What would you ask an Astronaut?

WonderWorks is hosting an “Ask An Astronaut” online event, where retired NASA astronaut Dr. Don Thomas will answer questions that have been submitted by the public. Teachers and students are encouraged to submit their questions now, and Dr. Thomas will answer as many as he can in a video interview that will be shared on social media on October 2, 2021 at 10 a.m. EST.

All these questions and many more will be answered when Dr. Thomas hosts the Q&A session that will be posted on WonderWorks’ social media. Teachers are encouraged to have students submit questions and watch the event. To submit a question for Dr. Don Thomas, visit the site: https://www.wonderworksonline.com/survey/.

Frog Dissection App

I have found that fewer and fewer schools are offering dissections as part of their Biology/Life Science curriculum.  There are many reasons that this might be, but I still feel that students are missing out by not being able to do them.  The next best thing is doing dissection in person, which is to do a virtual dissection.  There are many options out there and depending on why type of tech you have in your classroom, there are various choices you have.

If you use iPads in your classroom, I recommend the Frog Dissection app. It is not a free app, but I think that it's worth it.  It's $3.99 which is a bit steep for an app, especially if you have to purchase 10-15 licenses.  The good thing is that you only have to make the purchase once.  Luckily Apple offers a volume purchase discount.  Ask your IT department if your school is signed up.

Do you do dissections in your classroom? 

Living Things and Cells Review Game

Finding a middle school science review game that your kids enjoy, but is also content based can sometimes be a challenge.  This is a Jeopardy style game is set up as a PowerPoint. It corresponds with the unit on Living Things and Cells from the Prentice Hall Science Explorer Series. Do you find it difficult to find ways to review with your students that is fun, but also actually reviews the material?  I have have always found game show like review games to be fun for students and also effective in reviewing.  There are so many times when I hear my students say something like "I totally forgot about that!"  While it makes me sad to hear it, I am also happy that I am doing this review so that students get an idea of what areas that they still need to focus on. I hope that you will check out this freebie.  You might also be interested in a Cell Project (another one of my freebies). Happy Sciencing! Cristina from Savvy Secondary Science