Video Tutorial on how to use Zygote Body

You have read my walk through
of Zygote Body.  It's a great tool to use in both Biology and Anatomy classes.  I have created a short video to walk you through it visually for those of you who find that more helpful.

Introducing students to the scientific method

One thing I love and hate to do with my students is to teach them to create their own experiments.  I love doing it because the students come up with the craziest ideas and they get to get a sense of what scientists really do.  I hate it because it it's difficult for the students and they resist it.  In the end I am happy with the work that most of my students put into the assignment (you can't get them all, lol)  I try to have a collection of ideas to provide an example for my students and also for those groups who are not able to come up with their own.  Scientific American has a great article that outlines an experiment just as how I would like my student to.  I like to share this with students before we begin so that they can get an idea about what I am expecting.

Where do you get ideas from? 

Why Don't Antibiotics Work Like They Used To? - Example of a NGSS Lesson

If you are in one of the many schools around the country that are transitioning to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) or have already made the transition you have the job of redesigning your lessons to meet these new standards.  The website www.nextgenscience.org has you covered.  You can find examples of quality NGSS designed lessons such as this one asking why antibiotics don't work they way the used to.   It part of the natural selection and evolution unit and explores the case of a girl with a life threatening bacterial infection.  As part of this lesson, students will design a model to explain how bacteria populations change over time.

The lessons you will find on this site were evaluated with the EQuIP Rubric for Science.  The rubric is designed to review existing lessons to provide criterion-based feedback and suggestions for improvement.  It can be a helpful tool as you are trying to develop your own NGSS aligned lessons.

Where you are finding quality NGSS lessons? 

Making Golden Rain - investigating solubilities

One of the reasons that I love teaching Chemistry is that you get to do so many awesome experiments.  Not only are they cool, but they provide a great hook for students as a means of introduction to a new topic.  The reaction between potassium iodide and lead nitrate is a great demonstration to introduce students to the idea of solubility.  They each start off as a colorless solution when dissolved in water, but when you mix them together you end  change.  This reaction also demonstrates a double replacement reaction.  The pricipitate of lead (III) iodide is insoluable in water, but when heated it become slightly soluable while allows that lead (III) iodide to dissociate and the solution turns colorless again.  Its a great reaction.

Below is a great image from Compound Chem that gives a vidual to the quick explaination I gave above.  This is a great site for any chemistry teacher to check out even if this demo doesn't fit it what you are doing.

Virtuali-Tee (Human Body Augmented Reality Tee)

How cool is this t-shirt? It's wearable augmented reality! You can view the circulatory, respiratory and digestive systems and even has a heart rate tracker to visualize your heart beat.

You'll need to download the app to your phone but then all you need to scan your shirt and tap to view the different layers of your body. It even works in selfie mode.

Take a look at the video below or use the demo page to check it our yourself.   The t-shirt itself is a little pricey, but it could make a fun gift.

Free Binder Labels for Science Lab and Lessons

Sometimes I feel that elementary teachers get all of the cute stuff and I want some of it for my classroom. :-)  I came across these editable binder labels from Kessler Science and I had to share them with you all.  You can get them for free from Teachers Pay Teachers.

Enjoy!

Cute Syllabus Template

Sharing your syllabus with your students is important, but it's often a very boring looking document.  I found this super cute syllabus template on TPT and it's free!  I had to share it with you.  I've linked it below.  I'd love to know if you end up using it or what other creative ways you have to share your syllabus. 

Chemistry in Videos (perfect for middle school students)

Chemistry can be a difficult topic for middle school students to grasp.  I know that grades always seemed to drop a bit when we got to the chemistry unit.  I always wished that I had more time to spend on it because I think it's such an interesting topic.  Because of the abstract nature of chemistry, it is really hard to for young students to grasp the concepts.  When I can find video clips that help to conceptualize the abstract I feel like it's a big win.  I found just those videos and there are ones on properties of matter, phases of matter, atoms, physical and chemical changes, acids and bases, elements and compounds, mixtures, the periodic table and energy and matter.  Each video also comes with an interactive quiz that you can do with the students.  These videos are similar to BrainPop without having to have a subscription.

Which videos will you use with your students? 

Creating lab setup diagrams with Chemix

I recently came across the website Chemix and found that it's a great way to create Lab Diagrams.  They recently came out with Chemix 3.0 which no longer needs flash.  Right now it's in beta, but it's an open beta that all can use.   I always do my best to explain in detail how certain lab setups should look.  I'm sure you know as much as I do that students don't always read the directions.  I really like that I can add in visuals to go along with my directions.  The chemistry lab can be a dangerous place and I don't want students making mistakes.

