Before I was blessed with children of my own, I had the honor of working as a science specialist at two public schools in Oregon. Teaching middle school science was my dream job! We explored a variety of topics and enjoyed hands-on labs every week.
As a homeschooling mom, I understand that budgets are tight and we have to make tough decisions about what extra-curriculars and curriculum we can afford. The best things in life are indeed free so I have compiled a list of free science curriculum for middle school.
This is NOT just a list of free printables and a hodge-podge of activities – but complete curriculum units!
Life Science Curriculum
A secular middle school science text that is available for free on Amazon is CK-12 Life Science for Middle School
For nature study, you’ll absolutely love the Handbook of Nature Study! Barb has an incredible collection of tutorials and resources for using nature study in your homeschool. I’ve linked to her Getting Started post here, but be sure to browse around her site – there are enough printables and lessons to keep you busy all year long!
I have shared a number of great human anatomy lesson plans and activities here on my website. STEM Club: Introduction to Body Systems is the first post in the series. Read each for a complete unit study on the human body.
For great ecology lessons, your local extension agency is a fabulous resource. California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom and Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom are two examples.
Earth Science Curriculum
For those who desire a faith-based curriculum, Old Earth Ministries Online Geology Curriculum is designed to be a complete, web-based learning experience, with pictures, animations, and links for further learning. They also have an Earth History Curriculum.
Physical Science Curriculum
While I didn’t find a CK-12 Physical Science text, there are high school level physics and chemistry available on Amazon.
The American Chemical Society shares a complete chemistry unit, Middle School Chemistry. They have also developed a unit on plastics, including a Plastics Analysis Lab.
The Periodic Table of Elements – A lesson about every single element on the Periodic Table from TED-Ed.
Teach Engineering has also compiled an extensive list of physical science lessons – including complete units on Rockets and Exploring Energy.
Science Journals for Middle School
Scientists report their research in journals, which enable scientists to share information with one another.
The Natural Inquirer is a middle school science education journal published by the US Forest Service. They also have a series for upper elementary entitled, Investigator.
There are many free issues to download and read. When you click on each issue, it tells you what the theme will be and some of them have additional lesson plans to download. Each free issue is full of pictures, ideas, and questions to stimulate the science mind.
In addition to the journals, the US Forest Service also provides a wealth of other educational resources to accompany the journals including Lesson Plans and Games & Activities.
Science News for Kids is another great source for current events and news. It is an online collection of articles and resources for students and educators. Some of the recent article titles include: Something’s Cooking on Saturn’s Moon, Chickens Spread Latest Deadly Bird Flu, and Corals Dine on Microplastics.
Science Notebooks
Scientists keep notebooks. The scientist’s notebook is a detailed record of her engagement with scientific phenomena. It is a personal representation of experiences, observations, and thinking – an integral part of the process of doing scientific work.
The science notebooks of Charles Darwin, Linus Pauling, among other scientists are also available online. These primary source documents capture the words, the thoughts and the intentions of the past. It is fascinating to look at the illustrations and sketches famous scientists have made and to compare them with our own.
You can find many notebooking resources on my Science Notebooking Pinterest board.
As developing scientists, middle school students should be encouraged to incorporate notebooks into their science learning. Read more about using Science Notebooks in Middle School in this PDF by FOSS.
Students today enjoy creating interactive elements for their notebooks – mini books and foldables to record new vocabulary or gather data from a lab activity. There are many science notebooking printable available online to accompany a wide variety of topics.
Subscribers to my newsletter will receive the Human Anatomy Systems printables and interactive notebooking set shown here:
Subscribe to my newsletter today!
Stephanie, at Harrington Harmonies, also has a wonderful collection of notebooking printables. Subscribe to her newsletter and you’ll receive her Solar System Pages FREE!
Online Resources for Hands-on Labs & Activities
SciGirls is a television show for kids ages 8-12 that showcases bright, curious real tween girls putting science and engineering to work in their everyday lives. SciGirls Connect provides inquiry-based STEM activities for a variety of science topics.
I am sure everyone is already familiar with Steve Spangler‘s store but did you know he also has a number of Fun Science Experiments?
Another great resource for junior high science teachers and students is The Science Spot.
Citizen Science Opportunities
One the most exciting ways of teaching science to middle school students in engaging them in real science. Citizen science projects and service learning opportunities are exploding. The internet makes it super easy to collaborate with others and share research data.
You can find more on my Citizen Science Pinterest board.
Involvement in citizen science projects enables students to make connections with relevant, meaningful, and real experiences with science. Most also provide lesson plans and curriculum to help you get started. Here are a few great citizen science projects to consider:
- The Great Sunflower Project – Take counts of the number and types of pollinators visiting plants (especially sunflowers).
- Darwin for a Day – A web application that allows you to explore the Galapagos Islands through Google Street View and document its unique plants and animals.
- Old Weather – Help scientists recover Arctic and worldwide weather observations made by United States ships since the mid-19th century by transcribing ships’ logs.
Real Scientists
As students develop their own science skills, it is equally important that they get a feel for what scientists are actually doing. Integrating career exploration gives students an opportunity to learn about real scientists and the variety of jobs available with a science degree.
The US Forest Service has put together a great set of Scientist Trading Cards. Print the cards to learn more about each scientist and then create your own. The USFWS – Pacific Region has an incredible set of photos on Flickr, #ScienceWomen.
I periodically write about science career options – Entomology and Hydrogeology are two thus far you may wish to explore. More to come soon!
