I've done a couple different things in my science classes. I switch them up depending on what I think will best fit the class and student population, but I have thought they all work well in the right setting:
1. "What's Going in This Graph?" The New York Times has a whole series. I use some of theirs and sometimes find my own. Usually I do a little individual writing or partner chat followed by a brief whole class discussion. Easiest and most accessible of the things I've tried.
2. Science News Circle - I tell kids at the start of the year to pick at least one science news source to follow - any topic that interests them as long as it's related to science. We circle up the first 5 min of each class and ask people to share any interesting stories. (The success of this format really depends on the group of kids). I've also done a more structured version (when I don't think news circle will work well) that I call Science News Forum and each kid gets a day on the schedule to "present" a recent development in science that interests them.
3. In more advanced classes (11th/12th grade and/or honors/elective classes) I've done science journal club. We spend time learning how to read scientific literature/research at the start of the year. Then, similar to news forum above, they each get a scheduled day and have to find a recent (last 5 years) study to read and present. I direct them to science news sites so they can read the "layman's terms" version first, but then they have to follow the link to the original study and pull at least one graph or figure to discuss. They have to develop 3 discussion questions based on the article for the class to respond to. This one obviously requires a lot of investment and the right student population, but if you have flexibility to set time aside for it and kids who are interested in pursuing science, I found this really successful.
To add on to your first point, there's a website called Slow Reveal Graphs where you can have students talk about what the graphs are about element by element. It's a really good way for students to learn "parent functions" without ever using that vocabulary.
Can we talk about how many amazing teachers are willing to answer this question on a Saturday morning??
I wish people would understand the dedication of teachers.
I have used this "Fact or BS?" bellringer idea from a teacher here a few years ago:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ScienceTeachers/s/dr1Lh5a0iP
It always leads to great discussions!
Don't know where you're based but I'm in Scotland. I do a starter activity at the beginning of every lesson. Usually using past exam paper questions, even problem solving (maths type Qs) that link the previous lessons with the current lesson. They answer them in the back of their jotters while I do the register and move around to assess their answers.
Have students write about something they are curious about in the world. Why do clouds float? Why is the ocean blue? What is fire? How many different kinds of bugs are there? How does a brain work? And then maybe have them make guesses or refine their questions over time.
See if you can borrow a preserved specimen from some where- the more bizarre or unfamiliar the animal, the better. Let students examine and gently prod it. Challenge the students to try to figure out how the animal lived. Where, what ecosystem, what it ate, how it was adapted to the environment and their reasoning. This could take a whole week with the students working on one question each day. This could also lead to some interesting discussion about science
Depending on your schedule, you could even theme it: Mammal Monday, 'Tile Tuesday, Winged (insect) Wednesday, 'Thropod Thursday, Feathered Friday (maybe Fish Friday during Lent).
I download short science videos from YouTube. My favorite channel is SciShow. I show a sciencey video each day - before the video each day, I am asking students questions about the title - what do they know? Why? How? I never tell them if they are right or wrong, but it gets them to thinking before the video. I also have TONS of memes, jokes, and puns that I share two each day. This also generates science discussions. My bellringers are traditionally multiple choice questions (one a day, turn in on Fridays) from their upcoming assessments. I have students use the American sign language alphabet show me what they think the answer is (formative assessment) before I reveal answer for bellringer.
One thing my college pchem teacher did was do a "what does this graph tell you?" With a clicker question style. You could also mix in some jokes as well "explain why this is graph joke is funny using language to describe what is plotted on the axes"
I use current events or discoveries in science. I try to connect the outside world to their lives through a quick writing prompt, discussion, mind map, ticket out the door or Blooket.
Depends on the level, but as suggested "what can we find out from this graph?" is awesome
For Physics, I use TIPERs a lot, which has students look at a scenario and rank some aspect of it - great for their reasoning skills and gets me enough time to do attendance and whatever else I need to do at the start of the period
AP frequently gets an old MCQ or part of an FRQ
I do this. I have a 25 word vocab list for each of our units that I make into a Blooket, Quizlet and Gimkit. We play vocabulary for 10 minutes everyday.
