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Tried and True: Time-Tested Activities for Middle School (e-book)


Edited by: Inez Liftig

$16.87 - Member Price  
$19.46 - Nonmember Price


$26.99 - Member Price  
$33.74 - Nonmember Price

Details

Type of Product:e-Book (our e-books are in PDF format and can be viewed on your computer or any compatible reading device) (also see print version of this book)
Publication Date:2/22/2011
Pages:197
Stock Number:PB288Xe
ISBN:978-1-936137-55-8
Grade Level:Elementary School, Middle School


Description

A compilation of popular “Tried and True” columns originally published in the award-winning journal Science Scope, this new book is filled with teachers’ best classroom activities—time-tested, tweaked, and engaging. These favorites are organized by topic, including physical science, life science, Earth and space science, and instructional strategies. Activities like "Investigating Ecosystems in a Biobottle," "Balloons and Newton’s Third Law," and "Helicopter Seeds and Hypotheses …That’s Funny!" are hands-on lessons that pique students’ interest and demonstrate important science concepts. Teachers will appreciate the accompanying activity worksheets, visual aids, and connections to the national standards. These ageless activities will fit easily into your middle school curriculum and serve as permanent go-to resources when you need a tried-and-true lesson for tomorrow.


Ideas For Use

Additional Info

Science Discipline: (mouse over for full classification)
Rock cycle
Sun
Soil
Water
Volcanoes
Geologic time
Planets
Cellular specializations
Cellular structures
Food web
Populations
Chromosomes
Genes
Integumentary system
Nervous system
Circuits
Inertia
Newton’s laws of motion
Mirrors
Chemical changes
Physical changes
Physical properties
Music
Gases
Analyzing data
Asking questions
Classifying
Collecting data
Communicating
Experimenting
Hypothesizing
Interpreting data
Observing
Predicting
Scientific habits of mind
Using mathematics
Plants
Behavior
Intended User Role:Elementary-Level Educator, Middle-Level Educator, Teacher
Educational Issues:Assessment of students, Classroom management, Curriculum, Inquiry learning, Instructional materials, Interdisciplinary, Professional development, Teacher preparation, Teaching strategies

Contents

Preface by Inez Liftig
PART 1. INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES
Developing Inquiry Skills
Chapter 1. Taking Flight with an Inquiry Approach, by Kathryn Silvis
Chapter 2. Thinking Spatially: Taking Observation, Classification Skills to a Higher Level of Reasoning, by Douglas Llewllyn
Chapter 3. Looking for Questions, by Susan German
Chapter 4. Peanut Butter and Jelly Science, by Donna Farland
Chapter 5. Write It, Do It, by Erin Peters

Classroom Management
Chapter 6. It’s as Simple as Shuffling Cards, by Mary Pella Donnelly
Chapter 7. Traffic Control Tips for Hands-on Labs, by Tricia Hill

PART 2. LIFE SCIENCE ACTIVITIES
Chapter 8. Disrupted Food Webs: Exploring the Relationship between Overfishing and Dead Zones in the Chesapeake Bay, by Yael Wyner
Chapter 9. Inquiry-Based Environmental Science Investigations with the Fantastic Fruit Fly, by Ashlie M. Beals and Rebecca M. Krall
Chapter 10. Investigating Ecosystems in a Bottle, by Amica Breene and Denise Gilewski
Chapter 11. Feeding of Diarmis Proboscis, by Jocelyn Young
Chapter 12. Soil Is More than Just Dirt, by Carrie Taylor and John Graves
Chapter 13. Inquiring about Water Quality, by Margaret Dacko and Robbie Higdon
Chapter 14. The View at the Zoo: Using a Photographic Scavenger Hunt as the Basis for an Interdisciplinary Field Trip, by Lynn Gilbert, Pamela Breitbarth, Matthew Brungardt, Carrie Dorr and Meena Balgopal
Chapter 15. Cell Organelle Employment Advertisements, by Rebekah Hammack
Chapter 16. Presenting Mitosis, by Stephanie Roche and Donna R. Sterling
Chapter 17. Helicopter Seeds and Hypotheses…That’s Funny! by Leslie Wampler and Christopher Dobson
Chapter 18. A Touch of Neuroscience, by David Parlier and Melissa K. Demetrikopouios
Chapter 19. How the Brain Visually Perceives the World, by Rogene M. Echler West

