I. Streaming Videos and Animal Cams

Aquariums, Underwater Cameras

Fish Eye View Cam
Live photos, videos, and archived photo and timelapse video footage of corals in an aquarium in Coral Gables, FL.

Kelp Forest Live Streaming Video
Live web cam of kelp forest aquarium tank. Site also offers web cam views of other Monterey Bay Aquarium animals, including penguins, sea otters, birds, and sharks. Video is accompanied by some background information and suggested activities for younger students.

Mote Marine Lab Interactive Shark cam
Shark web cam with interactive features—site visitors can point, focus, and zoom the camera.

Perry Institute for Marine Science
Streaming videos from a marine science institute in the Caribbean include footage from two Reef Cams, a Coral Cam, and a Dock Cam. There is also some basic information about the research underway at the institute.

Various Animals

James Reserve Webcams
Multiple webcams in a nature reserve in the San Jacinto Mountains focus on habitats and wildlife observations at feeding stations, artificial roosting and nesting boxes, and creatures in their natural habitats.

Monterey Bay Cam
Live web cam video of the animals on the rocky coast outside the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The water teems with wild marine mammals: whales, dolphins, seals and sea lions, there are seabirds and shorebirds in the sky, and sea otters and harbor seals on nearby rocks.

National Zoo Animal Cams
Various web cams showcase 18 different animals and habitats at the zoo, including cheetahs, Amazon river fish, ferrets, naked mole rats, gorillas, pandas, and giraffes. Site also offers background information on all animals on display, activities and puzzles for younger students.

Panda Cam
Streaming cam of giant pandas at the San Diego zoo. Also some background information, panda "fun facts," panda blogs, and a downloadable podcast.

II. Science Activities and Lesson Plans

General

Smithsonian Education
Listing of various lesson plans and activities created by the Smithsonian Institution's Center for Education and Museum Studies-all targeted toward grades 3-8.

PBS TeacherSource for Science and Technology
Searchable archive of lesson plans, organized by age group and topic.

Science Netlinks
This site is operated by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. It offers a collection of lesson plans (various topics, K-12) and supplementary "tools" (ideas and materials for interactive activities). Since it is organized according to a series of "benchmarks of scientific literacy," site content can be easily applied to a standards-based curriculum.

TryScience
The TryScience site offers many experiments in different areas of science including Chemistry, Biology, Space science, and the physical sciences.

The Science Spot
Lesson plans, activities, worksheets, and project ideas for middle school science educators-activities organized according to subject.

Science Learning Network
The Science Learning Network's page of resources is a great collection of links. Many of the links come from the various science museums that collaborated to create the SLN site, and they tend to deal with very specific topics, from monarch butterfly migration to pH testing to the science of cycling.

Kathy Schrock's Guide to Science on the Internet for Educators
This site is a list of links to interactive science pages online. The pages of links are organized by category: general science, biology, earth science, physics, and so on. The linked sites are diverse and interesting: one site gives a history of the invention of the telephone, another offers food science experiments, and another explores the science of hockey. Other links are more general, like Bill Nye The Science Guys' site, and Yahoo Science.

Science Web Sites for Teachers
Well-organized list of links to online science resources, including lesson plans, "units," information references, and activity ideas. Links are organized by subject: General Science Resources; Astronomy and Space Exploration; Biology; Chemistry, Physics and Technology; Ecology and Environment; Geology; Meteorology; Oceanography

Biology

ActionBioScience
A collection of articles on different topics in biology (biodiversity, environment, genomics, biotechnology, evolution, "new frontiers") written by science educators. Each article is accompanied by a lesson plan and supplementary web links (some for educators, some for student research). Additionally, there is a section on education, which offers articles on curriculum, classroom methodology, textbooks, etc.

University of Arizona Center for Insect Science Education Outreach
A guide to using live insects in elementary school classrooms. Site includes 20 lesson plans, as well as general information and rearing guides for each type of insect.

BugScope
Bug Scope is an educational outreach program operated by the University of Illinois. It offers classrooms the opportunity to remotely operate an electron microscope to examine their own insect specimens. The site also offers some background information on insects and electron microscopy.

BugBios
Bug Bios bills itself as an "entomological database of very cool bugs." It offers macro-photography and in-depth descriptions of 150 different insects, as well as articles from several issues of Cultural Entomology Digest, a magazine about the intersection of insect and human life.

Deformed Frogs in Minnesota
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency offers a live frog cam, information on frog deformities, photographs of deformed frogs, and a list of volunteer opportunities.

EarthLife Web
Geared towards younger students (elementary level), this site offers background information on birds, mammals, insects, prokaryotes, and lichen, as well as more specialized articles on specific topics pertaining to these creatures (for example, there are articles on molting and migration in the birds section). There is also a page of science book reviews and a helpful glossary.

Earth Sciences

Geological Society of America Education Resources
This site is provided by the Geological Society of America, and it provides lists of lesson plans and additional resources sorted by topic and level (elementary, intermediate, secondary). Topics include: plate tectonics, minerals and mining, geologic time, earthquakes and volcanoes, and general earth science.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Information on weather, the ocean, satellites, fisheries, climate, environmental research, coasts, and navigation in the form of articles, news on current projects, charts and maps, and links to related sites. Also includes a link to the NOAA Kids site, which offers educational games on the same topics.

