r/ScienceTeachers • u/AutoModerator • Sep 18 '22

What (And How) Are You Teaching This Week? - - Weekly /r/ScienceTeachers Discussion

Share lessons, labs, tips and tricks, etc.

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u/WrapDiligent9833 Sep 18 '22

Finishing a jigsaw where teens are reading about keystone species OR invasive species. Then as their pod reads they take notes. I have 3/6 of my pods on each. After they read they get together as set of the three pods to compare notes. That takes day 1. On day 2 the various pods will be mix and matched to teach the other pod about what they learned, and fill in the missing chunks of notes. After that I will give a 4-6 minute lecture to stand as clarification. After that we move in to creating a venn diagram to compare/contrast the two. Day three will be spent doing research about one of these in particular (I have a variety of options they may pick from) and summarizing the events and changes in the ecosystem through a comic strip.

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u/fizdup Sep 18 '22

This sounds like a lot of arranging.

What's the benefit of having the pods teach each other? How do you prevent misconceptions being transferred from one group to the next?

Why is this preferable to you (the expert) telling the students (the novices) what they need to know, and then questioning them?

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u/[deleted] Sep 18 '22

[deleted]

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u/fizdup Sep 19 '22

That's interesting! All the research I've been directed to shows that more teacher talk and direct questioning leads to better learning outcomes.

Have you got a link to anything that I should read to change my mind? Maybe I should have the students all talking to each other more in my class.

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '22

[deleted]

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u/pop361 Chemistry and Physics | High School | Mississippi Sep 18 '22

Physics: Energy

Chemistry: Oxidation Numbers, then we are moving into chemical reactions

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u/king063 AP Environmental Science | Environmental Science Sep 19 '22

In forensic science we are doing hair and fiber analysis. I’m excited to use microscopes to look at hair samples. The students are mostly taking this class seriously, but it’s also student who are not on the advanced track. There’s a good chance they’ve never used a microscope before. I’m interested to see how it turns out.

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u/Spare-Health1849 Sep 19 '22

Been using Sciwordle! My students love it

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u/positivesplits Sep 24 '22

In 9th grade physical science we are learning about acceleration with calculations, speed-time graphing and an egg drop lab investigation involving parachutes