Science Education Idea Exchange

While subbing, I learned of this app called Notability. The district has a paid subscription for students to use on their devices, and it's saved so many trees! Students can edit PDFs their teacher shares with them. Instead of printed copies of worksheets and note sheets, students write directly on them and submit their work to their teachers. I have not yet explored whether it can be used on secured PDFs, but I believe so. If you know, can you comment below? The free account is limited but worth exploring if your students are one-to-one with devices.

I am currently taking a course on accommodations, modifications, and assistive technology for my license and thought this resource was too cool not to share. I got it from the Teaching Channel and will share a couple of tools you can implement in the classroom for diverse learners: Photo by Daniel Ali on Unsplash YouTube - closed captioned feature can be turned on by clicking the "CC" button at the bottom. I use this even if I don't have a student who requires it. This is useful for ELL students as well as hearing impaired. Read-and-Write - students can highlight text and have it read to them through the Chrome Extension. Google Translate - Chrome Extension with many different languages so students can read in their first language.

I hunted for new and free resources and found this get-to-know-me activity. It is a beaker for students to complete on themselves and can be found here . The creator, The Crafty Teacher TX , permitted me to share this resource. It is appropriate for a middle school classroom and has questions that are great ice-breakers, like if you were on a deserted island, what three things would you need? This could be assigned on the first day of school or completed in class and posted on the walls. Photo by Elevate on Unsplash The content creator has many other materials for building classroom culture.

I heard about Figm a as a site to replace jamboard  from the Teaching Channel . I love learning about new tools, especially free ones. I could sign up for a free account, which limits me to three projects. Upon setting up my account, I was prompted with the following: I decided to check out the Whiteboard features. What I like about it: ease of use layout collaborative timer (not startling when it goes off!) music: relaxing, upbeat, etc. Paid features: voting more storage My overall thoughts: It would be worth trying the free account to see if it's a great fit for your classroom. I love the idea of students working while reminders are on the board. This website would work great for how I operate. I would have expectations, a to-do list, and a timer to help students focus and manage student behaviors.

How have I never posted about this amazing website before?!?  PhET has offered free simulations for many years. I just recently subbed in a class that was utilizing the density lab. What I love about it: It's free! Models of situations that would be impossible to show your students otherwise Ease of use Many models available Reliable- As mentioned before, their website has been running and updated for many years.

I found this website in my quest for new tools and simulations. It's called Gizmos . The screenshot below shows their photosynthesis activity.  The simulations are reminiscent of PhET from the University of Colorado Boulder . They look amazing, but I do not have a paid account to delve into it. You can look at the simulations for up to five minutes per day without an account. After that, you must sign up for an account. The free trial is offered for a limited time before a paid subscription is required. What other resources have you found?

 I have been using Canva  for a couple years and while I was subbing, I was reminded of how awesome this website is! Even students love it. With a free subscription, you can create presentations, videos, images and more! There are templates available for educators. When you're done, you can download or share your creation. A membership is currently running just under $15/month. It would be a worthwhile investment if the free subscription was not enough, but there is already so much available!

 I just found a free URL shortener I wanted to share: tinyurl.com. Normally, I use a Google add-on, but the one I had been using has been compromised. 😐 I believe this is one of the more popular ones, but I could be wrong. If you're not familiar, this is a great tool that you can use to shorten long web addresses. It makes it easier to get students to a site and saves on space. A word of caution: the website does include advertisements, so be wary of encouraging students to use this tool.

I hope you'll forgive all of the videos I have been posting. We are in the middle of selling our house and moving. I was wondering about how to make my banner a little more exciting with new fonts and stumbled upon this video. There are many fonts available with just the click of a button. Mind blown!

My school was adapting PBiS and looking for an easy way to recognize our students. We discovered that there are many tools that can be used to generate certificates automatically. We have linked it to the Google Forms and Sheets. The first three minutes of the video below are on how to set up the Google Form. At about 3:50, he begins to show you how to use AutoCrat to make magic happen.

Wizer.Me  is a free resource for teachers to create their own worksheets and share them with students, either on Google Classroom or by a link with a code. There are several worksheets created by other teachers that you can duplicate. The worksheets can have matching, tables, multiple-choice questions just to name a few. (Think of it as a prettier Google Form.) It will even grade the worksheet for you!

Just a quick and simple tutorial on how to put a table of contents into your Google Docs that has links to leap to sections. 1. Under "Insert", click "Table of contents" and choose the option with the blue lines if you want links or the option on the left if you want a table of contents with page numbers only. 2. To create headings that will appear in the table of contents, click on "Normal Text" and choose heading 1. If you want subheadings, choose heading 2. 3. After you have created your headings, you will need to refresh the table of contents. Unforunately, you do need to update it every time.

Having students partner up quickly can be a challenge. At my store, you can download this freebie  to help facilitate partner work by giving students a choice. At the same time, you can mix-it-up for the students so they work with different people in the classroom. I learned about this technique from a former administrator and it worked pretty well. There can be hiccups with shy, new, or absent students, so be mindful of your class culture before beginning.

I think Jamboard might be my favorite collaborative response tool. It was created by Google, so if your students use Google Classroom, it has many features they are familiar with already. In real-time, groups of students/teachers can edit a screen. You can add text, pictures, and scribbles. Once the group is done, the board can be saved and downloaded. I used this to generate class ideas and would project it on the board as students were working. With distance learning, this could be a useful tool for students to outline a project plan of attack. I have not figured out a way to track who creates what. I wish there was an edit history like Docs, Sheets, and Slides, but there is not. If you have found either of these things, please let me know.

Padlet  is a free online resource that students can post answers, links, and pictures to a teacher-created question. The teacher creates the Padlet by choosing a background, choosing a posting format, and writing the topic for students. When the Padlet is ready, it can be shared with students on Google Classroom or by providing the link. Some things to be aware of: posts are anonymous, so students may get into mischief the number of Padlets on the free account is limited Since it's real-time editing, it may be overwhelming for some students to view

Mentimeter  is a free teacher resource that allows you to survey a group and create real-time data. The teacher poses a question and posts the code for students to use to cast their votes on a cellphone or other wifi-enabled device. I used it for classroom management at the beginning of the year. I would ask students to list attributes that make a great classmate. I set it up to create a word cloud of their responses and would tell them that this would be our class contract with one another. It is definitely eye-catching for students. Some downsides to this is that there is no way to tell who gave what response. Also, the free account has a limited number of surveys you can create and save. (A workaround is to delete old surveys when you don't need them.)

I am amazed that I did not discover this earlier: there are many free graphics you can use to spice up your worksheets and lessons! To find them, use a search term, select "free", and "clipart". You might be surprised at what you can find. Some of my favorites are listed here. Please check them out! Creative Clips Science Girl Lessons Empty Jar Illustrations Just Draw Clipart ThinkingCaterpillars

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!)

Since I have been creating materials for my Teachers Pay Teachers, I have been on the lookout for amazing pictures and graphics. Unsplash  is a free website that you can use the images in your classroom or items you sell online. There are sooo many talented artists! Down below is just one example. Photo by  Alexander Andrews  on  Unsplash