Monday, January 12, 2009
Bored kids! Fun with static electricity!
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Here is an easy and fun activity with one bored kid or the whole neighborhood of bored kids (and its cheap too!). Kids as young as 3 years old can enjoy this activity.
Materials: Balloons and household items.
The goal: What will stick to the balloon / What will the balloon stick to?
Blow up several balloons. Have the kids rub the balloons on their shirts or hair. Show them the magic of how now the balloon sticks to their hand and won't come off. Challenge them to find items around the house that the balloon will stick to. If the kids are older (2 grade and up), the kids can make a list of items.
Make it cool by placing some items on paper towels and seeing which items will stick to the balloon such as: salt, pepper, confetti, little bits of aluminum foil, wooden pencil shavings, saw dust, sugar...whatever else you can dream up.
Make it cooler. This works great using a tube-style flourescent bulb. Turn out the lights. Rub the balloon on your shirt or hair and touch it to the metal end. You should see the bulb breifly light up. This is my kids favorite! They do it over and over and over. I use the bulb out of our fish tank.
Have fun!
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Energy Changes
This is one of my favorite activities! It is perfect for middle and high school students but can be adapted for younger students as well. In the past I have used this as an introduction to the concept of "Energy". But it can be used purely as an exploration or after study has been completed. The activities described are student centered but do need to be supervised. Students will be making Alka Seltzer poppers, "doing work", setting up a pendulum, discussing renewable and nonrenewable energy resources, splitting water, and even igniting some hydrogen gas. The focus of all these activities is to answer :What is energy and how does it convert from one form to another? All activities are using household items and are perfect for homeschoolers and a science classroom. Feel free to pick and choose through the activities, removing those that might not be applicable for your situation or learning environment. These are sure to wake up even the hardest to entice 13 year old!! Have fun and leave me feedback or questions about the activities!
Energy Changes
Energy Changes
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Studying for Final Exams without the Pain
Well, 14 years of teaching high school biology makes me a bit of an expert. 'Tis the season of the dreaded exams before the fun of Christmas can really start! I thought I'd offer a few tips for those of you studying this week.
1. An organized student will usually make better grades than an unorganized student. How can you spend quality time studying if you cannot find the materials to study?! Several days before the exam, spend your time organizing your school work. Locate the notes you will need and put them in the order they were taught to you. Organize school work, previous quizzes and tests in the same manner. Use the study guide or exam review sheet and highlight areas in your class notes that you will need to focus on. Highlight quizzes, classwork and any other papers that you can use to help prepare you for the information. If you are missing notes due to an absence or because you lost them, ask a classmate for their work to copy. This is legal, because you are not trying to pass their work off as yours, you just need it to study .
2. Use the Review Sheet/Study guide to make a "To-Do" List of items to learn. This can be a great motivational tool for some students. It feels great to be able to check an item off and see their progress.
3. Sit down with your work when you are feeling focused. Begin reading through them, if there is any information that is not making sense to you, now is the time to pull out your textbook. Look up the exact information topic, read it and fill in the blank on your notes.
4. A great way to learn information is to illustrate it. This works fantastic for a subject like science. Do not worry about your artistic skills, that isn't the point. An example would be learning the 3 parts of the Cell Theory. Turn the parts into little pictures that remind you of the theory part. Your brain will have an easier time remembering the pictures than memorized words. If you are trying to learn a "process" trying drawing a diagram. Even some of our great scientists had to make models to illustrate what they were trying to learn such as Watson and Crick (discovered the structure of DNA).
5. You can rarely go wrong with flash cards/note cards.
6. Recopy your notes. It is very difficult to stay focused reading class notes. To keep yourself on track rewrite them or type them. This tactic in particular got me through my college classes.
7. Make analogies. My favorite teaching tool while studying the structure of a cell is to make analogies. Students would write down the cell part, its function(s), then compare that cell part to a job/place in a town. Such as the Golgi apparatus is like the post office. The post office packages items, sorts them, and ships. The Golgi apparatus does the same thing with proteins.
