Handouts are available below   Big Idea   What happens when you ask ChatGPT to write a lesson plan for you? It actually does a pretty good job – much better than I expected. If you haven’t tried it yet or are thinking about doing it, I’m going to to share what ChatGPT wrote for…

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Handouts are available below   Big Idea   I’ve read that AI has the potential to close achievement gaps for students. So, can ChatGPT help my students develop a deeper understanding of science material? Long story short, it can’t and I’ll share what I did to come to this conclusion and what needs to be…

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Handouts are available below   Big Idea   Is there more grade inflation in SBA as opposed to the traditional grading system tests and assignments based on content? In my practice, I would argue that SBA has not led to grade inflation. Instead, I would say that an A or a 95% is harder to…

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Handouts are available below Big Idea Are you looking for a hands-on project in chemistry that allows students to build and test prototypes while also making chemistry real? I get students to do the DIY bath bombs project for just that reason. The project illustrates how science concepts – like rates of reactions – can…

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Handouts are available below   Big Idea   Teaching students how to use CER to craft an argument is done better if students have lab data to practice with. Ideally, this data is something that we measure through an experiment, but experimental data may be especially difficult to get on the first day or week…

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Handouts are available below   Big Idea   Do you ever start the school year with some advice to students on how to succeed in science class this year? Or do you offer inspirational quotes on hard work or motivation? I have done both. But, this year, I’m planning on starting with something that –…

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Handouts are available below   Big Idea   What’s the big problem with many science research assignments we give our students today? They can all be done with ChatGPT and AI. I have a colleague who ran into this problem with her science class and their space research project. Now, I still think research projects…

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Handouts are available below Big Idea When it comes to writing tests while using standards based assessment, my students need to demonstrate greater depth in their written responses in order to demonstrate greater levels of proficiency. However, because I need students to give more depth, many students now spend more time forming their responses and,…

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Handouts are available below   Big Idea   Strength based comments take a lot of time to write. Recently, it took me 7 hours to enter the comments for each of my students in 6 science classes. It takes this long for a number of reasons: it’s difficult to find comments that match the strength…

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Handouts are available below   Big Idea   Are you looking for an easy and engaging activity to introduce CER next year? Here’s one you can try – and to add a bit of fun, you’ll be working with a colleague and collecting some summer vacation artifacts over the summer to use as part of…

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