A Digital Toolkit for early career science teachers

Danny Nicholson (www.sciencefix.co.uk)

This session was aimed at equipping early career primary and secondary science teachers with a practical and accessible digital toolbox. We explored a range of websites and apps which can enhance efficiency, reduce workload, and help teachers to focus more on impactful science education. We also looked at how various AI tools can be used to support science teaching.

The session explored a range of free and low-cost tools, that address the needs of science educators.

In summary, we looked at the these tools, in these main categories

Planning and Curriculum Design

• Google Workspace and Microsoft 365
• Canva for Education
• Napin.ai

Assessment and Feedback

• Socrative / Quizziz / Plickers
• Google Forms / Microsoft Forms
• Slido/Menti/Poll Everywhere
• Padlet
• Classroomscreen

Practical Science Support

• Phet Simulations
• Phyphox
• Arduino Science Journal
• PLAN Assessment / Explorify

Organisation and Workflow

• Google Calendar
• Google Keep
• Notion
• Trello
• One Note
• Wakelet

AI Tools for Teaching

• ChatGPT / Claude / Gemini / Perplexity: Draft lesson plans, generate quiz questions, scaffold differentiation (with your professional review).
• MagicSchool.ai / Teachmate: Open-ended AI tools for generating lesson objectives, science investigations, and feedback phrases.
• NotebookLM: collect various sources of info, create study guides/ mindmaps/ podcasts
• Curipod
• Gizmo.ai

The presentation can be found on Sched at:

https://2026aseannualconf.sched.com/event/26k3J/a-digital-toolkit-for-early-career-science-teachers