Search results for: “teacher”
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Can Bacteria Be Designed to Create Gasoline?
I’ve heard the term “biofuel” before, and that usually conjures up images of corn fields and ethanol. I recently attended a lecture at Washington University presented by Fuzhong Zhang. The title of the workshop was quite intimidating: “Synthetic Regulatory Systems for Dynamic Metabolic Pathways.” Teachers don’t just spend our summers lazing about at the pool!…
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Is Group Work Really Effective?
I was out for a day last week and left a case study for my anatomy students. The case was about six pages long and starts with a doctor examining a pregnant woman and hearing what he thought was a heart murmur in the fetus. The pages build upon each other, asking students to…
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How to Make Group Activities and Grading Fair
During the cell unit of Advanced Placement biology, students are required to do three investigations (labs): Diffusion and Osmosis, Photosynthesis, and Cellular Respiration. Students work in groups of 3 to 4 to work through these investigations and analyze data. I often have them only turn in ONE copy of the lab guide because as a…
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How to Use Google Docs to Leverage Student Engagement
Google docs can make grading and commenting more engaging for students. When students upload their google docs, you can comment and have discussions.
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How to Create Your Classroom Seating Chart
Ideas for assigning seats in the classroom on the very first day without the awkward role call.
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Why I’m Changing My Classroom Phone Policy
Last year, I decided to run a social experiment with my honors class. This was a small class of 18 students taking Advanced Placement Biology, with a mix of juniors and seniors. The experiment was to see if these digital natives could handle having an open policy on cell phones. I allowed them…
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Writing to Learn – A Common Core Standard
A collection of activities for students to use writing assignments to engage in lessons and learn scientific concepts.
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Are Exit Tickets a Good Way to Assess Understanding?
My genetics unit for Freshman Biology always starts with a history lesson on Mendel and our understanding of heredity at that time. One of the main themes of this lesson is a comparison between two ways of thinking about inheritance and two competing theories: The Particulate Theory and the Blending Theory. Students struggle…
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Are Kids Out of Touch with Nature?
My students are suburban raised and have very little experience in the wild. After reading the article, “Give Childhood Back to Children,” I considered that playing outside not only helps kids learn social structures, it also allows them to explore nature.
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What is “Mastery” and Why is It Important?
Education leaders often talk about mastery. Here’s what it means to me and how I can assess whether students have mastered content.
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Mini Field Trip to the Park
If you’re on the last days before school is out for the summer, you are probably encountering a lot of excited kids who really aren’t interested in sticking their nose in a book. Why not take them outside onto the school grounds or a nearby park and do outdoor projects?
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Top 5 Online Quiz Makers
List of apps that can be used to help student learn content. Practice quizzes can be shared across social media or LMS. Best quiz apps include quizziz, quizalize, and quizlet.
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Improve Student Writing in Science – A Guide
Ways to incorporate writing strategies into a science curriculum for writing and science literacy.
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Student Activities for Reading Assignments
Use these activities for student reading assignments. Post it notes, pair and share, highlight text, and concept maps
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Three Elements of Authentic Learning Projects
One movement in education is to increase the number of AUTHENTIC learning modules, where students look at real-world problems, and work out solutions. This is often done in a collaborative environment where students work in small groups to produce an artifact or presentation that demonstrates their mastery of the topic.