Medical terminology can seem quite complex, but it is all based in Greek and Latin roots. Teaching anatomy prefixes and suffixes can help our students grow into scientifically literate citizens and help them in future medical courses. In college, I had a Biology professor that had one consistent and very
Many middle school and high school science classes include dissection lab studies for a variety of animal and/or organ dissections. They can be included in a discussion of human body systems or as an exploration of comparative anatomy during a unit on animal classification. Dissections labs can be intimidating for
Nothing is worse than an emergency sub day because you’re sick or you have to stay home to care for someone else. Coming up with science sub plans can be a frustrating addition to an already stressful day. Without warning, it’s easy to tell the sub to play a video
It’s the end of the semester. You and your students are exhausted and ready for a break. Your administrator, however, has requested that everyone in the department create summative science assessments. Although a traditional final exam may be easy to grade, there are many more engaging ways to assess what
Do you struggle to make your cellular energy unit engaging for students? I have, too! Photosynthesis and cellular respiration lab experiments can be tough to create because these cellular energy concepts are abstract and can be difficult for students to understand. Rather than just drilling them on molecular pathways and
Doodle notes. It’s a term you’ve probably heard in your teacher circles, on social media, and possibly even in professional development training. But what are science doodle notes and how can they be used in the high school classroom? Years ago, teachers were taught that each child had a particular
Are you a “visual learner”? Me too. Guess what- we all are. Learning styles are a popular concept in educational psychology. The idea of learning styles is that in order to best teach a student, the method of teaching needs to match the way that student learns best. Although a
I’m not sure that any high school teacher would say she loves having students write science lab reports. It’s often a lot like getting your kids to eat their vegetables- you know it’s good for them, but what a struggle to get them to do it! And grading lab reports
I’ve seen and used several different note-taking methods with my high school science students over the years, but Cornell-style notes have quickly become one of my favorite strategies. I’ve found that science Cornell notes are an easy and effective way for students to record important information from PowerPoints and even
Typical anatomy labs are often dissections or other hands-on lab experiences. Perhaps that’s one reason the study of microscopic anatomy (called histology) is often overlooked in the high school anatomy classroom. Medical professionals understand that histology is essential to our understanding of how the body functions and provides critical data
I’ve been teaching high school science for over 20 years and a number of those have been as a homeschool science educator. Over the years, I’ve heard questions repeated from homeschooling parents regularly: “High schools near me don’t even do real labs anymore. They’re all virtual. Why should I spend
Need some Earth Day projects for teens? Earth Day is a great opportunity to bring relevant environmental issues into the middle school or high school classroom. These students are part of a generation that will soon be responsible for protecting the environment and encouraging conservation in their own communities, so
