Taking Inventory: Jumpstarting Your Science Lessons with Phenomenon

As a teacher, I often find an idea for a lesson in the summer because my teacher brain doesn't shut off even when I am not teaching. I didn't realize how much I I was seeing science all around me when I first started teaching science. I  would start to think about my lessons and how what I was seeing could be used in my own classroom. By taking pictures and videos I could share  them with my K-5th grade students that I teach and use them as springboards to my lessons!  There isn't a time when I don't see science around me. My kids and husband even have to remind me to enjoy everything around me and that what I see doesn't always have to turn into a lesson! Sometimes, we just need inspiration to help us reconnect to our lessons. What inspires us, might now always inspire our students though. So, I created a science survey for my 2nd-5th graders so see what gets them exited, too! Why an inventory? This last year and a half of uncertainty, lessons in bags and at their desks, no team activities, and students not joining class virtually or even handing things in, has me reflecting on what my students like and what they are even hoping for in science this year.  So, I used the units that I have to teach to have them pick from to create an inventory that will help me understand where my students might be thinking this year, however I also want to see how they learn best. I don't know about you, but I was able to really see how independent learning was not for everyone...but it also showed me what students really were able to shine working all alone! Each week, this month, I will be sharing tips, tricks, ideas, and freebies that can help you get ready to teach science and STEM this school year!  Grab your science inventory below! This week's tip: Teach a science concept through phenomena  Use pictures and videos to inspire your science and STEM lessons. Present a question that goes with that picture that can get them thinking. Use it as a way to get your students talking or give them clues to what they will be learning or get them thinking about what evidence they might need to gather to prove something true or false.  We can call that a phenomenon which is an observable event. During your science lessons it can springboard student inquiry. Phenomena can show students science in their own world. A good phenomenon is observable, interesting, complex, and aligned to the appropriate standard that you are focusing on!  How we often teach science is to gather knowledge about a topic, but our students struggle applying it to the real world.  Using phenomena helps students with motivation and wanting to know the why Learning to find out the how and why of a science concept allows them see a problem and solution in new science concepts they are presented with and to go deeper into the understanding of the evidence and the reasoning behind it.  Ask your students questions and have them predict the outcome, but most importantly let your students generate questions as well! Different Types of Phenomenon To Utilize: anchoring phenomenon:  The overall starting claim or question to start a unit of study  investigative phenomena:  This can be used in your individual lessons along the way as the focus of an instructional sequence or your specific science lesson everyday phenomena:  These types of questions can relate investigative or anchoring phenomena above to personal experiences of yours or your students that you can connect to  Let's start this school year off knowing what kind of learners our students are and ways that we can get them hooked...let's make science and STEM child's play! Renee From the Science School Yard