Technology Chat: Make Sure Your Students Are Ready for Digital Learning

Returning to school after summer break is stressful in the best of times.  I think we can all agree that this is pretty much the WORST of times and that this year's return to teaching will be unlike any other.  We teachers have faced many challenges before, but the challenges before us now are unprecedented.  Whether you will be teaching virtually, in-person, or somewhere in between, you will find yourself in need of digital resources to support your curriculum.  The reality of teaching in the days of COVID-19 means that student absenteeism will fluctuate wildly, many parents may opt to keep their kids at home, or schools may be forced to close altogether.  This puts you in the challenging position of not only teaching your core science material, but also teaching students about your chosen (or chosen for you ...) method of virtual instruction.  This can be overwhelming.  You need activities that support the technical instruction of your students as well as their science instruction.

When students arrive in your classroom this fall, either in person or virtually, will they all have the same set of skills in using Google Apps?

The short answer is ... No.  On the first day of class, just as our students have different graphing skills, or math skills, or writing skills, they will cover the spectrum in their ability to use Google Apps.

On that note, I am very excited to introduce a new tool in your teaching arsenal:  Technology Chat for Google Apps!  If you plan on utilizing Google DriveTM or Google ClassroomTM this fall, this is a fantastic activity to set your students up for success by teaching them a basic set of skills for the Google Apps.  Your students will learn how to create and share Docs, Slides, and Sheets as well as many of the features used to complete assignments in Google Apps.

If you are not familiar with my other "Chat" activities, they are highly collaborative in nature and allow students to work together while mastering new material.  This activity is a little different in that students can complete it remotely, in-person, or in pairs.  If you are meeting students face-to-face, I highly recommend using the activity in cooperative learning groups.  Peer help and instruction is a valuable learning tool.  Whatever your teaching situation, Technology Chat is an extremely flexible activity that will fit with any teaching situation.

While this activity won't cover everything Google has to offer, it is a great tool to create a baseline of knowledge in your classroom and hopefully give your students enough technical know-how to start the year off right.

Teachers always rise to face new challenges, and this school year will be no different. In these unprecedented times, I am excited to see the amazing ways our community serves our students and the highly innovative new solutions we put into place in our classrooms.  I hope this activity is a helpful addition to your back-to-school instructional plan.  I wish you all the very best of luck this fall.

Second Semester for Secondary Science: Tips and Strategies for Completing the School Year!

LET'S FINISH THIS!  As a high school biology and chemistry teacher, I always find this to be a very interesting point in the school year.   After spending time with family and friends during the holidays, and feeling very rested and relaxed, it's time to start thinking about returning to school for the second semester of the school year.  New Year's resolutions are running high, and the realization that the school year is half over brings both excitement and anxiety to teachers as they prepare to return to the classroom after the holiday break.  The "excitement" comes in being able to see summer break on the horizon.  The "anxiety" comes in the form of "Oh my gosh, I have so much to do before the end of the school year!"

We have to make a complete and total mind shift from first semester to second semester.  The dynamics of the classroom, the way we carry out planning, and our classroom management strategies need to undergo a complete and thorough transition.  First semester was spent getting to know our students.  We learned their personalities, their strengths, their weaknesses, and all of their idiosyncrasies.  We learned what worked and what didn't work as far as teaching strategies, and now it is time to take our "first semester game" to a new level for second semester.  In short, we have to make a change from "getting started" to "getting finished."

To that end, I have a list of 11 tips and strategies for the successful completion of second semester in secondary science classrooms.

Tip #1:  Organization and Planning is Essential.  
Yes, I realize this tip is predictable and mundane, and not really a concrete strategy.  Please stop your eye-rolling and consider this.  Do not return to school after the holidays until you have thought through the entire semester and you have a plan of action.  The first couple of weeks after the holidays are chaotic and can turn into a blur of indecision and wasted time if you are not careful.  Know what you need to accomplish during the semester, and start your students down that path on the very first day they return to your classroom.  Grab your student's attention, and don't give them time to settle into old routines.  Start the first day with fresh ideas, fresh classroom management strategies, and a fresh look in your classroom.  Having a clear vision and an action plan, and the implementation of it on the first day of the semester will send a definite message to your students:  "We have a lot to do and we are not going to waste any time getting started on it."

