Popular Q & A For Teaching Static Electricity

One of my most popular FREE resources is designed to teach about static electricity.  It is written for middle school but would be appropriate for upper elementary, or perhaps 9th grade.  

This middle school static lab is a lot of fun, and memorable for students. It includes an explanation, with diagrams, of static electricity, and then five stations of activities for students to explore static electricity. It also has summary questions for them to answer to process and assess their knowledge.

It used very basic household materials, so it would also be an activity that you students could do at home, if needed, or to show their families what they have been learning.  The materials needed (to do all five stations) are: soda cans, inflated balloons, packing peanuts in a plastic bag, small pieces of wool cloth, puffed wheat cereal, black plastic strips 

Here are some common questions and answers that I often receive.  

• Can you explain more about the materials?  What if I don’t have some of the materials? What can I use instead? 

Material	Possible Substitutions
Inflated balloons	Bubble wrap/bubble packing materials
Packing peanuts	Cut or break apart small pieces of a styrofoam cup or plate
Small pieces of wool cloth	Another cloth can be substituted.  Some types of cloth that work well would be something ‘furry’ or fuzzy, nylon, or even leather.
Puffed wheat cereal	Could use another similar cereal that is not too sweet and is in discrete pieces, such as cheerios.  Something puffed may work better simply because it is so light.  Puffed rice cereal would also be great. You can also use black pepper here as well.
Black plastic strips	You could also use a comb, small ruler, or another plastic strip.  If needed, you can substitute the balloon here as well.

What classroom management tips do you have for doing this lab with middle school students? 

I have done this lab as stations, but it is easily adapted.  I wrote a more lengthy post about how to run stations that may be helpful. 

Further Inspiration and direction

In case you are looking for more inspiration or an engagement video to get your students started, it can be very engaging to do something very simple, that ties it back to real life.  Static electricity causes lightning, so it would be eye-catching to have a picture of lightning up on the board and ask students for their ideas about what causes lightning at the start of class.  

There are also many readily available pictures of children with their hair standing on end, etc.  Again, this could easily be used to capture student attention and engage them before starting the activity.

In either of these cases, it would be ideal to return to that picture after the lesson and see if students could further explain the cause of that phenomenon. 

Extensions

If you are looking to extend this further, this is the perfect lab to practice experimental design. Students can choose one variable to test (such as the type of fabric, or the type of cereal) and determine how it affects the results that they see.  This could even be a chance to graph some data if you can collect quantitative data.   

If you want to try this activity in your class, with complete written directions and summary questions, check it out here.

The Guide to Engaging Learning About Potential and Kinetic Energy

Making Potential and Kinetic Energy Engaging!

One of my most popular resources to designed to teach about potential and kinetic energy, but making a car out of common household materials (an empty soda can, a pencil, rubber band, and paper clip).

When students create these cars, there are some questions or places where they get stuck. With a little bit of preparation, this can be a simple and successful project for students ranging from upper elementary to even high school students. I have had students make this car in the class and then go home and make another one. Here is a close-up view that I took of the car in action!

Assembly Directions and Pictures

Here is a tip!  Use a hammer and nail or drill to pre-punch the holes in the bottom of the can. That is really the only tricky part and will save a lot of trouble.

Here are some close-up pictures of the cans assembled.  I hope this helps you visualize how they go together.

The completed car!

This shows how the paper clip anchors the rubber band. 

The beads simply give the pencil and rubber band more room to rotate. 

Further Inspiration and direction

In case you are looking for more inspiration, or an engagement video to get your students started, here are a couple other similar ones that will help you get started. This one is very similar and comes with complete assembly directions (this is not me in the video).

A slightly different, but similar racer made with a spool! This would be a great one to show students as an extension, or pre-activity to engage them and get their attention!

Extensions

If you are looking to extend this further, this is the perfect lab to practice experimental design. Students can choose one variable to test (number of rubber band twists, number of rubber bands, the size of the pencil, or countless others) and determine how it affects the travel distance or travel speed. 

Students can race their cars and have a competition.  You can set up a starting and ending line.  They will love this!!

If you want to try this activity in your class, with complete written directions and summary questions, check it out here.

Looking to Make Weathering and Erosion more Student-Centered

Making Weathering and Erosion More Student-Centered

Weathering and erosion is one of my favorite topics to teach! I get excited every year when that unit comes up. Why? Because it's something that is reallys so visual, and easy to make hands-on. It's happening all the time, all around us, but many kids aren’t aware.

Introduction

I start off with some very quick stations where students look at some pictures, and small examples of weathering, and real life examples similar to weathering (a rusty nail, a tree root that grows and splits a rock, calcium chloride tablets that are put in a jar and shaken to see how they break down, and chalk is put in vinegar to see how it changes and breaks down. At each station they are asked to make some observations, and answer a simple question or two about what happened.

