Top Free Online Course Platforms for Science Teachers
Whether you are a Science teacher looking to develop your own knowledge of a certain topic, or looking for online materials to enhance your teaching program, the following free online course platforms provide high quality open courses in Science subjects, or teaching science subjects.
MOOC Platforms
What's this?
EdX offers interactive online classes and MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) from the world’s top universities, colleges and organizations. With more than 90 global partners, EdX currently has 2,300+ faculty and staff teaching over 950 courses. Courses are free with the exception of professional education courses. The course format includes tools, videos and game-like labs. EdX is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts and is a non-profit initiative created by founding partners Harvard and MIT.
See a full review of EdX
What's in it for Science Teachers?
Science is one of the most popular subjects on edX with over 100 online courses covering scientific topics ranging from beginner to advanced levels. Areas of study include neuroscience, genotyping, DNA methylation, innovations in environmental science, modern astrophysics and more from top universities and institutions worldwide.
Many of the courses can be used for teachers' subject knowledge enhancement or to enhance and build on your own teaching programs.
In addition, EdX offers over 65 online education courses covering a broad range of topics from educational policy and history to curriculum design and teaching techniques.
Coursera is the largest MOOC platform partnering with top universities and organizations to offer free online courses. With the most diverse course selection of all the MOOC providers, Coursera currently has over 17 million students and 1,800+ courses from 146 partner institutions across 29 countries. The course format usually involves short video lectures, interactive quizzes, peer graded assessments, and connecting with fellow learners and instructors. Coursera is a for-profit company founded by computer science professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller from Stanford University.
See a full review of Coursera
What's in it for Science Teachers?
Coursera offers over 300 online courses covering topics in Science which are geared towards high school and college level students, but can equally be used for subject knowledge enhancement for maths teachers or as teaching resources to enhance or build on teaching programs.
Topics covered include Animals and Veterinary Science, Bioinformatics, Biology, Medicine & Healthcare, Nutrition, Clinical Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Chemistry, Environmental Science and Sustainability, Physics and Astronomy and Research Methods.
FutureLearn is the first UK platform offering a diverse selection of courses from leading universities and internationally renowned organisations from around the world. Courses are delivered one step at a time via video, audio and reading material, with short quizzes and assignments. It is a private company owned by the Open University, with the benefit of over 40 years of their experience in distance learning and online education.
See a full review of FuturLearn
What's in it for Science Teachers?
FutureLearn currently offers over 30 courses covering scientific subjects at senior high school and undergraduate level, and which are aimed at both students and science teachers. In addition, FutureLearn offers a program of study specifically for STEM Teaching in partnership with the National STEM Learning Centre.
Online Course Platforms
What's this?
Khan Academy is one of the leaders in free online education, with a primary focus on K-12 level education. It offers a personalized learning resource for all ages with practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard that empower learners to study at their own pace in and outside of the classroom. delivering. Khan Academy is a non-profit US-based company that relies on a community of thousands of volunteers and donors.
See a full review of Khan Academy
What's in it for Science Teachers?
Khan Academy offers Science courses covering topics seen in a high school or first-year college course.
Topics include Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Cosmology and astronomy, Health and medicine, Electrical engineering, and Organic chemistry. Although the topics are based on the US school curriculum, they can be mapped to other curricula.
In addition, the platform provides teachers with a tool specifically for K-12 maths teaching in the classroom.
OpenLearn is the Open University's access point for its open and free online resources, with the aim of providing free online education, open to anyone, anywhere in the world. The courses are geared towards an undergraduate level of study, and operate on four levels - introductory, intermediate, advanced and masters – and include interactive tools, video, games, podcasts, articles and quizzes. Many of the free courses are based on Open University course materials, and others are written specifically for OpenLearn.
See a full review of OpenLearn
What's in it for Science Teachers?
OpenLearn's Science section features over 100 free open online courses covering science topics categorised by subject area including Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, Geology, Health Sciences, Physics and Astronomy.
