Science Education Idea Exchange

 I have been working on the NGSS standards for middle school on Earth's Systems and have almost finished! Here's what I have been putting together so far: MS-ESS2-2: Weathering and Erosion Shores (Geologic Processes) In this activity, students examine the geologic process of weathering and erosion on a beach. They model two types of weathering, research, and sort cards on types of weathering to determine rates of geological processes. The final piece is a CER over whether this process is rapid or gradual. MS-ESS2-3: Pangea Puzzle, Fossils, and Plate Movement Activity Students will examine plate movement since Pangea using the placement of fossils and the shape of landmasses. First, they will attempt to piece together Pangea. With research, they will make predictions and draw the placement of current plate boundaries and plate tectonics. A claim-evidence-reasoning is used to assess understanding of the objective. MS-ESS2-4: Mini-Water Cycle Activity Students build and draw model...

Many years ago, I worked at a small school with a limited budget. I tried to be creative in making my classes engaging and limiting my spending. In came the shake table. Sadly, I cannot find the original website that inspired it, but it served my students well. Here's how it is made:  Materials thin rubber bands (4) flat piece of cardboard (stage) larger cardboard lid/box marbles/balls (~12) Steps Grab a cardboard box lid or cut a box so it is no taller than four inches. (In these pictures, I used a large cereal box.) Cut a flat piece of cardboard to serve as the stage. It must be a couple of inches smaller in length and width than your box lid. On the four corners of the stage, punch a hole.  Punch holes on four corners of the box toward the top lip. Cut all four rubber bands open. Tie a large knot at the end of one rubber band and feed the rubber band through a hole in the box so the knot is on the outside. Pull the rubber band through the corresponding hole in the stage and...

Maybe this is one of the few times you will see cells and mountains associated. Either way, I have put out products on both. Cells Who Am I? Cells Vocabulary Review Game All About Cells Lesson Plans and Review Games Bundle MS-LS1-1 Characteristics of Life Forensic Activity MS-LS1-2 Cells: Structure and Function Activities MS-LS1-3 Body System and Disease Project MS-LS1-4 Plant and Their Pollinators Activity for Adaptations MS-LS1-5 Plant Growth Factors Experiment (Acquired Traits) MS-LS1-6 Photosynthesis in Freshwater Plant Lab Mountains and Earth Science MS-ESS1-4: Mountain Range History Activity Students will look at three pieces of information on their mountain range (Himalayas, Rocky Mountains, and Andes) to try to guess the age of the mountains. Background information on Pangea and more recent plate movements is provided. Next, students sketch the location of their mountain range. Finally, students examine evidence and interpret its meaning. The evidence includes isotopes, fossils...

 I have been busy, but it took me awhile before I posted some new products. Here they are: Christmas Escape Puzzle Room Celebrate Christmas and the winter in style! This escaped room is designed with four different codes (numerical, letter, and directional) hidden in puzzles and visual clues that lead to matching Christmas presents with their missing tags. The students are told they are Santa's elves on Christmas Eve. Bundles Autumn Holiday Escape Puzzle Rooms: Halloween & Thanksgiving Cells & Genetics Escape Puzzle Rooms Rock and Rock Cycle Note Sheet The rocks note sheet has key terms for a unit on rocks, types of rocks (metamorphic, igneous, and sedimentary), and the rock cycle. Pair this with your favorite reading, presentation, or video for students to summarize the key terms and concepts. (Background information is not included.) Who am I? Plate Tectonics Vocabulary Game The classic "Who Am I?" game has 22 cards that cover vocabulary terms associated with pl...

 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 informa...

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!