We then re-group and discuss the changes that we saw. We come up with a common definition of weathering. Then we break it down further -- two of these stations that we saw are chemical weathering, and two are physical. What do they have in common? How can we define those? 

Physical and Chemical Weathering

Then we go into weathering in more detail. This is a great place to do lots of shorter labs (such as this weathering lab pack), and practice experimental design skills, and some other basic science skills like graphing changes, writing conclusions, etc.

I do a lab on chemical weathering where students design how to test the effect of acid on weathering rate, using coffee, vinegar, water, and chalk. They have to get their procedures approved before the proceed, but they will need to come up with a way to measure their changes, and write their procedures and conclusions.

This is a great chance to practice skills such as observation, measuring, and even writing procedures.

For physical weathering we do several small stations on the factors that affect physical weathering (particle size, time, composition). Then they do a summary on these factors, where they have to apply it to a real life situation, and write about it (practice writing and using evidence).

Erosion

Then we move into erosion. This is a great place to integrate high interest activities, because we start off erosion with video clips of avalanches, rivers flooding their banks, etc. Again, we look at what all these have in common to define erosion, and how it is different than weathering. This is memorable for students, and helps them make a connection!

I then structure the erosion part of the unit very similarly. We do a lab on factors that affect stream erosion, and they get to test out things like slope, water velocity, amount of water, collect their data etc. We may do this as a whole group lab, and study stream development.

We also do stations on other types of erosion. I use a big block of ice to simulate a glacier. You can see some great photos and feedback from @teaching_science_irl below. Students at that station compress the ice into a bin of sediments, drag it across, and make observations. Then they draw parallels to the features that are seen on earth with real glaciers and glacial erosion. Similarly, some mixed sediments and a piece of cardboard can simulate erosion by gravity. A hair dryer, or even a straw that students blow on, and some fine sediments can simulate erosion by wind. This allows them to start to see the features, and draw some conclusions. When this is coupled with additional resources, students can really connect!

Here is a picture of wind erosion as students examine which size particles travel farther, and the patterns that they make.

Benefits of Teaching this Way

For us weathering and erosion are a real life topic, but for many students who have never travelled and seen these features it can be very abstract. These hands-on activities help to make it more real, and then allow them to make the leap to test questions and other real-life situations

These hands-on activities help make these concepts more real-life, and keep kids engaged. Once they have the foundation and background knowledge, on the topic, they are then much better able to take it the next step and apply to other real life situations or test questions. 

Wrapping Up

Then we do some review and summary. I usually do this on paper, but some of these review activities could be integrated within the unit as stations or activities to break up each section if you are looking for a change from the hands-on. I have this activity where students look at different pictures of weathering, erosion, or deposition, and have to identify which it is. After that, they then have to identify what type of weathering, or what the agent of erosion was.

I also have the students do an activity where they create a concept map of pictures and terms of weathering, erosion, and deposition. This can also, of course, be done with just one of these topics. This is a great way for students to think through the processes, and also for you to really better understand their thinking.

This is also a good time to have students practice with vocabulary, through either Quizlet, matching terms and definitions, or doing any number of other vocabulary activities.

Sometimes, depending upon the group, I like to have a summative assessment where they are given a situation (an erosional feature, or photos of Cleopatra’s Needle, or cemetery photos and having them explain what they see, in terms of weathering and erosion.

What can you add?  How do you teach like to teach Weathering and Erosion?  

If you are looking for all of my resources together, click here to check them out. 

How do the New NGSS Standards really affect me?

As Next Generation Science Standards come out, and start to be utilized in more states, and more classrooms, you may be wondering how this affects your science classroom.

I participated in this very basic short training for NGSS, and had some discussion in this facebook group. Through that reflection I thought I had a beginning understanding of NGSS, at least how it is set up, and had some thoughts about how it would affect my classroom. I was waiting to see how the assessments worked, but felt that I had a pretty good start. 

 

Now, however, I am working on designing curriculum for a new course that that will be aligned to NGSS, and I found myself again confused and thinking through some of the issues surrounding it.

I wanted to write a post where I share with you a few of the main points that I am taking away, and hopefully open up some further discussion.

A little background on NGSS

Make sure you check out the NGSS website. It is pretty easy to navigate, and has sections on Understanding the NGSS. Two of the most useful handouts, in my opinion, were

• How to Read the NGSS
• NGSS Cheat Sheet (from the training, not the NGSS Website) 
• and The NGSS Fact Sheet (especially page 2) 

As you may have noticed right away, each standard is broken down into performance expectations (what students need to know or be able to do to demonstrate competence), framework dimensions, and then correlations to common core.

