Science Online Activities and Games

Access Excellence: The Mystery Spot
http://www.accessexcellence.org/AE/mspot/
Great online and offline activities that allow you and your students to solve mysteries using science. Find out what happened to the local frog population, explore Arctica, or use a microscope to solve a mystery. These fourteen activities are designed to show science in a whole new light.

Cool Science for Curious Kids
http://www.hhmi.org/coolscience/
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute invites curious kids to learn about biology through the use of this site. Learn about plants by building a salad - but only by learning plant parts first through a game. The miniature world, air, plants - all are presented with graphics and humor to make learning fun. Activities range from games to hands on crafts projects with a list of needed materials for children. The variety of activities for each category makes the learning fun for early childhood and elementary school students.

Digital Dozen
http://www.enc.org/weblinks/dd/

Eighth Grade Sci-ber Text
http://www.usoe.k12.ut.us/curr/science/sciber00/8th/8thintro.htm
It's great when teachers collaborate. Teachers in the state of Utah have created this online resource for their Eighth grade science curriculum full of activities and links. Topics covered include matter, energy, forces, machines, and earth. Most of the activities can easily be used for other grade levels.

Encyclopedia Smithsonian
http://www.si.edu/Encyclopedia_SI/start.htm
From Accessibility to Zoology, find out all about collections and other information from the Smithsonian Museums in Washington D.C. Discover great resources you can use to supplement your curricula with pictures, stories, and facts. Under Traveling Exhibitions, there are lessons and activities for students.

Exploratorium Online Activities
http://www.exploratorium.edu/explore/online.html
These fun and informative online activities are divided into the following categories: Observatory, Planet Earth, Machines and Tools, Living Things, Seeing, Sport Science, Human Body, Mind & Perception and Food.

Explore Your Knowledge
http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/eyk/index.asp?flash=true
How do you compare with students from around the world? Pick a subject, a grade and how many questions you want to see, then click the Show Questions button. Choose from three categories: Civics, Mathematics and Science.

FOSSWeb
http://www.fossweb.com
FOSS is an elementary and middle school science program developed at the Lawrence Hall of Science with support from the National Science Foundation. Teachers could use the FOSS website as a way of integrating aspects of this program into their own curriculum. This site contains interactive modules on topics such as Food and Nutrition, Solar Energy and Landforms, to name a few. Each module contains activities and resources including pictures and movies.

Hobby Shop
http://www.knowitall.org/hobbyshop/siteAgent.html
Students can engage in online activities for math and science. There is a Teachers Resources section to go with the activities.

In Search of the Ways of Knowing Trail
http://www.brookfieldzoo.org/pagegen/wok/ways_index.html  
Your trip to the village of Epulu takes a detour when your jeep experiences mechanical failure. You are forced to walk through the Ituri Forest in central Africa accompanied by four youths from different local cultures. Along the way, you'll make choices and learn about plants, animals, and survival. A Forest Factbook serves as a glossary. Totally Flash-driven. Could get noisy!

Inventive Kids
http://www.inventivekids.com/indexFlash.html
Play games to learn about inventing. Games include Woman Inventors Flip Book, Time Machine, For Girls, Journey Across Canada, etc.

K-8 Aeronautics Internet Textbook
http://wings.avkids.com/
This online textbook provides a complete thematic unit on aeronautics. There are beginning, intermediate and advanced reading levels, a spanish version, lesson plans and activities.

Kids World
http://kids.rrc.state.tx.us/
Kids World is the Texas Railroad Commission's energy education website. Kids World is home to Marty and Molly Mockingbird, two very energy-aware young mascots, who take elementary school students through an online tour of their community, teaching students about energy, safety and good stewardship of our environment. The website offers students classroom lessons and entertaining games.

Lawrence Hall of Science
http://www.lhs.berkeley.edu/kids/
These interactive science activities have been developed by a variety of groups at our neighboring Lawrence Hall of Science. Play online games, download activities to do at home, and more cool stuff. Topics covered range from Math and Space Science to Invention and the Human Body. Explore and Enjoy!

Magic School Bus
http://www.scholastic.com/magicschoolbus/games/home.htm
Here students can play Games, go on Guided Tours, and explore Simple Science. There is a section for Parents & Teachers and a Theme Index.

Mummy Road Show
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/mummy/
Follow along as NGS tries to unravel the mystery of the Chatham, Ontario mummy. George Sulman, a shopkeeper, bought a mummy in 1913 when he visited Egypt. He kept it on display for years, believing it was an ancient Egyptian princess. Is the story true or did Sulman buy a fake? This site is best experienced using the Flash choice. It could be set up as a WebQuest or a teacher could facilitate a whole-group experience with an LCD projector. Move your mouse over the mummy to set up each section of the story. There is an answer at the end!

Online Science Games
http://www.engagingscience.org/games/onlinegames/games.html
This series of games by Engaging Science offers exactly what the title suggests, six totally engaging science games that both entertain and educate. Three museums supply two games apiece. Games cover geology, astronomy, ecology, etc.

Questacon
http://www.questacon.edu.au/index.html
Questacon is from the National Science and Technology Center in Australia. Explore the activities at Questacon, visit the Imagination Factory, and enjoy the activities in the Fun Zone. There are sections for Kids, Teens, and Teachers.

Sandlot Science
http://www.sandlotscience.com/
If you or your students have ever enjoyed optical illusions and wanted more than you have, then here are more illusions, in more categories, than you've ever seen in one place.

Science Bob
http://sciencebob.com/
Visit the Lab to find out the answers to science questions, learn about weather, explore the body, and discover ideas for science fairs. Click on Experiments for ideas of things you can do at home (or school) to learn about science.

