Handouts are available at the bottom of this post in the Resources section. Big Idea Oobleck is an awesome activity that can take multiple lessons to do and discuss. Besides being fun for students to get their hands dirty and squeeze and hold and play with Oobleck, it also raises some interesting questions:…
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Handouts are available on the bottom of this post in the Resources section. Big Idea There are 3 things we value at REAL Science Challenge: Science, Stories, and Design Thinking. One thing I like to do at the beginning of the year or semester is learn something awesome about each of my…
Handouts are available on the bottom of this post in the Resources section. Big Idea Take an empty film canister and fill it up with a few cents worth of materials (ex. A cotton ball, penny, paper clip, toothpick, marble, etc). If you don’t have a film canister, use a PlayDoh container. Seal…
Handouts are available on the bottom of this post in the Resources section. Big Idea Not all models need to be physical – food webs and nutrient/water cycles are conceptual, pen-and-paper models of what’s happening. But, all good models have the same qualities I call RPMs: they’re representative, predictive, and modifiable. For example,…
Handouts are available on the bottom of this post in the Resources section. Big Idea Teaching students to develop and evaluate scientific models is in the curriculum, but how can teachers get started? I start by what a good scientific model is. Then, my students and I study and test some fun models…
Big Idea I want students to practice analyzing and processing information – specifically, science vocabulary, which can be packed with abstract meaning and be a real challenge to remember. Recently, I’m using American Sign Language to accomplish this goal. Like all languages, ASL has its own rules and conventions. And, like the words…
Big Idea Science teachers are now reporting on the science skills students can do – like planning and conducting, analyzing and processing data, evaluating methods, communicating scientific knowledge and conclusions. In BC, when we report on skills, we use a 4-level proficiency scale known as Emerging, Developing, Proficient, and Extending. The problem for…
Big Idea A few years ago, I wanted to find an easy way for students to practice writing conclusions and supporting them with evidence and reasoning – also known as CER – without having to do a complicated lab or a case study. At the time, I was planning to have students learn about…
Big Idea I had my students submit a playlist of 5 songs that they connect with. I asked students to think of songs that would set them apart from other students – such that when we looked at the songs, we definitely knew it was them. The idea was to see if students could…
Big Idea This year, as part of a getting to know you exercise and to practice CER, I told students about Youtube, Spotify, and TikTok’s algorithms and how they are able to accurately predict other songs or videos I would like to watch based on what I’ve previously viewed and my personality and interests. …
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