As we near the end of the school year, it’s fun to change up the way you assess students. Students’ brains are fried from state exams- lets give them some other ways to demonstrate their learning other than a multiple choice assessment! Here are some ideas to get your juices
I LOVE looking at and collecting fossils. It’s fun to try and picture what the organism looked like and what type of fossil it is. Students love them too! One tip from experience: Students enjoy them A LOT more if they have bigger samples to look at. I know what
Teaching about human impacts on ecosystems and future climate change projections can leave you and your students feeling hopeless and depressed. While I think it’s important to teach the facts and not sugarcoat what is happening to our planet, we can also find ways to give students hope for the
2 liter bottles are one of the most versatile lab supplies you can get your hands on. There are SO MANY ways to use them! While I’m a soda drinker, I prefer cans, so I ask students to bring them in if they have any at home. Here is a
It doesn’t matter if you’re a headstrong toddler, adult, or somewhere in between…. we all like to do things our own way. Our own opinions matter! Sometimes we forget the importance of providing students opportunities to have choice in how they learn or how they want to be assessed. Some
Looking to up the engagement during distance learning? Or, is your classroom 1:1 with technology? I’ve been creating interactive diagrams where students can click and learn about biology and earth science topics. Students work through the diagram and end with a Google-form self grading quiz. No prep for you- wahoo!
You can probably tell based on my blog name…. I like rocks. I don’t claim to be an expert geologist, but I have a deep love for pretty rocks, am fascinated by them and how they form, and have quite a collection. Students often think rocks are boring until you
As a new teacher, pacing was one of the HARDEST things for me to get right. Some classes would finish right on time, others would finish early, and with others I would run out of time to get through everything. Some kids just work faster than others and will complete
Looking for constellations is a fun activity for students of any age. But what many students may not understand is that even though the stars in a single constellation may look the same distance from earth, they can be hundreds of light years apart. Having them build a 3D model
Epigenetics is a fascinating field of science. If you aren’t familiar with it, the epigenome is the study of how your behaviors and environment impact gene expression. I pose the question to my students- if an identical twin gets cancer, does that mean the other twin will automatically get cancer?
Earth’s oceans are a carbon sink, which is a place where carbon is stored long term. Oceans absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. It reacts with seawater, creating carbonic acid, which in turn lowers the pH of the ocean. This phenomena is known as ocean acidification. It will only get
Have you ever tried pocket microscopes that clip onto your phone or iPad? I have tried multiple brands and have never been satisfied with the quality…. nothing even came close to what a compound microscope could do. But along came the uHandy pocket microscope and I’ve been pleasantly surprised at