The NGSS draws from three dimensions. These are as follows:

• Disciplinary core ideas: our traditional content - subject matter
• Science and engineering practices: what may previously have been called science skills such as using models, planning and carrying out investigations, analyzing and interpreting data, etc.
• Cross-Cutting concepts: concepts and themes the cross many different science areas - such as patterns, cause and effect, stability and change, etc. 

These dimensions remain constant across grades P-12, but obviously go into greater depth at higher grade levels.

The NGSS are also correlated to Common Core, so they support math and literacy integrated into the science classroom.

These changes were made with a few larger shifts in mind. The shifts are:

• from isolation to integration
• from science inquiry to science and engineering practices
• from discrete science ideas to science and engineering crosscutting concepts

As we look at using NGSS in the classroom, it is not a complete departure from what we have been doing. These standards emphasize greater depth, problems solving, writing, engineering design and problem solving, and more progression through the grades. This is in line with teaching science as inquiry, using the 5 E’s, phenomena-based teaching, and many other good science teaching practices, but often takes it a step farther. As part of NGSS, these science and engineering practices and cross-cutting practices need to be taught more explicitly than we are used to doing. We may think that we are already teaching them, but in NGSS they get more emphasis as skills and content in their own right.

Here are a few of the ‘takeaways’ from our PD circle in the Facebook Group

Engineering design:

The biggest takeaways for me from this module were the embedded skills, and the process itself - collaboration, optimization, and revision, grit. I think it is important to explicitly teach these skills. A lot of projects, or even experimental design lend themselves well to this if we spend more time on the design process rather than giving students a step by step method, but teach them modeling and design skills. It’s not so hard to do, but a different perspective.

Cross-cutting concepts

I learned that it is important to “draw the concepts into the foreground”. We can (usually) easily recognize patterns or cause and effect but students really struggle with those relationships. Starting to use the terms with young children is exciting because much like a foreign language it will be easier to become more fluent in science and get to a deeper understanding of science content in middle and high school.

I do think it requires a re working of lesson activities and instructional formats. I know most of my stuff mainly reflects disciplinary core ideas. I have to work in the practices and concepts more and make more integrated performance assessments.

Focus on a few at a time and be intentional! Looking at the planning sheet our district made, it matches completely with this idea. So manageable! Also, I agree that we need to pull them into the foreground, like the depth and complexity icons.

Science and Engineering Practices

I learned that science is really a much more round about discipline, which is so different than what I’ve always learned and taught. I realized how much more integrated science should be, and that I should be talking about it like that in class. Doing science in class was completing rigid labs to achieve a desired outcome. I started off teaching that way, but have loosened up over the years to encourage students to create their own investigations. BTW, I much prefer the term investigation to experiment. It can include so much more.

I need to be much more intentional in pointing out the practices not only when we do them, but whenever the opportunities arise. I liked identifying them in the video and article.

The students need to talk, and they need to experience by learning.

Science is messy, and it is so good for the students to see this. It is hard to let go of control and fear that the students will not learn what they need to learn. It may take longer and be louder, but it is good for them! They might be wrong sometimes, but over a few practices, can correct misconceptions.

How to match up the standards to your curriculum

When trying to match up the standards to my curriculum I got a bit overwhelmed at first because of the different dimensions. After looking at some other resources, and talking to some colleagues, here are the conclusions that I came to:

The part I am correlating my curriculum to is the performance expectations at the top. There are much fewer of these than there were in our previous state standards, but they are broad and more comprehensive, so as you teach them, you are covering more content.

These performance expectations also lend themselves well to developing projects that would demonstrate competency in these areas.

One, or just a few performance expectations might cover an entire unit.

However, as you are teaching these, you want to keep the other dimensions in mind.

For example. When you teach the core disciplinary ideas, make sure that you are including some problem solving, engineering design, and cross-cutting science concepts. Also make those cross cutting concepts really clear and explicit

Where do I find examples of NGSS in practice?

As you are looking for NGSS aligned lessons and further resources, I put together a few websites that I found while searching:

• NSTA has an NGSS Hub that can be searched by grade level and core idea
• The Next Generation Science Website itself has some sample classroom performance assessment tasks. There is not a big library here, but growing, and they give good examples of how the different dimensions are integrated.
• If you prefer videos and examples, rather than lesson plans per se, The Teaching Channel has a “Deep Dive Guide to NGSS” and quite a few videos where you can see it in practice. 
• One of my favorites - since NGSS is focused on finding phenomena, and students acting as scientists to explain, I love this database of phenomena that can be searched by standard! 
• Lastly, although it may be a bit overwhelming, this concept map is a wealth of information on everything NGSS related! As I get further into NGSS, I definitely plan to explore it much farther!! 

I know some of you are way ahead of me in how your states are implementing NGSS. If you have insights or examples I’d love if you’d share them either here or in the facebook group.

