One of the things that we as teachers need to do is to create a safe environment for our students. This can mean a lot of different things, but for science teachers, one of those is chemical safety. One resource that I like is this one from the American Chemical Society. It includes information on handling chemicals, teaching safety in the classroom and a safety checklist.
It's also important to note that this is not just for the Chemistry classroom. By developing good chemical safety habits early, students are better prepared when they move on to more advanced classes.
Have you used HyperDocs in your classroom? They can be really great, but sometimes hard to create if you are new at it. Here is a collection of HyperDocs and a template to get you started. All subjects are included, but you will certainly find science HyperDocs in the folder.
What are HyperDocs? If you aren't sure what a HyperDoc is, it's a digital lesson plan that organizes the content for a lesson in one place. It is a way to give students a chance to explore content before direct instruction. It allows students to use the 4 Cs: critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. They are traditionally made as a Google Doc, but I don't see why you can't do the same thing with a Word document.
Let me know if you give it a try and what you think.
Well, it looks like break is over and we are back at school. It’s also a new calendar year, but if you are like me the year really starts when school starts. I’m not big on resolutions, but I do want to focus on sharing science resources with you more.
Hopefully, you’ll be hearing from me more so I wanted to take a moment to reintroduce myself. I’m a science and technology teacher. I have taught both middle school (7th and 8th grades) and high school (Biology, Chemistry, Engineering, and Technology). I also had a brief stint as an adjunct professor teaching Anatomy and Physiology.
I have an email list where I send a monthly recap of blog posts. I also like to reward my subscribers with free products from my TPT store. Each time I post a new product I will email you if it applies to your grade/subject. If you want to sign up for my list you can click here.
I hope that I can provide some resources that will help make your teaching a little bit easier (because we all know how hard it is).
There are many struggles with teaching science to secondary students. Unfortunately, one of these struggles is the reading abilities of our students. Many students struggle comprehending what they are reading and doing tasks like picking out the main idea. Scientific American has done some research in this area and has made some suggestions about what techniques and help students read better to improve their comprehension of science. This article is worth the read even if you think your students aren't struggling with reading.
The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History put together an exhibit called "Genome: Unlocking Life's Code." While we can't all take field trips to go see it, you can use the resources to bring it into your classroom. The resource library has lesson plans, videos, timelines, and other things you can use in your classroom. My favorite resource is the animated genome video. It explains the triplet code and its role in DNA replication, talks about how diet and exercise impact, your DNA, and even the forensic and geneological uses of DNA. replication
Of its STEM Role Models posters collection, Nevertheless podcast explained, “The women featured serve as amazing role models in their fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (or STEM as it’s often referred to). You can listen to our episode on STEM Role Models here.
of women who are transforming teaching and learning through technology, “commissioned another four female illustrators from South America, Africa, the Middle East and China” to create a new set of STEM Role Models posters for its growing collection. Nevertheless now offers a total of eight inspiring posters, each celebrating a different woman innovator everyone should know, and they’re all available to download now
Dr. Spencer Striker, an Associate Professor of Digital Media Design at Northwestern University in Qatar, has released a new mobile game. Dr. Sara: Disease Detective is a fully interactive digital learning mobile game about epidemiology.
The game is designed to get kids interacting and having fun while developing problem-solving skills, logic skills, increasing their scientific vocabulary, and learning more about pandemics. In this character-driven simulation of Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) detective work, students search for the index case, racing against time to find clues to a cure.
"Dr. Sara: Disease Detective features high stakes time pressure, compelling characters, narrative design, challenging puzzles, and the natural gameplay dynamics that emerge from network science and contact tracing," Dr. Striker said. "We hope this new visual novel mobile game will inspire students to develop an interest in science, medical technology, and public health."
This fun and immersive game features interactive dialogue, innovative character design, minigames about social distancing, hidden object investigation, eureka style logic puzzles, collectible scientific vocabulary, game-based learning techniques, cinematics, visual effects, original music, and immersive sound design.
