Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

Having students perform simple classroom science experiments are a great way for English Language Learners to develop language skills — through the speaking with a partner that’s necessary to do the experiment, through the listening needed to understand directions, through the writing done to record results and to afterward describe what they did, and through the reading that occurs if use the Language Experience Approach and as a class write a chronology of events together on a whiteboard.

Plus, of course, students learn science content knowledge and gain an understanding of the scientific method that is useful in all subjects.

On top of all of those benefits, students love doing it, too!

I’ve only found one drawback — I know next to nothing about science.

Happily, though, there are plenty of online resources that offer ideas on how to do science experiments with little preparation necessary.

You can find the sites I’ve included in this “The Best…” list, and many more, on the Teacher’s Page of my website under Science Ideas.

Here are my picks for The Best Sources Of Ideas For Simple Classroom Experiments:

Try Science

ZOOM — Activities

Funology Laboratory

Newton’s Apple Teacher Guides

Hands-On Technology Program

Reeko’s Mad Scientist Lab — Experiments

Middle School Science Mania

Joey Green’s Mad Scientist Experiments

Beakman’s Experiments

Hunkin’s Experiments

Steve Spangler’s Science Experiments

The Naked Scientists — Kitchen Science Experiments

Science Bob Experiments

Chem Shorts For Kids

Questacon, a hands-on museum in Australia, has a ton of suggestions about easy science experiments.

As always, feedback is welcome.

If you found this post useful, you might want to look at previous “The Best…” lists and also consider subscribing to this blog for free.

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