Free, Engaging NGSS Aligned High Tech Resource For You

Free, Engaging NGSS Aligned High Tech Resource For You

If you are looking for a new and different, technology-rich activity to introduce students to a career in science, increase literacy in science, and practice using claim-evidence-reasoning (CER), I want to share a resource with you.

**Disclosure: This is a sponsored post, but all opinions are genuine and are my own.** #sponsored

I was asked to write a sponsored review of the UL Xplorlabs Fire Forensics Module, and I am very pleased to share it with you! I also asked my sixth grade son to go through it and give his feedback.

Xplorlabs has made two modules that are free, STEM-focused, and NGSS aligned. They have supplementary hands-on investigations that could be used in the classroom, and tie to both safety and real-world problems. I looked specifically at the Fire Forensics Module and found it very engaging, and found it to provide a fun, interactive online environment for students to learn from real scientists.

What is included in the Fire Forensics Module?

The Fire Forensics Module is an interactive web-based lesson that teaches about fire, but also teaches about building an evidence-based claim as students go through the process of being a ‘fire investigator in training.’ It is “designed to provide students with the understanding of fire, fire dynamics, and fire behavior so that they can read a fire scene and build a claim for the fire’s location of origin and cause.” It includes videos, embedded practice quizzes, a model where the students and instructors analyze the fire together, and then a culminating activity where the students analyze the fire themselves, from evidence, and then submit their analysis along with claim, evidence, and reasoning to their teacher or print it out.

The module is very well scaffolded, with short (1-3 minute) videos from current fire investigators, education on the fire itself, and on the tools used for investigation. There are interactive activities and self-checks, and also supplements hands-on activities that can be used (but it works fine without it as well).

The content covered focuses on the basic science of fire, and the fire investigation process itself, but they also use this as a lens through which to teach and practice claim, evidence, reasoning, and the scientific method. Depending upon the extension activities chosen, you could also use this to practice graphing.

As students work through this module, they are first introduced to the job of fire investigators and why it is important. They enter the ‘investigator’s academy’ and learn some background about how fire is defined, how fire develops, and how it behaves. They will then go through a ‘model’ fire in the lab, and then investigate a case and build a claim, based on evidence and reasoning.

What’s great about it?

I really liked this module, and would not hesitate to use it with students. The videos are short, engaging, and fast-paced. The website is very professional and easy to navigate, while still being kid friendly. There are self-checks built in and interactives to keep students on track. If students miss formative assessment questions they are given explanations, and then try the questions again before moving on. I really like that it integrates the career piece. This can be so important for students to just see what else is ‘out there’ and available to them as a career.

The whole module builds on itself seamlessly, and integrates supplemental activities if you choose. However, you could easily use only part of the module, and could include or omit as many of the extension activities as you choose. If, however, you do choose to include the extensions, they come with great teacher instructions, including materials list, roles, etc.

The whole module culminates with students solving a ‘case,’ establishing their claims, using evidence and reasoning to support it.

Feedback from my own middle schooler

This activity is geared towards middle school. I have taught middle school, but at the moment I’m teaching high school. I do, however, have a 6th grade son, so I asked him to go through at least some of the module and give me his feedback. He completed the first four sections during some free time. He liked it so much that he wants to go back and finish it, or check out the other module that they offer on his own! But he really liked the short videos, and the interactive charts in section 2 where you could modify the components needed for the fire and see how the fire changed (visually). He said he learned that the amount of heat, oxygen, and fuel changes how big the fire is, which he didn't know before. He thought all three had to be present, but didn’t know that the fire would change if there were different amounts.



He found the website easy to follow and thought the directions were very clear. He said he learned a lot, but the most interesting takeaway was that he had no idea there was such a job as a fire investigator. He said he could see his teachers doing this in science class, or even on a day where there is a sub because the students would be able to go through independently.

When would I use it?

As a teacher myself, I thought a lot about when I would use this activity. Some activities I’ve seen in the past are ‘fun,’ but really don’t fit with any curriculum. I think this one does, however. If you were teaching a forensics course, it is a natural fit, as well as a unit about careers. However, I think it would fit as a way to practice CER and using evidence. Because of the extension activities, it would be a good way to extend a unit on heat transfer, or even experimental design. Of course, it could also be a great activity to use with a sub, before or after the break, or any time you need to fill time. The module could take anywhere from two class periods to a week or more, depending upon how many of the extensions you use. There is one hands-on activity built into the module in Section 3 (Live Burns) after the video, at the top under the link 

There are also additional activities on their main website, under Xtensions.

Things to consider?

This activity is great, but there are two caveats to keep in mind, as a classroom teacher, and they are pretty simple:

If YouTube is blocked at your school, you may run into problems. The videos are beautifully embedded, and look like part of the website, but they are coming from YouTube and won’t work if YouTube is blocked. You may need to download these videos and show them together, or download and give students a separate link, but that will disrupt the flow of the activity.

