Teacher Resources

Welcome to the Online Resources section! Browse through the selected web sites with information for science educators.

Standards & Instruction | Classroom Resources | Resources within Illinois

Resources in the state of Illinois

The following are resources that are available for our Science Teachers throughout our state. If you have additional resources that you would like to share and have added to this list, please email webmaster@ista-il.org

Adler Planetarium (Located in Chicago near the Shedd Aquarium)
(http://www.adlerplanetarium.org)
Some outstanding activities for your class field trips. Visit the Education link for a wide variety of teacher workshops, field trip planning, and online activities.

Argonne National Laboratory (Located in western suburbs of Chicago)
(http://www.anl.gov/Administration/visit.html)
They have public tours as well as offering hands-on tours for K-12 groups. The Divison of Educational Programs (DEP) has their own web site with links to teacher resources, teachers/student programs, and the NEWTON BBS with "Ask a Scientist".

Brookfield Zoo (Located in Brookfield, a southwest suburb of Chicago)
(http://www.brookfieldzoo.org)
Visit the "Education" link to find educational resource programs that are available for field trips with your students, and different workshops that the zoo has for teacher education and enrichment. Also be sure to click on the interactive online education games "Adventure Trail".

Burpee Museum of Natural History (Located in Rockford)
(http://www.burpee.org)
Some very good dinosaur exhibits. Great place for school field trip activities. Visit the Education link to find a variety of programs designed for teachers.

Cernan Space Center (Located on the Triton College Campus in River Grove)
http://www.triton.edu/cernan
Wide variety of Space Science exhibits and displays. Great for Field trips and class activities.

Chicago Botanical Gardens (Located in Glencoe)
(http://www.chicagobotanic.org)
This is one of the top Chicago locations for visiting and learning about flowers and plants. Go to the Education link and there is a wide variety of information on field trip and teacher workshops.

Children's Discovery Museum (located in Normal, Illinois)
(http://www.ChildrensDiscoveryMuseum.net)
The Children's Discovery Museum provides the ultimate in field trip or educational outreach experiences to help educators "inspire the love of learning through the power of play." We offer field trips, learning labs, and when you can’t come to us, we come to you via Museum in Motion.

Chicago Children's Museum (Located in Chicago)
(http://www.chichildrensmuseum.org)
A great interactive museum for students preschool age to 10 years old. Visit the Education link for field trip information and teacher workshops.

Dickson Mounds Museum (Located in Lewistown in West-Central Illinois)
(http://www.museum.state.il.us/ismsites/dickson/)
A museum that highlights archaeology studies in Illinois. Guided field trips are available.

Environmental Education Association of Illinois
(http://www.eeai.net)
This is a great site for resources on Environmental Education in Illinois. Go to the link "Available Resources" for a variety of links to resources for teachers. This site has also put together a comprehensive list of locations of environmental resources that are available for teachers that live in the "west central" portion of our state.

Fermilab (Located in Batavia)
(http://www-ed.fnal.gov/ed_home.html)
Some very good educational activities available here. Go to the Teacher Resources Center for some great ideas for the classroom and links to Teacher Networks. Visit also the Lederman Science Center for links to other great education activities.

The Field Museum of Chicago (Located in Chicago)
(http://www.fieldmuseum.org)
Great field trip location for a variety of natural history and dinosaur exhibits. Go to the education link for some very good teacher resources. There are also some excellent online interactive activities that students can use.

Forest Preserve District of Cook County
(www.fpdcc.com)
Six nature centers available for naturalist-guided field trips, free in-classroom (within Cook County) environmental education programs, credit and/or CPDU science teacher workshops held during the summer.

Illinois Department of Natural Resources
(http://dnr.state.il.us)
There are links to a wide variety of teacher education and enrichment programs, publications, and FREE posters and materials for the classroom.

Illinois State Museum (Located in Springfield)
(http://www.museum.state.il.us)
This is a great site for natural history in Illinois. Visit the Teachers link and there are a number of great lesson plans as well as some online interactive lessons for your students.

The International Museum of Surgical Science of Chicago (Located in Chicago)
(http://www.imss.org)
Visit the Education link for field trip planning.

LEGOLAND Discovery Center (Located in Schaumburg)
(www.legolanddiscoverycenter.com/chicago )
Not only can kids have fun playing with LEGOs but they can learn about math and science as well with educational workshops! Workshops correspond directly to the IL state learning standards.

Lakeview Museum of Arts and Science (Located in Peoria)
(http://www.lakeview-museum.org)
A variety of educational programs available for field trips and teacher workshops.

Lincoln Park Zoo (Located along the lake front of Chicago)
(http://www.lpzoo.com)
Visit the “Education” link to find educational resource programs that are available for field trips with your students, and different workshops that the zoo has for teacher education and enrichment. Also be sure to click on the interactive online education games "ZEBRA Online".

McHenry County Department of Conservation (Located throughout McHenry County)
(http://www.mccdistrict.org)
The McHenry County Dept. of Conservation has 22 different areas that are available for school field trips and educational programs on plants and animals.

Museum of Science and Industry of Chicago (Located in Chicago)
(http://www.msichicago.org)
One of the best Science Museums in the country. Wide variety of exhibits and interactive exhibits. Visit the education link for a wide variety of field trip information and also Teacher Development activity information.

Northern Illinois University, STEM
(Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math) Project
(http://niu.edu/index.shtml)

Peggy Notebaert Museum Chicago Academy of Science (Located next to Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago)
(http://www.chias.org)
A very good site for interactive field trips. A number of science activities that your students will love, and do not forget to visit the free-fly butterfly exhibit.

SciTech Hands on Museum (Located in Aurora)
(http://scitech.mus.il.us)
A very good hands on interactive museum to get your students involved in real science experiments and activities. Visit the Experiments link for some great online activities and science links.

Shedd Aquarium (Located along the lake front of Chicago)
(http://www.sheddaquarium.org)
Visit the "Teach and Learn" link to find the educational resource programs that are available for field trips with your students, and different workshops that the aquarium has for teacher education and enrichment. Also be sure to click on their interactive online education games.

Volo Bog State Natural Area (Located about 50 miles NW of Chicago)
(http://dnr.state.il.us/lands/Landmgt/PARKS/R2/VOLOBOG.HTM)
This is the only "quaking" bog in Illinois that has a open water center. Great location for field trips, trails, and Interpretive Programs.

Water CAMPWS Education Programs and Inquiry Page
(http://www.inquiry.uiuc.edu/index.php)
This site is from the University of Illinois-Champaign and it promotes a variety of Inquiry Based Learning Programs.

Wildlife Prairie State Park (Located in Peoria, Illinois)
(http://www.wildlifeprairiestatepark.org)
This is a great location for seeing native Illinois wildlife. Educational programs are available for field trips as are Interpretive Naturalist Programs. Great chance to see how Illinois looked during the "Pioneer Days".