Group items tagged

This is a K-2 lesson comparing the qualities of rocks which I think is a great activity for that age group. The students are to compare different groups of rocks, noting their qualitative differences. We all probably did something similar when we were this age, and it remains a quality sensory activity for the students. The lesson is fully laid out in what is essentially a lesson plan, and it was written by a teacher. I highly recommend giving it a look.

This resource includes the information for attending a Planetarium show at the Saint Louis Science Center. This planetarium has a show currently being shown called "The Little Star that Could." The trailer for this video can be found at the site listed. I have attended many educational shows at several different locations, but none seem to ever compare to the ones shown at the Saint Louis Science Center Planetarium. The format of the presentation really resonates with the observers and leaves a lasting impression. I would invite my class to go on a field trip to this planetarium after a lesson on the solar system.

The Live Sky Tonight show at the Saint Louis Science Center could be an incredibly fun experience for students who are studying the night sky at home! In cooperation with creating some sort of sky map at home or at school using the internet as well as visual observations, both or either, the students could compare their own work with that displayed at the planetarium! This resource would serve as particularly helpful for visual learners who may benefit from this immersive model, and it might also encourage those who had not been as engaged in star mapping before to become more involved after the experience!

This resource is an interactive tool for students. The students are asked to enter their area code and to check yes or no depending on whether or not they observed that type of bug. In order to use the online source, students must first investigate the environment of the teacher's choice (ex: playground) and make note of the bugs that they have seen. Once the student's collected their data and entered it into the website, they are able to compare what types of bugs are found in the different states/regions. I chose this resource because it requires the students to observe their surroundings, record their data, and compare their data to other regions of the United States. Not only does it require the use of technology, it also requires the students to not remain stationary in the classroom setting.

This interactive map of the world allows for so much exploration! Click anywhere on the map and it will give you the climate, landforms, rock types, and even land cover for the particular area. I find this resource to be very helpful especially when comparing biomes. Teachers could easily come up with activities to use the map. For example you could have students compare and contrast 5 different countries based on their climate, landforms, rock type, and land cover. Then have students make predictions about what would live in that area or what would even grow there. Overall I think that teachers could use this map many ways in the classroom and I think students would find it very interesting.

This website is for the teacher to design a lesson for students to compare and contrast different animals and their habitats. This forces students to use observation, and critical thinking.

In this lesson, you are asking the students to compare the ways in which animals move: which body parts they use, how quickly, etc. The students then compare as a class and in small groups. The lesson asks you to take them outside or to bring animals into your classroom to observe them, but that is not necessarily an option, so I would alter the lesson by pulling up videos of animals for them. If multiple computers are available, one could have a different animal video going at different spots around the room for the different groups to go to. This lesson could be very fun for the students. I really think they'd enjoy actually seeing the animals move as opposed to simply talking about it.

PBS's lesson on gravity is somewhat of a classic, dropping two objects of different weight from the same height. This lesson utilizes both hands-on experiments, videos, prediction, and a variety of other ways for students to stay engaged and involved in the lesson. Throughout the lesson students predict what may or may not happen to their own experiments, to those done on the moon, and comparatively between the two differing atmospheres. The resource is specifically valuable to me due to it's consistent student directed and inquiry-based nature, examples of higher order thinking questions can be found throughout the lesson. I can see this resource being used in the classroom during an introduction lesson to the concept of gravity, possibly taking place in multiple parts throughout a week or a unit.

This lesson is cool because it involves what students can see everyday outside. It is something they can experience on their way to school, on their way home, or on a summer day at the park. The study of songbirds will help students with some vocabulary words they should be exposed to and learn about why some birds are song birds. Plus, this lesson has an awesome in class activity at the end that allows students to make their own bird sounds and compare their sounds to actual birds.

I enjoy this lesson because it is another hands on activity for students. Students will get to compare and contrast what they know about the seasons. The students will get to place pictures in the correct poster for what season that picture may be related to. This lesson also involves reading books to the children to expand their knowledge on each of the seasons.

This is the type of lesson I would do with my students before we take a field trip to the zoo. I would have them describe different animals. Do they have two or four feet, do they fly, and do they prefer cold or warm weather. I would have my students have group discussions and write down our thoughts. After our field trip, we would come back to the thoughts we wrote down and compare them to what we thought. We can then go deeper into the study and find if certain animals are carnivores or herbivores and where animals such as a zebra or giraffe might be found.

The Biology Corner is a site that contains tons of resources for biology teachers. It provides lessons, quizzes, labs, interactive websites, and general science information. This website even breaks down chapters and topics that should be covered in AP Biology, Freshman Level Biology, and Anatomy and Physiology classes. Within these chapters power-point presentations, review guides, reading worksheets, etc. are all provided and are encouraged to be utilized and modified. I selected this resource because I can use many of the resources provided on this website in my own classroom. I also think it will be valuable to compare my own teaching materials and methods to another individual's and modify my own if I feel that they can be improved from what I have seen from this website. 

