Hands On Science For The Active Learning Classroom

Formerly a SkyLight publication. Are you looking for new ideas to get students motivated about science? Do you want science lessons that have a high "WOW" factor for students? Hands-On Science for the Active Learning Classroom is a must-have resource for science teachers, offering 90 exciting, inexpensive, and easy-to-use experiments that can be implemented immediately into your daily science lessons. You also can use these activities as high-interest homework assignments, allowing students to take science beyond the classroom and into real-world applications. Hands-On Science reveals active learning at its best and helps you plan activities that motivate and engage student thinking processes in applying scientific knowledge.

The working model for "helping the learner to learn" presented in this book is relevant to any teaching context, but the focus here is on teaching in secondary and college science classrooms. Specifically, the goals of the text are to: *help secondary- and college-level science faculty examine and redefine their roles in the classroom; *define for science teachers a framework for thinking about active learning and the creation of an active learning environment; and *provide them with the assistance they need to begin building successful active learning environments in their classrooms. Active Learning in Secondary and College Science Classrooms: A Working Model for Helping the Learner to Learn is motivated by fundamental changes in education in response to perceptions that students are not adequately acquiring the knowledge and skills necessary to meet current educational and economic goals. The premise of this book is that active learning offers a highly effective approach to meeting the mandate for increased student knowledge, skills, and performance. It is a valuable resource for all teacher trainers in science education and high school and college science teachers.

How Students Learn: Science in the Classroom builds on the discoveries detailed in the best-selling How People Learn. Now these findings are presented in a way that teachers can use immediately, to revitalize their work in the classroom for even greater effectiveness. Organized for utility, the book explores how the principles of learning can be applied in science at three levels: elementary, middle, and high school. Leading educators explain in detail how they developed successful curricula and teaching approaches, presenting strategies that serve as models for curriculum development and classroom instruction. Their recounting of personal teaching experiences lends strength and warmth to this volume. This book discusses how to build straightforward science experiments into true understanding of scientific principles. It also features illustrated suggestions for classroom activities.

While Active Learning Classrooms, or ALCs, offer rich new environments for learning, they present many new challenges to faculty because, among other things, they eliminate the room’s central focal point and disrupt the conventional seating plan to which faculty and students have become accustomed.The importance of learning how to use these classrooms well and to capitalize on their special features is paramount. The potential they represent can be realized only when they facilitate improved learning outcomes and engage students in the learning process in a manner different from traditional classrooms and lecture halls.This book provides an introduction to ALCs, briefly covering their history and then synthesizing the research on these spaces to provide faculty with empirically based, practical guidance on how to use these unfamiliar spaces effectively. Among the questions this book addresses are:• How can instructors mitigate the apparent lack of a central focal point in the space?• What types of learning activities work well in the ALCs and take advantage of the affordances of the room?• How can teachers address familiar classroom-management challenges in these unfamiliar spaces?• If assessment and rapid feedback are critical in active learning, how do they work in a room filled with circular tables and no central focus point?• How do instructors balance group learning with the needs of the larger class?• How can students be held accountable when many will necessarily have their backs facing the instructor?• How can instructors evaluate the effectiveness of their teaching in these spaces?This book is intended for faculty preparing to teach in or already working in this new classroom environment; for administrators planning to create ALCs or experimenting with provisionally designed rooms; and for faculty developers helping teachers transition to using these new spaces.

"This open access textbook offers a comprehensive introduction to instruction in all types of library and information settings. Designed for students in library instruction courses, the text is also a resource for new and experienced professionals seeking best practices and selected resources to support their instructional practice. Organized around the backward design approach and written by LIS faculty members with expertise in teaching and learning, this book offers clear guidance on writing learning outcomes, designing assessments, and choosing and implementing instructional strategies, framed by clear and accessible explanations of learning theories. The text takes a critical approach to pedagogy and emphasizes inclusive and accessible instruction. Using a theory into practice approach that will move students from learning to praxis, each chapter includes practical examples, activities, and templates to aid readers in developing their own practice and materials."--Publisher's description.

This book provides detailed instructional methods on momentum, center of gravity, inertia, and centrifugal and centripetal forces, including hands-on classroom activities and experiments, some utilizing common household materials.

This teacher resource offers a detailed introduction to the Hands-On Science and Technology program (guiding principles, implementation guidelines, an overview of the science skills that grade 1 students use and develop) and a classroom assessment plan complete with record-keeping templates. It also includes connections to the Achievement Levels as outlined in The Ontario Curriculum Grades 1-8 Science and Technology (2007). This resource has four instructional units: Unit 1: Needs and Characteristics of Living Things Unit 2: Materials, Objects, and Everyday Structures Unit 3: Energy in Our Lives Unit 4: Understanding Earth and Space Systems Each unit is divided into lessons that focus on specific curricular expectations. Each lesson has the curriculum expectation(s) listed materials lists activity descriptions assessment suggestions activity sheet(s) and graphic organizer(s)

A hands-on and fun-filled resource for teaching science to middle and high school students New in the 5-Minute Fundamentals Series, The Science Teacher's Activity-A-Day, Grades 6-12, includes 180 easy, five-minute hook or sponge activities to capture learners' attention and introduce lessons. Divided into three units, Physical Science, Life Science, and Earth and Space Science; the activities cover topics based on the National Science Education Standards. All the book's activities can be done with materials that are inexpensive and easy to find Includes quick and fun "sponge" activities that are designed to engage students All the activities take about 5 minutes to complete The Science Teacher's Activity-a-Day is an ideal resource for middle and high school science teachers.