Exploratorium
The Exploratorium, a museum in San Francisco, offers online activities where kids can play, discover and explore a variety of science topics.
How Stuff Works
Articles, illustrations and videos provide objective "explanations of how the world really works".
Jefferson Lab
Practice taking Virginia SOL science and math tests, read scientists' answers to common and interesting science questions, watch Frostbite Theater science videos to see experiments with liquid nitrogen, static electricity and more, and play games and puzzles to help understand science topics.
Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
Includes links for STEM programs and competitions, STEM careers and STEM activities, games and videos.
Science News for Students
Designed for upper elementary and middle school students, the site offers news stories and features on timely topics.
Science Projects
Science Buddies
Use the Topic Selection Wizard to help you select a science fair project based on your interests or browse more than 1000 project ideas in many areas of science. The Science Fair Project Guide offers information from getting started through communicating your results.
Steve Spangler Science
If you need a science fair project idea or just want to try some fun science experiments, look at these interesting activities.
Scientific American In-Depth Reports
Special reports on timely topics include articles, podcasts and videos.
SciTech Daily Review
This site lives up to its claim of providing informed, thought-provoking coverage of scitech issues. Voluminous in scope, it offers a solution to the "I have to write a report about a science article" assignment.
Thomas Jefferson HS for Science and Technology — STEM Resources
Explore sites offering activities and games for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Biology4Kids
Covers cells, microorganisms, plants, invertebrates, vertebrates and animal systems.
Bug Guide
An online resource devoted to North American insects, spiders and their kin, offering identification, images and information.
Dino Directory
Search dinosaurs by name, timeline, geographic location or body shape. Sponsored by the British Natural History Museum.
Encyclopedia of Life
The vision of this free online encyclopedia is to document all of the living species on Earth. Learn about plants, animals, fungi and bacteria. Images, sounds and videos are available for some of the species.
Endangered Species
Endangered Species Program
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service provides profiles of species included on the Federal list of endangered and threatened wildlife and plants. The site also provides lists of "how many and which" species are in particular categories as well as maps by U.S. state or territory.
Wildlife Factsheets
Factsheets on endangered species in North and South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, the Arctic and Antarctica, and habitats (such as coral reefs, grasslands, wetlands, etc.) Information is provided by Defenders of Wildlife, an organization dedicated to wildlife conservation.
Human Body — DK Findout!
Learn all about the amazing human body including bones, brain and nerves, heart and blood, senses and more.
Biology of Plants
Elementary school students can learn about plant parts, pollination, how plants make food and more.
Native Plant Information Network
Affiliated with the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center (established in 1982), this site's purpose is to make available scientifically accurate information on native plants of the United States. You can search by scientific or common name, or by state. Information includes description, color photo, distribution and habitat preference, endangered status and bloom calendar.
Plants Database
Maintained by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Offers names, checklists, identification information, distributional data, etc. Also provides links to global plant checklists; conservation fact sheets; and information on threatened and endangered plants searchable by family, genus or state.
Biomes Around the World
Elementary school students can explore rainforest, tundra, taiga, desert, temperate and grasslands biomes as well as freshwater and marine ecosystems. Provided by the Missouri Botanical Garden.
Major Biomes of the World
Factual, college-level presentation of the global distribution and structural characteristics of eight major biomes. Site created and maintained by Radford University.
Energy Kids
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, the information on this site is suitable for elementary school students and covers a range of topics. The Energy Basics section includes global sources and uses of energy and tips on how to save energy. The Energy History area contains timelines and brief biographical profiles of scientific pioneers in the field. A glossary offers hypertext cross references to additional explanatory materials.
Field Guide to Fairfax County’s Plants and Wildlife
A guide to some of the common plants and animals that are likely to be seen in neighborhoods, schoolyards, parks and other outdoor areas of Fairfax County.
Learning and Teaching about the Environment
The EPA offers information for K-12 students including games and quizzes, homework resources and science fair project ideas.
NASA — National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Read news on space exploration and find out about humans in space and flight. Discover the cosmos through images or photographs of the universe in the Astronomy Picture of the Day.
The Solar System
A visually arresting and content-rich offering from NASA. Younger elementary school students will benefit from the site's companion pages.
StarDate Online
A guide to stargazing: advice on what to look for in the sky, where to look and when to look by date and time. The site includes a calendar of celestial events, an "Astro" glossary and more.
Chem4Kids
Covers the basic concepts of chemistry related to matter, atoms, elements, reactions and biochemistry.
Periodic Table of the Elements
Provided by Los Alamos National Laboratory's Chemistry Division.
Earthquakes for Kids
On this informative site one can investigate earthquake factsheets, find science project ideas, research "today in earthquake history," read about careers in geophysics and learn about the science of seismology.
Geology.com
Offers articles and news on various geological topics, a geology dictionary, career information and teacher resources. Includes a collection of U.S. state maps and satellite images as well as country maps paired with Landsat images.
Physics Central
Read about current research in physics, try physics experiments and get your physics questions answered by a physicist. Provided by the American Physical Society.
The Physics Classroom
Developed by a high school physics and chemistry teacher for beginning physics students, this site covers basic physics topics and includes "Check Your Understanding" sections.
Owlie Skywarn
Kids can learn about weather and safety from the National Weather Service.
Weather History and Data Archive
Type your zip code, city, state, airport code or country to find historical weather information for a specific date.
CODE
Learn the basics of computer science using drag and drop programming. The "Hour of Code" programs are designed for students of all ages and include characters such Moana, Anna and Elsa, or worlds such as Minecraft and Star Wars. The site also features a 20-hour course which introduces core computer science and programming concepts.
Cyberchase
Learn engineering with the Cybersquad as you explore activities, play games and watch videos in this site based on the PBS "Cyberchase" show.
Design Squad Nation
Try out engineering: watch videos, play games and build things (an unpoppable balloon, a robo arm, a rubber band car and many more) using this site from PBS Kids.
Engineer Girl
A site designed for girls to discover engineering careers and find dream jobs. Learn about engineers, what they do and how to get there..
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