PART 3. EARTH AND SPACE SCIENCE ACTIVITIES
Chapter 20. Chipping Away at the Rock Cycle, by Debbi Molina-Walters and Jill Cox
Chapter 21. Rock Cycle Project: Rock and Rap CD Cover, by Sandra Rutherford and Cindy Corlett
Chapter 22. Volcano Resumes, by Sandra Rutherford and Cindy Corlett
Chapter 23. How Old? Tested and Trouble-free Ways to Convey Geologic Time, by Renee Clary and James Wandersee
Chapter 24. Solar System in the Hallway, by Malonne Davies, Linda Landis and Arthur Landis

PART 4. PHYSICS ACTIVITIES
Chapter 25. Newton’s First Law: A Learning Cycle Approach, by Deborah McCarthy
Chapter 26. Balloons and Newton’s Third Law, by Diana Stroup
Chapter 27. An Eggciting Alternative to a Science Olympiad, by Patricia Doney
Chapter 28. Egg-in-the-Bottle Demonstration, by Wayne Goates
Chapter 29. Whatever Floats Your Boat, by Susan L. McBride
Chapter 30. Making the Connection: Addressing Students’ Misconceptions of Circuits, by James P. Concannon, Patrick L. Brown, and Enrique M. Pareja
Chapter 31. It’s All Done with Mirrors, by Michael Demchik
Chapter 32. Heating Up Inquiry with Solar Ovens, by Greg Corder and Carol Hall
Chapter 33. Sensations of Sound, by Pamela Galus

PART 5. CHEMISTRY ACTIVITIES
Chapter 34. It’s a Gas! An Exploration of the Physical Nature of Gases, by Troy Sadler, Teresa M. Eckart, Jennifer E. Lewis and Katherine M. Whitley
Chapter 35. The Blue Bottle Demonstration, by William C. Deese, Linda Ramsey, and Cathi Cox
Chapter 36. Modeling Changes in Matter, Magnifying Interest in Science, by Tom Brown, Greg Rushton and Edward VanHaute
Chapter 37. Evaporating Is Cool, by Richard Hand

Chapter 38. Extending Paper Chromatography Inquiry, by Kevin Finson
Chapter 39. Inquiry-Based Dissolving, by Gregory Benedis-Grab, Molly Petzoldt and Lisbeth Uribe
Chapter 40. Our Class Periodic Table, by Sarah Young

Index


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National Standards Correlation