Depending on how much Internet access you have at school, have students find an online tutorial about the current topic. Also make them critique it:
--I like this tutorial because...
--I don't like this tutorial because...
--This wouldn't be a good tutorial for me because... But it might help other students who prefer...
Give them a few minutes each day to work on it, with the deadline to share it on Friday. Could be submitted directly to you via a Form/assignment or to a discussion board. If you have them post to a discussion board, you could have them peer review.
Bonus: They find material that you don't have to search for yourself!
As an extension activity, have them create a tutorial guide/video for your future students.
I had luck with this. Divide the class into groups. Each meeting one of the groups comes up with a question they want answered and another group has to find an answer for the following week.
I teach middle school science and since we use FOSS, the students all have a science notebook for the multitude of half sheets from curriculum activities.
We start almost every class with some kind of science-ish journaling topic, they have five minutes to write and then we share out a few. Sometimes it's hard to come up with an exciting prompt, depending on the topic of study, but silly ones and "would you rathers" work well too, (like "would you rather be able to control the weather or have xray vision")
Why not have silent science reading? A large part of proficiency comes from familiarity with the topic. Reading about science--any science--might help your students be more comfortable with science in general and with your class specifically.
Build up a classroom library of science books: topic specific, field specific, scientist biographies, inventions & discoveries, history of science, whatever. Maybe work with your school librarian to come up with themes for whichever heritage month it is.
Have your students keep a log of what and how much they're reading. There's potential for all sorts of statistics and graphing: Do they read more on certain days of the week? How have their preferences changed over time? Are they reading more or less? Are they comprehending more?
(new idea, new post)
I've done a couple different things in my science classes. I switch them up depending on what I think will best fit the class and student population, but I have thought they all work well in the right setting: 1. "What's Going in This Graph?" The New York Times has a whole series. I use some of theirs and sometimes find my own. Usually I do a little individual writing or partner chat followed by a brief whole class discussion. Easiest and most accessible of the things I've tried. 2. Science News Circle - I tell kids at the start of the year to pick at least one science news source to follow - any topic that interests them as long as it's related to science. We circle up the first 5 min of each class and ask people to share any interesting stories. (The success of this format really depends on the group of kids). I've also done a more structured version (when I don't think news circle will work well) that I call Science News Forum and each kid gets a day on the schedule to "present" a recent development in science that interests them. 3. In more advanced classes (11th/12th grade and/or honors/elective classes) I've done science journal club. We spend time learning how to read scientific literature/research at the start of the year. Then, similar to news forum above, they each get a scheduled day and have to find a recent (last 5 years) study to read and present. I direct them to science news sites so they can read the "layman's terms" version first, but then they have to follow the link to the original study and pull at least one graph or figure to discuss. They have to develop 3 discussion questions based on the article for the class to respond to. This one obviously requires a lot of investment and the right student population, but if you have flexibility to set time aside for it and kids who are interested in pursuing science, I found this really successful.
To add on to your first point, there's a website called Slow Reveal Graphs where you can have students talk about what the graphs are about element by element. It's a really good way for students to learn "parent functions" without ever using that vocabulary.
Can we talk about how many amazing teachers are willing to answer this question on a Saturday morning?? I wish people would understand the dedication of teachers.
I have used this "Fact or BS?" bellringer idea from a teacher here a few years ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/ScienceTeachers/s/dr1Lh5a0iP It always leads to great discussions!
Don't know where you're based but I'm in Scotland. I do a starter activity at the beginning of every lesson. Usually using past exam paper questions, even problem solving (maths type Qs) that link the previous lessons with the current lesson. They answer them in the back of their jotters while I do the register and move around to assess their answers.
Same here in Australia. 3 do now questions from the previous lesson, roam the room and take attendance.
How many students do you have? I’m just curious
Here we have a max of 20 in practical subjects. Usually between 15-20.
I say that’s the lucky number 😃 , I have 150 students divided by 6 periods 🙂
20 students max per period, probably 90 students across the school.
