How to Create an Exciting But Structured Rube Goldberg Machines Unit Have you tried having your students make Rube Goldberg machines and had the project drag on and on with several false starts? Did you have an abundance of random materials around your classroom? Did your students start the project with enthusiasm but then fizzle…
Are you still deciding if you want to go with completely digital notebooks in your science classroom? Are you weighing the positives and negatives? I made the change to digital over six years ago and I’m going to tell you why it has been a GAME CHANGER for my students and me! I put together what I consider to be the top 15 benefits of using Google Slides to create digital notebooks.
How to Create STEM Magnet Mazes Are you looking for a well structured and fun project for your students to learn magnetism? Do you like projects that involve students learning the concept on their own as they create? I designed this Magnet Maze Structured STEM activityand it has become a yearly project. The upcoming…
10 Tips for Good Time Management in the Science Classroom Are you determined to do hands-on activities in your middle school science room, but are afraid of how much time management it involves? What if you set everything up and the lab takes too long? Are you afraid that the students won’t finish in time…
11 Helpful Survival Tips For Middle School Science Teachers Are you new to teaching science to middle school students? They have characteristics and personalities that vastly differ from elementary or high school! Teaching hands on, active science to this age group brings its own set of challenges. I understand this first-hand after more than 30…
Make Speed and Acceleration Labs Fun with Pullback Cars! Are you looking for ways to teach speed and acceleration, including their relationship to mass, potential and kinetic energy? Are you teaching the Laws of Motion and NGSS MS-PS2-2? This standard states: “plan an investigation to provide evidence that the change in an object’s motion depends…
Teaching About Balanced and Unbalanced Forces Teaching a “balanced and unbalanced forces” unit(MS-PS2-2) is so much more engaging when students do activities using the features on their iPads! My middle schoolers have a blast using the slow motion feature on their iPad cameras to capture what they call “things smashing into each other”. They are…
Boost Your Student’s Critical Thinking with CER in Science Class CER (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning) is a critical thinking framework that encourages students to analyze evidence and draw conclusions that are thorough and appropriate. I have pushed my students for years to think “out of the box“ while trying to pull data together. However, they have…
Go Outdoors on an Exciting Schoolyard Ecosystem Scavenger Hunt! Are you looking for a way to get students observing their local ecosystem? Do you love taking classes outside? Here is a way to go on a fun scavenger hunt that involves students bringing their devices that have cameras outside! I put together this scavenger hunt…
Give Your Students a Measurement Review with these 10 Fun Activities Are you finding that middle school students seem to lack basic measurements skills in spite of us reviewing and reinforcing this as we head back to school every year? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had middle schoolers measure from the end…
