76 Innovative Teaching Resources for STEM Subjects

Keeping up with the latest science and technology resources is key to building classrooms where curiosity and engagement thrive. Great STEM teachers know that having access to innovative, reliable tools can make all the difference in helping students grasp complex concepts and develop critical thinking skills.

Below is a compiled selection of standout resources recommended by Rutgers Alternate Route candidates who teach science and technology education. These modern STEM resources support personalized learning, letting teachers tailor instruction to different learning styles and paces. From ready-to-use lesson plans and activity books to immersive apps and virtual labs, their resource recommendations are designed to deepen understanding of many STEM concepts-whether you’re teaching biology, environmental science, or engineering.

Explore these dynamic tools and discover how they can help you create memorable, engaging science and technology lessons that inspire your students and support their growth as future innovators.

ACS
It has plans and ideas to explore from elementary to high school, but you need to have a subscription to access most of the resources. (Mahilnancai S. 9-12)

A Guide for Interdisciplinary 
This website is an excellent resource that defines interdisciplinary teaching strategies, provides research-based data and external links for more information. (Stacey D. 6-8)

American Modeling Teachers Association
In Modeling Chemistry, emphasis is placed on promoting classroom discussion in which the students arrive at a set of representations (a diagram, a graph and an equation) for the model they have created, then deploy the model in a series of related tasks. (Jason N. 9-12)

AP Classroom
FRQ, MCQ, progress checks, and course and exam description (de facto AP standards)
Blooket.com (Dennis E. 9-12)

ASCD (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development)
This resource provides articles on education by leading education scholars (Edward C. 6-8)

Autocad Help Desk 
This site provides great bite-sized videos explaining features and tools in CAD. Very helpful for troubleshooting software (Robert P. 9-12) 

BetterLesson
Tons of resources on classroom management and generalized instructional strategies as well as content-specific resources for every subject K-12 (Alexander A. 6-8)

Blooket.com 
This educational online platform provides a variety of engaging quizzes in the form of competitive games that are both interactive and fun for my students. This motivates my students to excel in their designated topics or subjects. I can formulate my own questions and choose from a variety of other quizzes as well. (Erum J. 9-12)

Biology Corner 
This is a website solely focused on Biology topics that are covered in a variety of life science courses, like anatomy and environmental science. You can find a nice variety of worksheets (including labs) that you can print and share with your students. (Diego S. 9-12)

Bioman Biology 
Bioman Biology offers several advantages for teaching biology in an engaging and interactive way. The platform includes games and activities that make learning fun, helping students reinforce key biology concepts through hands-on practice. It has a wide range of topics, including genetics, ecology, cell biology, as well as evolution, and students can explore different aspects of biology in a dynamic way. From my experience, the gamified structure of Bioman helps increase student motivation by challenging them to complete quizzes and activities, which in turn improves their retention of material. It’s easy to use and allows students to practice and review lessons outside of class. It provides immediate feedback, which helps students understand their mistakes and correct them quickly. Bioman also supports different learning styles with its combination of visuals and problem-solving activities. It encourages self-directed learning, allowing students to work at their own pace. With its real-world applications, Bioman Biology makes abstract concepts more relatable and relevant. The best part is, it’s free and teachers love “free”. (Ephraim R. 9-12)

Cengage
Not all of Cengage is free to use, however, some of the free resources, connected to most Google accounts, provide helpful interactive worksheets and articles relating to the content you search for. It also helps in searching for presentations and organizing a lesson for specific topics. And creates games for students to learn with and get prizes. (Tarik S. 9-12)

ChemTeam
Provide simplified notes about each unit in chemistry. (Mariam T. 9-12)

Class Dojo
Class Dojo is a platform where teachers can manage the behavior of their classrooms, connect with parents and the school community, as well as access teacher resources to complement their lessons and professionally develop. (Frank C. 6-8)

ClassroomScreen 
ClassroomScreen is my go to site for projecting my do-now/agendas on the board for students to see as they enter the room. They have a lot of fun backgrounds and stickers that make the screen more engaging. I also love that I can make QR codes, paste images, and embed videos that go along with the do now or lesson. One of my favorite features is the on screen timer that I can add and still keep the do-now/agenda on the screen. (Akilah J. 9-12)

CodeHS
This is the curriculum platform we use for my computer science classes. While you do of course need to create projects and some other activities to supplement it, I've found it very useful as a basis point for students to dive into learning and applying coding concepts. One of the great benefits is it works on any web browser - you don't need any special setup on a computer for it, so any computer/Chromebook or even tablet is all you need. (Nicholas F. 9-12)

