Science Education Idea Exchange

 With the upcoming solar eclipse, I wanted to create an activity to help students understand the occurrence. You can download this FREE resource here . Essentially, students work in small groups to create working models of a solar eclipse using the engineering process of design, evaluate, and improve. I am hoping I will get the chance to observe the eclipse this year!

Kagan seating is something I was introduced to when I taught in Nebraska. I loved the idea because the idea of intentionally pairing and seating students just makes sense! (For more information, check out this bloggers post !) I used a spreadsheet to sort my students for Kagan seating. First, I would use their last final grade percentage. Second, MAP testing for reading, since my school used MAP testing for benchmarks. Then, I would have the form sorted by grade first and reading second. From that, I could divide the class into quarts for high, high medium, low medium, and low. My strongest students were in the back of the classroom while the ones who struggled the most in science were closest to the front. (This works best to orient students based on how you use the classroom and where you spend most of your time.) How do you do your seating charts? 

2023 flew by and I didn't post anything, but that doesn't mean things weren't happening! We moved and I started subbing while I have munchkins. I am excited to announce that I have created a genetics puzzle escape room  on my Teachers Pay Teachers. It is active as of yesterday and is a great review tool or could be used when you have a guest teacher.  I have another puzzle room in the works. Stay tuned!