Daryl Science

Here's another site that takes some sorting through, but has some treasures to be found. I was fortunate enough to attend a couple of workshops presented by Daryl, which were loaded with great demo ideas for science classes. He's a high school physics teacher, so the bulk of his things are geared to that set, but many are appropriate/adaptable to younger students and he's tried to add some demos for other branches of science. In order to get to the demos, you have to do a bit of navigating on the site... on the top left of the home page, click on "Professional Stuff", then on "Science Teacher Demos". There's a lot of other good stuff to look through while you're at the site, so spend some time there.

When I've had questions about some of his demos - things I saw in person or found on the site - I found Daryl to be very responsive to emails (his address can be found on the site). That said, I'm not sure if he's regularly updating his site anymore and if that's still the case, but I suspect that if he gets your question, he'll answer it to the best of his ability.

A warning of sorts.... he's got a sense of humor... some of us appreciate it, others have to wade through it. Regardless of whether or not you find him funny, he knows physics and has solid activities.

Access Excellence

I have found several great activities in the Fellows Collection at Access Excellence. These activities were designed by high school biology teachers, so they may need some tweaking before most of this group can use them (and some others just aren't appropriate for the younger age group), but that shouldn't stop you from looking. I like to use the Chromosome Shuffle to illustrate mitosis and meiosis - always a tough subject, plus it gets the kids up and moving and participating in the process. That particular activity takes some prep work to get the props ready, but once you've done it, you've got them forever and you just have to pull them out the next year. Who Dirtied the Water is totally adaptable to middle school students and even the elementary set. While you're at the site, check out the other activities found at the Activities Exchange.

Science-Class.net

Here's another site chock full of ideas... science-class.net. Have that ink cartridge and ream of paper ready!

On another note, I'm working on getting a bunch of other things ready to post shortly... I hope. The summer has snuck away on me - hope yours has been good!

Also, I'll return to the original Iron Science format this fall. Anyone want to share any ideas for "ingredients"? I'd appreciate the input - leave it as a comment or email me at adventures-in-science@gmail.com.

Middle School Science

Did you check out the Science Spot? What did you think? Good stuff, huh?

Here's another website loaded with goodies: MiddleSchoolScience.Com. In order to get to the good stuff, click on the links just below the banner: Chemistry, Earth Science, Life Science, Physics. In addition to the wealth of activities, you might enjoy the information Liz provides regarding her students' lab notebooks. She's also recently added new interactive/online labs and activities for each curriculum area.

Happy searching and printing!

The Science Spot

If you aren't already familiar with the Science Spot, you MUST spend some time perusing it this summer. Tracy Trimpe has created this amazing website (and has been kind enough to share some of her great ideas with us on this very site) and I can't get enough of it. I have used so many of Tracy's ideas in my classroom, that I can't even begin to list them here.

Start by checking out The Science Classroom. There you will find not only ideas to use in your classroom, but also the student handouts, teacher notes, and any other paperwork that goes with the lesson. Just be forewarned... you'll want to make sure you have a ream of paper and a fairly fresh ink cartridge on hand... and a few binders or folders to put your papers in wouldn't hurt. You'll be printing that much... it's that good! I promise! I'm also fond of the Survivor Science section and have used it with my classes during the last week or so of the school year with only a few minor adjustments. Fun stuff.

I hope you check it out! Let me know how it goes and what you find. And don't forget to add it to your saved bookmarks!

ikeepbookmarks - An Assignment

You've been giving assignments for the last 10 months - now it's your turn to be on the receiving end!

If you're like me, you perform an online search, eventually find exactly what you're looking for, but then go on to something else and can never find that perfect site again. So, you tell me I'm a moron, I just need to create a bookmark or a favorite. True enough, but even when I'm conscientious enough to do just that, it never fails that the next time I'm looking for said website, I'm at a different computer than I was initially and I can't access my bookmark/favorite.

I'm planning to share several excellent websites with you over the next couple of weeks and I want to make sure you're able to find those sites whenever and wherever you are. So, before we delve into science websites, I want to introduce you to www.ikeepbookmarks.com If you create an account on this website, you can save your list of favorite websites there and access that list while online on any computer simply by visiting this site. You can even create a public account, in which you create a list of links to websites that can be accessed using just the account name (no password needed to access the list, only to add to it). Can you see the possibilities for your classroom and students as well as your personal life?

So, your assignment is to check out: www.ikeepbookmarks.com and set up your own account (if you don't have one already). Then you'll be all set when I start sharing some other sites with you in a few days!

A Short History of Nearly Everything

A Short History of Nearly Everything

This is one of my FAVORITE books, and I'm not much of a non-fiction reader! Bill Bryson attempts to explore every branch of science and puts his findings (gathered from a wide variety of experts in each area) into conversational English that can be understood by middle school students. There are great passages in this book to share with your students within every area of the curriculum.

When I started reading this book, I used a pencil to underline and mark things I found remarkable or things I wanted to be able to locate to share with my students. After underlining the majority of the first chapter, I put the pencil away and just read. I think I read about half the book aloud to my husband, because there were just so many interesting facts that I had to share with someone and he was the someone nearest to me.

Add A Short History of Nearly Everything to your summer reading list - I don't think you'll be disappointed. Check it out from your local library, or, if you want your own copy to underline and otherwise mark, click on the link above to be taken to Amazon where you can purchase your own copy.

