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History of Scientific Discoveries

Scientific advancements and discoveries offer countless opportunities to integrate technology into your lessons. This week we are highlighting resources that correlate with various important historical scientific events. 

Grades 3-12

MIT Full STEAM Ahead

Find free, high-quality STEAM videos, lessons, and other content for all grades. Discover inventions, outer space, music, and sounds. The link to Science Out Loud (in K-12 Resources) includes many videos about the history behind the science.

Grades 3-12

USPTO - United States Patent and Trademark Office

The US Patent System was established in April of 1790. Visit this site to learn about the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the importance of intellectual property creation and protection.

Grades 4-12

The Case Files

On April 20, 1902 Marie and Pierre Curie isolated radium. Read all about it on this website that provides case files about many famous people from the world of science and technology, including Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, and Henry Ford.

Grades K-8

Young Scientist Lab

Discover materials that allow students to explore a world of scientific innovation and opportunities. Don't miss the "Travel Through Time" interactive to learn about scientific innovations from the past 100 years, including the history of the subway.

Outer Space & Hubble History

Did you know April was a very important month for space exploration? Apollo 13 launched for its short but memorable journey on April 11, 1970 and the Hubble Space Telescope launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 24, 1990. In this section, we share resources related to these historic events and other space history. 

Grades 5-12

Hubble Birthday

Learn about the image that the Hubble Telescope took on your birthday. Enter your birth month and date and view a high-quality image with a short description of the location and discussion of the picture. Click the link for more info.

Grades 8-12

Galaxy Zoo

Help Hubble Scientists classify hundreds of thousands of images. Click "Classify" to identify characteristics of galaxies, including shape, smoothness, and irregularities. Click "Examples" for illustrations to help you categorize images.

Grades 3-12

Amazing Space

Formerly the The Amazing Space website, NASA Hubblesite shares stunning resources to help you learn more about the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes. View sections like "Celestial Lithographs" and "Tonight's Sky Video Series."

Grades 7-12

SCI- Science Channel

Find videos (many free, but some requiring a subscription to Discovery Science Channel) and learn the truth behind many mysteries: engineering catastrophes (such as Apollo 13), shipwreck secrets, how the universe works, and others.

Grades K-12

CurriConnects Book List - Solar System and Space

Launch into books about space and space exploration. Delve into black holes, or get to know famous astronomers. These books include a wide variety of historical scientific discoveries, including books related to space and Apollo 13.

It is Almost National DNA Day

Celebrated on April 25th, National DNA Day commemorates the very first description of DNA's double helix by Francis Crick and James Watson in 1953 and the successful completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003. Learn new ideas for teaching your students about DNA and genetics. 

Grades 1-12

TeachersFirst's Genetics - Science Resources

Explore these engaging tools related to genetics in this curated list for a variety of grade levels, including "Tour of the Basics: Heredity to DNA Interactive." Each resource includes a description and several classroom use ideas.

Grades 9-12

Geneboy

Checkout this interactive science tool about making variations with gene sequencing. To use the site, select a sequence from the left side of the GeneBoy or use the "Your Sequence" button to copy and paste your own sequence into the application.

Grades 3-8

The Gene Scene

This vivid site offers interesting facts, interactive games, activities, and information about DNA, cloning, and other genetic topics. Using the Ology questionnaire, plan a genetic journey about traits. Assign the games during blended learning.

This Week at TeachersFirst

Our Spring season of professional learning continues this week with an all-new virtual workshop and Twitter chat. We are also sharing a related blog post and kindly ask for your input in our weekly poll.