Code.org
Aimed at promoting computer science education, this site offers free resources and curriculum for teaching coding and computer science concepts to students of all ages. (Joseph F. K-5; 6-8)

Common Sense Education 
This site offers reviews of educational apps and tools, along with resources for teaching digital citizenship and integrating technology effectively in the classroom. (Joseph F. K-5, 6-8)

Concord Consortium STEM Resource Finder
Interactive resources for K-12. Some of them are good one-off simulations for lessons, some will take up to a week or more. I highly recommend the agriculture one and the tectonic plate one. (Brett K. 6-8; K-5)

Crash Course YouTube Channel 
Shows bite sized educational videos that are accessible (transcripts, captions, multi language). They cover a wide variety of subjects from chemistry to film history. I always recommend the science (chemistry) videos as a study resource for students, but I have also used some videos in class to use with my lessons. (Olivia A. 9-12)

Cyber.org
Detailed curriculum of Cyber-security, networking, security+, IT fundamentals with teachers' notes, PPTs and guided instructions. (Mousumi B. 9-12)

Diffit
This site is a teaching AI site that allows you to type in your grade level and content and create various worksheets and teaching packets that you can cater to your liking. It is so great for differentiating content. It also allows you to link videos/audios/other documents and create worksheets/questions based on that. (Audrey L.  9-12)

Discovery Education
This site provides many, many educational videos. I have used it frequently. The content of the videos is on point and appropriate. You can search by subject matter and find numerous options. (Charles A. 9-12)

ED Helper
Provides printable practice exercises for all subjects (Shannon F. 6-8)

Edpuzzle Educates
The site allows students to watch educational videos on a wide range of scientific topics. While watching the video, they will pause at specific times to have students answer a question or write down an important note. (Jonathan R. 6-8)

EPA Student and Educator Resources 
The Environmental Protection Agency’s site has a wealth of educational materials focused on environmental health, sustainability, and science. It includes interactive activities, lesson plans, and data tools that let students explore topics like air quality, water pollution, and waste management. These resources are especially useful for making abstract concepts more concrete and relatable for students. (Maria B. 9-12)

Facebook Group Shared Resource Google Folder
This is a niche to environmental science, AP environmental science in particular, but the point of sharing is to say that there are so many amazing teachers out there sharing resources, lessons, and ideas for free in all content areas. Facebook, as terrible as it is for other things, is a great place to connect with other teachers in your content area and share resources. (Rachel S. 9-12)

Flocabulary
This site is useful as it provides several different activities to utilize regarding topics of interest. It includes vocabulary cards, reading, responses, short quizzes, and even fun activities for the kids, like building beats/songs utilizing important vocabulary terms. It is an easy platform to utilize and also grades each activity for you, so it is very user-friendly. (Jonathan R. 6-8)

Generation Genius
There are a wide variety of lesson plans, toolkits, videos, and projects to supplement your lessons. (Kristin C. 6-8;9-12)

Give Spark
The site has a lot of resources for science teachers, including labs and lesson plans. (Christa S. K-5)

Gizmos
Gizmos is a great site for science classes (I use it for my biology classes) because it has many great, interactive lab simulations that can help students to better visualize new content. Since time and resources make certain labs hard to complete in class, simulations are a great alternative. (Joseph Socci. 9-12)

Google Classroom 
Helps manage classrooms and post assignments (Ami Williams. 6-8)

Google Sheets 
When students use this with proper guidance and instruction, it can be a great tool to visualize not just motion data, but any data needed to help demonstrate a physical concept. (Joseph P. 9-12)

HyperPhysics
This has great, short content lessons that are excellent resources for students to study. (Steven C. 9-12)

HHMI Biointeractive
Provides free resources in the classroom, teaching tools, and professional development tools. (Apeksha P. 9-12)

Inner Orbit
This site is aligned to the science standards and provides practice for the students. It also self-grades. (Jennifer B. K-5;6-8)

IXL
I'm sure IXL is not new to many teachers - a lot of districts have it. I just want to point out a useful feature on IXL which is creating a Group Jam. The Group Jam allows you to have the entire class working collectively on the same problem on their personal devices. This is an alternative to generic IXL practice that I really like for practice/review. It also fosters natural collaboration between students and allows opportunities for differentiation since students who finish early can help others or explain the problem to the class, creating a space for student-led learning. (Nicholas F. 9-12)

K20 LEARN
This site provides strategies to engage students in science with activities. (Ashley C. 6-8)