United States Geological Survey
Information about climate, natural disasters, natural resources, environmental issues, geological processes, hydrologic processes, and geographic analysis. Resources are organized by topic and also by region, via a feature called Science in My State.

Space

Canadian Space Agency
In addition to news about current developments and projects in space exploration, The Canadian Space Agency's site includes a resources page for educators, with elementary (and high school) lesson plans on different topics related to space exploration (robotics, astronomy, microgravity).

NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)
NASA's home page includes a Space in Science page with articles on various scientific issues as they relate to NASA's work, as well as a For Educator's page that offers lesson plans, etc.

National Weather Service Space Environment Center
National Weather Service's Space Environment Center's website has many pages of background information and short reference papers on various topics related to space weather. Also, there is a slide presentation lesson on space weather, and various activities, like instructions on how to make an origami sun.

Kidspace
The Canadian Space Agency's website includes games, experiments, and FAQs about outer space.

Earth and Moon Viewer
This site offers various interactive satellite images of Earth and the Moon.

Puckett Observatory
Images of comets, SuperNovae, and other astronomical objects.

Space.Com
A collection of news items, in-depth articles, photos, and videos about specific space science topics.

Weather/ Meteorology

Community Learning Network (CLN)
CLN, a K-12 educational resource page operated by British Columbia's Open School BC, offers instructional materials on the scientific aspects of various weather topics, including air quality, storms, global warming, clouds, and lightning. Also has links to other weather education sites.

Nebraska Earth Systems Education Network
Nebraska Earth Systems Education Network, operated by the School of Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has a page on their site dedicated to original meteorology lessons for science teachers. Sample lessons include: Relative Humidity of Your School, Drip Drop Raindrops, Blowin' in the Wind.

National Severe Storms Laboratory Weather Room
This site, put together by the National Severe Storms Laboratory, offers general information for students, including questions and answers, lessons on weather maps and data, and printable coloring books.

Miami Museum of Science / Hurricane: Storm Science
Miami Museum of Science has a site that focuses on the "Storm Science" behind hurricanes. The site offers information on storm tracking, an interview with a family that survived a hurricane, and instructions on how to create a list of weather tools (wind chimes, anemometer, barometer, rain gauge, etc.).

Weather Underground Educational Resources
General information and FAQs on a variety of subjects, including climate and climate change, pollution, tropical storms, and weather.

Physics/ Chemistry

WonderNet
WonderNet is the American Chemical Society's site for educators and parents. It offers various hands-on activities and illustrated explanations for a long list of topics, and all activities are accompanied by material for teachers/parents - background information on the topic, and an explanation of how the activity fits in with the curriculum.

Exploratorium
The companion website to the San Francisco Exploratorium provides suggested activities for teachers, as well as "Science Snacks," which are miniature classroom-sized demonstrations of museum exhibits. There is also a page of online activities and games.

American Chemical Society Kid's Site
Chemistry.org's Kids site offers articles, interactive games, and suggested activities on different topics in chemistry. Also, additional features, like an interview with a biochemist.

Ontario Science Centre SciZone
The Ontario Science Centre's website offers games, simple activities, articles on science in everyday life, and in-depth information about their exhibits.

Science Lab
This site provides ideas for science activities and experiments. For example - an activity on CO2 absorption and instructions to make a pH indicator.

Maps/ Satellite Imagery

Earth Net
Satellite photos and images of the Earth from Envisat, a polar-orbiting Earth-observation satellite. Site features include news on Envisat and an image showcase.

Google Earth
Detailed 3-D images of the Earth, made by combining mapping with satellite imagery.

Google Maps
Interactive, detailed maps of the world.

Multimap
Interactive maps of the world.

NOAA Maps
Satellite images and maps from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.

Space Imaging
Satellite images of the Earth. Features on natural disasters (for example, Hurricane Katrina, California wildfires) and special events (for example, Olympic venues).

University of Wisconsin-Madison's Space Science and Engineering Center
Real-time satellite images, as well as archives of weather satellite data and satellite images.

III. Professional Organizations

Association for Science Education
This website is the home of a science education association based in the United Kingdom. It offers recent issues of science educator journals (Educators in Science, School Science Review), and links to lesson plan resources.

European Science Education Research Association
This site provides news on science education, and information about conferences (including the ESERA conference) and membership.

National Association for Research in Science Teaching
Information about association membership and conference, links to other science education sites.

National Science Teachers Association
This comprehensive site put together by the National Science Teachers Association is actually made up of four sub-sites, one for elementary, middle, high school and college science education. In addition to daily science news links, the site provides articles from its four science educator journals (Science and Children, Science Scope, Science Teacher, and The Journal of College Science Teaching), reviews of books and resources, and an interactive message board for teachers. There's also a page with articles especially for pre-service and new teachers. One caveat: some site features (like most of the journal articles) are only accessible to NSTA members.

School Science and Mathematics Association
Information about School Science and Mathematics Journal, annual conference, and association membership.