Tip #2:  Assess where you are in your curriculum.
Students in my state must take an end-of-course exam in biology and chemistry.  I would assume that every state has a state mandated curriculum or framework of standards that must be covered in any given course.  Where do you stand on covering all of the content that you are required to teach? Before you start second semester it is essential that you make a list of units and topics that you need to cover.  Once you have a list of topics, determine how many days you can spend on each topic and still get them all covered before the end of the school year.  Obtain a calendar grid for the months January through June and fill out the days and weeks with the topics you must cover.  Keep this on your desk or wall, and stick to it!

Tip #3:  Make changes to your Classroom Management Plan.
Now that you have spent an entire semester with your students, you have a pretty good idea of what works and what doesn't work in terms of managing your classroom and the behavior of your students.  This is the perfect time to tweak your management system and make changes to ensure your daily routine is a well-oiled machine.  I use a system of daily warm ups and bell ringers to get my students on task and ready to learn at the very beginning of each class.

Tip #4:  Organize and clean your classroom before students return to class.
Early in my teaching career I had a wonderful mentor who told me that the condition of the classroom was one of the most important factors in determining the effectiveness of my class.  As a young and new teacher, I had my doubts about this.  What possible difference could it make if the desks were arranged in an orderly fashion, and that my desk appeared to be in order?  As it turned out, this was one of the best pieces of advice I ever received about teaching.  Student performance and classroom behavior IS determined (at least in part) by the climate of your classroom.  If the classroom is disorganized, the students will be disorganized and student behavior will suffer.  If students walk into a classroom that is clean and highly organized they enter a mindset that improves their performance while in your class.

Tip #5:  Put something new on the wall or bulletin board!
You do not want your students walking back into your classroom without making some changes.  Shake things up a bit!  Put up some new wall displays and bulletin boards.  They don't have to be too fancy or time consuming to make.  You just need to send the message that this is a new semester and you are ready to go with all new materials and resources.  Here are some ideas of things you can display that will take only a few minutes to print, laminate and get displayed on the wall:

•  Biology and Life Science Careers Mini Posters

•  Character Building Quotes from Famous Scientists

•  Important Dates in Science History Monthly Calendars

Tip #6:  It's time for a new seating chart.
While you are shaking things up by reorganizing your classroom and getting new wall displays posted, go ahead and make out a new seating chart for your students.  When students return from the holidays, every aspect of your classroom needs to be new, fresh, and different.

Tip #7: Start planning now for end of course testing.
I am not a fan of the maze of standardized testing that we put our students through each year.  However, that is a topic for another day.  If your students will be required to take an end of course exam for your class, it is imperative that you begin planning for that now.  Take the semester calendar that you made in Tip #2 and see where you might insert a few days for test prep and review. I look for days when the school is planning an assembly or pep rally, or a day when some students will miss for a field trip.  It is hard to teach new material when students are missing from class, but it makes for a great time to get in some test prep review time.  Be prepared to review.  You never know when an opportunity for reinforcement will arise, so keep task cards, review games, or worksheets at the ready.  Every minute counts in the second semester rush to the end of the year.

Tip #8:  Make a plan for struggling students.
The sad reality is that some students are always in danger of failing our class, or in danger of not being able to pass the end of course exam.  It is extremely important to identify the struggling students and put an intervention plan in place before it is too late.  With enough help, guidance, compassion, and will power, we can ensure that most of our students will earn credit in our classes. Students try harder when they know we care about them and that we are trying to give them the help they need.  Have individual meetings with your struggling students and develop a plan with each student to ensure their success at the end of the school year.  Many of my "A students" belong to organizations that require them to get service hours.  I always set up peer tutoring opportunities to help my struggling students get the reinforcement they need, while allowing other students to get the service hours they need.

Tip #9:  Start working on your lab inventory.
My school district requires that we do a complete inventory of our classrooms and lab areas, and we must turn it in before the last day of school.  Are you required to complete a lab inventory?  If so, do yourself a favor and start working on it now.  The end of the year is CRAZY, and you will be greatly relieved if you already have this cumbersome chore accomplished.  If you need an inventory form, check out my free Lab Inventory Form in my TpT Store.

