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Real Science Teaching. Real Classroom Experience.

I’m Amy Brown, a veteran high school biology and chemistry teacher, wife, and mom who understands the daily reality of lesson planning, grading, meetings, and everything in between. I know what it feels like to have too much to do and not enough time to do it.

After decades in the classroom, I’ve created rigorous, classroom-tested biology and chemistry resources that save you planning time while still delivering strong, meaningful science instruction. Every lab, activity, and lesson is designed to move students beyond memorization and into real scientific thinking.

If you want your students excited about science and thinking deeply without spending your entire weekend planning, you’re in the right place.

Amy Brown Biology and Chemistry Teacher

“I just love getting kids hooked on science.”

Science Skills: Using Graphic Organizers to Master Science Information



We all know that the volume of information in a science textbook is overwhelming for many of our students.  Take time at the beginning of the school year to teach some simple skills to help your students learn to organize the information into a manageable form.  We have a saying in my classroom:  "Be the master of the information.  Do not let the information master you."

With just a little direction students can learn a few techniques that will help them master the information all year long.   Science is so orderly and logical that the use of graphic organizers as a study technique makes perfect sense.  There are many different types of organizers, but the ones that work best for me are concept maps, event chains and cycle maps.

At the beginning of each year, I take the time to teach this important skill to my students.  I give them passages to read and then we practice organizing the information using either a concept map, an events chain or a cycle map.

At first I give the students a diagram to fill in, such as the one seen below:



But very quickly I have my students designing and drawing their own concept maps.  Once students get the hang of the technique, many of them find it to be a fun and enjoyable way to study!



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1 comment:

  1. tamaralynn @tarheelstateteacher.comApril 30, 2013 at 5:06 PM

    This is a great post. I am using concept maps as an EOG review strategy. By having students take our vocab words and design their own concept maps first, I can see what they remember about the vocabulary words and what connections they can find. Then we construct one together based on a rough draft of how I would put the words together. Great way to fill in the missing holes!

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