I used Chemix to create a quick diagram to show some steps in an experiment.  Of course it would make more sense with the directions to next to it, but hopefully you get the idea.

Here is a list of some of the equipment that you can find in Chemix.  According to their FAQ they will be adding more in the future.

Equipment: Test Tube, Beaker, Displacement beaker, concial flask, boiling flask, volumetric flask, round bottom flash, petri dish, watch glass, glass jar, thermometer, graduated cylinder, pipette, burette, balance, Bunsen burner, hot plate, magnetic stirrer, stiring rod, wire gauze, filter funnel, evaporating dish, crucible, dropper and timer.

Interactive activities to teach about Plants

I have always found plants to be an interesting topic because I've seen some schools who go into lots of detail about them and others who cover just the basics.  At the middle school level, I have usually taught about plants in the contexts of cells and photosynthesis.   No matter what you teach in reference to plants Scholastic has some interactive activities that might fit well into your classroom.  There are 11 activities to help students understand roots and stems, photosynthesis, gymnosperms, angiosperms, plants with seeds, plants without seeds, plant cells, plant adaptations, and more.

Each interactive includes a short video, a sing-along, and an interactive quiz.  I like that you can pick and choose which activities you want to use and be used as a whole class, at stations or as a homework assignment.

What topics around plants do you teach?? 

Free Online Textbooks

“I can’t find my textbook!” “I don’t remember getting a textbook.” Does this sound familiar to you? That is what I kept hearing at the end of every year. Then I would have to go through a big hassle of collecting money from student to repurchase the outdated textbooks that I had. I hated having to worry about students losing textbooks or that I was always replacing textbooks that I didn’t even want that included too much information or not enough information. Enter FlexBooks. FlexBooks are online textbooks from a company called CK12. I instantly liked them for many reasons, but the two big ones were that I could customize the book and that it could be posted on my website and downloaded by the students. This video does a great job of explaining how they work. While not every subject has a FlexBook they have a large list of books that include math and science books for elementary, middle and high school along with some other areas such as Writing, Astronomy, History and Engineering.

So, this sounds good you say, but how can I really use it in my classroom? I picked out a textbook that I wanted to use and then went through it to delete the things that don’t apply to my curriculum. I also added in some information that wasn’t there that I wanted to make sure my students had in their book. You can also include links to worksheets (CK12 has a workbook that goes along with most of their textbooks). Once it’s created you can save it as a PDF and post it on a web page or e-mail it to students. Even better, students can put the PDF on their computers, phones, Kindles, IPads, Nooks or other eReader. If you don’t want to customize your book you can find select FlexBooks already in Kindle or Nook/IPad/Android format.

Am I convincing you yet? Maybe you want to make sure you have a teacher’s edition to refer to or a book or worksheets or labs. Well, you got it! The workbooks that are available can also be customized so can you make them fit your classroom. I usually post them on my website and the students can have access to them all the time (no more “I lost it.”)

Looking for more? CK12 has a more interactive way of presenting information that allows you pull short concepts along with chapters into an online interactive “book” Many of the concepts include video clips and interactive quizzes.

Do you use textbooks in your classroom? 

crossposted on my Technology Blog - The Tech Savvy Science Teacher

Biology/Living Environment Websites to use with your students

I am always looking for different websites I can use in my Biology classroom.  I like sites that I can use a demo with the whole class as well as those that students can use individually in stations or at home.  Here are a few that I found to be helpful.  I would love for you to share with me and fellow readers some sites that you have found helpful.

Genetic Decoder

This site gives students a structural view of the 5 DNA/RNA nucleotides.  It will also allow you to visualize the amino acids that are coded for by any combination of codons.  Lastly you can enter a DNA or RNA sequence and it will give you the amino acid sequence.

BioDigital Human

This is a human visualization platform that gives you and your students a 3D view of the human anatomy. You can add labels to the views and even quiz yourself.  I also like that you can see customized models to your library so you can use them from class to class and year to year.  There is also a gallery view so that you can view by system or even medical condition.

Cells Alive

This is a great site to introduce students to cell organelles.  I always used it with my middle school students as a way of introducing them to cells.  I used it along with a webquest.  You can find a number of different worksheets by doing a search for Cells Alive webquest, but the one I used was based on this one from The Biology Corner.

Cell Transport

This site allows your students to visualize the different types of transport that occur across a membrane (difussion, osmosis, passive transport and activive transport).  It also shows how proteins are ienvolved in this transport and how the proteins are regulated in order to regulate transport.