Khan Academy
Khan Academy is an incredible site that has multiple free courses available as well as resources for students and teachers. I frequently use this site to help supplement reading material for my students, give them practice with critical thinking questions, and find videos to supplement all of the material. (Edin H. 9-12)

Kahoot
This site provides competitive, interactive, educational games. There are many premade games from which to choose. If you do not see a premade game to your liking (this has not really happened to me), you can create your own. Most students are already familiar and are ready to participate. (Charles A. 9-12)

Magic School AI 
Simple to use, time-saving features to assist with many day-to-day activities.  There are tools to assist with the creation of lesson plans, creating activities, leveling reading assignments, etc. (Scott Buzby. 9-12)

Middle School Chemistry
Incredibly detailed lesson plans for middle school chemistry. Many non-chemists struggle with making good lessons. Also contains a supply list, simulations, and other cool stuff. (Brett K. 6-8; K-5)

National Geographic
Beautiful pictures, in-depth articles with a list of vocabulary, and sometimes links to awesome National Geographic Documentaries. Great to use as "case studies." (Trauwaert M. 6-8)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Current data and a one-stop shop for environmental, space, climate change, etc. They also have great visuals. (Victoria F. 9-12)

National Science Teaching Association
A membership site where I have access to various case studies applicable to the topic I teach. This helps bring the textbook to life, providing real world scenarios where students are challenged to think at a higher level. Additionally, there are many different resources available. (Edin H. 9-12)

Nature Education’s Scitable
Scitable is an open education resource from Nature Publishing Group. It focuses on genetics and cell biology, offering comprehensive reading materials, videos, and research articles. Scitable helps students make connections between their classroom lessons and real-world research, enriching their understanding of biological principles. (Ahmad S. 9-12)

Nearpod
You can combine different functions on the same assignment on this site. For example, you can have a fill-in-the-blanks, match and edpuzzle all together as one assignment and the site will give scores for each that can be uploaded onto Google Classroom for easy processing. (Ana A. 6-8)

Next Generation Science Standards 
The benefits of the site are that they are specific to the NJ Science Standards and provide fun and different lessons/lesson plans and activities for teachers to incorporate in their classroom based on discovering different phenomena. 
(Devaneice W, K-5. 6-8)

Newsela
Articles on any topic can be found on this site, which also includes a quiz and answers. Articles can be metered to the reading level of the grade that you teach or the different learners you might have in class. It also facilitates differentiated learning by exempting certain students from certain assignments within an article. (Ana A. 6-8)

NJCTL.org
The resources available on this site are editable to your needs, and they are also free. The site also provides ways for teachers to upgrade their skills. (Jennifer B. K-5; 6-8)

NOVA Labs
Offers virtual labs for students to partake in well-crafted and meaningful scientific inquiry for several different disciplines. While there aren't too many labs on offer for each discipline, they have ones for some key concepts in those fields. (Waleed K. 9-12)

OLabs
This site has some great simulations that can either supplement or substitute several science activities and labs. My school often lacks the scientific and other supplies necessary to run labs/activities, so a consistent source of simulations has been quite useful. (Dennis L. 9-12)

Openscied.org
New Jersey is transitioning to the site's curriculum as the standard for teaching science. The program is discussion and observation-based, and helps students develop science skills while gaining content knowledge. (Mathew R. 6-8)

Our World in Data
I use this site for two reasons: #1 This is a great, free source of real-world data, whether it's climate, population, and many other data sets. #2 I find that a major deficit in my students is that they do not know how to read and interpret graphs, charts, and tables. This is a great place to start when it comes to making an intervention activity about this skill. (Mathew R. 6-8)

PBL works
Full of real-life project-based learning videos. Set a connection between bookish knowledge and real-life application. (Mousumi B. 9-12)

Pear Deck
I love Pear Deck. The ability to formatively assess the students while I am giving the few "lectures" I give is so helpful. Especially when it comes to seeing if they understand new graph types or working through math equations. The students can answer multiple-choice questions, write on the slides, or manipulate the slides on their own screen to interact with the content. You can then see individual answers and/or show anonymous class answers or examples of great work to the class. Really helps to see who is engaged and where everyone stands with a lesson. (Rachel S. 9-12)

PHET
The best part of the website is that it can help model phenomena, which are difficult to be carried in physical labs. It has interactive demonstrations/animated illustrations to help students visualize the concepts. Sometimes more effective than live demos. Students can work independently at their own pace to understand the concepts. (Himani R. 9-12)