The student’s responses on the final culminating activity, where they submit their claim, will get printed or emailed to the teacher, but the rest of the activity is self-guided. This would be fine for most students, and it is very straightforward, but depending on your student’s needs you may want to make some type of guided notes to go with it, so that students have a reference point when they get the culminating activity, and also have accountability.

What to do next?

So where to go from here? Try it out! Go here and check it out! If you do use it, I’d love to hear what you think either in the comments below, in my Facebook Group, or anywhere else on social media or email.

Citizen Science: Real Scientists in the Classroom

Citizen Science: Real Scientists in the Classroom

Many times we try to do an activity with our students that we think is ‘fun’ or ‘engaging’ but we hear from our students things like “why do we need to know this?” or “this isn’t important.” Citizen science may be a missing piece to show our students that science is real, and they can be part of it.

What is Citizen Science?

Citizen science projects are run by real scientists, but allow citizens, to help collect data, and be part of active scientific research. Here is a great infographic answering the question “What is Citizen Science?” from the Citizen Science Center.

Here is a more thorough description, and even a great TED talk on the importance of Citizen Science. The TED talk would even be a good introduction to share with your students.

Why do citizen science with your students?

Being involved in a citizen science project can give your students a real sense of purpose, and can also expand upon what they are learning in class. These type of projects allow student to have experience ‘real science,’ and perhaps most importantly to to connect what they are learning to a real audience, so that it is more relevant. It allows them to get out of the classroom, and to put what they have learned in a larger context, or learn an extension. Here is a whole article on 8 Great Reasons Why You Should Use Citizen Science in Your Class.

How do I implement Citizen Science?

That’s really up to you. An entire elective course could be built around Citizen Science, a unit, an extension project, and extra credit project, or even a introductory.

Where do I start?

Here is a printable list of resources and sites to search for Citizen Science Projects.

A great resource to start with is these books. The first is endorsed by NSTA (National Science Teachers Association), the second is not specifically, but both are excellent! (affiliate link).


We also had quite a lengthy discussion in my Facebook group on this post. There are some really cool ideas being thrown around, and I’d love to have your input as well if you have done any of these. There is an almost endless array of different types of projects and topics, so find one that aligns well with your curriculum, your geography, or that interests your students and get out there and try it out!

Here are some links of places to look for projects (and I'm sure there are more).
Scientific American
The Litterati (data collection on litter)

Then report back! We’d love to hear how it goes!

5 Best Start-of-the-School-Year Experiments

Great Science Experiments and Demonstrations

One of the fun things about being a science teacher is being able to do hands-on activities and fun demonstrations.  These are the things kids remember when they get home, and remember years later. We've all been at some type of picnic or family function and heard someone talking about their crazy, wacky science teacher and the demonstration they did in class. Its multi-sensory, and different than other classes, and therefore more memorable! 

What are some of your favorites? 

What do you think makes a good demonstration or a good hands-on activity?

Requirements for a good demonstration

In my opinion, these are some things to consider to make a successful demonstration

• It must use readily available materials. Materials that are too hard to get are unfamiliar to students and difficult for you to set up. It's also difficult to make up for students who might be absent 
• Must work reliably! You don't want an activity that only works some of the time, or even most of the time, you need to be pretty sure that it's going to work.
• It must clearly demonstrate the principle that you were trying to show. This should not be a leap for students to understand the science after they have done the initial activity or seen the demonstration. 
• Sometimes I do an activity as a demonstration because I want to talk about it as we're working, it would be difficult for students to carry out correctly, or because I'm limited on space and materials for students to do it on their own or any variety of other reasons including safety. If it is feasible for students to carry out themselves, that is preferable.

Here is another source on what makes a good demonstration

Here's a secret for you

As a science teacher, demonstrations are fun, but I don't really like doing them! I get nervous! It's too much like a stage performance. I'd much rather have students run through stations or do activities. But some activities still lend themselves well to demonstrations. 

My Favorite Demonstrations 

(with accompanying videos; which can be a back up plan if you really don't like doing demonstrations)

• Air pressure demonstration using a soda can 
• Coke and diet coke density demonstration
• A cloud in the bottle
• And many more here... and also 100 Fun Science Experiments / Science Fair Projects for Kids from Go Science Girls

STEM Projects

What about stem projects? What are some great stem projects to get your students thinking? Building and interacting? These can be great for the beginning or end of school or even for summer school, summer camps or those off days, such as those with assemblies. 

Stem projects and stem activities are such a broad category if you look them up you will find a wide variety of things. In my mind they break into at least two categories. Those that are chance for students to develop a hypothesis and test an experiment, and those that are a chance to build a product and work with a team to problem-solve and create something.  These may overlap, for example students may test something to make their product better.  However, students aren't really demonstrating the scientific process they're focused on working towards a goal.  This is more of an engineering project. 

