Greetings Fellow Science Educators!
The day after Halloween is always a challenging one when working with students (and maybe teachers) who have eaten WAY too much sugar. Why not use that to your advantage? Here are a couple of ideas for science activities the day-after Halloween.
Elementary or Middle School: Use Halloween Candy for Classification and Measurement
- Sort and group Halloween candy based on like characteristics. Have students represent their groups in graphs (bar or pie work well).
- Compute the amount of sugar in candy, convert grams to milligrams or even kilograms.
(This idea came from Sara Snodgrass our Elementary Mathematics Director)
Middle School or High School: Use Pumpkins for Claims and Evidence
- Use various tools (hammer, screwdriver,ect.) to puncture pumpkins. Ask students to make claims about which tools made which marks on each of the pumpkins.
- Have students make a claims/evidence T-chart (Example below)
| Claim | Evidence |
| I claim that Pumpkin A was punctured with the blunt end of the hammer. | I claim this because the blunt end of the hammer is 3.4 cm in width and 9 out of 10 of the marks on pumpkin A are approximately 3.4 cm in width. |
Tips for conducting:
- Ask local grocery stores or pumpkin patches to donate left over pumpkins.
- Gather unusual tool and place them all in a tool box for students to check out for analysis.
- Name pumpkins: Use historical figures in science
- Allow students to practice making tool marks on pumpkins that you haven’t punctured.
- They can measure tools mark impressions on practice pumpkins and use comparison data for claims and evidence.
Common Core Literacy for Science Connection: Having students focus on making claims and supporting claims with evidence helps students practice argumentative writing skills.
§ WHST. 6-12. 1.b “Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrates and understanding of the topic or text, using credible sources.”
- The source is the evidence they collect through scientific processes.
Oklahoma State Department of Education Regional Meetings
Fredrick – (November 7th)- Great Plains Technology Center, 2001 East Gladstone Avenue
· Elementary Teachers (Nov 7) – http://frederick-elementary2012.eventbrite.com
· Secondary Teachers (Nov 7) – http://frederick-secondary2012.eventbrite.com
Tahlequah – (November 12th)- Northeastern State University, 612 N. Grand Ave
· Elementary Teachers – http://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080C4CAEA72BA46-what
· Secondary Teachers –http://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080C4CAEA72BA46-osde
Ardmore – (December 6th)- Southern Oklahoma Technology Center, 2610 Sam Noble Parkway
· Elementary Teachers – http://ardmore-elementary2012.eventbrite.com
· Secondary Teachers – http://ardmore-secondary2012.eventbrite.com
– Follow our discussions on Twitter by searching #KnowC3
Resources for Teachers:
Strategies for Common Core Literacy in Science 6-12: Reading in Science/Technology (RST Standard 2)
http://www.biologycorner.com/2011/11/08/common-core-tips-literacy-in-science/
NSTA’s Scientific and Engineering Practices Series:
The archive recording of the Developing and Using Models web seminar is available here: http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/symposia_seminars/NGSS/webseminar6.aspx
Upcoming Events:
Register for the Oklahoma Science Teachers Association’s Fall Conference November 10th.
· http://bit.ly/OklahomaScienceTeachersAssociation
Science Fest Registration Opens November 1st:
Registration for ScienceFest Oklahoma, Oklahoma’s one-of-a-kind science education event, opens Thursday, November 1, 2012. ScienceFest is a free event for Oklahoma fourth and fifth graders to attend, and is set to take place on Thursday, April 18, 2013 at the Oklahoma City Zoo. Registration is first-come, first-serve.
Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching
– Read about it here .
– Nominations open in November…start considering great 7-12 science teachers now!
Stay Connected:
Follow me on Twitter: @tiffanyneill
Hashtags: #oksde #OKSci #KnowC3 #OKSTEM
Sign Up for a Twitter account: https://twitter.com/
Accessing Archived Science Messages:
You can access Archived Science Messages I’ve sent out since March via the Oklahoma Science Teachers Association (OSTA) website. Scroll down to see previous posts.
Science Listserv:
Please encourage others to register for the science listserv and pass along the following registration link:
Have a wonderful week! And as always, please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have!
-Tiffany
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Tiffany Neill, M.Ed. Director of Science Education Office of Instruction Oklahoma State Department of Education P: 405.522.3524 Tiffany.Neill@sde.ok.gov @tiffanyneill Science Webpage PE & Health Webpage