Science Resources, Activities and Internships
In and Around DC
Environmental education including astronomy, planetarium, woodlands excursions, historic mill, and fort. Field trips, curricula, and 'traveling trunks’ available.
The NAS hosts a variety of events and exhibits, often at the intersection of science and art, or another cultural fulcrum. LabX (the new form of the Koshland Science Museum) offers an in-person role-playing game about building community resilience in the face of disaster.
One-day educational programs on a farm or on a skipjack, as a 'floating classroom', as well as multi-day field experiential education programs for students. CBF also offers professional development for teachers. The website has suggestions for positive environmental actions and larger projects students could implement in their own communities.
Carnegie Academy for Science Education
Program to stimulate interest in science and support science education among Washington, DC teachers, and students. Special Saturday science program for 6th-8th graders.
http://www.nps.gov/rocr/planyourvisit/expsky.htm
NCA holds "star parties" monthly April-Nov on Saturday evenings, just after sunset at Military Road x Glover Road in the field next to the parking lot across from Nature Center in Rock Creek Park in Washington, DC.
Great local resource in math and science education; also has held amateur telescope making at the Friday evenings 6:30-9:30 at the Chevy Chase Community Center in Washington, DC.
Space Telescope Science Institute
Educational materials including background science information for teachers and public outreach in STEM.
University of Maryland Observatory
Presentation by a scientist, children welcome, and observing (weather permitting) 5th and 20th of each month.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASA provides materials for students and educators, requests for speakers or even astronauts to visit! Myriad STEM resources.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Model rocket launches the first Sunday of the month beginning at 1:00 pm and other space science events.
Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution
Air and Space offer classroom resources, online activities, demonstrations, and hands-on activities for visiting students. The Udvar-Hazy museum also offers school group tours.
The zoo offers cross-cultural environmental education programs, online resources for teachers, field trips, and a variety of classes and programs.
The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute is headquartered in Front Royal, Virginia, and there are nutrition, genetics, and GIS laboratories at the Rock Creek site.
Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
This group offers a number of educational programs on-site, located on 2600 acres on the Rhode River, just south of Annapolis. For those not able to get to the SERC, the mobile ecology lab may be a possibility. DC schools have been going to the Center for years and spots fill up early. Contact person is Karen McDonald mcdonaldk@si.edu 443-482-2216.
National Museum of Health and Medicine
Exhibits on the history of medicine, especially with respect to the military. Offers self-guided or educator-led tours, sponsors science cafes, and other public programs.
The DC chapter of the Audubon Society offers outdoor educational programs, citizen science opportunities, lesson plans, and other teaching resources. Three sanctuaries nearby (one in Chevy Chase, MD).
Floral and nursery plant research conducted by USDA scientists. Educational programs, workshops, hikes, scavenger hunts, and a youth garden for kids grades 3-5.
Laboratories where art conservators perform their work at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery and American Art Museum.
Offers Junior Ranger activity, field trips, curriculum, distance learning materials, professional development and a guest speaker program. A special and beautiful spot in our city!
Offers environmental education at urban, natural and maritime sites; can arrange visits to schools.
The Nature Lab Takoma Park, Maryland
Offers after school, in-school and summer programs around Natural Sciences, Art and Adventure for ages 4-9, 10-13. This is the link to their Facebook page.
Offers professional development, teaching guides, activity guides. National Chemistry Week every fall. Support for local Chem Clubs and sponsors the Chemistry Olympiad.
Community outreach of our water and sewer utility includes World Water Monitoring Day (which includes hands-on water testing), a visiting speaker program, and the sewer science program can bring instructional materials to the school (check age range).
An outdoor center and resource for science projects and online videos.
National Museum of American History
Museum offers professional development, lesson and activity material and has a way to search according to the historical era. The Spark Lab offers hands-on activities and experiments. The Lemelson Center of Invention and Innovation has interactive exhibits and incorporates stories of numerous inventors.
Museum in Philadelphia also offers resources and special programs.
Sedimentary rocks, fossils, tidal marshes, sharks teeth, and handy to a nuclear plant that provides a lot of our area's energy. Calvert County.
The commercial outfit in Ashburn Virginia offering one or two-hour workshops/science activities for children up to 5th grade.
National Museum of Natural History
Fossils, gems, and other natural history exhibits. Q?rius exhibits on-site for the 6th-12th grade; Q?rius Jr. discovery room for younger children.Classroom resources and field trips.