• One of my favorites is soda can cars. Students can even recreate this at home if they want to pretty easily.  
• Another favorite is to see who's raft or boat can support the most pennies or paper clips.  

From http://www.ramstein.af.mil/News/Photos/igphoto/2001055392/

• There is a common experiment, which is very engaging with milk, food coloring, and dish soap.  Just be aware of the potential for a lot of cleanup, or any milk allergies. 
• Static electricity activities can be easy, fun and engaging, such as bending water, and balloon races.  These are described in details here in my FREE STATIC LAB
• A balloon car or a CD hovercraft are also a lot of fun, and can be a chance for students to experiment and improve their design.  
• A solar oven can be a longer-term project where students can really experiment with the materials and the angle, or it can be done as a one time project. 
• More ideas are available here and here.  

Some of these can be a chance for students to experiment and develop an experiment, hypothesis, and a procedure. Others can be a great chance to explore a new topic or new concept at the beginning of a unit.  They are also great as a quick station or engagement activity, as well as a jumping-off point to get further into the unit.  In my opinion, they should be something that can be carried out in a period or two, unless you really want to start a much longer project.  Otherwise you risk losing the flow of what you are trying to teach. 

Lastly, another way to go is longer-term projects such as factors that affect seed or plant growth, longer-term monitoring of weather, composting (conditions that cause garbage to break down) or even setting up ecocolumns.  

For more information on these type of projects, I would just looking into Problem based learning (more to come on that).  A couple great sources of information are available here and here.

I'd love to see pictures of your science activities!  Please share with me on facebook, instagram or by email. 

Excellent Collection of Science Teacher Free Resources

I Know You Need Free Resources

When I look out the window all I see is SNOW! Day after day.  We have had a couple of snow days recently, and no break in sight.  This is the time when the school year really drags. Your plans get thrown off.  Sick kids (or sickness yourself), long dark days, and it all starts to seem like too much.  There are days you just want someone else to come up with a plan for you, or give you something that you can use when your plans won't work.

Myself and several other TpT sellers have collaborated to collect a variety of free Science TpT resources to help you and you students!   There is a great combination of hands-on activities, literacy activities, and even homework and review!

How to Use the 5E's for Comprehension of Ecological Succession

Strategies for Teaching Ecological Succession

I was asked to write about how I teach ecological succession.  Ecological succession is a simple topic, but for some reason students have a difficult time sometimes with the finer points, or remembering the vocabulary. 

Let's start at the beginning

What is succession?  

It is defined as "the progressive replacement of one community by another until a climax community is established." (dictionary.com).  In terms of science, it refers to barren land, which has never had life, or land where the life has been wiped out, gradually developing an ecosystem, until there is a stable ecosystem in that place (climax community).

So how do I teach it? 

In general, I believe it using the 5E's model.  This is a small topic, so I might only spend 1-2 class periods on ecological succession, but I still follow that basic model.

It is helpful when planning to think about where students are likely to get stuck.  In my experience, students get stuck on the difference between primary and secondary succession.   Students also get stuck on the term 'succession;' they can't come up with the term, or even select it on multiple choice. 

The 5E's Model: Ecological Succession

If you aren't familiar with the 5E's model, a good basic summary of the steps is here.  Below I will give an example of how each step could be applied to teaching about ecological succession, even on a short time frame.

Top 5 Awesome Websites for Science Animations

Science class is a great place for hands-on activities, but there are some activities that you can't do hands-on.  Its great to be able to at least give students some experience with those activities in a virtual environment, as opposed to just lecture. There are many alternatives for doing online 'virtual labs.'  Here are a few of my favorites.

Advantages of Virtual Labs

There are advantages to doing a virtual lab.  Sometimes you don't have the materials, space, resources/weather etc to do a particular activity in class.  There might be something that needs a high powered microscope, or a topic that has to be done outside that you can't carry out during class time. Some topics just CAN'T be hands-on.  There are some great visualizations to understand and model things that are too small, or too abstract to do hands-on.  They have to be done through a model.  Sometimes a model is preferable because students can test different variables, repeat it, and pause/slow down/speed up at their own pace.  Maybe a student missed class, or needs an extension or extra credit, or an additional project on a certain topic.  

Hands-on is great, but there are lots of good reasons to use a virtual lab as well.

Just to be clear, these are not just game sites, or simple animations, but actual online labs.  Most have questions or activities that go with them, and they are really designed to help students work on higher level topics.  

Here are a few of my favorites... 

