Handouts are available below. Big Idea I love a good multiple choice question: one that asks something out of the ordinary. One that isn’t based on straight memorization. And, one that includes thoughtful distractors (ie. doesn’t say “all of the above”). I don’t use multiple choice questions on my tests anymore because I haven’t found…

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Handouts are available below. Big Idea One question that comes up about Standards Based Grading time and again is this: how do we get a percentage out of it? For my students, I use a scale to convert proficiency scales to a percentage. This conversion comes up with roughly the same percentage a student would…

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Handouts are available below. Big Idea Compared to traditional grading, Standards Based Grading (SBG) is a better way of assessing student learning. But, doing SBG takes more time – especially at the beginning. Recently, a colleague showed me how they set up their marking rubric, and one small change has helped me determine a student’s…

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Handouts are available below. Big Idea Have you tried using ChatGPT to make a STEM project even more challenging – and since it’s more challenging, there will be more learning involved. Recently, I gave my students the aluminum foil boat challenge. It’s where they take some foil and create a boat that floats and holds…

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Handouts are available below. Big Idea AI programs like ChatGPT, Magic School, and POE have the potential to differentiate activities for students who are progressing at different levels. In this post, I’m going to share how AI produced a tiered set of review sheets for my students. I asked POE – a web-based AI application…

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Handouts are available below. Big Idea The only way we get better at science skills – like CER – is to practice it constantly and in different contexts. Today, I want to share a quick ice breaker I do at the beginning of class with my students that can also be used to practice CER,…

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Handouts are available below. Big Idea Looking for a creative AND useful way to start using ChatGPT in your classroom? Then try using ChatGPT to make science riddles! Why science riddles? Because it’s a fun way to have students review science vocabulary. Too often, science vocab review activities have students write down definitions or match…

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Handouts are available below. Big Idea Getting better at CER is all about finding ways to practice it in the lab. Today, I’m showing a quick demo you can do with your students that gets them to practice CER while answering this question: do hot lemons release more juice than cold lemons? All that’s needed…

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Handouts are available below. Big Idea How can we mark student graphs more efficiently? I’ve started using a one-column rubric, and it’s helped me mark student graphs faster than before because I’m not calculating and adding every single point they get and then giving a mark out of 10 or 15 (or whatever). Instead, I’m…

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Handouts are available below. Big Idea How do you teach CER? This year, I’ve focused a little more time on introducing CER and practicing it before moving onto having students use it on tests and formal assignments. So, when introducing CER, I’m using ig nobel prize winning studies and having students graph and draw conclusions…

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