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 students. It helps them bring that confidence into class.

Therefore, I have students share a story about themselves – perhaps a story about something they’ve accomplished, something they want to achieve one day, or something else important to them.

But, what do I do with this treasure trove of information next?

Instructions

I type these out on a bingo grid and have students walk around and find students that match the stories on the bingo card.

Some teachers probably do bingo already but most bingo getting-to-know you exercises suck because they are generic and therefore, students end up filling in any statement just to get bingo. Therefore, you might not learn anything note worthy about a student or classmate.

But, doing it my way ensures students correspond to a single answer only and, more importantly, students learn something awesome about each other and also showcase something awesome about themselves.

Resources

Handout(s): Handout – Science Class Bingo That’s Actually Fun

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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 it with some tape. Now, you have a mystery box. The challenge for students is to figure out what’s inside without opening the box.

Most students will shake it, bang it, toss it gently, and roll it in their hands to feel the weight and hear the contents of the mystery box. But, what if there’s another way we can have students figure out what’s on the inside?

In our spin of the mystery box challenge, we have students find out what’s inside the mystery boxes by making and testing models.

Instructions

Step 1: Hand out mystery boxes (or film canisters) to students. My film canisters are filled with a penny, a paper clip, and a cotton ball. However, feel free to fill them with whatever you like.

Step 2: Provide students with empty boxes (or film canisters) and materials that can go inside the film canisters – including the items that are in the canisters. Have students fill the empty canisters with materials and test them against the mystery film canisters. Repeat.

Step 3: When students feel that they have the right combination of materials in their models, have them write a CER statement regarding what they believe is in their mystery film canisters.

Step 4: Open up the mystery film canisters for the reveal!

NOTE: do not tell students how many items are in the mystery film canisters. This allows more variation (ie. some models will have 2 or 3 items, while others may have more). This makes for better discussion.

Resources

Handout(s): Handout – A Spin on the Mystery Box Challenge

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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, in a food wool, which represents relationships between plants and animals, predator and prey, if we were to remove one, we could predict what would happen to the others.

A decision tree is a simple way to create a conceptual model. What makes it so simple is that it uses yes and no questions to come to an answer to a larger question. I’m using decision trees to teach and practice model making.

Instructions

Step 1: Give students an overarching question to answer.

Step 2: Have students develop Yes or No questions that will lead to an answer.

NOTE: there can be more than 2 answers. Also, one response may lead to more questions which, eventually, will get to the answer.

Resources

Handout(s): Handout – Decision Trees 1 Model For Any Science Lesson

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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 that apply scientific thinking to everyday things – specifically, we use the shapes of stories developed by Kurt Vonnegut.

In 1965, Kurt Vonnegut proposed that all stories followed the same 8 shapes or, scientifically speaking, models. Fast forwarding 50 years, researchers had a computer analyze over 1700 stories and determined that Vonnegut was right – but instead of 8 shapes, the computer determined there are 6 emotional arcs to every story.

Instructions

Step 1: Define what a good scientific model is.

Good scientific models…

• are representative of real life observations,
• are predictive and testable, and
• can be modified when new information arises

Step 2: Go Kurt Vonnegut’s Models or Shapes of Stories

Refer to the handout for the 6 models you can use to classify all stories. First, go over the general graph that Vonnegut proposed. Then, go over the curves and provide examples for each.

Step 3: Have students analyze 5 movies of your choosing

When analyzing the movies, have students answer the following questions:

• Which model proposed by Kurt Vonnegut could this movie be classified under?
• What is the most common model or arc for movies?

Suggestion: instead of choosing 5 random movies, try to choose movies from the same category (ex. Disney movies, Oscar winners, Summer Blockbusters, Michael Bay movies, etc.)

Resources

Handout(s): Handout – Intro Scientific Models Using Movies and Kurt Vonnegut

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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 we use to convey complex ideas, ASL needs to do the same through gestures, which is amazing to me because a few gestures can potentially represent many levels of complexity in an idea.

With my students, I’m starting to introduce science concepts along with the ASL signs. Students will…

1. first, hear and read the definition
2. then, see and do the actions in ASL
3. then, process and analyze the word’s meaning and whether its representation in ASL makes sense.

I find my ASL signs for science terms at:
https://wiki.rit.edu/display/sciencelexicon/Science+Signs+Lexicon

Terms are categorized by topics, like Astronomy and Space Science, Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science, Physical Science, Electricity and Magnetism, and more.

Resources

Handout(s): Handout – Analyze Science Concepts Better By Speaking This Language

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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 teachers is, what do these proficiency levels – Emerging, Developing, Proficient, and Extending look like and how can we use it in the science classroom?

In general, I tell my students I use the proficiency scales to mark for sophistication, depth, and complexity of thought.

When answering a question, I assess student proficiency with these general ideas at each level:

• Emerging = response is very vague or simplistic.
• Developing = response contains some partial details but lacks some scientific understanding.
• Proficient = response is complete
• Extending = response is sophisticated and draws in details and connections from outside the defined context.

Resources

Handout(s): Handout – First 4 Point Proficiency Scale

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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 predict who could be good friends or just acquaintances based on song choice- sort of like how FB can predict possible connections based on interests. After I collected them, I typed them out onto anonymous cards and handed them out to students. Of course, once they got them, they wanted to find and share who they were on this grid but I told them to keep it a secret for now.

Their job was to sort the students on a scale from one extreme to another based on musical taste.

The idea was that students who were right beside each other were close friends while the further away from each other meant that they were only acquaintances or perhaps people they wouldn’t talk to in class. I gave them 15 minutes to cut out, organize, discuss, sort, and listen to tunes. After, I had a few groups share their lists on the board and we looked. We found that there were of course similarities, which showed that there were students with similar musical tastes. But, does that mean students who are matched close together are good friends?

In the end, I showed them a list that matched the student to the playlists and people got to see who they felt should be their closest friend due to musical taste. And, I asked, does musical taste predict close friendships? Explain using the CER format.

Resources

Handout(s): Handout – Predict Friends Using Playlists

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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.

I told my students to pretend they were the algorithm and to try to predict the songs I like to listen to. I showed them 3 playlists I created and to told them to predict the playlist that is actually a playlist I listen to heavily (the other two are not songs I listen to regularly).

We listened to clips of each song before they started and we even played a short game of 20 questions. Then, I gave them 5 minutes to come up with a conclusion as to which playlist was mine. I told them to explain their choice using the CER or Claim Evidence Reasoning format and to use their observations of me as their evidence.

To view my students’ responses, please watch the episode. To view my playlists, you can download my handout below which also has a summary of my instructions.

Resources

Handout(s): Handout – One CER Activity Using 3 Music Playlists

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Big Idea

For assessment, I want to assess students in a way that requires them to apply their conceptual knowledge into their answers. I don’t want students to just regurgitate knowledge or take numbers and plug into formulas. I want students to find connections and applications between classroom science and the real world and to think like a scientist in areas outside the science classroom.

Instructions

Basically, I ask an open ended, science question at the beginning of the term and then the same question at the end of the term to see how much more detail and skill has been acquired over the term.

One question I gave my Grade 12 Physics students was this: What career to you want in the future? How is physics applicable to your future career? Provide 2 specific examples (and explain your examples) of how physics is present in your future career.

From my student responses, the thing I like most about this question is how it showed me how a lot of students can’t form or aren’t actively forming connections between what they’re learning in science class and the real world. Perhaps, as a science teacher, I need to make an even more focused effort on making this apparent. And, perhaps my students need to actively look for connections too. It needs to be top of mind for them.

Resources

Handout(s): Handout – Full Term Science Question

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