Physics Classroom
The physics classroom is an amazing resource for physics education. There are tons of simulators and lessons. However, the best part of the website are the concept checkers and concept builders, which are randomized and auto-graded assignments that tie into the lessons to build student understanding. They work great as homework or exit tickets following labs or lessons. (Timothy W. 9-12)

Physics Union Mathematics (PUM)
PUM is a Rutgers-developed framework for teaching physics that emphasizes the mathematical relationships in the subject. The lessons are also inquiry/phenomena-centric and are a great starting point for units or labs, especially the math-heavy topics. (Timothy W. 9-12)

Pigeonetics 
(Takes forever to load... it's not broken) This game is a robust and fun simulation of inheritance (works well while teaching basic Punnett squares). The game allows students to move through more than 20 levels of breeding different traits through cartoon pigeons while learning about multi-generational inheritance and dominant and recessive genes. Make sure to look at the instructions, there are many hidden options that become necessary later in the game. (Ben B. 6-8)

Prodigy Math or ELA
Quick and easy to set up. Students can access at home or at school. Data driven results and assignments based on current standards. (Kelli F. 6-8)

POGIL
This website provides teacher-led lesson plans followed by breaks for students to practice the concept. The lesson plan that I used for POGIL involved the concept of isotopes and atomic mass versus mass number. It showed students how to decipher the two and how to calculate the average atomic mass for a particular element. There were sections where the teacher would lecture and then break for students to apply what is learned. Then the class would resume the lecture followed by a second and third break to practice. (Beth K. 9-12)

QUIZLET
The reason I love using Quizlet in my class is that it provides my students with flashcards that help them memorize biological concepts. I usually assign these flashcards before a quiz. This platform provides students with facts, terms, and definitions. Flashcards also include text, images, and audio. This platform also provides resources for other subjects. (Erum J. 9-12)

Quizziz
A quiz game for any topic-simply search for it! You even have the option to create your own quiz, making it as challenging as you need. I currently use it for my fast finishers in math, but it also works great for science as either a group or an independent activity. (Dawn M. K-5)

Savvas Realize
It provides comprehensive explanations of the concepts of chemistry, including the visuals, presentations, lab activities, virtual labs, etc., to students as well as teachers (includes teacher support). It introduces the concepts as real-life phenomena, followed by an inquiry launch. Students can plan and investigate the inquiry, followed by data analysis and interpretation to find answers to their questions. The best part about the website is that it helps students develop scientific thinking. (Himani R. 9-12)

Science Journal for Kids and Teens
Offers level scientific articles, often based on an actual research paper, for students to analyze, critique, and explore. Articles are mostly for biology, but there are many articles from other related/allied fields as well. (Waleed K. 9-12)

ScienceGreek.net
Provide many practice resources with many thinking levels. (Mariam T. 9-12)

ScienceSational 
The site has great science and math projects for students. (Christa S. K-5)

Teachers Pay Teachers
A large number of resources span a diverse set of content areas and needs. (Frank C. 6-8)

The Biology Corner
The site breaks up biology material into units. Provides free resources such as worksheets, powerpoints, labs, and projects. (Apeksha P. 9-12)

The Physics Classroom 
The most useful part of this site as a teacher is the simulations. We have used many of these simulations to do "simulated labs" in class, which allows us to look at complicated experiments we couldn't actually perform. The tutorials are also very helpful for students to study from
(Steven C. 9-12)

The Workshop Companion 
The man who runs this site is an excellent teacher and makes clear and concise tutorials for new woodworking techniques that help me and my students grow as professional woodworkers. (Nicholas T. 6-8)

Three Triangles
Provides really great labs and examples for students to learn AutoCAD (Robert P. 9-12)

Tinkercad
I teach middle school STEM as well, and Tinkercad allows you to draw and build many things. The specific site I linked to here is their circuit building site, which lets you build and test many circuit configurations, including attaching controllers, such as an Arduino. There is block coding available as well to show the students how to program functions within their circuit builds. These can be copied into an app such as the Arduino app and uploaded onto real devices. Also, look at Pictoblox or Scratch if you're interested in programming things, it's easier to learn than you think and teaches great STEM skills. (Ben B. 6-8)

We are Teachers 
Free activities & printables that make teaching science easier. Science resources for middle and high school in every subject area. (Christopher B. 9-12)

Wonders of Science by Paul Anderson
This site also has phenomena-driven lessons, along with a plethora of other resources (Kayla W. 9-12)

Woodworking for engineers
This site has a variety of templates and tutorials useful to me and my students (Nicholas T. 6-8) 

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