ScienceFriday.com

SCIENCE FRIDAY!

Another great resource for teachers.

Click here for Science Friday - Making Science User-Friendly.

Lots of MP3s you can download and listen to with your students. There are suggestions how how to use this resource.

Also lots of Videos which would be fun to watch, too!

Twitter for Teachers

Check out this site for ideas on ways to use Twitter as a Teacher.

More later on how the whole concept of Twitter can be used by teachers!

Interactive Science Notebooks

Head on over to the great new blog of one of my Science Teacher Buddies. She's doing some great pre-planning this summer on how to set up her notebook for middle school science students in the new Interactive (left side-right side) Notebook.

I never got this going because I didn't know how to get past the normal format of right side for teacher-input and left-side for student-outgo. Just didn't sound feasible to me.

She's doing something different and I really LIKE her ideas!

Way to go, Liz!

Click here to visit the Middle School Science blog.

USGS VIDEO PODCASTS

What a great way to start the day! A video podcast from the USGS! Check out their podcast website and pick your topic.

Project on your BigScreen or Whiteboard. Run a week of these as Bellwork. They can be required to write five interesting facts down for Bellwork points.

USGS also produces Audio Podcasts covering great topics which would be worth using as well. On the same page.

And the BEST PART? They can be downloaded straight to your computer to be saved for future use. What fun!

Grabbing the Moment

Redoubt Volcano 21 April 1990

I believe teachers should grab a teaching moment when it appears. Scrap what you had planned for the day and go with the flow.

IF THE REDOUBT VOLCANO IN ALASKA STARTS ERUPTING, DROP EVERYTHING AND PAY ATTENTION!

Here's a couple of good lesson ideas:

1. If you do Science Journaling, have them write at least 10 facts down as you project different websites about Redoubt. Then ask them to respond to a question, such as, What would we do if we lived within range of this ash cloud? What should your family do? How would you feel if you lived really close to this type of volcano?
2. Or just have them do the above on notebook paper and hand in as a daily assignment.
3. Grab a map of the world and start having your students map the world's currently erupting volcanoes. Add in earthquakes for good measure and you have a good basis for your Plate Tectonics unit! Or review if you've already BT, DT. (Been There, Done That!)

Here are a bunch of great links:

1. Volcanic Ash: What it can do & how to prevent damage http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/ash/
2. (3/23/09) Full details on today's Redoubt Volcano Eruptions: http://www.avo.alaska.edu/a...
3. Geology.com: always a good place to go for Geology updates: http://tinyurl.com/czjldj
4. Redoubt Volcano WebCam: http://tinyurl.com/d4uqxb
5. Current World Volcanic Eruptions Data: Volcano World: http://volcanoworld.wordpress.com/category/volcano-activity-reports/
6. Current World Earthquake Activity: USGS: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/

Have fun grabbing the Teaching Moment!

Email me for a kewl PowerPoint on Mount Redoubt's latest eruption!

Using the Five E's when Teaching Science

After over 30 years of teaching, in my opinion, the Five E's still ROCK!

Yup, and I certainly never heard about them in the 60's when I was in college.

I think I always understood them to be a good way to teach. Clustering teaching strategies around the Five E's has always been natural to me. I'll bet that's how they were "invented." Someone must have actually LOOKED at good teaching!

What are the Five E's? Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate.

Looking back over the years, I see that most of my happiest teaching days were spent applying the Five E's. I like the flexibility of the system. One day can be all Engage and Explore. Another day can be all Explain and Elaborate. I love coming up with new ideas for the each part!

If you look at what I have on my website, you can probably put the activities into these five categories yourself. Many go in multiple categories.

ENGAGE - PowerPoints with Images only, Team Games, Introductory Labs or Activities, YouTube Videos

You need to catch their attention, create a need to know, make it worth their while, make them WANT to learn the lesson. I have never believed that LECTURES did a good job of this. So early on, I was always on the lookout for activities that would ENGAGE my students. You should, too!

EXPLORE - Pairs or Team Games, Lab Activities, Pairs Worksheets, YouTube Videos

My Science Methods professor at the University of Minnesota was the famous Roger Johnson--the collaborative guru. He thought kids needed time to PLAY with materials to get a feel for them. It's hard to squeeze this in with all the state requirements nowadays. Try, anyway!

EXPLAIN - PowerPoints with FollowSheets, Foldables, Lab Activities, Skits

I went into teaching with a distaste for the LECTURE. Any college grad probably feels this way, but I went one step further, probably because Roger Johnson had showed it was possible. I looked for ways to INPUT NEW MATERIAL without standing in front of a class talking at them. If you HAVE to lecture, I recommend the
PowerPoint. It's more visual, and if you add a Cut and Paste FollowSheet, you've got an active element, too!

ELABORATE - Cut and Paste Vocab, Pairs or Team Games, Skits, Videos, Kid-Produced PowerPoints

This is the fun part. You've got them into the topic and now you want them to LEARN it, explore it, play with it in a controlled manner, etc. I love labs, projects, anything that has them working together in pairs, teams, by themselves, you name it. Just so they are DOING something.

EVALUATE - Pairs Quizzes, Group Tests, Regular Tests, Pop Quizzes, Individual or Group Presentations, Lab Write Ups.

Why just go with the traditional test all the time? Try something new! That's why I love Pairs Quizzes and Team Tests. If you are careful in how you set them up so the "smart one" doesn't do all the thinking, you get some nice collaboration and a different approach to showing what you've learned. This is what the "Rubric" is all about.

CONSIDER THIS: Look for creative, unusual activities that actively engage your students in the Five E's.

FUN LINK: Check out my How to Write a Science Lesson page.

Using Skits in the Classroom

I love using SKITS in the classroom! They bring a concept home to roost.

Here are a few examples of skits I've used in my classroom. They all worked extremely well.

1. Volcano Skits - Assign groups one of the three main types of volcanoes: composite, cinder cone, or shield. Require each group to illustrate the following in their skit: the slope of their volcano, the type of eruption, and the type of lava. They cannot talk, but can makes noises, especially to make the eruption noises. Everyone has to participate for full points. Let the rest of the class guess which one is being presented instead of having a group announce it. I've seen some great stuff with this assignment. They especially LOVE making the sounds associated with each type of volcano. One group ripped paper up to make the cinders and ash exploding out of a cinder cone. They cleaned up the mess, so it was worth it to me.


2. Patterns of the Periodic Table Skits - Assign groups one of the main Patterns of the Periodic Table. They must keep their topic a secret because other groups will guess what their pattern is during their skit. I've seen some wonderful skits! One year a group used music to illustrate metallic, metalloid, and nonmetallic. Obviously, the metallic group was a hard rock band! They even mimicked plugging in their guitar.


3. Geologic Eras Skits - Assign each team of students an Era and give them 5 minutes to come up with a pantomime illustrating at least two geological and two biological events from the Era. No words or sound effects this time! Have the other students guess which Era is being dramatized. Good way to review the main geological and biological characteristics of the Eras.


4. Half Life Skit - Not really a skit, but it's got kids up and moving. Have the entire class stand up in the center of the room, all huddled together. Then touch the shoulders of students and have them step out of the "huddle" and stand around the outside of the room. Eliminate half at a time. As each "half-life" is completed, pause and ask them what just happened. You can either tell them what you are doing, or continue on, taking half out each time, and pausing for them to figure it out. How many half-lives to completely "decay" our class? If one half-life takes about 1 minute, how "old" is the class?