Ireland-based Alison is one of the world's largest free online learning websites and offers courses geared at enabling people to gain basic education and workplace skills with a strong learner base located in the developing world. Over 750 free courses are offered at Diploma or Certificate level with subjects ranging from touch typing, to English grammar to Diplomas in Business and Finance. The course format includes PowerPoint type slides & some videos, quizzes & tests. Some courses have assessments throughout; most have just one at the end.
See a full review of Alison
What's in it for Science Teachers?
With a category dedicated to Schools Curriculum, Alison offers over 30 free online certificate and diploma level courses covering topics in Science, including chemistry, biology, physics and environmental science. The course levels range from lower high school to post secondary.
Continued Professional Development
CPD Study Groups for Science Teachers
The above list of online platforms offer a fantastic selection of free online courses to enhance your knowledge or to enrich your own teaching programs. But it takes precious time to search through their course lists to find the ones that are relevant to you.
To save time searching for the right courses across all these different platforms, MoocLab's CPD Study Groups for Science Teachers provides a handpicked list of free online courses and resources selected specifically for the Science teacher. By joining the Study Groups, you also get to meet and interact with other teachers with similar goals and interests from across the world. Learning from each other's experiences is also a great way to develop as a teacher.
Choose from one of the following CPD Study Groups:
Whether you are a Science teacher looking to develop your own knowledge of a certain topic, or looking for online materials to enhance your teaching program, the following free online course platforms provide high quality open courses in Science subjects, or teaching science subjects.
MOOC Platforms
What's this?
See a full review of EdX
What's in it for Science Teachers?
Science is one of the most popular subjects on edX with over 100 online courses covering scientific topics ranging from beginner to advanced levels. Areas of study include neuroscience, genotyping, DNA methylation, innovations in environmental science, modern astrophysics and more from top universities and institutions worldwide.
Many of the courses can be used for teachers' subject knowledge enhancement or to enhance and build on your own teaching programs.
In addition, EdX offers over 65 online education courses covering a broad range of topics from educational policy and history to curriculum design and teaching techniques.
See a full review of Coursera
What's in it for Science Teachers?
Coursera offers over 300 online courses covering topics in Science which are geared towards high school and college level students, but can equally be used for subject knowledge enhancement for maths teachers or as teaching resources to enhance or build on teaching programs.
Topics covered include Animals and Veterinary Science, Bioinformatics, Biology, Medicine & Healthcare, Nutrition, Clinical Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Chemistry, Environmental Science and Sustainability, Physics and Astronomy and Research Methods.
See a full review of FuturLearn
What's in it for Science Teachers?
FutureLearn currently offers over 30 courses covering scientific subjects at senior high school and undergraduate level, and which are aimed at both students and science teachers. In addition, FutureLearn offers a program of study specifically for STEM Teaching in partnership with the National STEM Learning Centre.
Online Course Platforms
What's this?
See a full review of Khan Academy
What's in it for Science Teachers?
Khan Academy offers Science courses covering topics seen in a high school or first-year college course.
Topics include Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Cosmology and astronomy, Health and medicine, Electrical engineering, and Organic chemistry. Although the topics are based on the US school curriculum, they can be mapped to other curricula.
In addition, the platform provides teachers with a tool specifically for K-12 maths teaching in the classroom.
See a full review of OpenLearn
What's in it for Science Teachers?
OpenLearn's Science section features over 100 free open online courses covering science topics categorised by subject area including Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, Geology, Health Sciences, Physics and Astronomy.
See a full review of Alison
What's in it for Science Teachers?
With a category dedicated to Schools Curriculum, Alison offers over 30 free online certificate and diploma level courses covering topics in Science, including chemistry, biology, physics and environmental science. The course levels range from lower high school to post secondary.
Continued Professional Development
The above list of online platforms offer a fantastic selection of free online courses to enhance your knowledge or to enrich your own teaching programs. But it takes precious time to search through their course lists to find the ones that are relevant to you.
To save time searching for the right courses across all these different platforms, MoocLab's CPD Study Groups for Science Teachers provides a handpicked list of free online courses and resources selected specifically for the Science teacher. By joining the Study Groups, you also get to meet and interact with other teachers with similar goals and interests from across the world. Learning from each other's experiences is also a great way to develop as a teacher.
Choose from one of the following CPD Study Groups: