You just sat down to catch up on grading and realize there are a few older assignments mixed in with the ones you collected yesterday. You try to remember: were these students absent or should these worksheets be counted late? With well over one hundred students, it’s a lot to
So you’ve just started your year and you’re immediately hit with a unit on the scientific method. While many high school units include more traditional lessons, a scientific method unit naturally lends itself to inquiry learning and hands-on activities. Using open-ended scientific inquiry at the beginning of the year can
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
Creating sub plans can be one of the most stressful parts of teaching. And nothing is worse than an emergency sub day because you’re sick or you have to stay home to care for someone else. Without warning, it’s easy to tell the sub to play a video or use
It’s the end of the semester. You and your students are exhausted and ready for a break. Your administrator, however, has requested an end-of-course or midterm assessment. Although a traditional final exam may be easy to grade, there are many more engaging ways to assess what your students have learned
Do you struggle to make your cellular energy unit engaging for students? I have, too! Photosynthesis and cellular respiration are abstract concepts and many students struggle with them. Rather than just drilling them on molecular pathways and chemical equations, I’ve always tried to incorporate labs and activities to bring these
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 doodle notes and how can they be used in the high school science 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’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 Cornell notes are an easy and effective way for students to record important information from PowerPoints and even
Scientific research has shown the average learner needs to move his or her body every 20–30 minutes. When students (or adults for that matter!) sit too long, it can lead to decreased oxygen flow to the brain, reducing the ability to concentrate or remember new information. Fortunately, getting students moving
It’s hard to contain the excitement during the holiday season. Instead of fighting it, harness their energy with some fun holiday ideas! With these science lessons, your high school students will be learning in festive ways and you can continue to work on content all the way until that glorious
I know many of you are planning for different circumstances in your Biology classrooms this year. In the last few years, large populations of students learned virtually and many schools forbid science labs even in face-to-face environments, so naturally, teachers were looking for virtual lab options. Many free virtual Biology
