Category: Science

These are blogs about Science or about the Science we do in my classes.

The End of a Great Streak

I wrote two grant proposals this year and did NOT get either of them. With that came an end to an incredible 13 year streak of getting at least one grant per year. I have been very fortunate. But with failing and broken equipment and the threat of losing the 1:1 environment that I have …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/04/01/the-end-of-a-great-streak/

Rain Gardens

WCC Crew

Friday, March 9, we had six Washington Conservation Corps (WCC) crew members visit all five of my Science classes to talk conservation, watersheds, pollution, our creek and to share a rain garden they planted on our campus. It was a great experience for my kids to see a group of highly motivated young people who …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/03/14/rain-gardens/

Interviewed!

How cool to get interviewed! Laurie Hansen contacted me for an interview about our WA STEM grant project. It was such a cool experience. Check it out at her blog, Vicariosity. 🙂 Thanks again, Laurie!

Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/02/14/interviewed/

Guest Post: Science that Sticks

As teachers, we hope to do more than just teach kids information they need to pass tests and score well on end-of-grade exams. We hope to teach information such that the kids remember it five, ten, and even twenty years later. We hope to imbue students with useful facts and figures and to teach critical …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/01/06/guest-post-science-that-sticks/

Learning About Cells

This year my Science PLC is focusing on using learning progressions. We’ve worked for years on eliciting evidence so we moved on to a new focus, namely sharing learning expectations. [Disclaimer: I’ve read some bloggers who raise some great points about sharing learning expectations and using rubrics with our students so I’d like to note …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2012/01/02/learning-about-cells/

Unstructured iPad Time

We have a traditional bell schedule with six periods of classes a day for our students. Each class lasts about 50 minutes with four minutes of hall passing time to get to the next class. Most of our classes are close enough apart that kids can get to their next class rather quickly. So if …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2011/12/12/unstructured-ipad-time/

Questioning

Talk Moves Poster

Through my work with the Olympic Math and Science Partnership (OMSP) I have been learning a lot about the formative process. One aspect of formative assessment or assessment for learning that is of extra interest to me has been questioning. Questioning used to be one of the five key strategies of assessment for learning but …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2011/12/05/questioning/

What is STEM?

My work as a grantee of one of the first WA STEM Entrepreneurial awards is very exciting. I gotta say that doing this type of work is a great way to keep my job fresh. At a recent WA STEM grantee meeting I learned about the next level of the work. My work at school …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2011/11/29/what-is-stem/

Habits of Mind

Content area teaching, teaching subjects in isolation, separate of each other, is a common practice in school. I’m guilty of continuing the traditional practice of specializing and teaching only one subject. And the funny thing is that my national board certification is on integration (generalist)! I started my career as an elementary teacher, 4th and …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2011/11/21/habits-of-mind/

Reading Strategies in Science

Should I take time to teach my students in Science reading strategies to help them with our Science readings or should Language Arts teachers use Science readings as they teach kids to read? I’m all for integration. My national board certification is in early adolescent generalist (which, btw, doesn’t even exist anymore!) so integration was …

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Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2011/10/31/reading-strategies-in-science/

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