KLEIN's
GUIDE TO
SCIENCE EDUCATION
PHOTO CREDIT: Nadene Klein at Tuolumne Meadows Yosemite National Park
Another school year has come to an end. Every teacher endeavors to keep their students engaged through to the last day. This is not an easy thing to do, especially with the fatigue of surviving a pandemic year. A strategy that I've mentioned in the past is to survey students at the beginning of the year/semester to find out what they are most interested in. I use this information to guide my planning. One trick up my sleeve is to save the most popular topics for the last two weeks of school. I also incorporate as much outside time, hands-on time, and real world connections as possible. For my Earth and Environmental class I save archaeology for the end. We investigate how archaeologists must know about Earth science as they dig up artifacts. Ideas include superposition and knowing the matter that the ground is made of to apply the correct tools. We also look at the way scientists puzzle piece togther the human story. We do a simulation activity. Students are given a short description of an ancient civilization. They must represent their culture on an artifact (terra cotta flower pots found inexpensively at WalMart) without anyone else in the room knowing their ideas. After school, I put the flower pots in brown paper lunch bags and smash them. I also remove some pieces. The next day, they return to become archaeologists who have unearthed someone else's artifact. They have to write out their description fo the culture from which they believe the artifact came without any additional information. When they are done, they check with me to see if they are correct. Then they explain how they came to be correct or incorrect accounting for their use of evidence. In my physics class, we do a mini-unit on theoretical physics--yes they can understand the basic concepts of string theory, multiverses, dark matter, etc. This is then followed by a few days of playing with children's toys and explaining how they demonstrate the principles and laws of physics. After having watched "The Martian" and doing Mars image analysis from NASA in Astronomy class, we did a fun little activity called Mission Measurement. It is a nice review of the metric system combined with engineering and concepts of NASA spacecraft construction as well as a simulation of getting a craft to land safely on the ground. Students collaborate in groups but have no idea what the other "engineers" within the group are doing until they have to fit their separately assembled parts together. Get students involved and they will stick with you until the final minute of the final day.
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AuthorNadene Klein, M.Ed. has been an educator for over 25 years. She brings a passion and love for science to the classroom and through this blog to you. Archives
March 2024
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