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I found this resource from California. I've just started using it, but I feel that it will be great for some of the data analysis needed.
-Annette H
https://www.csun.edu/science/ref/spreadsheets/index.html

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My  "go to" resource is NSTA at http://www.nsta.org/
I subscribe to two of the magazines:  "Science and Children" and "Science Scope."   Both magazines are excellent resources for teachers in middle school.  For example, the focus of both magazines for the month of December is energy.  There are ideas for  investigations from current science teachers who have  used the activities and investigations in their classrooms.
Also, NSTA reviews books. A great series is the "Stop
Faking It!"  by William C. Robertson.
http://www.nsta.org/publications/press/stopfakingit.aspx.  I have used the book Stop Faking It: Electricity & Magnetism and the book on Energy.
NSTA is sponsoring a virtual conference on February 11 from 10 am to 2 pm, EST.  The name of the conference is "Exploring Three Dimensional Instruction."
I have used the learning center too to learn new concepts and to connect with other teachers.
http://learningcenter.nsta.org/

For simulations,  I have used https://phet.colorado.edu/
For a lesson on potential and kinetic energy, I used the simulation "Energy Skate Park."
https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/energy-skate-park-basics

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An interesting link to see what is going on across the country.

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Great Science Articles to help with reading, analyzing and researching or just discussion.  

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Great Science Articles to help with reading, analyzing and researching or just discussion.  

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Particles called quarks are important building blocks of matter. They're usually found stuck together as triples or pairs to form bigger particles like the protons and neutrons that make up the core of an atom. Now scientists say quarks come in quartets, too. A new study confirms the existence of a strange kind of particle made from a cluster of four quarks.

More than 10 years ago, researchers suggested that such a foursome could exist. But they lacked the data needed to confirm this. Now scientists studying data from the Large Hadron Collider in Europe at last report strong evidence the particle is real.

By showing that such particles exist, "we are automatically proving that four-quark states [of matter] exist," Tomasz Skwarnicki told Science News. He is a physicist, a scientist who studies energy and matter, at Syracuse University in New York. Skwarnicki and his colleagues posted their findings online April 7 at arXiv.org. It's a website for sharing physics papers.

Six types of quarks are found in ordinary matter. But none exists alone. Quarks always are found bundled - essentially glued together - by particles called gluons. Particles made of quarks are called hadrons. Examples of hadrons include protons and neutrons, each made from three quarks.

In 2003, scientists at the Belle particle collider in Japan found a hadron that they thought was made of four quarks. (A collider accelerates particles up to close to the speed of light, then smashes them together.) The particle that came out of the Belle collisions was named X(3872). This particle didn't fit the usual rule that hadrons be made from two or three quarks, but scientists couldn't prove X(3872) was made of four quarks. Then in 2008, scientists using the same collider found another particle that might have four quarks. Named Z(4430), it had as much mass as four protons, they estimated.

Z(4430), too, proved controversial. Many physicists questioned whether it was real. The new paper finally offers convincing evidence that Z(4430) indeed has four quarks at its heart.

The experiment "definitively confirmed Belle's claim that this particle exists," Matthew Shepherd told Science News. A physicist at Indiana University Bloomington, he did not work on the new study.

Skwarnicki and his colleagues found the particle by combing through data from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). This giant, underground particle smasher straddles the border between Switzerland and France. Experiments at the LHC in 2012 turned up the Higgs boson - an important but different type of elusive particle.

For their quark-quartet discovery, Skwarnicki and his team studied more than 25,000 smash-ups between hadrons. When particles collide, they break into smaller bits. These are made of quarks, gluons and more - a whole zoo of subatomic building blocks. Those building blocks can then link to form new particles. The physicists found overwhelming evidence that four-quark particles formed briefly in the violent aftermath of the collisions. And, just as the scientists had predicted in 2008, the four-quark particle had about as much mass as four protons.

Four-quark particles do not exist naturally. They form only in high-energy experiments, such as those at LHC and the Belle particle collider. However, Skwarnicki suspects that quark quartets may have formed in the high-energy environment of the early universe. His next step, he says, is to figure out how four quarks unite to make those bigger particles.

