A friend told me about Popsci. com. She is a mother of 7 kids and her teenage boys spend hours on the site. Sure, she has great kids but really, there has got to be something to this. Science was the subject I wasn't good at (well, math too). In fourth grade you learn about fossils, in fifth grade about electricity and genetics...but when does kid just learn to like science...when do you just learn what you want to learn. This site links kids to what they want to learn about. The topics of discovery are have a wide range and, as per the "Pop" or popular, are things that people may just be interested in anyway. In one of our classes (maybe this one even, I can't remember) we were told not to work against kids natures, but with them. Children are curious and they like "cool" stuff. What they don't often know about cool stuff, is that it science! It's not tricking them to learn, it's just showing them that life long learning is about becoming experts in what interests them. (I spent time in a fourth grade class in which the children fought over the Guinness Book of World Records are reading time...would you have told them it's all science...what they don't know, can't hurt them!)
The cons of a site like this is that no, it may not actually address a particular core standard. As a teacher it may take some digging to find the right article or video to go with the core, but that is doable. As far as just the exploring of it by the kids themselves though, they might not tumble accross something having to do with fossils but...
The pro's are that children will enjoy what they are doing. They will learn to engage in technology not only by playing games on line but by finding cool new stuff to share with their friends..."Hey did you know...?" Thought the core may not be addressed, the learning outcomes for science include, "Manifest Scientific Attitudes and Interests."
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