Science Education Idea Exchange

The freebie for this round caught my attention because the flashcards are beautiful to look at!  Included are  detailed images and definitions to help students learn their vocabulary on the parts of the cell and cell types.  There are nine flashcards for download from  Biochemistry by Noor . It may not be a complete set, but it offers a good sample of their work. Download your freebie  here  today! Photo by  National Cancer Institute  on  Unsplash

Photo by Philipp Pilz on Unsplash In a search for new items, I found this worksheet on carrying capacity and limiting factors by Growing New Scientists . Kirsten has many accomplishments, so I recommend this product and others in their store! The worksheet is available in three different formats: Word, PDF, and online. It has two parts to help students review abiotic and biotic factors and carrying capacity. What I love: Three different formats to make it fit your needs Answer key included to take out the guesswork Questions of a variety of styles to tap into what students know The worksheet is easy to follow and understand for students Download your free resource and check it out!

This free resource comes from a new content creator titled We Teach Stuff . It's a single note sheet on biomolecules and contains three columns for the student to fill in. We Teach Stuff has students draw a picture, write the function, and list examples. What I like about it: simple layout answer keys included- one handwritten and one typed includes lines for students to write their notes neatly You can find the Molecules of Life Note Sheet here . Photo by Photoholgic on Unsplash

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

 I was reminiscing the other day about activities I loved. One that came to mind was a pom-pom natural selection activity I did with my students. I found it! Two educators from the University of Pennsylvania created this worksheet . My favorite part was the simulation. I think my students would have agreed. They actively gathered data on different types of predators and adaptations of the prey. I didn't follow the directions to a tee, but the point was made. Photo by Eliza Diamond on Unsplash Check out this free online resource!

 I finished creating my Crazy Creature Traits for the NGSS standard MS-LS3-2 on variation amongst asexual and sexual organisms. As a result, I was also able to create a discounted  bundle with both projects over the standard.

 In case you didn't want the full lesson plan bundle, you can buy just the simulations! I've included the mutualism, predator/prey, and competition simulations.  You can find it here !

 Howdy strangers! Life has definitely been busy, so I have been missing in action. I'm proud to announce that I have finished my lesson plans for middle school life science 2-1. I wrote a simulation for looking at wolf and deer populations in different scenarios. It was time-consuming but well worth it. You can find the simulation alone or the f ull lesson plans on my Teachers Pay Teachers.

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 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 created lesson plans for the MS-LS1-3  on my Teachers Pay Teachers. I start the objective off with a couple phenomenon over things I think students will find to be crazy: regeneration and beating heart cells. My hope is that both will help students to make connections between cells and the body systems they create. The lesson plans continue on with a web quest (answer key is provided to teachers) to help students learn the terminology and examples of each of the levels of organization. Finally, there are two assessments to check student understanding. The first is called a critical thinking question. I ask an open-ended question that students can research. The question is not easy enough that they can simply Google the answer. They have to formulate a response based on what we learned in class and what they can find online.  The second assessment is a project completed over an assigned disease or disorder. Students find it fascinating to talk about what can go wrong w...

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 have created a YouTube channel so my students can revisit videos we have seen in class.  They are sorted by life science, physical science, and earth science.  The target audience is middle schoolers.  Check it out!

My husband and I love playing the game from the App store called "Stack the Countries".  Since my seventh graders are getting ready to start the human body. My unit is severely lacking, so I decided to create an adaptation of "Stack the Countries" called "Stack the Organs".  Students will answer questions about the organs such as: What organ system does it belong to? What does it do? What organs is it near? or Where in the body is it located? When students successfully answer the question, they earn the organ and have to stack them so they reach a certain point.  If I had a magnetic whiteboard, I would adhere magnets to the back of my organs and draw a line on the whiteboard for the students to try to pass.  The organs must be touching for it to count. I cut most of the organs out using templates I printed off from this  website .  It was hard to find all of the organs I wanted to scale, so I did the best that I could with the missing o...

I decided to compile a list of free apps that I use in my classroom on the iPad Mini. General Classroom Use: BrainPOP: quick videos on various topics with quizzes at the end YouTube: so many videos. . .  KeyNote: PowerPoint equivalent for iPad Doceri: Drawing and notes tool Educreations: Drawing and notes tool that has a website.  Videos you create can be emailed and shared online Science 360: Current news articles and videos with an eye catching display ClassDojo: Allows teachers to track student behaviors and generate reports Earth Science: QuakeFeed: Shows current earthquakes on globe with magnitude EarthNow: Shows current statistics for the globe such as temperature and ocean surface salinity Planets: Current locations of planets and constellat...

I had way too much fun making this.  My students are going to be learning about these biomes next and I created this example of the finished product and one with the pictures/words without the cuts.  I photocopied the sheet and shrunk it to 75%.  The students will cut it out, fold down the extra space on the left side, and glue it in their notebooks.  Underneath each tab, they will write characteristics of the biomes. I am clearly on a foldable kick!  Thank you snow days. :) I did create a digital version of this for you to download on my Teacher Pay Teachers. It's free!

This  activity  is to help introduce genetics and Punnett Squares using the toys Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head. I created it in my first years of teaching and had a lot of fun with it. I updated this to create a free download of the activity from my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Please check it out and leave feedback!

This is an activity that I learned of when I student taught.  I took the worksheet and revamped it to make it less confusing for students.  The only bummer is I cannot figure out how to post it all so it looks like it would in Word or a PDF.  The only part that is is missing is the page with the chromosomes on it. This is a nice introduction activity for middle school or high school when you begin the discussion of heredity.   Name: _____________________________                       Genes Activity Procedure: Determine your phenotype (outward trait) and then the genotype (alleles present for trait) for each trait and record in the given column.  If you are unsure if you are homozygous (AA) or heterozygous (Aa) for a trait, consider yourself heterozygous. Transfer your genotypes to the chromosomes by writing...