8. Make concept maps of your notes. The term "concept map" is known by a couple of different names, but trust me, if your child is 4th grade or higher, they have made one. They look like this.
9. DO NOT SIT DOWN FOR 3 HOURS AND READ YOUR BOOK! This is an extremely ineffective method of studying for a final exam and should not be used. Most textbooks are boring anyway. You will be spending your time learning information that you do not need to know. Reading your textbook is a lazy man's way to study. It takes very little brain work.
10. Ask your teacher for study suggestions. If anyone knows the subject, they do. They also know what's on the test and may be able to offer suggestions that will work best for that subject area.
10. Switch it up. Try all the methods above, don't just stop at one. Keep it fresh and your brain alive. Get at least 6 hours of sleep and eat a good breakfast. Don't worry, you'll be fine!
1. An organized student will usually make better grades than an unorganized student. How can you spend quality time studying if you cannot find the materials to study?! Several days before the exam, spend your time organizing your school work. Locate the notes you will need and put them in the order they were taught to you. Organize school work, previous quizzes and tests in the same manner. Use the study guide or exam review sheet and highlight areas in your class notes that you will need to focus on. Highlight quizzes, classwork and any other papers that you can use to help prepare you for the information. If you are missing notes due to an absence or because you lost them, ask a classmate for their work to copy. This is legal, because you are not trying to pass their work off as yours, you just need it to study .
2. Use the Review Sheet/Study guide to make a "To-Do" List of items to learn. This can be a great motivational tool for some students. It feels great to be able to check an item off and see their progress.
3. Sit down with your work when you are feeling focused. Begin reading through them, if there is any information that is not making sense to you, now is the time to pull out your textbook. Look up the exact information topic, read it and fill in the blank on your notes.
4. A great way to learn information is to illustrate it. This works fantastic for a subject like science. Do not worry about your artistic skills, that isn't the point. An example would be learning the 3 parts of the Cell Theory. Turn the parts into little pictures that remind you of the theory part. Your brain will have an easier time remembering the pictures than memorized words. If you are trying to learn a "process" trying drawing a diagram. Even some of our great scientists had to make models to illustrate what they were trying to learn such as Watson and Crick (discovered the structure of DNA).
5. You can rarely go wrong with flash cards/note cards.
6. Recopy your notes. It is very difficult to stay focused reading class notes. To keep yourself on track rewrite them or type them. This tactic in particular got me through my college classes.
7. Make analogies. My favorite teaching tool while studying the structure of a cell is to make analogies. Students would write down the cell part, its function(s), then compare that cell part to a job/place in a town. Such as the Golgi apparatus is like the post office. The post office packages items, sorts them, and ships. The Golgi apparatus does the same thing with proteins.
8. Make concept maps of your notes. The term "concept map" is known by a couple of different names, but trust me, if your child is 4th grade or higher, they have made one. They look like this.
9. DO NOT SIT DOWN FOR 3 HOURS AND READ YOUR BOOK! This is an extremely ineffective method of studying for a final exam and should not be used. Most textbooks are boring anyway. You will be spending your time learning information that you do not need to know. Reading your textbook is a lazy man's way to study. It takes very little brain work.
10. Ask your teacher for study suggestions. If anyone knows the subject, they do. They also know what's on the test and may be able to offer suggestions that will work best for that subject area.
10. Switch it up. Try all the methods above, don't just stop at one. Keep it fresh and your brain alive. Get at least 6 hours of sleep and eat a good breakfast. Don't worry, you'll be fine!
Welcome
I am so excited about this blog! I have been a high school science teacher for 14 years and want to share my wisdom and tricks of the trade to younger science teachers just getting started, students needing science help and homeschooling families. You will find more resources here than you can imagine! Stay in touch!
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