These are blogs about Science or about the Science we do in my classes.
Apr 30
I just got a $300 grant from my school district’s educational support foundation, the Friends of Chimacum! I submitted a proposal to purchase a couple of Sphero Robotic App Controlled Balls! I saw a Science teacher at this year’s NCCE conference playing with one of those and he was telling me how he used them …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2015/04/30/robotic-ball/
Apr 02
I was looking for water pollution images to make a Kahoot quiz to check my students’ understanding as they research to make public service announcements. I found an awesome image. It was so awesome that I had to check the website it came from. It is a copyright image and the website had a lesson …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2015/04/02/science-and-engineering-resource/
Nov 17
I read this article in the Instructional Leader on Text-Dependent Questions. As part of the WA STEM PD grant that my school got we are working in our grade level PLC (Professional Learning Community) for one cycle followed by departmental PLC. There’s a different dynamic to PLC work when you meet with your grade level …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/11/17/text-dependent-questions/
Oct 23
At a summer institute NGSS workshop I heard the presenter say that we could modify the Next Generation Science Standards to meet the needs of our students. So I did just that! We get to visit Mt Saint Helens as part of our 6th grade outdoor education experience to Camp Cispus. Because of that 6th …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/10/23/i-modified-ngss/
Sep 30
Here’s a presentation I put together for students for our Mt Saint Helens study after our fantastic trip last week to Camp Cispus (we are very fortunate to get to take our entire 6th grade class to a camp for four days every year)! I added some brief notes explaining what each slide is showing:
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/09/30/mt-saint-helens-2/
Feb 09
In response to my questions on the Inquiry Dry Spell post I wrote Edna (@whatedsaid) posed some questions to get me thinking about inquiry in my Science classes. She wrote the following on her post, Response to the dry spell… Inquiry encourages students to be actively involved in and to take responsibility for their own …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/02/09/inquiry-in-science/
Feb 09
I use Carolina’s STC/MS Energy, Machines, and Motion kit (EMM) with my 6th graders. The lessons in this kit are well structured to take advantage of how people learn by making sure every lesson starts by eliciting prior knowledge of students with questions that students investigate through different labs. The procedures are laid out, step …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/02/09/adding-inquiry/
Feb 04
I’ll be the first to admit it, I don’t seem to have much of a green thumb. I have to work hard (see the growth mindset there) at successfully growing plants, especially from seeds, even though in nature they seem to grow just fine. Something about me meddling or maybe over thinking it. I also …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/02/04/let-nature-take-its-course/
Jan 29
Cross-posted on Inquire Within. I wrote my first post for Inquire Within on Nov 29, 2010 and my last post was on Dec 5, 2011. I’ve gone two whole years without writing a post! Last school year, after many months of not writing a post for this blog, I asked Edna to keep me on …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2014/01/29/dry-spell/
Dec 18
I thought this was funny. Eighth graders are learning how to use microscopes to learn about cells. We started with some basic lessons on how to use the fine and coarse focus, field of view, and focal plane. Then students began their exploration of the microscopic view of living things by looking a elodea leaves. …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2013/12/18/plant-humor/
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I've presented at NCCE
2016, 2017, 2019, 2022,
2023, 2024, and 2025!
I presented at WSTA 2015!
