STEM Educators… Explore This Amazing Free Physics Site For All Ages

Welcome a post that will allow STEM educators to discover an amazing free website filled with a goldmine of resources. It’s called Physics Central and I am sure you will find material that will become central to your STEM instruction. First,  please take a moment to subscribe by email or RSS  to my 21centuryedtech Blog and also give me a follow on Twitter at mjgormans.  I promise you will find some great information coming your way through out the school year. In fact, get ready for new articles on PBL, STEM, technology integration and a continuation of my Word Cloud Series that included “108 Ways to Use Wordle in the Classroom“. Again, take a moment to share and retweet this article. Your effort is appreciated… Please enjoy this post filled with STEMtastic ideas. – Mike Gorman (https://21centuryedtech.wordpress.com)

I hope you are ready for an amazing STEM resource site! It will allow you and your students to jump out of the textbook and bring the real world and physics together in your classroom. The site, Physics Central, begins with an inviting and engaging homepage that will have you clicking links that will open up some amazing resources and ideas. Scroll down the page and you will note some great information. Next, go back to the top and click on Explore The Science. While you are there you may wish to check out over 150 vodcasts and podcasts covering a multitude of topics that just might fit your lesson plan. You may wish to visit Science off the Sphere. In this area join  Astronaut and chemist Dr. Don Pettit  who performs physics demos that are out of this world. View activities performed on board the International Space Station.  You will see some fantastic physics that can only be demonstrated in micro-gravity. Best of all, each demonstration ends with a challenge question allowing you and your students to submit an answer. While exploring the site, don’t forget to check out more than 200 examples of physics in pictures. I am certain your students will get an even better image of what STEM and physics is all about.

Next, you mash wish to scroll back up to the top and click on Ask & Experiment. The first thing you will note is a link called PhysicsQuest. A PhysicsQuest is a story-based activity that allows  middle school students to see the fun and relevance of science. APS provides a free PhysicsQuest kit to registered 6-9th grade physical science classes, home school groups, science clubs, and after-school programs. The kit includes a user’s manual and materials for four physics experiments. Take a look at past PhysicsQuests… you might just get some new ideas.  You may also want to a look at some of the current Physics@Home  and then be sure to also examine the Archive. Before leaving Ask&Experiment make sure you check out the current Physics Buzz along with an amazing selection of STEM based Blogs.

Check out the graphics on the home page that organize these resources into categories. They include chaos, compression waves and sound, electricity and magnetism, forces and motion, light and optics, material science, quantum mechanics, space and the universe, and thermodynamics and heat.  Be sure to also take a look at People in Physics allowing student to consider a possible STEM career. If the common core gets your interest, read through the Writers Gallery, a great way to connect literacy and STEM. There is even a an area that is dedicated to the exploration of Einstein. You may want to see what matters in physics and STEM.

There is a Teacher Resource Area that has a few other items not yet mentioned. Print off some amazing sets of PDF posters that will spark some high level STEM inquiry. There are also some great activity books  and even a chance to adopt a physicists. The adoption program connects high school physics students to people with bachelors degrees or higher in physics through online discussion forums. Through  interactions, students can find out about the careers, educational backgrounds, most interesting projects, and lives of a variety of physicists. I almost forgot to mention the opportunity to create or view some student made videos promoting STEM and physics concepts.

Physics Central is published by the American Physical Society which represents some 48,000 physicists. This outstanding organization  centers their work  on scientific meetings and publications which is the primary ways that physicists communicate with each other. Through PhysicsCentral, you can create excitement while showing students the importance of physics  in the every day world. It is definitely a site to add to any 21st century STEM collection.

Hope you enjoyed a chance to discover this gem of a STEM resource.  Join me in future weeks as together we continue to explore even more posts devoted STEM,  Flipped Classrooms, Project Based Learning, Assessing 21st century skills, technology integration, web resources, PBL,  digital literacy, and the common core.  I enjoy learning from all of you.  Also remember to subscribe to this blog by RSS or email and follow me on twitter at mjgormans. I also appreciate your sharing of this post and any retweets. Keep up the amazing work and enjoy the amazing world of 21st century learning. Welcome to the Future! – Mike Gorman (https://21centuryedtech.wordpress.com)

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