Author: Kent

I've been happily teaching high school science for over 13 years. This website serves as a way for me to reflect on my practice, give back to the science educators' community, help other science teachers who may need a place to start, and build a strong community of science learners and educators.
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Ep33 – Practice Lab Skills Without Special Equipment

Handouts are available below

Big Idea

Here’s a lab I’ve done with my students for the past 2 years that not only has them practice using a balance to find the mass of objects, it also gets students to practice lab skills like data analysis and drawing conclusions using the CER (Claim Evidence and Reasoning) framework. Best of all, this lab doesn’t need anything elaborate or complicated.

 

Simple Lab Activity: Beaker Mass vs…

My lab activity is made up of 2 big questions I want students to investigate and answer: (1) do beakers of the same volume have the same mass, and (2) do beakers of increasing volume also increase in mass by the same proportions?

 

For the first question, students use a balance to find the mass of three 100ml beakers that all look the same. Students find the mass of these beakers and record the mass on a table like this. To answer the first question, students just have to look across and see if the masses are identical. Not surprisingly, the masses are almost always off. I get students to write a CER statement about it and to provide some reasons to explain the differences. For example, some students mention that perhaps the beakers are dirty or chipped, which would add or take away mass from beakers that would otherwise be the same mass.

 

For the second question, students use a balance to find the mass of beakers of increasing volume. Students find the mass of a 100ml beaker, a 250ml, a 400ml and a 600ml. And, I get students to expand their current table to look like this so they can record their results. As for the conclusion, students are sometimes confused by the question itself, so I explain it this way: a 400ml beaker can hold 4 times more liquid than a 100ml beaker – but, does a 400ml beaker also have a mass that is 4 times bigger than a 100ml beaker? Consider a 250ml beaker and a 100ml beaker, where the former is 2.5 times bigger in volume than the latter. So, is the mass of the 250mL beaker also 2.5 times greater than the 100mL beaker?

If you’ve tried or am trying this with your colleagues, please email me and let me know! 

Thanks for reading, and we’ll talk science again soon.

Resources

Handout(s): Beaker Mass Activity

Our resources are free. We aren’t collecting emails for our resources. However, it would help us out if you liked us on our Facebook page and subscribed to our Youtube Channel. Thanks!

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Ep32 – A Super Crossword For Student & Staff Belonging

Handouts are available below

 

Big Idea

It’s important to build a good culture with our colleagues in our workplace because a good culture not only makes our work more enjoyable but it also helps us be more productive together. For example, whenever there’s a change in how we do things at school – whether it’s how we assess students or the material we teach – we need to do this together. In his book, The Culture Code, Daniel Coyle cites research studies that support the conclusion that fostering a sense of belonging is a better predictor of group success than the content and information transferred within the group.

 

This is true for students as well. In his book, Grading for Equity, Joe Feldman mentions the importance for students to feel a sense of belonging by stating that “students don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care”.

 

 

Super Crossword Activity

To foster a sense of belonging for my students and among staff at my school, I got them to help me create a Super Crossword. I created crosswords for students in each of my classes. And, I used the same activity with staff at the start of a Pro-D day. People got to share a bit about themselves (and I think everyone loves to talk about themselves – especially in the positive). People learned some fun facts about each other. And, it was an easy way for people to open up and be part of something together.

 

To do this with my staff or students, I first set up a Google Form with two questions: (1) What’s your name, and (2) what is something most people don’t know about you? Then, I had teachers answer the question at the opening of our pro-d day. Next, I took the responses and entered the information onto an online crossword generator. A few seconds later, I got a crossword puzzle with nearly 60 responses – all from my staff members. And, some of the stuff on this crossword is fun to read about even if you don’t know who the person may be. For example, I found out that one of my administrators volunteered at a panda sanctuary in China, that one colleague brought guinea pigs to guinea pig shows (sort of like dog shows but for guinea pigs) and that one colleague beat Michael Buble in a talent show some years back.

 

I’ve also received a lot of positive feedback from staff after they received a copy of the crossword. Specifically, that they love having things to talk about with other colleagues and learning more about each other. Note: I help colleagues get started with their crosswords by sending out a few clues each day. If you have a large staff, then mail out a list of staff members as well.

 

If you’ve tried or am trying this with your colleagues, please email me and let me know! 

 

Thanks for reading, and we’ll talk science again soon.

 

Resources

 

Handout(s): Make a Staff Super Crossword

 

Our resources are free. We aren’t collecting emails for our resources. However, it would help us out if you liked us on our Facebook page and subscribed to our Youtube Channel. Thanks!

 

 

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Ep31 – A Periodic Table Worksheet I’ve Used Since 2003!

Handouts are available below

 

Big Idea

Today, I want to share this resource with you – an activity I’ve been using every year for the past 18 years of teaching. It’s an activity that teaches students about Mendeleev’s Periodic table. If you’re looking for an activity that teaches students that elements on the periodic table are grouped vertically by similar properties, this worksheet is for you.

 

But First…

A big thank you to the person who created this activity, which I copied and pasted onto a worksheet. I found it online 20 years ago during my practicum – in the early days of Google and before we could download files easily. And, I’ve been using it every year since I’ve been employed. Even my practicum advisor, who still teaches in the classroom beside me, uses it as well as other Chemistry teachers in the school. It’s that good. So, thank you, person or person(s) who created this – unfortunately, I never got your names.

 

Mendeleev’s Periodic Table Activity

As for the activity itself, there is a front and back side of this worksheet. On the back side, there’s a partially complete periodic table. The periodic table is vertically grouped by properties. For example, column one has lithium, sodium, and potassium. And, if we look at the properties, lithium is a soft metal, a good conductor, and reacts with water. Looking down at sodium, we see the same, and the same for potassium as well. There are also blanks on this periodic table – and so did Mendeleev’s table. That’s why Mendeleev’s table was so amazing – it left blanks that predicted other elements. On the front side, there’s a table of unknown elements A, B, C, D, etc., and we place these unknowns onto the table. We do so by looking at the properties of each unknown and seeing which vertical column those properties would match with. For example, G is a solid that is soft, a good conductor, and explodes in water. That sounds like it belongs in the same column as sodium, potassium, and lithium. However, which blank would it be? To determine that, we can look at trends – for example, the melting point of each metal seems to decrease as we move down the column. Thus, the unknown with the same properties as the other elements in this list and with the lowest melting point would be at the bottom. That’s what I like about the worksheet as well: small trends that students need to observe. Students usually take about 5-10 minutes to complete and then we discuss.

 

If you’ve tried or am trying this with your colleagues, please email me and let me know! 

 

Thanks for reading, and we’ll talk science again soon.

 

Resources

 

Handout(s): Mendeleev’s Periodic Table Activity

 

Our resources are free. We aren’t collecting emails for our resources. However, it would help us out if you liked us on our Facebook page and subscribed to our Youtube Channel. Thanks!

 

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Ep30 – Using Slogans to Discuss, What is Science?

Handouts are available below

Big Idea

How many science teachers are guilty of asking this question: what is science at some point – probably at the beginning – of the school year? I know I am. There’s nothing wrong with that question. But, what if we could ask the same question in a different way so that we can generate a more thoughtful discussion?

 

Getting the Discussion Going

To get students thinking about science, I first give students some ad slogans and have them guess the company. For example, “The Happiest Place on Earth” is Disneyland; “Just Do it” is Nike; and, “What’s in Your Wallet” is Capital One.

 

However, I also spend a bit of time deciphering cleaver slogans, like this one “Move the Way You Want”. Take a guess as to which company it’s from. Most kids guess it’s a company that makes shoes or cars or fitness accessories like FitBit. This slogan, though, is for Uber. It’s cleaver because Uber’s app does make it extremely easy to not just get to book a ride to get from one place to another but also to schedule a time, to add multiple stops, to split fares – the app really is the way it says moving around the way I want.

 

Then, I get students to imagine that they are a marketing firm that has come up with a slogan for a company and that the slogan is “the sweet science.” I ask them to write down (a) what company would this slogan for? And (b) why does sweet science fit the company? What does “sweet” or “science” refer to in the company?

 

For example, imagine eharmony – the sweet science. How is eharmony sweet Or or science? Or Reebok – the sweet science. How is Reebok sweet or science?

 

Give students 5 minutes to discuss in pairs and come up with 2 companies to apply the slogan to and why. Then, have groups merge with another group to decide on 2 ideas to share.

 

As for ideas, a lot if my students applied “the sweet science” slogan to companies that make food, dessert, cake, coffee or frappuccinos. For example, Starbucks literally makes sweet drinks and they use science in experimenting with ingredients of different flavor profiles in order to produce the sweet drinks that customers enjoy . Other suggestions that weren’t so literal included dating apps like Tinder and tech companies like Apple Computer products.

 

I write out student answers on the board – along with what science and sweet refers to for each company. And, the key thing I point out to students is that science is not so much a subject but a process or action. For Tinder, science is in the processes and algorithms used to match people. For cakes and sweets, science is in mixing and the chemical and physical interactions between ingredients. Science is an action – a doing – and not a subject

 

Where does “The Sweet Science” Come From?

I wrap up by talking about what “the sweet science” actually refers to. The term “the sweet science” was coined in the 1800s to refer to sport of boxing. The science of boxing refers to the strategy a fighter uses against their opponent. As for why boxing is “sweet”, I think it’s because seeing a good boxer is like seeing an artist paint. It’s effortless looking and flowing. It’s sweet. Just like when we see Steph Curry drain 3 pointer or Rafael Nadal make a backhand. However, I want to re-emphasize than even in boxing, the science is in process. It’s an action and not a specific item.

 

If you’ve tried or am trying this with your colleagues, please email me and let me know! 

 

Thanks for reading, and we’ll talk science again soon.

 

Resources

 

Handout(s): How My Students Use Ad Slogans to Discuss, What is Science?  

 

Our resources are free. We aren’t collecting emails for our resources. However, it would help us out if you liked us on our Facebook page and subscribed to our Youtube Channel. Thanks!

 

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Ep29 – As Teachers, We Don’t Talk About…

Handouts are available below

Big Idea

Today, I’m talking about the one thing we don’t talk about as teachers – the one thing we should be talking about. And, I’m sharing what I did with my department to get us started talking about this one thing. This is all inspired by a book I am currently reading called Grading for Equity by Joe Feldman.

One thing that Feldman mentions in his book that stuck with me was the fact that grading is important and yet we rarely talk about it. As a result, we end up having teachers who teach the same course but assessing it very differently. Now, some teachers may say that that’s just the way it is because every teacher teaches differently or stresses different things. But, from a student or parent perspective, having part of a student’s mark dependent on which teacher they get isn’t fair- a student’s mark should be a reflection of the student’s ability alone. And, each student should have an equal opportunity to achieve the same mark regardless of whose classroom they’re in.

Getting the Discussion Going

So, to get teachers talking about grading, I developed this worksheet called What is the Purpose of Grading. It’s got 6 statements on it, and these statements come directly from Feldman’s book. For example, one purpose of grading that Feldman mentions is to motivate students.

On this worksheet, I had my department members circle whether they strongly agree, slightly agree, slightly disagree, or strongly disagree with each statement. Then, I had teachers rank each purpose from most to least important.

We briefly went over the statements on the worksheet as a group. For the most part, people agreed and disagreed on the same points. But, it really didn’t matter what we wrote because this worksheet was just a springboard for us to start thinking about grading.

Follow Up Discussion

My follow-up question generated the biggest discussion: How do we make sure grading is equitable between classes – especially between courses taught by multiple teachers? Consider the following: if one educator views grading as a way to motivate students, then he/she may be more inclined to give bonus marks or completion marks for homework; and, as a result, that teacher may have grades that are lower or higher than a teacher who doesn’t view grading homework the same way.

I got some strong opinions from my department members for the follow up question. Some said it’s not possible. Some said it’s possible if we assessed competencies or skills instead of content. Some asked whether it was more for lower grades but not so in higher grades or vice versa. We didn’t finish our conversation – we only had 10 minutes for this activity, but it got people thinking about how they assessed and it primed us for future discussions.

If you’ve tried or am trying this with your colleagues, please email me and let me know! 

Thanks for reading, and we’ll talk science again soon.

Resources

Handout(s): Handout – What is the Purpose of Grading? 

Our resources are free. We aren’t collecting emails for our resources. However, it would help us out if you liked us on our Facebook page and subscribed to our Youtube Channel. Thanks!

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Ep28 – 5G vs LTE and Airplane Interference | A REAL Sc Challenge Question

Handouts are available at the bottom of this post in the Resources section.

 

Big Idea

A REAL Science Challenge Question is a quick and fun way to have students practice problem solving and apply science and engineering practices (SEPs) and Crosscutting Concepts (CCCs). I like REAL Science Challenge Questions because they…

  1. are not based on any discrete knowledge,
  2. force students to think like a scientist and develop their own experiment
  3. do not have googleable answers
  4. are relevant, and
  5. are open ended – thus, there isn’t just one answer out there

 

This activity is centered around 5G and LTE signals and airplane interference. Specifically, if 5G signals are able to interfere with airplane equipment, would LTE or 4G signals do the same? Use the CER format to write a response.

 

 

Instructions

  1. Post the REAL Sc Challenge Question prompt up for students (refer to the next few handouts).
  2. Give students 5-10 minutes to discuss in pairs and write a response using the CER format.
  3. Have students share their responses.

 

NOTE: Stress the need for students to provide evidence and an explanation. Evidence is any data or observable trends that support the claim. An explanation serves to explain the evidence and the claim. I usually say that an explanation is the part of the response that has “because” in it.

 

Resources

 

Handout(s): Handout – 5G vs LTE and Airplane Interference | 2016 – Spectrum (wall chart)

 

Our resources are free. We aren’t collecting emails for our resources. However, it would help us out if you liked us on our Facebook page and subscribed to our Youtube Channel. Thanks!

 

 

 

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Ep27 – Seeing Under the Ground Using Coffee Grounds

Handouts are available at the bottom of this post in the Resources section.

 

Big Idea

Can we do something with coffee grounds besides composting it?

 

When I first started brewing everyday at school, I dumped the coffee grounds into a beaker. I didn’t think much of it.

 

But then, as the beaker filled up, I began seeing this: differences in color in the grinds. This is due to the differences in roasting for the beans I use. Some beans had a lighter roast; some had a darker roast.

 

But, when you pour them over each other, you see layers – and this, is an awesome way to show students what sedimentary layers of rock looks like.

 

And, it’s the same story in the beaker as it is in the earth: layers of coffee grounds are poured over each other (just like layers of rock form over each other). The newer layers of coffee grounds are closer to the top (just like new layers of earth are closer to the top). Also, the thickness of the layer is directly proportional to how long I drank this type of bean for – similarly, the thickness of rock layers also correspond to time.

 

 

Instructions

  1. Find a large glass jar or beaker.
  2. Drink dark coffee for a couple of weeks and dump grounds into beaker each time. Try to build up a layer that is a couple of centimeters thick.To figure out what coffee is dark, refer to the chart in the handouts.
  3. Drink a lighter roast coffee for a couple of weeks and dump grounds into beaker each time. Build a thick layer of grounds.
  4. Switch back to darker roast. This way, you’ll see different layers over time.

 

 

Resources

 

Handout(s): Handout – Seeing Under the Ground Using Coffee Grounds

 

Our resources are free. We aren’t collecting emails for our resources. However, it would help us out if you liked us on our Facebook page and subscribed to our Youtube Channel. Thanks!

 

 

 

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Ep26 – Science & The Ice Cream Biz | A REAL Sc Challenge Question

Handouts are available at the bottom of this post in the Resources section.

 

Big Idea

A REAL Science Challenge Question is a quick and fun way to have students practice problem solving and apply science and engineering practices (SEPs) and Crosscutting Concepts (CCCs). I like REAL Science Challenge Questions because they…

  1. are not based on any discrete knowledge,
  2. force students to think like a scientist and develop their own experiment
  3. do not have googleable answers
  4. are relevant, and
  5. are open ended – thus, there isn’t just one answer out there

 

This activity is centered around helping an ice cream parlor increase their business. How can students help an ice cream parlor do better by thinking like a scientist?

 

 

Instructions

  1. Post the REAL Sc Challenge Question prompt up for students (refer handouts)
  2. Give students 5-10 minutes to discuss in pairs.
  3. Have students share their responses.

 

NOTE: Stress the need for students to determine what their independent variable and dependent variable are. In other words, what condition are students testing (the independent variable) and how do they know it’s working (the dependent variable).

 

 

Resources

 

Handout(s): Handout – Science And The Ice Cream Biz

 

Our resources are free. We aren’t collecting emails for our resources. However, it would help us out if you liked us on our Facebook page and subscribed to our Youtube Channel. Thanks!

 

 

 

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Ep25 – Can You Tell Which Circle is Bigger? 1 Engaging Lesson on Earth’s Orbit

Handouts are available at the bottom of this post in the Resources section.

 

Big Idea

The perihelion is the point at which earth is closest to the sun. This is due to the fact that the Earth’s orbit is elliptical (ie. oval).

 

At the perihelion:

  • The earth is 2% closer to the sun than average.
  • The sun appears 3% bigger in the sky than average.
  • The light we receive is 7% stronger.

 

But, what can we do to illustrate how slight these differences are?

 

Instructions

  1. Provide students with a copy of the two circles (Circles A and B) on the following page. One of the circles is approximately 3% bigger than the other.
  2. Have students tape the circles to the wall and stand 1 metre from the wall. If students are doing this on the computer, then have students make the image “Full Screen” and stand 1 metre from the screen.
  3. Challenge students to determine which circle is larger. They can use any method they choose. However, they need to stay 1 metre away, they cannot touch the screen or document, and they must write down what they did in coming up with their answer.

 

NOTE: Circle A is approximately 3% bigger by area. Could your students tell?

 

Resources

 

Handout(s): Handout – Can You Tell Which Circle is Bigger

 

Our resources are free. We aren’t collecting emails for our resources. However, it would help us out if you liked us on our Facebook page and subscribed to our Youtube Channel. Thanks!

 

 

 

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Ep24 – DIY Gift Card Smartphone Stand Science

Handouts are available at the bottom of this post in the Resources section.

 

Big Idea

The holidays is the time of gift cards. According to a retail survey, the gift card is the 2nd most popular gift. But, what do we do with them afterwards? Save your gift cards because today we discuss how to use them in a science lesson about matter and upcycling.

 

Gift cards are convenient but an awful thing to give because of the waste. If you think recycling is the answer, think again. According to a 2017 study, only 9% of plastics get recycled and 79% end up in landfills. So, what do we do with the plastic card after we’re done with it?

 

One thing I’ve taught students to do with gift cards is create a smartphone stand.

 

You’ll need any gift card – so long as it’s plastic. And, you’ll need a candle and a lighter or matches to light it.

 

Instructions

  1. Get a plastic gift card
  2. Mark up gift card (template is available for download below).
  3. Use scissors to cut along the marked lines.
  4. Light a candle. Hold areas that are to be bent over the flame. When the plastic feels fluid and moldable, remove from flame and bend.
  5. Allow time for the card to cool and set.
  6. Repeat with the other areas of the card that need to be bent.

 

Aside: have a contest with your students to see who can create the funnest gift card smartphone stand using the most interesting gift card.

 

Resources

 

Handout(s): Handout – Gift Card Smartphone Stand Template

 

Our resources are free. We aren’t collecting emails for our resources. However, it would help us out if you liked us on our Facebook page and subscribed to our Youtube Channel. Thanks!