How to Make a Traditional Science Lab More Inquiry Based

5 Easy Steps to Add Inquiry into your Science Labs 

We all know that there is a big push to increase inquiry in our science labs, but this is not always as easy as it seems.   Often students are not ready for full-blown inquiry, and we as teachers do not have the time, materials, or resources to allow students to investigate their own questions within a classroom setting.  

However, inquiry is based on student interest and relevancy, and on developing process skills so that students are acting as scientists, rather than just students.  This can (and probably should) be done in small steps.  Here are 5 easy ways to introduce more inquiry into your classroom. 

Easy Differentiation Strategy For You to Use Today!

Easy to implement differentiation strategy

In any given class, at least in the district where I work, there is a huge range of abilities. There may be one or two students who above grade level, some on grade level, some who struggle with reading, some ELL's, and some with other special education needs, all in the same classroom.  In order for students to be successful, they need differentiation, and they need varying levels of support.  It can be difficult to provide the appropriate level of help when students are working independently or in groups. In order to do so, there is often a huge amount of work involved on the teacher's part.  Here is a quick strategy that can be very successful!

Types of differentiation

When thinking about differentiating, I try to think of a few things: 

1. What is the overall goal (objectives) of the lesson?  How can students achieve that goal in various ways?  This is where we start thinking about differentiating the output, the number of questions, the format, etc.  

2. What additional scaffolding will they need to be successful?  (How would I help the if I were tutoring them, or sitting with them to complete the assignment?) 

It is the second area that I want to focus on in this post.  There is a lot already written on the type of differentiation stated in number 1, and perhaps I will touch on that again another day.  Today's post will focus on the type of differentiation in point number 2.

The bottom line, however, is that there are many ways we can help students if we are sitting with them, but when we want them to participate in group activity, or do a lab, etc. as part of a whole class, we can't sit with them and provide that extra support.  Often the special education teacher can't do that either. But we can provide that support!

Hint Cards

My personal favorite strategy is a hint card - or even more than 1!  This is part of universal design.  It is available to everyone.  I was concerned at first that it would be abused, but that generally hasn't been a problem.

Planning and Preparation

I try to think through where students will get stuck, or what they might struggle with, and I create "hint cards."  I write the hint on the index card, or occasionally on a blank copy of the student work.

Implementation

I put it where it is accessible, but flipped over and taped down.  I usually write "hint" on the back and/or include in the directions that if they are really stuck, they can use the hint card.

Surprisingly, the higher students don't use the hint card most of the time. The middle students often use it to check themselves, just as you would want. The lower students use it regularly.  That's fine!  It provides them the necessary support to be able to complete the activity independently.  And it is a learning piece for them.

Specific Examples

Do you want specific examples?

Sometimes I do review stations where students are going to different stations to answer questions, or do review activities.  At some of the stations where I know the questions are more difficult, I will put a "hint card."  As students are working through the stations, they can use the hint if they need to.  The hint might be something as simple as a vocabulary word in the question that they are likely to struggle with, or it could be eliminating 1 or 2 answers.

When students are working on a graphing activity, I know students will struggle with setting up the graph scale.  At each table I add an extra copy of the student worksheet.  The graph is set up.  The paper is flipped over, taped to the table (or you could put it inside a folder) in add a little suspense and to keep it secure.

If students are struggling to write a constructed response question or short essay, it is easy to make a 'hint' with sentence frames to help them get started.  

If you really want to get fancy, you can always break it down into two step hints.  For example, the first hint could be just one graph axis set up.  The second hint could be both axes set up and the first point plotted.

Sometimes I just hand write on a student copy and make a few extra copies, or hand write on an index card before class. 

Try it!  I think you may be surprised at which students use the hints, and how they get used.  At least in my classes, students didn't use the hints to cheat, and the students who needed them generally used them appropriately.

What happened in class?

They freed me up to help students with other questions, or students who needed additional help, and allowed students to build confidence, learn while doing a difficult activity, and provide scaffolding.

Some Examples

This strategy works well with a variety of activities, but I have used it with the most success with activities where students are working through something more independently. This, in fact, allows students to be more independent.  Some examples would be my Enzyme Lab or Organelle Gallery Walk which are already differentiated.  This strategy could easily be applied to other labs such as the Circulatory System Lab, or Erosion Lab, or really to any content area.  

How to Manage Time in the Science Lab Classroom

One of the more difficult classroom management aspects of being a new science teacher is learning to manage time in the science classroom, particularly when doing hands-on science.  Science can be more difficult to manage class time than other courses because of the need to set up and clean up equipment, and the fact that students are, more often, engaged in hands-on group work and may work at different paces.

There are quite a few tips that can help a science lab run more smoothly.  They are divided into things you can do before the lab, during the lab, and after the lab.

Jackpot: Top 5 Most Popular Posts of 2015

Just a quick link as we start the year to my top 3 blog posts of the past year. 

