Back in the early 2000's when I was first teaching, I remember certain teachers touting that they "never used a textbook," stating with their noses in the air that they "created their own resources," implying that printed resources from curriculum companies were for peasants. I happily used our science textbooks, plus the wonderful extraneous material, plus any other good idea that I could get my hands on. Then the trend of districts ditching textbooks hit us, and I was left waving in the wind trying to re-create text that students could read and annotate (since that was still a big push!) My school literally trashed all of our science textbooks before we went to one-to-one devices. I was fortunate enough to have about 15 years of teaching experience at this point, with generous and ingenious colleagues, but it was definitely difficult to find appropriate science materials for our middle school students.
If you find yourself without a textbook but students have devices, let me tell you about three free on-line resources that helped save my sanity when I was teaching science.
1) activelylearn.com- on-line texts and questions for science, ELA, and social studies
You can create a FREE account, and set up classes for your students to log into. You search and add content to your individual classes. Within the content (articles) that you add, you can embed questions or edit questions that are already there, or also insert videos. You assign the content, and can grade it later or in real-time as students answer. The colleague who turned me onto Actively Learn would even grade remotely if she had a sub, so students knew that she knew if they weren't doing their work. You can print out the articles and questions for students who can't use computers/ don't have it charged/ lost it, but the on-line feature is most useful. The content isn't just science, it also includes ELA and social studies. The free account worked well for me, but there is a paid version that has some nice upgrades like data reports and differentiated texts.
2. edpuzzle.com- videos with embedded questions, comments, or explanations, any content
I love this website! Again, it is FREE, and within your account you can create classes for students to sign into. Instead of being text-based, this website is video based. You can search Edpuzzle for videos, or search YouTube, Khan Academy, National Geographic, or a number of other sites for videos. You can crop the videos if needed, but the cool part is adding questions. At any point in the video, you can add a multiple choice question, short answer question, or comments. You can record a voice-over for a video or insert a pause in the video to explain something further. With the free version, you can check and see how much of a video the student watched, their answers to every question, and the percent they got correct. But wait, there's more! Edpuzzle can integrate with many on-line grading websites, such as Canvas, Moodle, Blackboard, and PowerSchool. I didn't really delve into those realms, but I could see how they would be helpful once you master it.
With the free Edpuzzle plan, you can save 20 videos with the questions or edits that you've made. There is a pro version that is $9.50 a month. Districts can buy plans as well, but I could not find a price quote for that. The free version worked quite well for me!
3. CK-12- text to print out, math, science, ELA, social studies, links to other ways to learn
CK-12 is great for finding articles, but it isn't as easy to navigate for students and the on-line features are pretty limited. Many of the articles are also used in the Actively Learn website. I like the wide variety of articles plus the ability to search by specific content. Articles also have a section called "other ways to learn" that has videos embedded, direct links to interactive websites, or a link to a "PLIX"- "Play, Learn, Interact, Xplore". CK-12 is 100% free! You still have to supplement with worksheets, notebook activities, and your own quizzes, but you have to create that yourself anyway if you don't have a textbook.
Finally, if you can't find exactly what you're looking for here, I have a few "No Textbook? No Problem!" resources for sale on Teachers Pay Teachers. They contain original articles, Level 1, 2, and 3 questions, some notebook activities, and quizzes.
Best of luck with your science teaching this year!
Book stack clipart credits to: Image by <a href="https://pixabay.com/users/Clker-Free-Vector-Images-3736/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=308785">Clker-Free-Vector-Images</a> from <a href="https://pixabay.com/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=308785">Pixabay</a>
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