Tip #10:  Make out your lab order for the upcoming school year.
This makes perfect sense if you also have to complete a lab inventory.  As you complete your inventory, make a list of the items that you are running low on. As the semester progresses, locate your new catalogs and start looking up the purchasing information for the items you will need for the next year.

Tip #11:  Watch our for Spring Break/Spring Fever!
This is also known as "Teach as much as you can as soon as you can!"  Once spring arrives, even the best laid plans can fly out the window.  And students are not the only ones to get spring fever, right?  January, February and March are easy!  But after that, even the absolute best teachers amongst us will struggle to keep the kids focused and learning.

Hopefully, if you have made it to the end of this article, you have found a few tidbits that will help you get off to a great start for second semester.  I hope you had a wonderful holiday break, and that you have a happy, healthy, and organized new year!

Motivating Science Students

Consider these points when developing a plan to motivate your students.

As we begin this new semester, I have been giving some thought to the concept of “motivation in the classroom.”   We teachers hold widely varying opinions on this subject.  Some teachers believe whole-heartedly that it is their job to do whatever it takes to gets the students excited and motivated about the learning process.  Other teachers feel that motivation comes from within, and that the student should be held responsible for their own motivation.  I think most teachers, including myself, fall somewhere in the middle of this spectrum.

How hard we must work to motivate our students is directly proportional to the classes we teach.  Every student in our school must take a Biology 1 class, and many of them have no interest in doing so.   But the students in my AP Biology course enroll by choice, and the difference is huge!   My Biology 1 students are often less enthusiastic on the front end of the experience.  I may never convince some of my students to love biology and chemistry as I do, but it is my job as a classroom teacher to instill in my students the desire to succeed.  To that end, I have identified four factors intrinsic to the healthy motivation of students in the science classroom.

We cannot expect students to be willing to learn unless we as teachers are energetic in our approach to instruction.  Students will be more engaged if they see us up, moving about the classroom and burning calories.  Science teachers in a laboratory setting have an advantage.  Demonstrating lively behavior in a lab is built in to the demands of helping and watching students.  We must be careful that lecture opportunities do not turn into a chance to rest.  Don’t be the teacher that sits behind the desk the entire class period.  Your desk is a barrier between you and your students.  Moving amongst your students while you teach will draw them in.  It will encourage them to be engaged and participate more fully in the lesson.

It is essential that some element of fun be attached to instruction.  This does not have to be joke telling or game playing.  A bit of eye candy in the form of colorful and engaging photos or interesting video, or the occasional social opportunity (grouping) will go a long way toward helping a student look forward to returning to your class.  Occasionally the material we must teach doesn't rise to the level of thrilling and exhilarating, but since it must be taught, we should try to find a way to make it more interesting to our students.  A competitive game format, a lab station activity, or a lively class discussion can go a long way to eliminating the boredom factor.  It is imperative that we change our approach from time to time to avoid monotony and stagnation.

Praising students will go a long way towards motivating them.  It is, however, important to note the methodology used when praising them.  Elementary students find more incentive in public praise than do high school students.  It is often necessary to praise high school students individually and not in front of the class.  To older kids, the “cool factor” is sometimes affected by how they are praised.  Know your kids.

The final step in motivating students is to show them the relevance in what they are being asked to do.  Sometimes that relevance is personal (college admission, testing for scholarships, simple work ethic) and sometimes it is professional (job centric subject matter).  Occasional reminders as to the importance of these issues will help, especially considering how many important issues are vying for control of the teenage mind.  Students love to ask, “When will I ever need to know this?”  Making clear to students why they need to master a particular concept or skill is highly motivating to them.  Make this information part of the lesson, rather than waiting for the question to be asked.

In the ideal world, all motivation for students would be “self motivation.” Anything we as teachers can do to help students maintain focus will surely pay dividends in their future.

Tips for New (and Experienced!) Science Teachers

These tips will serve you well your entire teaching career!

