to build on their natural tendencies?
- The Atlantic Monthly, September, 2020.
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2020/09/what-makes-blissfield-elementarys-science-lab-unique/616285/
Teach children to help other species by what they plant in the garden, and to observe the garden as a doorway to understanding the relationships between species in nature.
Nature's Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts In Your Back Yard, a revolutionary book by Doug Tallamy, 2020.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43212849-nature-s-best-hope
This book is sure to entrance some high school students and parents. Younger children can can also be lured to participate by their older siblings and parents. Get hands dirty, and foster wonder, responsibility, close observation, inquisitiveness, and a sense of belonging to a greater universe right outside the door.
The Bees In Your Backyard, by Wilson & Carril, 2016. https://www.amazon.com/Bees-Your-Backyard-Guide-Americas/dp/0691160775
This is a good book for older children and parents to read in order to teach their younger relatives. The reader learns the ways of the bees, and how to tell them apart. Where do they live, and how do their lives shift with the seasons? How do they reproduce? How do they find food? At first this book is entirely overwhelming, then little by little one begins to recognize outside what one is reading in the book, and parts of the book begin to make sense. It is like joining a club. And very special.
Help Identifying Creatures: I Naturalist
Not sure what you are looking at? Take a photo and send it to I Naturalist, an organization that brings together scientists and non-scientists to keep track of what is going on where. You help the scientists and the scientists help you--and we both try to create a world that is friendlier to the multitudes of creatures that surround us. You can find help identifying the creatures in your yard!
There are excellent websites and bird books designed to help you learn the names of birds and some basics about each. This book is different: it talks about the lives of the birds. It makes bird watching far more interesting. It is a book for adults, but like the other books on this list, it will help older children and adults become sources of wonderful information for their younger relatives.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307957896/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