3. Using Google Forms in the classroom 

2. My second most popular post is tips for setting up your classroom. If you are doing semester classes, this could be very useful now.

And....my top blog post of the year one of my all time favorite labs. Leaf stomata lab! Such simple household materials, and so cool to see! 

Hope you enjoy! 

How to Make a Memorable Halloween in the Science Classroom

Every year as Halloween approaches, I think about what I want class to look like on that day.  There is no denying that its not a regular class day.  Students will not be focused, and will likely be resentful if its run like a regular class.  However, there are many options.

A friend of mine teaches upper level students (juniors and seniors), with smaller class sizes.  She does some really REALLY cool demos that day.

My favorite is the exploding pumpkin! It is definitely something students will remember, and be excited about.  She also usually gets dry ice, and does some demonstrations with dry ice, such as these:

Sometimes, however, particularly when teaching large classes of middle school students, I don't always trust their behavior and self-control to do these type of demonstrations.  Students are excited, but they are TOO excited, and it just adds to the chaos, and can get out of control. 

Instead, I have used this day to build on literacy, in a fun and engaging way that still allows students a break from the regular daily routine.  

I usually print out a variety of news articles on Halloween related topics, at different reading levels, and then I let them choose an article. 

There are many more available, but here are a few of my favorites: 

• Toxic slime, goo-spewing mouth, brain-eating parasites — oh my! (needs a free newsela.com account, but if you don't have one, get one. It is awesome!)
• The Crafty Wasps That Turn Spiders Into Web-Weaving Zombie Slaves 
• Vampires’ gift of ‘blood honey’
• True vampires
• Plant ‘vampires’ lay in wait
• Early school starts can turn teens into ‘zombies’

Depending on my particular class and my goals, I may then have the students answer some comprehension questions about the article (some of these come with comprehension questions), get into a small group or partner and present, write a short summary, connect to a course topic, use a version of the textbook reading strategy, etc.

One year I was at a school that required 'literacy labs' consisting of 

• a list of three or more vocabulary words with definitions that you took from the article (you may need to research to find a proper definition 
• A short essay consisting of: 
• a description of EITHER how this information will impact your everyday life/why the information in this passage matters/your opinion about whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, with supporting arguments.  
• Make a list of facts, opinions, conclusions, and speculations contained in this article. 

There are also numerous free examples of news article summaries and news article assignments available online, as well as common core literacy questions that can easily be adapted.

Students are doing something slightly academic, but have been quite engaged reading about 'Halloween' topics, and taking a break from their regular coursework for one day. 

How do you celebrate Halloween in your classroom? 

Nightmare with Multiple Labs? Make it Immediately Manageable!

Are you feeling overwhelmed by multiple preps, particularly multiple labs to set up?  That can be mind boggling at first, but it is manageable, I promise you.  I've been there.  Teahcing lab sciences, particularly to middle school students adds another layer of complexity.  Here are a few tips...

1. If you can, stagger that days when your classes have labs, so that you don't have to set up too many labs on the same day.  I know it sounds great to do labs when they fit into the curriculum, but most of the time you can make it work.  It is better for the students to have you be able to do it calmly than to be stressed out by trying to do a lab one day earlier or later.  For example, maybe you do Biology labs Monday and Earth Science labs Tuesday.  If you can't always structure it that much, at least try to have them fall on different days. 
2. If possible, maybe you can correlate the classes.  For example, if one is an honors class, and one is a lower level class, maybe they can do different versions of the same lab.  The set up might be the same, or similar, but you might ask for different analysis questions or more detail on their write ups.  Maybe one is conceptual and one is quantitative.  This can only work depending on the classes you have, but its worth mentioning.  Really saved me when I had 5 lab science preps as a new teacher!
3. If you can't, or you have labs that go more than one day, train your students, and use their help.  The best way I have found to do that is to have the materials out in bins (dollar store dishpans work well) for one per table.  You can set them up ahead of time, and they can quickly grab their materials, and put them back into the bin when they are done.  You can either pass out one bin per table, or have them set up in one consistent spot where students can get their supplies. 
4. Another option that I have seen to is to have one counter where students from each lab group come through like an assembly line and get their materials.
5. Leave a few minutes at the end of class for them to clean up. It seems like you want them to finish, but, I promise, it is worth training them and leaving them a few minutes to clean up.  Make sure they do it before they leave and you will save your sanity. 
6. If you have to leave a lab out, have a designated place for them to put their materials.  Don't less class end, and you and they are fumbling for where to put their things.  If you have multiple preps, make those spots different and designated for each class.  For example, maybe one class always leaves their things on the windowsill, and another class always leaves their things on a back counter or extra table.  This will eliminate a lot of confusion.  They know they shouldn't be touching materials belonging to the other class. 

What else do you struggle with when having multiple labs?  What other tips do you have to share?  Please share in the comments!