ScienceInTheBox
http://www.scienceinthebox.com  
Scienceinthebox.com covers a range of interesting and entertaining topics! The site was created to share the science behind Proctor & Gamble's laundry and cleaning products with a focus on addressing sustainable practices and products which embrace social responsibility as well as environmental practices. Product development and other considerations are presented. Users can select topics that can be saved into a File Basket, downloaded, and printed. The interactive pages are particularly fun.

Science, Optics & You: Powers of Ten
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/powersof10/
View the Milky Way at 10 million light years from the Earth. Then move through space towards the Earth in successive orders of magnitude until you reach a tall oak tree just outside the buildings of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida. After that, begin to move from the actual size of a leaf into a microscopic world that reveals leaf cell walls, the cell nucleus, chromatin, DNA and finally, into the subatomic universe of electrons and protons.

Science Vocabulary Hangman
http://education.jlab.org/vocabhangman/index.html  
Part of a the Jefferson Lab Games and Puzzles section, Science Vocabulary Hangman offers choices in the areas of: 6th, 7th and 8th Grade Science, 5th Grade Math, Geometry Basics, 2nd Grade Matter, Basic Atomic Structure, Machines and Force, Electric Circuits, Meteorology Basics, Basic Astronomy, Cell Basics, Seed Plants, Difficult Medical Terms, and many more. You can even send in your own word list and they will create a game for you. From the K-12 Office of Science Education, Jefferson Lab, Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA), Newport News, VA.

SIMPLE Science
http://www.simplescience.org
Middle-school science teachers have a new resource at their disposal: SIMPLE Science, an online collection of science activities. SIMPLE Science lets students explore X-rays of animal skeletons, measure snow and ice cover over time, explore bipedal locomotion, manipulate photographs, diagnose lung disease, and much more. Each topic can be covered in a 50-minute class session. The site is free. The goal is to help overcome barriers to the use of image processing and analysis in K-12 classrooms by giving educators access to extensive, updatable archives of imaging data, while designing a pedagogical structure that helps teachers use imaging data in a way that supports middle-school science standards. SIMPLE Science consists of a three-tired structure that scaffolds students’ use of image processing and analysis, from basic explorations of how imaging is used in various fields of science, to lessons developed from an archive of images and data housed on the site's server.

Soundry
http://library.thinkquest.org/19537/?tqskip=1
The Soundry is an exciting, interactive, and educational web site about sound. Covering everything from the most basic concepts of what sound actually is to the specifics of how humans perceive it, the Soundry aims to promote enthusiasm and knowledge of sound.

TryScience
http://www.TryScience.org 
TryScience.org wants you to experience the excitement of contemporary science and technology through online and offline interactivity with science and technology centers worldwide. Science is exciting, and it's for everyone! That's why TryScience and over 400 science centers worldwide invite you to investigate, discover, and try science yourself. TryScience is brought to you through a partnership between IBM Corporation, the New York Hall of Science (NYHOS), the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC), and science centers worldwide. New interactive content is added regularly to these areas: Adventure (thematic interactive experiences), Experiments, Field Trips(interactive science center features), Curious?(polls and activities based on a hot topic question), and Live Cams.

Virtual Frog Dissection
http://www.froguts.com/flash_content/demo/frog.html
A virtual dissection lab in which learners open the virtual frog's chest and abdomen and identify its organs: heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, stomach and intestines, and bladder. Excellent graphics and minimal written prompts make this self-paced dissection an especially useful resource for English language learners.

Virtual Knee Surgery (COSI)
http://www.edheads.org/activities/knee/  
This totally Flash-driven tutorial allows users to conduct a virtual knee replacement. You will be guided step by step throughout the procedure and will have opportunities to interact with various tools such as the bone saw, a tool for cauterizing veins, and so forth. Also includes real photos of the procedure in a separate section which are not too gross. Produced by COSI Columbus.

Waterford Press Free Games, Activities & More
http://www.waterfordpress.com/entergame.html
"This website is designed to provide users with a number of simple games and activities that help to nurture an interest in the natural sciences. Designed to complement the K-12 science curriculum, the materials range from simple games and quizzes to activities and experiments that can take a number of hours or days. Copy materials to your desktop and print out as needed."

Who Dunnit?
http://www.cyberbee.com/whodunnit/crime.html
Learn to be a sleuth by exploring the world of the forensic scientist. Elementary and Middle School students can learn to take fingerprints, analyze unidentified powders, and other techniques to solve “The Case of the Barefoot Burglar.”

Who Wants to Win a Million Dollars? - The Math and Science Game
http://education.jlab.org/million/index.html
Welcome to Who Wants to Win a Million Dollars! Test your knowledge of math and science as you work your way to the million dollar level! Although the questions you will answer are real, the money, unfortunately, is not. Based on the game show of similar name, this is a fun way for students to test their knowledge and learn more!

Why Files: Science Behind the News
http://whyfiles.org/
No matter the grade level, teachers of science and science-related topics will appreciate this site, which relates science to recent events and everyday occurrences. Typical topics: "Vitamin C - Could It Cure Cancer?" and "Hurricane Katrina: Was it Global Warming?" Past topics are accessible via the archives link and there is also a link to interactive science. An excellent resource for science teachers.

X-Rays for Kids
http://www.uhrad.com/kids.htm
The University Hospitals of Cleveland serves up a simple collection of X-ray images, which show the intricate inner nature of ordinary and extraordinary things. Watch wind-up clocks, turtles, leaves, seashells, beetles and more take on magical qualities when X-rays make the invisible visible.

Yuckiest Site on the Internet
http://yucky.kids.discovery.com/
A Discovery Channel web site for exploring science. Information, games, web cams, and more.