Back At It

First off, my apologies for an unannounced and very long hiatus. I was away for the month of April and was also starting to lose focus and inspiration. But... I'm back.

Summer months mean a break from school for most of you, and I'm going to change format here on the blog for the summer too. I'm going to use the summer to share some of my favorite, science related things with you... books, websites, products, etc.

I hope that you'll contine to browse the previous postings and make note of the wonderful ideas shared... lots of good ideas for the start of a new school year, when you're ready to face that thought! Feel free to continue to add your own ideas too, now that you have a little more time on your hands - I hope!

Pop! Soda and Soda Cans

There are several different things you can include in your ideas for this week...

*Empty soda cans*

*Full soda cans*

*The soda itself, without the can*

Toy Cars

Big or small, self-powered or not, let's hear any ways you can think of to use a toy car to teach a science concept.

Bird Seed

Readily available from a lot of sources... how do you use it?

Bottles

Plastic bottles - soda bottles, water bottles, etc. - are easy to come by and can be used for a variety of demonstrations and activities.

Here is a whole book of things you can do with empty soda bottles:

(If you click on the words "Bottle Biology" to the right of the image, you'll be taken directly to amazon.com where you can read more about it and order your very own copy, should you wish to do so) It's a pretty neat book with lots of ideas, from simple to complex.

Bottle Biology

I will try to post a picture of a self-watering planter I made last summer (from this book) in the next day or two. The self watering device worked really well for a few months, until it rotted. But, up until that point, it kept the plant alive without my touching it, for a good three months.

Borax

First, my apologies that last week's object turned out to be a bit of a dud. Okay, a lot of a dud to date. I do have a popsicle stick project I want to link to, but at the moment am having a hard time locating the information I need. Look for it to be coming soon.



Hopefully this week will be a bit more inspiring...

Borax!

I will immediately post some ideas to get the ball rolling. Hope to hear from lots of you out there!

Popsicle Sticks

So simple, so basic, what a great starting point for a variety of science fun!

Pasta - Noodles - Macaroni

Whatever the shape, size, or name.... tell us about it!

Eggs

Last week's object (marbles) was a bit geared to the physics set, so we'll go in a completely different direction this week...

Eggs...

...I'll share a few ideas and hope there are lots more out there to learn about.

Marbles!

Yikes! Thursday snuck up quickly on me this week!

Hope you're all having a wonderful week and have an even better weekend!

This week, let's consider the uses for a classic childhood toy.....

Marbles

And, don't forget to take a few seconds to vote in the poll!

Taking Care of Business...

I've been giving this site a lot of thought lately... Mostly I've been wondering if I should be posting new mystery objects more frequently. In some ways it seems like maybe a week is too long - not enough change to keep people interested and coming back. But, everyone is busy, and posting new objects too frequently might cause people to fall behind and give up. What do you think? There's a poll at the top of the left hand column - take a minute and let me know what would work best for you.

Also, I was thinking that some of you might like to know when and where people have added comments, to make it easier to find them. If you'd like notification when the site has been updated in any way, please send an email to adventures.in.science@gmail.com. You'll receive, at most, one email per day letting you know what's happened. If nothing's happened, you won't get an email that day. Fair enough?

Dried Beans

Am I the only one who regularly peruses the selection of dried beans at the grocery store?

I've found a variety of uses for them... not sure I can even remember them all of the top of my head, but I'll do my best.

If you teach science....

...you are a science teacher!

-New Jersey Middle School Science Teachers (NJMSST)

I just wanted to take a few moments to welcome all the new people who have been stopping by to check out this blog recently. I am so grateful to you for taking the time out of your day to come check things out. I hope you like what you see! If you do, I hope you'll do three things:

1. I hope you'll come back.
2. I hope you'll consider passing the address along to any other science teachers you know.
3. I hope at some point you'll feel comfortable sharing some of your best tricks with the rest of us. They needn't be fancy or complex, and you don't even have to reveal your true identity... any idea is welcome here.

The success of the site depends on you! (I know that sounds rather cliche, but it's not untrue... while it's fun to post and re-read my own ideas, it's probably not the *best* use of my time!)

If, on the other hand, you aren't so crazy about what you see, please send me an email and let me know what I can do better! This is a work in progress... just like me!

As for my posting compatriots, Sandy, Tracy, Annette, Shelly, and Anonymous :)... thank you, Thank You, THANK YOU! You have exponentially increased the value of this site. I am greatly enjoying everything you have to share - the wheels in my head are spinning into overdrive already! Imagine what will happen when more people join in the fun!

'Tis all for now. I'll be back with another mystery object on Thursday!

Sugar Cubes

Let's hear it... how do you/could you use sugar cubes to teach a science lesson?

Update and New Mystery Object

Okay... I know I was going to wait 3 weeks or some other crazy amount of time before posting a new mystery object because not too many people had checked out the site yet. But, why should I bore myself and the two other people who read this by waiting that long. So, I'm just going to reveal the next mystery object. Please feel welcome to continue to add your ideas to the earlier entry!

And now, may I present, the newest mystery object....

Play-Doh!

How do you use it to teach science in your classroom?

The Inaugural Mystery Object...

Pennies!

Let's hear all those labs, lessons, and activities you have that use pennies! Post your ideas as comments... look for a couple of my favorites to show up shortly.

We'll keep this object open for 3 weeks... I hope to shorten the time frame, but want to give people a chance to pass the word around and get as many people posting as possible.