How do teachers check for understanding in their science classes? Or, how about writing good CER statements – how do we check for that? A typical strategy is call and answer. That is, ask the class, and wait for someone to answer. However, call and answer is typically a passive process – students sit and…
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What do my students already know? This is a question all teachers have at the start of each school year or at the beginning of a new unit. Knowing what students already know not only saves us time (since we may not need to re-teach stuff our students already know). It helps us do a…
How do you teach students about lab equipment? Some teachers merely hand out an equipment list with pictures and labels and ask students to memorize it. There’s nothing wrong with that. It gets the job done (especially if all a teacher wants us to be able to identify and name equipment). But, is there a…
Do you have students who struggle with CER (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning) statements? I give a lot of CER examples on this site (Refer to #4 and #46), but, sometimes, examples are not enough. Some students still need a step-by-step process to writing CER statements. This is especially true when writing CER statements are based on lab…
Have you ever assigned a project to students, asked them to be creative, but not know exactly how to mark for creativity? We all know what it means to be creative (or, at least, what it looks like). When it comes to creativity in a science class, we struggle – even though the creative process…
I always believe students need to have fun in science. Of course, not all the time. But, there needs to be an element of fun. This is especially true when we teach science skills like CER. CER stands for Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning, and it’s an awesome format for students to follow in order to…
Is creativity important in science education? Of course, the answer is yes. In an information-based world where knowledge is readily available (thanks to something called the internet), we don’t value what or how much our students know as much anymore. Instead, we also value how our students can solve problems they don’t know the answers…
What are the big goals for science education? To make life long learners? (Answer: Yes). To make students critical thinkers? (Answer: again, yes). Another big goal for science education is for students to apply scientific thinking in the real world. More specifically, we want students to be able to use their science skills to conduct…
What do teachers do with their class on the first day? If I was a betting man, I would say a lot of teachers run icebreakers to learn names and build a strong class culture. I run icebreakers too with my classes for the same reasons. One year, for our first day science activity, I…
Are we teaching students how to be great at doing science or at memorizing science? Of course, we all want students to be good at doing science. This why we do labs, find engaging activities, and have students practice important science skills. This is why we take students on field trips. But, is there a…
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