Science Education Idea Exchange

  This freebie comes from a brand new store called The Aussie Science Teacher . Photo by Campaign Creators on Unsplash This poster would be great to have on the wall in your classroom year-round. There are two formats to choose from, but both include a labeled graph and instructions for titling the graph. There's even a mnemonic device to help students remember what to include in their graphs. Check it out here !

 I am working on completing activities for all of the NGSS PS1 standards, so stay tuned! For now, here is a new one that I created: MS-PS1-4: Phase Change Models for States of Matter S tudents create a model drawing of phase changes for a pure chemical. There are two templates to make the states of matter models. It can be printed or designed into a slide presentation (instructions included). This activity assumes they already know about atoms, states of matter, and thermal energy. The activity included is no-prep. Simply upload or print the materials and go! Included are: Teacher's guide with suggested chemicals and chemical boiling/melting points (secured PDFs) Graphing Model Template and instructions (secured PDF) Drawing Model Template and instructions (secured PDF) Standards/Objectives: ✅NGSS: MS-PS1-4 In the life science camp, I ha ve my  Genetics Vocabulary Note Sheet . The genetics note sheet has key terms for beginning a heredity unit. Students color and label information

I don't remember if I learned about this strategy independently or in professional development, but I love "My Favorite No" from the Teaching Channel. Here's how it works: Ask students to write responses to a quick check-for-understanding question on index cards. Sort through the answers to select a common mistake. Share it with the students, reminding them it's your favorite no. Ask students to identify what the mystery student did right. Finally, ask what errors students notice and explain why the answer is incorrect. At first, my students found it uncomfortable. No one likes to feel like they are being called out. I made sure not to name anyone. In hindsight, I could have asked them to leave the cards without names. Eventually, students found it a great learning tool and a way to self-check. Click here to read the original article and see the video. Photo by Brandi Redd on Unsplash

The freebie I found today is from a veteran seller, Sandy's Science . They created an activity surrounding layers of the earth. Included in this limited-time download is: a crossword, charts, and labeling worksheet. Photo by NASA on Unsplash What I love: This is high quality! the layout is appealing with graphics and text there are answer keys included black-and-white and color versions are available an online version of the crossword helpful hints for the teacher (such as printing layout) The seller has told me this resource will be free for a limited time. Check it out!

I have a few atoms and physical science based products that are new to my store. 1.  MS-PS1-1: Atomic Structure Activity- Building Molecules This activity would serve best as an introduction to atoms and matter. Day one consists of students learning how atoms bond to form molecules using the premade model. On day two, students create their model to make an assigned molecule. In a pinch, day one could be a print-and-go activity. Students could cut apart their atoms in class to save prep time. Standards/Objectives: ✅NGSS: MS-PS1-1 This product includes the following activities: ⚪Looking at patterns ⚪Creating molecules ⚪Creating molecule models 2.  MS-PS1-2 Poisonous Pee Chemical Reaction Lab Students examine whether chemicals are safe to use as a cleaner on toilets to learn about chemical reactions. Their task is to help OSHA determine what cleaners are safe for a fictitious school to use and what should be investigated further. Background knowledge of chemical reactions is best before t

I learned about Pocket as another tool for saving ideas, like Pinterest. I signed up for a free account to try it out.  It is an app and website that allows you to browse news articles and save them for future reference. The articles are selected from news sources around the globe, which I appreciated, as I sometimes have a hard time searching for articles. As a teacher, I would look for engaging news stories to share with my students to spark their curiosity. There were many to choose from with eye-catching titles. You can see a preview of what I saw when I chose the topic of "education". The one downside is it is not easy to search the site for specific articles. You can only search what you have saved. This could mean a lot of sifting for a busy teacher.