Michael Stanley drew out middle school students’ curiosity about the world while they brainstormed about personal explorations. Students also investigated a real-world scientific expedition and created an educational video game as a way to share their research with a wider audience. Continue reading Educator Spotlight: Recreating Expeditions as Video Games
I’ve been a biology teacher for 28 years. Every year, I find myself looking at my curriculum with an eye toward how I can keep both a.) the content of my course fresh and b.) the delivery of that content enticing to a generation of young minds who are maturing in a world of social media, screens, and digital literacy. Add to this a very … Continue reading MARCH MAMMAL MADNESS – The Power of the Bracket
SCIENCE Welcome to March Mammal Madness: Real animals wage fictional battles, while students use science—a lot of it—to try to predict the winner. This year’s champion: the short-faced bear! (NPR) What are mammals? Why are they mad? Teachers, scroll down for a quick list of key resources in our Teachers Toolkit. Discussion Ideas It’s time for March Mammal Madness! What are mammals? A mammal is … Continue reading Beyond March Mammal Madness
What did you learn this week? We learned … … what the best new maps are, according to cartographers. Zoom in on one of the best maps of the year, from National Geographic magazine’s May issue. … Pluto’s heavy heart may have turned the world upside-down. How did NASA get close enough to peer into Pluto’s pretty heart? … bird poop may keep … Continue reading 11 Things We Learned This Week
Sara Plowman, this week’s Educator of the Week, has been a special education teacher for 11 years. She believes in the importance of outdoor experiential education to help students actively observe, experience, and question the world around them. Sara teaches science at Millennium High School and Piedmont Middle School in Piedmont, California. Who or what inspired you to teach? My first classroom of students inspired … Continue reading Educator Spotlight: Spot the Species
