Starting the school year can be exciting and challenging for science teachers. While many activities can engage and inspire students, some can be counterproductive. Avoiding certain activities can help create a more effective and enjoyable learning environment. This post highlights back-to-school activities that science teachers should steer clear of to ensure a successful start to the year. Whether you teach elementary, middle, or high school, these tips will help you set the right tone from day one.
Why You Should Avoid Some Back to School Science Activities
Avoid low engagement activities at the beginning of the year. These activities can set a dull tone for your class and fail to capture students’ interest. When students are not engaged, they are less likely to participate and retain information. This can lead to a lack of enthusiasm and motivation, which can impact their learning throughout the year. Starting with low engagement activities can also make it harder to establish a dynamic and interactive classroom environment. Ensuring students are excited and interested from the start is crucial for a successful school year.
Back to School Science Activity #1: Reviewing the Syllabus
It seems like every secondary teacher reviews their syllabus or procedures on the first day of class. But imagine sitting in 5 or 6 different classes and hearing the same thing over and over. It sounds pretty awful, right?
Sure, it’s important for students to know the rules and procedures. However, this isn’t the best way to handle it.
What to do instead: Start your school year by focusing on procedures in context.
Create engaging activities for your students. Before starting the activity, clearly outline the expectations. This way, you can teach procedures while giving students an engaging context.
It’s important to create context for your activities. For example, if you aren’t using microscopes until week three, it’s not a good use of time to show them how to carry microscopes during the first week.
Its fine to send your syllabus home on the first day to get it signed. However, if you are going to review it, focus only on the most important pieces in class. If you spend more than 10 minutes talking, your students probably aren’t listening.
Back to School Science Activity #2: Doing an Intro Unit
Please avoid starting the school year with an intro to science unit. When students return, they often face this type of unit.
What happens in an intro unit? Teachers review the skills for the year but cram them into a single unit. Generally, the actual science content is avoided in this first part.
Why is this a problem? First, it reduces the time available to cover course content. Second, teaching skills out of context makes them harder for students to understand. This unit can feel random and unproductive.
What to do instead: Start your NGSS aligned class by looking at content early.
I know it sounds crazy, but there’s nothing wrong with jumping right into your content. Teach students skills in context. For example, save measurement review activities until the day before students need them.
Students are ready to start the school year. However, start slow. While they learn the first unit’s content, you’ll be acclimating them to your procedures, so you won’t move at full speed right away.
This depends on your school. At one school I worked at, schedule changes were made for up to two weeks to balance classes. With five teachers teaching the same subject, this could be tricky, especially if your team isn’t on the same page about how to start the year.
Back to School Science Activity #3: Teaching the Scientific Method
The thought of avoiding the Scientific Method is blasphemy in many science teacher circles. But, the scientific method is problematic in many ways. According to the Framework for K-12 Science Education, it’s time to let go of this tool. To learn more about why it’s time to ditch the scientific method, read this post.
What to do instead: Teach students how to use one of the Science and Engineering Practices (and then another one!).
True, we aren’t teaching the Scientific Method anymore. But, that doesn’t mean we aren’t teaching those vital science skills. In fact, I suggest that provide explicit instruction on each of the science and engineering practices.
I have seen several teachers talk about teaching students how to use ALL of the Science and Engineering Practices as an introduction to the class. I would strongly advise against this. Instead, start with one. For example, start with a Notice and Wonder Activity to introduce the practice of Asking Questions.
With my 7th graders, we start the year by discussing particles and particle motion. MS-PS1-1 and MS-PS1-4 require that students develop and use models. We start discussing modeling right away. We discuss the different types of models, how they are used, and how to make them. Once students have the basics of modeling down, they can start creating their own.
Then they learn about argumentation. Students share their models and discuss similarities and differences and learn to argue (nicely!) about the differences. In the first few weeks, students start to become familiar with two practices.
The practices are always taught in context. When I teach students about modeling, I explain it is one of the practices used by scientists. I show them where the other practices are posted on my wall, and leave it there.
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