In my history of science series, Science Milestones, I highlight architects, engineers, inventors, and scientists whose discoveries and advancements have made a significant difference in our lives or who have advanced our understanding of the world around us. In each post, I share learning guides or unit studies featuring basic facts about the person, questions for discussion, and places to read, watch and otherwise learn more.
For more FREE resources on a variety of topics, be sure to visit The Best Things in Life are Free link-up at iHomeschool Network.
11 comments
Carrie
March 30, 2015 at 9:29 am
Ck12 middle school physical science texts, including the teacher edition. We have been using this all year and I’m pretty happy with it, especially for free!
http://www.ck12.org/book/CK-12-Physical-Science-For-Middle-School/r27
http://www.ck12.org/workbook/CK-12-Physical-Science-For-Middle-School-Workbook/r9
http://www.ck12.org/quizbook/CK-12-Physical-Science-For-Middle-School-Quizzes-and-Tests/r7
http://www.ck12.org/tebook/CK-12-Physical-Science-For-Middle-School-Teachers-Edition/r31
Eva Varga
March 31, 2015 at 7:21 am
That is great to hear, Carrie! Thank you for sharing the additional links. 🙂
Amy B.
March 30, 2015 at 9:53 am
Thank you for all of these links!
Student
April 4, 2015 at 5:11 pm
California versions of CPO Science middle school science texts
Life Science
Student Text: http://www.nhusd.k12.ca.us/userfiles/file/CPOScience/LS%20student%20ebook.pdf
Investigations: http://www.nhusd.k12.ca.us/userfiles/file/CPOScience/LS%20investigations%20ebook.pdf
Earth Science
Student Text: http://www.nhusd.k12.ca.us/userfiles/file/CPOScience/ES%20student%20ebook.pdf
Investigations: http://www.nhusd.k12.ca.us/userfiles/file/CPOScience/ES%20investigations%20ebook.pdf
Physical Science
Student Text: http://www.nhusd.k12.ca.us/userfiles/file/CPOScience/PS%20student%20ebook.pdf
Investigations: http://www.nhusd.k12.ca.us/userfiles/file/CPOScience/PS%20investigations%20ebook.pdf
General version of Integrated Physics and Chemistry text
Student Text: http://www.cpo.com/ipcres/booktoc.html
Pam Stanley
December 27, 2015 at 9:26 am
Is there a way to get the CPO Earth Science curriculum that includes the Astronomy? I see it online but I have to pay for it? thanks so much
Eva Varga
December 28, 2015 at 8:28 am
Sadly, I haven’t been able to find access to the curriculum that includes Astronomy.
Beth
February 17, 2016 at 1:32 pm
Thank you! Thank you! I have to study for teacher certification on K-8 Science knowledge. This is a huge blessing. I don’t know why they would assume we just remember everything. I definitely need to review.
Angela Yetter Cole
March 29, 2016 at 2:30 pm
I just found your blog! This is awesome! Thank-you! Science is the one subject that feel inadequate with teaching. Your blog is giving me confidence and ideas.
Eva Varga
March 30, 2016 at 7:16 am
Welcome Angela! I am delighted to hear that the materials I’ve created have helped you to feel comfortable teaching science. Be sure to subscribe to my newsletter for more great lessons, discounts, and subscriber only printables.
Mr Jeff
April 27, 2016 at 7:28 pm
Spectacular collaboration of resources and knowledge sharing focused on best practices. Thanks to Eva and the community of life long learners and instructors/teachers.
James T. Hughes
October 2, 2016 at 7:24 am
Check out this awesome resource
“Science for Critical Thinkers” is a comprehensive approach to developing student’s critical thinking skills in science. Written by two science educators with over 30 years combined teaching experience in middle and high school instruction, the book promises to educate and develop young minds ages 10-13, to think as scientists do. This 450-pages, full color science resource is a complete curriculum for private and homeschools alike. It contains four years of science study conveniently packaged into one book; the Nature of Science, Physical Science, Life Science and Earth and Space Science. An exceptional value for discerning parents. Students utilize the text from late elementary school straight through middle school. Each unit is composed of labs kids can do at home, enrichment activities, critical thinking activities, a science art project, an engineering project, an oral skill building activity, writing activities, observation activities, online activities, practice questions with an answer key, problem solving questions and more than enough content to start properly developing scientific thinking. The book also contains a science pre-test to assess student’s prior knowledge before beginning the curriculum; a comprehensive glossary, a calculations section; instructions on how to use the book, instructions for answering questions scientifically; and graph paper for graphing activities. Content is presented in a ready-to-use and easy-to-understand format. From the onset of the course students start applying the scientific method in the design of their own controlled experiment. They use a science journal for recording observations, data, and completing their laboratory exercises. 18 inquiry and science process skills are presented to master. These include classifying, collecting data, hypothesizing, identifying and controlling variables, and more. Students develop a discipline of scientific thinking as they participate in activities outlined in each unit. They will take what they routinely learn with the curriculum and use it to apply science reasoning to the real life situations they encounter. The world becomes their classroom as students begin to question, investigate, explore and make discoveries on their own initiative. Online and library research is encouraged as students begin to think about science in more enlightened and intuitive ways. Pushing a cart in the supermarket will have them thinking about Newton’s laws of motion. When they see their cuts and bruises healing nicely, they will think about the process of mitosis. Learning about science from a critical thinking perspective helps kids to improve their problem solving abilities and allow them to think systematically and logically when dealing with issues of a practical and intellectual nature. The text provides excellent preparation for a systematic study of science later in the high school years.
Full Color Version – https://www.createspace.com/6564349
Black and White Version – https://www.createspace.com/6415006
Comments are closed.