Learning is a life-long experience.  We are never too young or too old to learn new things.  After teaching for 31 years, I am still learning how to be a better teacher.  Along the way I had wonderful mentors and colleagues who helped me develop my teaching skills, and I discovered a few things for myself as well.

The tips and tricks below will serve you well.  Remember them.  Incorporate them into your daily teaching routine.  Refine them and make them your own.

Never this.  Please, never this!

1.  Safety first.  Safety always.
Develop a lab safety unit and teach it the first week of school.  Stress laboratory safety every single day of the year.

2.  Before students arrive for back-to-school, do an analysis of your lab and classroom.  Check all equipment and furniture.  Remove unusable items.  CLEAN everything!


3.  Check your safety equipment often.
Have you flushed your eyewash station?  When was the last time you checked the safety shower?  Is your fire extinguisher fully charged?  Is the first aid kit fully stocked?

4.  Stay on top of repairs.  Turn in work orders for those leaky faucets, stopped up gas jets, and burned out lights.  Follow up on work orders once they have been submitted.  Be relentless in getting things fixed.



5.  The custodians and plant managers are your best friends.
Treat them well and with respect.  They will save you many, many times during the school year.

6.  Never do a lab with students until you have tried the lab yourself.
You can never predict what will happen or how things will work until you carry out the experiment yourself.  If you are seeing a lab unfold for the first time while students are doing the lab, this is a recipe for EPIC FAIL.

7.  Make out your lab order all year long.  Keep a lab notebook handy, and constantly make notes in it.  Record supplies that are running low and need to be ordered for the next school year.  At the end of the year, grab the catalogs and make out your lab order before you go home for the summer.

8.  Don't go home at the end of the day until everything is ready for tomorrow.  This is a hard one because we are exhausted at the end of the day!  Before you leave in the afternoon, your lab should be set up, all handouts should be copied, all phone calls should be returned, and you put your desk in order.  If you wait until the next morning, Murphy's Law will set in. "Things" always happen when you get to school.  The copier will break, your principal will ask for a meeting, students come in to ask questions, the teacher next door will not quit talking, etc.  Be sure everything is ready before you get to school!

9.  Make sure the classroom is neat and orderly.  This is actually a great science experiment!  A wise teacher once told me to straighten the desks after each class period before the next class enters.  Student behavior is affected by the environment.  The class is much more productive and well behaved if there is order in the room as they enter.  If the rows are crooked, the desks are scattered around, papers are all over the floor, and the pencil sharpener is overflowing, student behavior will be different.  Sounds crazy, but this is true.  Try it and see for yourself.

10.  Study.  Study.  Study.  
Study some more!  Never teach a lesson that you are not prepared to teach.  Science is complex stuff, and it is always changing!  You will embarrass yourself if you stumble around with the content and are unable to explain concepts to the students.  Our students are brilliant at picking up on the fact that we are unprepared, and they will be relentless to point this out during your class.

11.  Make it fun, but please make it educational!  Science classes are so much fun!  We get to use all sorts of neat equipment and cool gadgets!  Our students are depending on us to give them a great science education.  Let's use all of our fun "science toys" to further their education.  If you want to make silly putty or glue in the lab, make sure the students learn something from it.

12.  Go as deep into the subject matter content as your students can handle.  There is a fine line between "too easy" and "too hard."  Neither should be happening in your class.  Determine the ability level and knowledge base of your students, and push them to the next level.  Know that the students you have next year will be different.

13.  Don't be afraid to say "I don't know."  All of us, even the best prepared of us, will be asked questions that we do not know the answer to.  How you handle these questions makes all the difference. Sometimes you just have to say "I don't know."  But you need to have an answer the next day when the students arrive.  They will appreciate that you went the extra mile to answer their questions.

14.  Know your limitations.  Work as hard as you can every single day.  Do all you can do for your students.  But know that you can't do everything. Don't take on more than you can handle, and don't be afraid to say "no."

15.  Find a mentor.  Find an amazing teacher that you trust and respect. Talk with him/her often! Someone on the faculty has already had the problem you are facing, and they can help you through it.  A good mentor has a wealth of valuable knowledge and experience, and the support they can give is invaluable!

