Creativity in Mind

I am including my students' favorite labs and activities for a physical science unit covering motion, forces and energy. The Newton's Scooter Lab is a fun and physical to review Newton's Laws of Motion using a skateboard or scooter and the students' own mass. I used my Roller Coaster Lab to review forces and energy and students had a blast designing various coaster 'prototypes.' The Friction lab, while straightforward is a hands-on approach to this concept. Finally, I am including my Energy Tran

I may be guilty of saying this too much, but this is one of my favorite activities of all time! I use it whenever I can- middle school, high school, required classes or electives. You can't go wrong! And while you can certainly do it digitally, why not take a break from the screens and print it out so they can do some old-fashioned coloring? Simply tape the two pages together to make the scene. I usually do the front page vocabulary together with them, then set them loose to fill in the terms o

Here is a mini circuits unit for you. It includes my guided reading and vocabulary for series and parallel circuits (use as preview or review) as well as a nice little conceptual lab for the topic. Both can be used at the middle or high school level. Enjoy!

I have started doing weekly readings with vocabulary because our assessments have changed to ones in which decoding from informational text is an imperative skill. This is my reading and vocabulary for graphing in science. This is my edition for series and parallel circuits, which also includes electrical power. I also have a conceptual lab for this material which could be used at the middle or high school level. I will bundle it to this reading separately if you are interested in a mini unit on

I created this lab to reinforce the concept of friction. This is my middle level version as it is conceptual rather than mathematical. While it uses basic lab supplies ( spring scales, masses), there are some lab-specific materials that are easy to acquire. Hooked blocks can be made very easily by screwing in hooks to little blocks of wood. Your tech ed teacher can probably help you here if you don't already have these. Also, I used pre-fab friction boards, but you can use any surfaces you can f

I used these throughout my electricity unit for initial exposure to the content, but they can be used for review or homework or, if you need to be out for the day as well. Enjoy!

You can use this in several science courses as it aligns very well with the Human Impact NGSS standards. This is not a new lab, but I've reformulated it a bit to include a graphing component. It also includes a link to a video that explains the concept a bit. I would not play them this until after they have done the activity. They are supposed to act like greedy tyrants- it's all part of the fun!

Add a little fun and creativity to your Chemistry/Elements/Periodic Table units! Students find this project highly engaging because they have ownership of the word they choose for their bookmark. It's a great way to review concepts related to the Periodic Table. Project description, recording sheets, analysis questions and rubric are all contained in one packet To make the bookmarks, I cut out 5 cm by 18 cm rectangles from a standard sheet of posterboard. You will get about 40 bookmarks per shee

I am creating vocabulary and readings to go with all of my major units this year to support reading comprehension skills. Our final assessments have become reading-focused, so the more practice the better! Use these to introduce the unit, as homework or as test review. I felt that these two readings went well together, so that is why I am bundling them together for savings. Enjoy! :)

Do you need a break from the madness that are the weeks of Halloween or Christmas?!? I created this because I just wanted to enjoy a well-earned movie, but not feel guilty that they weren't learning science in the process. I included mostly science process skills (Graphing and The Scientific Method) as well as Physical Science concepts. That is what we are learning about this year. However, you could change a few questions to tailor it to your needs. Or leave as is and who cares? All science is

The new Earth and Space Sciences Reference Table is intense! I am creating scavenger hunt pages and answer keys for each of the pages of this new resource. This one covers the space concepts from pages 2-5. Enjoy!

This is really two labs in one. In the first part, students hypothesize which of three liquids will float on top of each other. I purposely give all the groups different amounts of each of the liquids (to set up part two). They get practice with both the scientific method and with graphing. In the second part, we curate each others' data into three data tables in order to make a triple line graph (with key) to view what mass and volume data look like when graphed. More advanced students can cal

I used this in my Oceanography course, but you could also use it in a Biology, Ecology or Environmental class if you are sick of the same old food web examples. After completing this background, we did an expanded food web poster project where each group was responsible for a different zone of the ocean

I've done this activity from 7th through 12th grades and it's always entertaining to see what they come up with. Since they're not actually building it, they can really think out of the box (ex- nuclear energy and thermal energy become popular). I usually do this after a lesson on energy and then I will show then the OK Go, "This Too Shall Pass" video as that is the ultimate contraption to model (in my opinion). You may also wish to show them Rube Goldberg examples. Or, modify a bit and simply u

Here is a fun little lab to review the concepts of Graphing and The Scientific Method. Students will also practice taking averages of data. You probably have the supplies in a well-stocked storage room- droppers, cups, water and pennies. Enjoy!

I am creating reading guides with associated vocabulary for major topics in my general science classes because our assessments have been shifting toward a reading-heavy format. I would like students to be able to read and decode to find accurate information. This is a critical 21st century skill in our information-heavy based society. Gone are the days where teachers simply deposit information into their students brains and hope some of it sticks! Use these for independent practice, homework or

Are you planning to do some lessons on microscopic organisms? Will you be having the students examine pond water? I created this very thorough webqest for my oceanography class before we looked at pond water in order to understand more about plankton. It would be great for any Biology class as well. They will come away with a very extensive knowledge about what they might see under the microscope.

I plan to use this before the holiday break. I made another movie guide for The Nightmare Before Christmas and the students liked it a great deal. This one is shorter because it is a shorter animated feature, but it is good for one period and the cartoon is funny and festive. Enjoy!

I used this in my environmental science class but it could be useful in several classes in relationship to the heavy emphasis on environmentalism in the NGSS standards. I found that while water and air pollution were heavily covered, there was little out there to reinforce soil pollution and the types of solid waste. Therefore, I created this web quest to fill in that gap. All needed websites are embedded in the document.

I've done this lab with middle and high school students. It requires a few supplies that you probably already have in a well-stocked science storeroom- aluminum bars and blocks and red and blue density blocks. The latter can easily be acquired now as they are a required supply for a NYS required Earth Science Lab. If you want your students to think critically about how physical size change do and do not affect density, this is the lab for you. Enjoy!