Educational programs, field trips, and educational resources.
This group has created and performed dance titled Thermal Pearl Ascending exploring the human relationships to the environment and local and global challenges related to climate change.
Very Physical Science educational resource guide—dance to interpret and demonstrate physical science principles such as magnetism, kinetic and potential energy, force, and momentum.
Croydon Creek Nature Center (Rockville, MD)
Interpretive visits and naturalist field trips, 1.0-1.5 hours depending on the topic and student ages.
Educational exhibits, classroom resources, educational games, citizen science opportunities, geography bee.
Field trips, professional development, traveling science program. Inner Harbor Baltimore, a few blocks from the Amtrak station downtown. Significant cost, but coupons are sometimes available. Observatory open to the public every Friday evening, weather permitting.
Online
The King's Center for Visualization in Sciences
Chemistry Education Resources by Topic and Grade Level from the American Chemical Society
New Scientist (my longtime favorite magazine)
The Science Guys educational activities and demonstration videos for all ages on youtube
Offers professional development, teaching guides, activity guides. National Chemistry Week every fall. Support for local Chem Clubs and sponsors the Chemistry Olympiad.
Water and STEM focused resources as part of DC Water community outreach. Numerous educational programs offered by our water and sewer utility.
Amazing collation of images in motion.
United States Geological Survey
Scientific information on geologically based energy.
National Science Teachers Association
Classroom resources, professional development, peer journal.
Smithsonian Science Education Center
Resources, professional training in science education.
Classroom resources arranged by topic. NSF supports many science education initiatives.
A plethora of resources in the sciences, medicine, and engineering.
A website aimed toward middle school girls about exploring careers in engineering.
A well-written biographical series of ten women in science from the National Academies Press.
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics curriculum, and training.
Newsletter and local and state level resources for homeschoolers.
Michigan Technological University
This site includes science fair booklist and demonstrations for science lessons.
See the fabulous things science teachers do at San Francisco's Exploratorium! For online access, there is also a live webcam.
Some YouTube videos
This is an interesting website with great questions and discussions of topics relating to science and all sorts of things in our world and experience.
Outreach program and mentoring.
Yvonne Caruthers
A cellist from the National Symphony Orchestra who has developed the Connections programs to demonstrate and explain connections among music, science, and mathematics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cu-PA7uJ1YI
The commercial outfit in Ashburn, Virginia offering one or two-hour workshops/science activities for children up to 5th grade.
Educational programs, field trips, and educational resources.
Information about energy use, green energy, participation in the solar decathlon in the mall. Watershed Sustainability Center demonstrates real-life green technologies.
Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation
Mobile science labs available--for a fee. It also offers resources and support for agricultural education from elementary to post-secondary levels.
Information and resources for students, families, and teachers:
http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome
Outreach programs:
http://www.ars.usda.gov/services/docs.htm?docid=1275
Educational exhibits, classroom resources, educational games, citizen science opportunities, geography bee.
Field trips, professional development, traveling science program. Inner Harbor Baltimore, a few blocks from the Amtrak station downtown. Significant cost, but coupons are sometimes available. Observatory open to the public every Friday evening, weather permitting.
National Institutes of Health:
http://www.genome.gov/Education/
Various institutes at NIH offer educational information, for instance, this information on the inner workings of the brain at the National Institute of Mental Health and material on the genome. Curriculum supplements, resources for teachers, students, and a plethora of good science and health information.
http://www.nih.gov/research-training/science-education
The McGill University Office for Science and Society
This program is directed by Dr. Joe Schwarcz.