This site will be extremely useful to the science teacher. Pages include PowerPoint presentations, review guides, reading worksheets, crossword puzzles and any other specific resources used for that chapter or unit within that subject. Especially nice is the owner and keeper of this website is working to integrate Common Core into a large number of the lesson plans, especially Biology. Whereas a lot of website do not actively update and change their content this one seems to do that.

This website is great because it is set up in a simple format with some pictures, and neat facts about mammals. It would be fairly easy for a 1st grader to navigate. It also relates to the standard 12.B.1a- Describe and compare characteristics of living things in relationship to their environments. It relates because it tells how mammals live in a variety of places, and gives examples of where they live (i.e. camels live in hot areas, with picture of camel).

During this activity students will complete a worksheet (that is attached on the bottom of the website) where they will gather information about each planet. I like that the information that is needed to complete the worksheet is quite extensive compared to other worksheets. This webquest could be used as a lesson one day to break up the tediousness of sitting in a desk and reading from the book. I like that it incorporates technology in the classroom by allowing students to use computers.

A. This resource contains educational games which focus on biology (plants and animal habitats). The link will take you to a particular game where students must find plants and animals in the local environment. Once students complete this game, they move onto others regarding growing plants and specific habitats. B. I chose this resource because it is an excellent introduction for a unit/lesson regarding plants and animals in their habitats, as well as showing students that plants and animals can be found in all types of environments. This resource fits well with my standard which is 2-LS4-1; Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats. C. I would use this resource in my future classroom as an introduction for students to make the connection that animals and plants can be found in all types of environments. I would also use these interactive games to assess my students prior knowledge about plants/ animals habitat diversity in order to see which material can simply be a review.

This resource is a Bill Nye video which talks about biodiversity dealing with both plants and animals. The video is 22 minutes and 58 seconds long. Bill Nye investigates and discovers many different plant and animal habitats. He even connects plant and animal habitats and relates them back to one another, showing correlations. I chose this resource because I feel that Bill Nye is perfect for getting students interested and I found the video to be very entertaining, as well as informational. This video would also be a great introduction to a learning segment about observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats (2-LS4). This video does not have a specific age level that it is "meant" for but I felt like it would be great for all ages k-5. You could also just show certain clips to students rather than watching the entire video.

This video shows about how all organisms interact with each other and how they affect each other. He explores different environments and ecosystems. Bill Nye introduces science in a fun way, and he has different experiments that are easy for students to do.

This lesson plan starts out with the students comparing the size of the planets in the solar system and relating them to sizes of objects that they see everyday. After having a discussion about the solar system with the class, the teacher groups the students and assigns each group a planet. The students then research the planet and come up with a few sentences about the properties of the planet as well as some interesting facts about the planet. I like that this lesson incorporates writing skills and encourages the students to use their words to describe the planets.

A clear calendar by month and year. Nice way to compare one month to another. Can select Northern or Southern hemispheres.

This is an experiment in which students will compare three different solutions that have different levels of salt. Students will use food coloring in order to visually see which solution is the most dense and which is the least dense. They will also see how the density of a liquid affects the objects in it. I chose this experiment because while teaching about density, this will allow my students to receive a visual understanding. I also like this experiment's website because it offers questions to think about and has real life application as it talks about rivers, oceans, and the Dead Sea.

This unit on weather includes three days worth of lesson plans. Each day corresponds with a specific book about weather. One of the books it includes is "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs". Assuming most children saw the movie, I would ask questions to access what they may already know about weather and if the movie is comparable to the weather we experience. These lessons also include weather observation and opportunities to write about their observations. I chose these lessons because they include extensions, assignments, and assessments. I can see myself using this in the classroom with my students because I feel that using literature makes a lesson stronger. It draws the kids in, and enables me to ask questions to access prior knowledge.

This is a lesson plan all about DNA. The students will use a banana and extract DNA from it and observe it under a microscope. I think that this is a cool and fun, interactive way for students to obtain a better understanding of DNA.

DNA is so abstract that I think it would be better recommended for 6-12 than K-12.

In this activity, Students will try extracting DNA from a banana by following the simple instructions and can take the activity further with the use of a microscope. It is a fun, interactive way to get the students thinking about structure. I would consider incorporating this activity into my classroom because it involves very little cost (1 banana would provide enough DNA for a classroom-wide experiment). Also, the experiment is totally sanitary--you are not working with human/animal DNA, you're working with food. Finally, anytime you bring food into a classroom, healthy or not, the students are interested. It's a win-win-win-win. This is a great lesson because it can be easily modified and adapted based upon the grade level and needs of the students. I believe this lesson would provide a nice introduction of DNA to a Middle School science classroom. However, if the instructor would like to increase difficulty for an older grade, it is easy to do. The students could compare and contrast DNA from different fruits, research in-depth, etc.