Both of these activities were developed by a high school teacher in the Teach Quantum fellowship at UW-Madison. Using a bird navigation storyline in chemistry, learn how to incorporate electrons, configurations, and spectrum to understand the Zeeman effect and its role in migratory behaviors of birds and even grazing patterns in cattle. You will also learn how to use quantum physics in an electron escape room using flame tests to explore superposition. I will provide the full lesson plans and list of materials to run activitites. Both activities showcase making chemistry equitable for all learners with basic strategies and promote group discourse and concesus modeling throughout the units. Its a great way to expose students to quantum chemistry in a unit that is difficult to come up with examples for.
We have a 0.5 credit Science Intern Course at Hartford Union High School which allows students the opportunity to learn alongside a science teacher. They are responsible for laboraory set up, preparation and clean-up for our department in addition to being a teaching assistant during labs or activities in our introductory level courses. We have an application and interview process along with a reflection document that is filled out during their internship. Several former students have secured lab interns jobs as freshman at their respective universities. Learn how to propose and execute this course to help develop students as leaders in science.
Literacy is often the focus of instruction in elementary classrooms, but it doesn’t have to be at the exclusion of science! Join educator and presenter, Cassondra Kauppi, to explore the mutually supportive aspects of phenomena-based science instruction and literacy skill development. This session will provide you with innovative ideas, tools, research insights, and strategies for teaching students to read, write, and think like scientists. Ultimately, these skills will empower students to enhance their literacy capabilities across all areas of life.
With nearly 20 years in education, Cassondra brings a depth of knowledge spanning literacy, mathematics, and science content. She has worked as a classroom teacher, intervention specialist, curriculum specialist and now STEM Product Specialist. Whether she is teaching in the classroom... Read More →
After receiving a WSST "Back to School" grant, a small science library consisting of both nonfiction and fiction books. These books were checked out by students throughout the year, used as semester exams, and used for curriculum ties in the classroom. Participants can expect discussion about the use of trade books, a list of those books used in this library, and links to resources to help integrate reading in the classroom to aid with science literacy.
Approximately 30-35% of Americans self-identify as birders. Birds are amazing...and they are EVERYWHERE!!! While many elementary students can identify dozens of species of fictitious or long-extinct organisms, most cannot correctly identify even a handful of local birds. Birding is recognized as a gateway activity for caring about nature; because birds are so diverse, they are present in every possible habitat. Using a WSST Milton Pella grant, we were able to purchase a classroom set of binoculars, field guides, and a heavy-duty carrying case. Students learned about binoculars beginning with classroom and paper activities. We then practiced using our equipment safely and properly in the classroom and in the gym. Once students were comfortable with the equipment, we learned about basic bird anatomy and bird identification. We spent a couple classroom periods out in the school grounds finding and identifying our resident birds. These activities can easily extend over several weeks and were very enthusiastically received by our students. This presentation will provide an outline of our activities as well as paper copies of all lessons. This is a great way to get students outdoors and active in nature while (hopefully) encouraging interest in our local birds.
The main focus of the presentation is encouraging students to lead discourse in the elementary classroom, using the skills and ideas from the book Ambitious Science Teaching. The key elements we will focus on are planning for engagement, student discourse, and eliciting ideas from the Ambitious Science Teaching framework. Teachers learn how to lead conversations, the next step to aspire to is to teach students to lead the discussion. By doing so, a teacher can encourage the student’s intellectual engagement while also attending to equity issues teachers face. We plan to share and discuss successful examples in the elementary classroom. Younger students require more scaffolding, reinforcement, and encouragement to be successful in the classroom. We will share how to plan for student conversation using an anchor chart, talk scaffolds, and talking circles. In this presentation, we will also allow time for educators to practice the shared strategies with each other.
