Sandy Fay said... I remember reading in a science magazine for children about an activity involving bird seed to illustrate the importance of a bird's beak to obtain food. This activity can help show how adaptations are developed in order to help an organism better survive in its environment. If you give each student a pile of bird seed and a pair of chopticks they can see how many particles of the bird seed they can pick up within a given time. A discussion can follow about her the beak is also used to open seeds. Without this ability the bird would have a difficult time obtaining and eating food.
Owl Family Survival activity from middleschoolscience.com is one that my students have enjoyed. The students use "altered" plastic forks to represent parent owls' talons and leads to discussions of who gets fed, who survives, why, etc.
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 and where. If nothing's happened, you won't get an email that day. Fair enough?
How It Works:
Every week (typically on Thursday) I post a new mystery object.
If you have a science lesson that uses the object (in any capacity), please post it as a comment. It could be a lab, it could be an intro activity, it could be an assessment. It could be a multi-day experience, it could be a five minute zinger.
When you post, please make sure you do your best to give credit to the source of your idea.
How To Post: At the bottom of the original post, you'll find the word 'Comments' (usually preceded by a number). Click on 'Comments' and you will be taken to a page where you can read what everyone else has had to say, as well as add your own suggestion.
Before taking time off from teaching to spend with my son, I taught 6th grade earth science, 7th grade life science, 8th grade physical science, and a 4th grade hands-on lab (actually, I taught 3 of those courses at a time...). In a mere four years in the science classroom, I accumulated boxes and boxes and boxes filled with binders, books, and assembled activities.
Now that I am at home with my son, I feel the need to put all those materials to good use, in order to justify the time I spent gathering it all and the physical space they now take up in my house (not to mention the work required to move them from one residence to another).
I was going to be an "Independent Science Education Consultant" - a title I thought I made up, but it seems that it isn't entirely unheard of! My name's out there... at least in this region of upstate New York I now call home... but no hits yet. If you're reading this and you're interested in my services... email me... PLEASE! I'll travel!
I was going to write a book. Turns out, most of the great things I do in my classroom have been borrowed (or stolen) from great teachers and aren't actually mine to publish!
I recently learned the San Francisco Exploratorium holds an Iron Science Teacher competition for local science teachers and those who attend their Summer Institutes. So cool, but I don't live in San Fran and even if I could afford to spend several weeks in California, I don't think the young boy would look so favorably on the idea.
So here I am, creating my own virtual version. It's not live, it's not a competition, but it should result in a great community of sharing and some fantastic ideas for us all to share. Please consider participating!
3 comments:
Birdseed Mining
From the Women in Mining website (www.womeninmining.org):
http://www.womeninmining.org/birdse1.htm
Check out the website for a bunch of other activities and fun fact sheets to share with your students. I like the site quite a bit.
Sandy Fay said...
I remember reading in a science magazine for children about an activity involving bird seed to illustrate the importance of a bird's beak to obtain food. This activity can help show how adaptations are developed in order to help an organism better survive in its environment. If you give each student a pile of bird seed and a pair of chopticks they can see how many particles of the bird seed they can pick up within a given time. A discussion can follow about her the beak is also used to open seeds. Without this ability the bird would have a difficult time obtaining and eating food.
Owl Family Survival activity from middleschoolscience.com is one that my students have enjoyed. The students use "altered" plastic forks to represent parent owls' talons and leads to discussions of who gets fed, who survives, why, etc.
Post a Comment