There is a folder on my desktop with way too many activities saved in it. I know that I will never implement them all, but occasionally I will discover a new “tool” for my “teacher toolkit.” What I really want is to hear what “tools” other folks like to use. For this reason (and many others), I am happy to have found a community of practice of other science teachers with whom I can chat about stuff I want to try in my classroom. I have learned a lot from our times together and hope teachers at any stage of their career are able to find a similar support network. In this workshop, we will act as a small community of practice for the day. First, we will get into a classroom mindset by making sense of an “everyday phenomenon”. Afterwards, we will open space for folks to share experiences and resources that they find productive for meeting similar goals or could help improve the learning experience. Come to have some fun doing a kitchen-safe lab activity and chat with others about productive experiences teaching and learning science.
I will teach participants about how we created a self sustaining permaculture food forest that mimics nature with the movement of animals to maintain and sustain the forest. The food forest is self-watered through a series of swales and berms to retain nearly 100% of the water that falls on the property, and is projected to make the school roughly $50,000 each year. I will utilize a Powerpoint style presentation and handouts. This is connected to NGSS standard: MS-ESS3-3 Earth and Human Activity Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment. and 5-ESS3-1 Earth and Human Activity Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.
In this workshop, attendees will build replicas of human anatomy using clay and a specially designed skeletal model in a classroom setting. Educators will learn how to implement a unique curriculum system which helps students create a kinesthetic map of the human anatomy. They will acquire the knowledge to engage science students with immediate, hands-on learning using a proven method that is nationally recognized to increase student retention and test scores.
This workshop will emphasize directional terms, planes, cavities and landmarks on the skeletal model and then build several skeletal muscles. Emphasis will be placed on building the rotator cuff showing their origin and insertion, their movement and discuss exercises to strengthen these muscles.
