Plant ecology is an important subject that often receives little attention in middle school, as more time during science classes is devoted to plant biology. Therefore, the authors have developed a series of activities, including a card game—Designing the Perfect Plant—to introduce student's to plant ecology and the ecological tradeoffs associated with different types of plants and plant attributes. The activities also introduce students to general ecological concepts such as biodiversity, environmental disturbance, habitat, competition, and predation.
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Most middle school science teachers are familiar with the idea of reading and writing across the curriculum. We, as science teachers, understand that our students need time, practice, and lots of encouragement in order to learn how to read and write well. What we also need to remember, however, is that learning how to read and write in science is an important part of scientific literacy, and it can help students understand and retain key science content (NRC 1996; Saul 2004). In this article, the authors outline a technique that science teachers can use in middle school classrooms to help students learn to write, and write to learn, in science.
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Science lessons can encourage students to view data with a scientists' skeptical eye—especially now that so much unrefereed information is online, in advertising, and in other media sources. In developing the skills of media literacy as part of science studies, students learn to dissect advertisements and other more subtle media messages to discern bias and hidden meanings. Therefore, The Key Media Literacy Questions (Thier and Davis 2002) and Media-analysis activities described in this article can help students develop a healthy skepticism of media and hone their critical-thinking skills.
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In this activity, students travel back in time as explorers to collect scientific information on plant and animal life during various geological eras. The author uses the book, The Deep Time Diaries as way to bring literature into the science classroom and to introduce field journals. Students have two days to collect research from the internet, books, and maps to complete their field-journal entries. They then compile the information and create drawings of what they discovered. To add a creative element to the field journals, students also invent an imaginary story line of what could have happened during their jump back in time.
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In order to help students to make connections in science and literacy through writing, the authors present them with an open-ended question (OEQ), which is a divergent assessment in the form of a writing prompt (a situation), and directions for writing at the beginning of each major unit. Students complete this assessment by the end of the unit. Through the OEQ reports, students build competence in literacy skills in two curricular areas, science and language arts (Harris-Freedman 1994).
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The SLAMS (Sentence, Lines, Answer, Mechanics, Support) (Crowell and Kolba 2006) strategy is a basic and relatively simple technique used to guide students to answer open-ended questions when reading nonfiction. This strategy gives students the opportunity to develop well-constructed responses, because their answers have to fulfill all parts of SLAMS.
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Career choice is a process, not an event. Interest in science is a preliminary step toward and prerequisite for a career in science. Once interest in science is established, training and education can then provide the critical links between labor-force needs and supply. Unfortunately, interest in science is frequently derailed by the prevalence of persistent and tenacious negative stereotypes (Steinke et al. 2007). In this article, the author discusses these stereotypes, and then describes an innovative twist on a classic activity that can be used with middle school, high school, and college students to challenge existing stereotypes by activating and confronting preconceived images of scientists.
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It seems that everyone is using science journals or notebooks lately. As middle school science teachers, the authors use science journals as a tool to enhance students' knowledge and understanding of content and reinforce students' writing skills. Here they share how they use science journals to motivate students to write about science in middle school classes.
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Sheltered instruction is not a commercial program but is a set of instructional practices used specifically with English Language Learners (ELL). It embeds existing instructional strategies such as wait time, visual organizers, group work, and allowing students to actively respond for immediate feedback. Sheltered instruction "integrates lesson knowledge and concepts with opportunities to practice using English by reading, writing, listening and speaking" (Colburn and Echevaria 2001). This article describes the four elements of sheltered instruction (Group work, Wait time, Group-response technique, Supplemental materials).
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Flame-test demonstrations are conducted annually in middle and high school science labs across the country. The purpose of the flame test is to help identify an unknown metal or metalloid ion based on a characteristic color the salt produces in a flame. The emission spectra help the observer distinguish certain elements. Although they can be an effective and exciting learning tool for science teachers to use, they can also present safety hazards. This month's column describes some safer alternatives science teachers can use to conduct flame tests.
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A practical method for either observing or modeling the view we have of other planets is to focus on planets near the horizon, specifically morning or evening planets and their location relative to the Sun. Planets rising ahead of the Sun are seen above the eastern horizon, are located to the right or west of the Sun, and are known as morning planets. On the other hand, or horizon actually, planets setting after the Sun over the western horizon and located to the left or east of the Sun are known as evening planets. Bring your students’ view from Earth a little closer by using the computer-assisted astronomy resources described in this month’s column.
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Proportionality should be a central focus of the middle-grades science and mathematics curricula and concepts such as density can be introduced and taught in both disciplines, highlighting for students the connections between science and mathematics. This month's column describes how teachers can utilize the The Atlas of Science Literacy and other resources to help bridge the gap and strengthen connections between these two disciplines.
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Science projects can be a wonderful opportunity for learning and creativity, or a gigantic headache for teachers. After several years of implementation, experience, and revision, the author has put together a fun and engaging project centered on machines that is appropriate for middle school students. This project came to be known simply as “The Thinking Machine Project,” which draws its origin from the national Rube Goldberg Machine competition held each year at Purdue University. Here is one way to bring technology, writing, drawing, creativity, and hands-on ingenuity together in a single fun and successful project.
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Are you looking for a creative way to teach the functions of cell organelles? If you answered yes, then organelle employment advertisements are just what you need. During this project, students must create an employment ad for a cell organelle and give an oral presentation. Students are assessed on their ablity to clearly communicate their work to others.
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