This resource has 49 correlations with the National Standards.  
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This resource has 49 correlations with the National Standards.  
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  • Physical Science
    • Properties of objects and materials
      • Materials can exist in different states--solid, liquid, and gas. (K-4)
    • Properties and changes of properties in matter
      • A substance has characteristic properties, such as density, a boiling point, and solubility. (5-8)
      • The characteristic properties of a substance are independent of the amount of the sample. (5-8)
      • A mixture of substances often can be separated into the original substances using one or more of the characteristic properties. (5-8)
      • Substances react chemically in characteristic ways with other substances to form new substances (compounds) with different characteristic properties. (5-8)
      • Substances often are placed in categories or groups if they react in similar ways; metals are an example of such a group. (5-8)
    • Position and motion of objects
      • Sound is produced by vibrating objects. (K-4)
      • The pitch of the sound can be varied by changing the rate of vibration. (K-4)
    • Light, heat, electricity, and magnetism
      • Electricity in circuits can produce light, heat, sound, and magnetic effects. (K-4)
    • Transfer of Energy
      • Energy is a property of many substances and is associated with heat, light, electricity, mechanical motion, sound, nuclei, and the nature of a chemical. (5-8)
      • Heat moves in predictable ways, flowing from warmer objects to cooler ones, until both reach the same temperature. (5-8)
      • Light interacts with matter by transmission (including refraction), absorption, or scattering (including reflection). To see an object, light from that object—emitted by or scattered from it—must enter the eye. (5-8) (5-8)
    • Motion and Forces
      • The motion of an object can be described by its position, direction of motion, and speed. (5-8)
      • An object that is not being subjected to a force will continue to move at a constant speed and in a straight line. (inertia) (5-8)
  • Life Science
    • The characteristics of organisms
      • Organisms have basic needs. For example, animals need air, water, and food; plants require air, water, nutrients, and light. (K-4)
      • Each plant or animal has different structures that serve different functions in growth, survival, and reproduction. For example, humans have distinct body structures for walking, holding, seeing, and talking. (K-4)
    • Structure and function in living systems
      • Living systems at all levels of organization demonstrate the complementary nature of structure and function (5-8)
      • Important levels of organization for structure and function include cells, organs, tissues, organ systems, whole organisms, and ecosystems (5-8)
      • All organisms are composed of cells--the fundamental unit of life (5-8)
      • Cells carry on the many functions needed to sustain life. They grow and divide, thereby producing more cells. (5-8)
      • Specialized cells perform specialized functions in multicellular organisms. (5-8)
      • Each type of cell, tissue, and organ has a distinct structure and set of functions that serve the organism as a whole. (5-8)
    • Reproduction and heredity
      • A human cell contains many thousands of different genes. (5-8)
      • Hereditary information is contained in genes, located in the chromosomes of each cell. (5-8)
    • Regulation and behavior
      • Behavior is one kind of response an organism can make to an internal or environmental stimulus. (5-8)
    • Populations and ecosystems
      • Food webs identify the relationships among producers, consumers, and decomposers in an ecosystem. (5-8)
  • Earth Science
    • Properties of earth materials
      • Earth materials are solid rocks and soils, water, and the gases of the atmosphere.
    • Structure of the earth system
      • Major geological events, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and mountain building, result from the motions of lithospheric plates. (5-8)
      • Some changes in the solid earth can be described as the "rock cycle." (5-8)
      • Soil consists of weathered rocks and decomposed organic material from dead plants, animals, and bacteria. (5-8)
      • Global patterns of atmospheric movement influence local weather. (5-8)
    • Earth in the solar system
      • The earth is the third planet from the sun in a system that includes the moon, the sun, eight other planets and their moons, and smaller objects, such as asteroids and comets. (5-8)
      • The sun, an average star, is the central and largest body in the solar system. (5-8)
    • Origin and evolution of the earth system
      • Geologic time can be estimated by observing rock sequences and using fossils to correlate the sequences at various locations. (9-12)
      • Current methods of measuring geologic time include using the known decay rates of radioactive isotopes present in rocks to measure the time since the rock was formed. (9-12)
  • Science as Inquiry
    • Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
      • Ask a question about objects, organisms, and events in the environment. (K-4)
      • Use data to construct a reasonable explanation.
      • Communicate investigations and explanations.
      • Use appropriate tools and techniques to gather, analyze, and interpret data.
      • Develop descriptions, explanations, predictions, and models using evidence.
      • Think critically and logically to make the relationships between evidence and explanations.
    • Understandings about scientific inquiry
      • Types of investigations include describing objects, events, and organisms; classifying them; and doing a fair test (experimenting).
      • Scientists develop explanations using observations (evidence) and what they already know about the world (scientific knowledge). Good explanations are based on evidence from investigations. (K-4)
  • Process Standards for Professional Development
    • Design
      • Introduce teachers to scientific literature, media, and technological resources that expand their science knowledge and their ability to access further knowledge. (NSES)
  • Content Standards
    • Quality Teaching
      • Deepens educators’ content knowledge, provides them with research-based instructional strategies to assist students in meeting rigorous academic standards, and prepares them to use various types of classroom assessments appropriately. (NSDC)
  • Teaching Standards
    • Teachers of science plan an inquiry-based science program for their students.
      • Select science content and adapt and design curricula to meet the interests, knowledge, understanding, abilities, and experiences of students.
    • Teachers of science guide and facilitate learning. In doing this, teachers
      • Encourage and model the skills of scientific inquiry, as well as the curiosity, openness to new ideas and data, and skepticism that characterize science.
      • Orchestrate discourse among students about scientific ideas.
    • Teachers provide students with the time, space, and resources needed to learn science.
      • Create a setting for student work that is flexible and supportive of science inquiry.


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