For Chemistry Students
Interactive periodic table of the elements and isotopes
Interactive periodic table with history, podcasts, and videos on elements
basic quantities and measurements
Resource on chemistry topics including real-world connections
Videos on High School Chemistry topics from MIT
Visualizations and Problem Solving from Purdue University
Wolfram Demonstration Projects for Chemistry
Interactive animations of chemistry principles from the University of Colorado
Khan Academy, a resource on a wide variety of science and math topics
(sign in and look around for specific chemistry topics)
Professor Michel Van Biezen lectures on chemistry
Bozeman Science, videos with explanations and examples of chemistry topics
Chemistry Unleashed videos from Professor Christiansen from Utah State University
A compilation of science education resources for teachers and students
Short videos and resources on a variety of chemistry topics
Atomic structure and theory timeline
Flexible 'textbook' for chemistry
Visual game to learn and practice balancing chemical equations
Charles and Ray Eames' classic video on orders of magnitude
For Physics Students
Khan Academy, resource on a wide variety of science and math topics
The Physics Classroom, website with explanations of most fundamental physics concepts
Physics in everyday life and study support in a British framework, same topics all around the world
Physics in the Flesh, a youtube channel with great explanations of concepts and problems
Wolfram Demonstrations Project for Physics
Interactive Animations on Physics Principles from the University of Colorado
Professor Michel Van Biezen lectures on physics topics
Professor Michel Van Biezen's youtube channel on Young's double slit experiment
Hyperphysics, links from central topics to helpful description of subtopics
Bozeman Science, videos with physics explanations and examples
Youtube channel from "The Organic Chemistry Tutor" on Kinetic and Potential Energy
Video explanation of the solstices and equinoxes (in Spanish)
Video lessons for High School Physics from MIT
For Environmental Science Students
Chemistry of Autumn Colors of Trees explained by Prof. Bassam Shakhashiri of U. Wisconsin-Madison
Prof. Bassam Shakhashiri explanation of climate change on http://www.scifun.org
Fairfax County Public Schools Environmentally-focused field trips and activities
Interactive Animations about Earth Science from the University of Colorado
Wolfram Demonstrations Project for Ecology
Wolfram Demonstrations Project for Earth and Environmental Science
Video explanation of the solstices and equinoxes (in Spanish)
Environmental education programs, kids' newsletter, Inspiring Connections Outdoors program.
United States Geological Survey
Scientific information on geologically based energy, water and other earth science topics.
Ten inspiring short films about youth making a difference with respect to climate change.
Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation
Mobile science labs available--for a fee. It also offers resources and support for agricultural education from elementary to post-secondary levels.
United States Department of Agriculture
Information and resources for students, families, and teachers:
http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome
Outreach programs:
Volunteer, Internship and Fellowship Opportunities for Elementary through University Levels
University and up:
Summer internships for Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Students
Smithsonian Internships and Fellowships at the Museum of Natural History and other sites
Smithsonian Air and Space Museum Volunteer internships.
An opportunity to participate in biomedical research.
HHMI Janelia Research Campus Ten-week summer internship
NSF and AACC Community College Innovation Challenge
Teams of 3-5 community college students, faculty mentor, and community or industry partner proposing innovative STEM-based solutions for real-world problems at the Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water Systems.
Volunteers 18 years old and older.
United States National Arboretum
On-the-job training from 3 months up to 1 year-long duration.
Smithsonian Environmental Research Center Citizen Science
Dan Gustafson
443-482-2217
United States Geological Survey For those interested in any aspect of earth science, water, mapping, ecology...
United States Department of Agriculture
For those interested in agricultural, science, technology, math, or environmental paths.
Paid summer internships and university scholarships for students in STEM fields.
Student Conservation Association
Summer programs to work in the field in hands-on conservation of forests and parks.
High School:
American Chemical Society Project SEED
A summer research program in industrial, academic, and federal government laboratories with scientist-mentors for 11th and 12th graders who are economically disadvantaged.
Q?rius Exhibit Volunteers at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History
To help reveal the wonders of the specimens in the exhibit to other young folks.
Smithsonian Air and Space Museum
Volunteer opportunity for those over 16 years old.
Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
Dan Gustafson
443-482-2217
Smithsonian Internships at the Museum of Natural History and other sites
The opportunity to engage in world-class biomedical research. A minimum of eight weeks.
Internships for Loudon County Public High School students.
Volunteers in the summer for 13-year-olds and older.
United States Geological Survey For those interested in any aspect of earth science, water, mapping, ecology...
United States Department of Agriculture
For those interested in agricultural, science, technology, math, or environmental paths.
College access program to mentor and motivate students underserved/underrepresented in sciences as they plan and conduct environmental research.
Student Conservation Association
Summer programs to work in the field in hands-on conservation of forests and parks.
(headquarters in NYC) has listings of opportunities to support students of color.
Middle School:
University of Maryland Department of Astronomy Volunteers
Elementary School:
Girls Excelling in Math and Science, and clubs and engaging math and science program for elementary school girls.
University of Maryland Department of Astronomy
Volunteers (ages 10 and up).
United States National Arboretum
Youth Garden for children grades 3-5