Science Education Idea Exchange

These lesson plans include activities to build background knowledge on ecological abiotic and biotic factors, and how they impact the environment. Students will practice their knowledge in a simulation of the impact of fishing and a class debate over the use of nitrogen-based fertilizers. There is a long-term project to measure the effect of the use of fertilizer on water. There are colored and blackline copies of the student packet as a secured PDF. There is also a secured PDF with the teacher's guide and materials for a matching activity. This product includes the following activities: ⚪Forest Fire Probe ⚪ Algae & Fertilizer Lab  (can be purchased separately) ⚪Ecosystem Influence Matching Activity ⚪Invasive Impact Report ⚪DNR Simulation ⚪Nitrogen Fertilizer Use Debate

 Edheads has updated their site! I have to admit I have a vested interest since I helped create some of the content that is posted. What's new? STEM Mysteries   have students look at phenomena and pieces of evidence to reason why something unusual has taken place. This could be an ideal activity for a day you have a sub or as an introduction to NGSS. Check out the hard work we've done over the last two years!

This is a free resource in my store  that is designed to introduce the NGSS earth science standard number three for middle school.  Students work in small groups to create a visual representation of where water on earth is found and what types of water are used for drinking water. Photo by  Erda Estremera  on  Unsplash

 I watched and was inspired the other day by The Creative Brain  on Netflix. There were so many tidbits on how to innovate and how all people can be creators. As a science teacher, I have been trying to encourage my students to create new inventions. Some takeaways I have to share with you are: 1. Create journals full of pictures and lists of things you come across every day. This could be done in a classroom between students to inspire one another or lists of phenomena. 2. Create a hybrid. Why not mesh two existing designs together to see what happens? 3. Make a twist.  We mistakenly think that things have to be brand new to be inventive. Take an existing invention and add a slight twist to it.

I am sorry that it's been a while since my last post. We are in the process of moving and I have a little. It's busy! I finished my lesson plans on cellular respiration for NGSS in middle school. You can check it out here . The lesson plan bundle includes a couple labs, graphic organizers, and activities to help students understand the function of cellular respiration.

I am excited to announce the completion of my lesson plan bundle on photosynthesis on my Teachers Pay Teachers store! (Below are some clipart examples from the bundle.) In it, you'll find two labs, a WebQuest, kinesthetic activity, critical thinking question to assess understanding, and a goofy game to get students scrambling to find pieces of photosynthesis. My eventual plan is to finish up the MS-LS1 and have a unit plan ready to go for the next school year.  The lesson plans can be adapted to student learning at home- save for the labs, when students would need supplies like plant seeds and test tubes.

I cannot take credit for this, but I learned in a seminar about 3D learning a way to write "I can" statements for students using the NGSS language. It is a pretty slick formula! I can  SEP  about  DCI  BY  CC . Science and engineering practices are almost the "why" we do it. The disciplinary core ideas are what we are learning. Finally, the crosscutting concepts are how we learn about the scientific concept. I put these into my lesson plans, in my slides, and in student note packets/worksheets. (Administrators love it!)

I have created another lesson plan bundle on my Teachers Pay Teachers for the NGSS standard  MS-LS1-4 . The preview of some of the table of contents is shown below. In the bundle, I have included stations and a note sheet for your students to record what they have learned. Toward the end, there is a simulation game that your students will examine herding behavior in white-tail deer. There are a couple opportunities for assessment of understanding. Original deer made by Empty Jar Illustrations

I am proud to announce that I have created lesson plans over the NGSS standards for middle school life science on Molecules to Organisms for 7th grade. You can find the lesson plans for the substring one and two here. To provide you with an idea of what in includes, I have screenshots of some of the table of contents for the two of them. For MS-LS1-1, I included a lab where students try to create a working definition of life. This is hard for students. There are resources to help guide them toward it while looking at examples of living and nonliving things. MS-LS1-1  MS-LS1-2 includes a lab that my students have really enjoyed as well as readings to help build their understanding of cells. Students will create a cell analogy to further demonstrate their understanding of cell structures and functions. MS-LS1-2 Both include a critical thinking question to assess student understanding over the standard. I have allowed my students to research the question to help formu...

I absolutely love creating content! Since I'm finding myself at home with some extra time on my hands, I have decided to create a Teachers Pay Teachers account that can be found clicking here . I am pretty excited. I am going to try to be more faithful about updating my blog with resources I find and to share with you current projects I have in the works. Since we are all at home, I have been creating some escape/breakout/puzzle rooms by request for my friend's children. So far, I have a Lego, birthday, Star Wars, and Disney themed games. If you are interested in a specific puzzle room idea, let me know in the comments below and I will give you free access to a copy before I post it on my store. I appreciate the help generating ideas and enjoy creating them to help get kids engaged. I have also created some very basic clip art. Maybe not the most amazing things you've seen, but once again, I had fun. If you go to my store, you can download ones like below for fre...