Shepherd says he's hopeful that scientists will soon know more about this strange matter. "There's so much activity going on right now," he told Science News. "The prospects for resolving this soon are good."

Power Words

atom The basic unit of a chemical element. Atoms are made up of a dense nucleus that contains positively charged protons and neutrally charged neutrons. The nucleus is orbited by a cloud of negatively charged electrons.

collider (in physics) Sometimes called an "atom smasher," it is a type of particle accelerator that speeds up charged particles (ions) through an electric field inside a hollow tube or racetrack-shaped structure. Eventually the device will direct the ions to collide with an unmoving target or another beam of moving particles. The ensuing collisions force some particles to interact - and break apart or briefly bind. Some of smashed particle also may recombine, creating new particles. The biggest of these machines are used to hunt for the basic building blocks of all nature.

gluon A subatomic particle believed to bind other particles together.

hadron One of a group of particles that are made up of other, smaller particles - quarks - held together by a particular kind of force. The protons and neutrons found in the nucleus of atoms are hadrons.

neutron A subatomic particle carrying no electric charge that is one of the basic pieces of matter. Neutrons belong to the family of particles known as hadrons (see above).

physics The scientific study of the nature and properties of matter and energy.

proton A subatomic particle that is one of the basic building blocks of the atoms that make up matter. Protons belong to the family of particles known as hadrons.

quarks A family of subatomic particles that each carries a fractional electric charge. Quarks are building blocks of particles called hadrons. They come in types, or "flavors," known as: up, down, strange, charm, top and bottom.

subatomic Anything smaller than an atom, which is the smallest bit of matter that has all the properties of whatever chemical element it is (like hydrogen, iron or calcium).

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Quarks are important building blocks of matter, usually bound together as pairs or triples. Now some have formed a quartet. Scientists confirmed the existence of a particle made of four quarks stuck together. Such strange stuff may have been more common in the earliest universe, the scientists say.

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Helping Students Make Sense of the World Using Next Generation Science and Engineering Practices looks like a great tool to help with implementing the new science standards.

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Science Formative Assessment by Page Keely

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Science Formative Assessment by Page Keely

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I find this a great resources for many stages of science learning. It is a useful resource for engagement, elaboration and assessment. These stages are great frames for inquiry.

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The Curriculum Gap Sheet is a teacher self-monitoring instructional tool. As a data sheet, it can be used to make data-driven decisions, targeting instruction for specific indicators. 

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The Curriculum Gap Sheet is a teacher self-monitoring instructional tool. As a data sheet, it can be used to make data-driven decisions, targeting instruction for specific indicators. 

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Here is the link for A Framework for K-12 Science Education:
Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas (2012). This is the research foundation for our current standards.

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Science, engineering, and technology permeate nearly every facet of modern life and hold the key to solving many of humanity's most pressing current and future challenges. The United States' position in the global economy is declining, in part because U.S. workers lack fundamental knowledge in these fields. To address the critical issues of U.S. competitiveness and to better prepare the workforce, A Framework for K-12 Science Education proposes a new approach to K-12 science education that will capture students' interest and provide them with the necessary foundational knowledge in the field.

A Framework for K-12 Science Education outlines a broad set of expectations for students in science and engineering in grades K-12. These expectations will inform the development of new standards for K-12 science education and, subsequently, revisions to curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional development for educators. This book identifies three dimensions that convey the core ideas and practices around which science and engineering education in these grades should be built. These three dimensions are: crosscutting concepts that unify the study of science through their common application across science and engineering; scientific and engineering practices; and disciplinary core ideas in the physical sciences, life sciences, and earth and space sciences and for engineering, technology, and the applications of science. The overarching goal is for all high school graduates to have sufficient knowledge of science and engineering to engage in public discussions on science-related issues, be careful consumers of scientific and technical information, and enter the careers of their choice.

A Framework for K-12 Science Education is the first step in a process that can inform state-level decisions and achieve a research-grounded basis for improving science instruction and learning across the country. The book will guide standards developers, teachers, curriculum designers, assessment developers, state and district science administrators, and educators who teach science in informal environments.

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Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education

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A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas

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Read online, download a free PDF, or order a copy in print or as an eBook.