16.  They're your students, not your friends!  Cultivate a great relationship with your students.  Know your students likes and dislikes. Attend their sports events, band concerts and theater productions.  Make sure they know that you care for them, and that you are willing to help them.  But remember that you are the teacher and they are the students, and a certainly boundary must be maintained.

17.  Respect must be earned.  Always treat your students with respect and dignity.  The lessons we teach in citizenship and tolerance of others are as important as the science lessons we teach.  Be the role model for the behaviors you want to see in your students.

18.  Call the parents before they call you.  If you initiate the contact, then you are in control of the direction and flow of the conversation.  If the parent is calling you, they are probably already upset or mad, and it will be more difficult to get them back on your side.

19.  Take home the work, but not the problems.
Working at home is a given for teachers.  We know we are going to be grading papers and preparing lessons on our personal time.  But try to leave the problems and stresses of the day at work.  If you have a problem with a student, colleague or administrator, solve it before you leave for the day. If you don't, you will worry about it all day (or week end) long.  Better to get the stress and worry out of your head before you leave for the day.



20.  Excitement in the classroom is contagious.
You have to love your subject and let it show to your students how much you love your subject.  If you are excited about what you are teaching, the students will be too.



It is my sincere hope that some of these tips will help you through the long days of the school year.  Good luck with your teaching, and have a great school year.  And remember ..... Have fun teaching!

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14 Ways to Use Task Cards in High School Biology

Instruction?

Reinforcement?

Retention?

No Problem!!

Task cards have quickly earned a prominent spot in my high school science classes.  I was slow to the party, thinking that task cards were a tool used by elementary teachers.  They couldn't possibly be of any use in my high school classes, right?  I could not be more wrong!

I think the thing I love best about task cards is that my students never complain about them, and in fact, even ask for them.  Teenagers will do anything to avoid school work, but my students have fully accepted the fact that the task cards have helped them study for tests and have improved their grades.

For those who might be unfamiliar with task cards, here is a quick description.  A task card is usually 1/4th the size of a sheet of paper, and usually printed on thicker paper.  I laminate them so that I can use them year after year.  Each card contains only one task or question.  For students who are easily overwhelmed by too much material or difficult concepts, task cards are a wonderful solution.  The student has a card in their hand with only one task or question.  They must complete the one task before moving on to the next.  It allows the student to focus and concentrate on only one thing at a time, rather than being presented with a long worksheet jam-packed with questions or problems.

So without further ado, here are 14 ways you can use task cards in your high school science classes to improve instruction, reinforce concepts and increase retention of the material you are teaching:

1.  Lab Stations:  This is my personal favorite.  Students of all ages get tired of sitting in a desk all day.  My students really enjoy being out of their seats and moving about the room.  I place 2 to 3 task cards at each lab station and have the students rotate through the stations.  This saves paper and printing since only one set of task cards is needed for the class.

2.  Competitive Game Formats:  Use the cards in a game format.  Divide the class into teams.  Place the task cards face down in a basket.  A team selects a card at random and must complete the task for a point.  It is a fun way to review for unit tests and high schoolers love the competitive format.

3.  Use task cards during instruction:  When teaching difficult concepts, stop periodically and check for understanding.    Ask the students to "pull out cards 16 - 20" and complete the tasks to see if they understand the material you have been teaching.  It gives the students a chance to relax just a bit and it provides an additional opportunity for them to absorb the mountain of details in a science class.

4.  Warm Ups and Bell Ringers:   

I use this one a lot!    As students enter the room, have them complete 4-5 task cards on concepts covered the previous day.  I have them write their answers on a sheet of notebook paper and collect them for a quick daily grade.  This strategy gets them to work the minute they enter your classroom, and helps them to get focused on the learning for the day.

5.  Exit Slips:  This strategy requires students to  write responses to questions you ask at the end of the class period.  It allows the students to reflect on what they have learned during the lesson and allows you to check for mastery of concepts.

 6.    Use task cards as part of your lab activities:  As students are carrying out and completing lab work, place a task card or two at their lab station and require that they include the answers to the task cards as part of their lab report.