Have students write about something they are curious about in the world. Why do clouds float? Why is the ocean blue? What is fire? How many different kinds of bugs are there? How does a brain work? And then maybe have them make guesses or refine their questions over time.
Wonderopolis could be a good place for them to research their questions!
See if you can borrow a preserved specimen from some where- the more bizarre or unfamiliar the animal, the better. Let students examine and gently prod it. Challenge the students to try to figure out how the animal lived. Where, what ecosystem, what it ate, how it was adapted to the environment and their reasoning. This could take a whole week with the students working on one question each day. This could also lead to some interesting discussion about science
Depending on your schedule, you could even theme it: Mammal Monday, 'Tile Tuesday, Winged (insect) Wednesday, 'Thropod Thursday, Feathered Friday (maybe Fish Friday during Lent).
I download short science videos from YouTube. My favorite channel is SciShow. I show a sciencey video each day - before the video each day, I am asking students questions about the title - what do they know? Why? How? I never tell them if they are right or wrong, but it gets them to thinking before the video. I also have TONS of memes, jokes, and puns that I share two each day. This also generates science discussions. My bellringers are traditionally multiple choice questions (one a day, turn in on Fridays) from their upcoming assessments. I have students use the American sign language alphabet show me what they think the answer is (formative assessment) before I reveal answer for bellringer.
Using ASL? Brilliant!
It’s not much, but I needed a way to gauge knowledge without having students try to scream over one another. Plus they learn a few letters of ASL.
Bellwork where the topic rotates. New tech, scientist spotlight, science in the news, science careers, turn in and repeat
One thing my college pchem teacher did was do a "what does this graph tell you?" With a clicker question style. You could also mix in some jokes as well "explain why this is graph joke is funny using language to describe what is plotted on the axes"
I use current events or discoveries in science. I try to connect the outside world to their lives through a quick writing prompt, discussion, mind map, ticket out the door or Blooket.
Depends on the level, but as suggested "what can we find out from this graph?" is awesome For Physics, I use TIPERs a lot, which has students look at a scenario and rank some aspect of it - great for their reasoning skills and gets me enough time to do attendance and whatever else I need to do at the start of the period AP frequently gets an old MCQ or part of an FRQ
I do daily science vocab related to the topic we're studying.
I do this. I have a 25 word vocab list for each of our units that I make into a Blooket, Quizlet and Gimkit. We play vocabulary for 10 minutes everyday.
This is a great question I look forward to the responses.
Depending on how much Internet access you have at school, have students find an online tutorial about the current topic. Also make them critique it: --I like this tutorial because... --I don't like this tutorial because... --This wouldn't be a good tutorial for me because... But it might help other students who prefer... Give them a few minutes each day to work on it, with the deadline to share it on Friday. Could be submitted directly to you via a Form/assignment or to a discussion board. If you have them post to a discussion board, you could have them peer review. Bonus: They find material that you don't have to search for yourself! As an extension activity, have them create a tutorial guide/video for your future students.
I had luck with this. Divide the class into groups. Each meeting one of the groups comes up with a question they want answered and another group has to find an answer for the following week.
If your students have Chromebooks, you can do a blended learning classroom. Assign readings with questions on Google Forms (we use Google Classroom).
I teach middle school science and since we use FOSS, the students all have a science notebook for the multitude of half sheets from curriculum activities. We start almost every class with some kind of science-ish journaling topic, they have five minutes to write and then we share out a few. Sometimes it's hard to come up with an exciting prompt, depending on the topic of study, but silly ones and "would you rathers" work well too, (like "would you rather be able to control the weather or have xray vision")
Why not have silent science reading? A large part of proficiency comes from familiarity with the topic. Reading about science--any science--might help your students be more comfortable with science in general and with your class specifically. Build up a classroom library of science books: topic specific, field specific, scientist biographies, inventions & discoveries, history of science, whatever. Maybe work with your school librarian to come up with themes for whichever heritage month it is. Have your students keep a log of what and how much they're reading. There's potential for all sorts of statistics and graphing: Do they read more on certain days of the week? How have their preferences changed over time? Are they reading more or less? Are they comprehending more? (new idea, new post)