7.  Homework Assignments:  At the end of your lesson, have students copy a few task card questions into their lecture notes to be completed for homework.  Checking student answers is a great way to start class the next day.

8.  Differentiate, differentiate, differentiate!!  How often do we teachers hear those words?  Well, task cards are the easiest way I have found to help learners of different ability levels.  By making customized sets of cards, you can give a student exactly what they need to be successful. Students can complete the cards you have given them and never know that other students have different sets of cards.

9.  Task cards are perfect for early finishers:  Task cards are not just for review and reinforcement.  They are perfect for enrichment!  When students finish their regular work early, you can give them enrichment task cards to deepen their understanding of the concepts being taught.

10.  Small group review sessions:   My students will often come in before school, after school or during a study hall period to use the task cards to review for an upcoming unit test.

11.  End of course testing:  Does your state require that students pass an end of course test at the end of the school year?  Mine does!   When reviewing for my end of course tests, I place different sets of task cards in plastic boxes and arrange them about the room,  Students select a set of cards and review through them in small groups.  When finished with one set, they select another .

12.  Tutoring:  My school offers peer tutoring and teacher tutoring after school.  Teachers and students alike will borrow my sets of task cards to use during after school tutoring.

13.  Hallway Extra Credit Display:  Post a few task cards on the wall outside of your classroom door.  Completion of the task cards can earn the student a few extra credit points.

14.  Bingo! Make a Bingo board out of task cards.  Students must complete 5 tasks in a row, column or diagonal to win.

Because task cards can be used in so many ways, they have earned a permanent place in my teaching arsenal.  They are fun and engaging, and provide excellent opportunities for students of all ability levels to master the subject matter.



Here are just a few of the task card sets available in my TpT store:

•  Cellular Respiration Task Cards
•  Photosynthesis Task Cards
•  Lab Clean Up Task Cards
•  Classification and Taxonomy Task Cards
•  Matter and Change Task Cards
•  Metric System Task Cards
•  Let's Read Science! Common Core Science Task Cards
•  Microscope Task Cards
•  Scientific Method Task Cards
•  Population Ecology Task Cards
•  Introduction to Ecology Task Cards
•  Viruses and Bacteria Task Cards


Or you can just click this link to view all of them!

Science Fun this Thanksgiving!

This science-y activity is a perfect way to celebrate Thanksgiving in your science classroom.

In the fall of 1621, the members of the Plymouth Colony, along with their Wampanoag friends, celebrated with a feast of Thanksgiving.  For three days all of the participants feasted, played games, sang, danced, and gave thanks for their blessings.  The menu for this first Thanksgiving feast included deer, corn, shellfish, vegetables and roasted meats.  Although the menu has changed a bit over time, we Americans still celebrate a time of Thanksgiving with a very large meal!

Are you looking for an activity to do in your science classes as the holidays approach?  I have just written a new activity that uses a dichotomous classification key to identify the scientific names of the foods that were eaten at the first Thanksgiving celebration.  Students will use their critical thinking and problem solving skills to make observations about the different foods while they navigate the dichotomous key to the correct scientific name.

This is a perfect way to combine science with the observance of a wonderful holiday tradition.  These images will give you a better idea of what is involved in the activity.

You can find this activity in my TpT store by clicking this link:  Dichotomous Key to Thanksgiving Dinner.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Take an Amazing Virtual Field Trip With The Nature Conservancy

Link up and hang out with The Nature Conservancy for a super-fun classroom virtual field trip!

Field trips are a common occurrence in schools, especially near the end of the school year.  However, funds are often nonexistent, and with the crushing pressure of end of course testing, time may not be available to take the kids out of school for the day.

What is the solution?  Take an exciting virtual field trip with The Nature Conservancy!

Tell me more!  The NatureWorks Everywhere website (presented by The Nature Conservancy) offers a wide range of lessons, videos and virtual field trips for our science classrooms.  The videos are highly engaging, and the downloadable free lesson plans are perfectly designed to complement and enhance your teaching.

What about the virtual field trip?  The third virtual field trip is just around the corner!  It is entitled:  "The Coral Reefs of Palau: Nature's Amazing Underwater Cities."  The mission of this field trip is to design, plan and execute a live Google Hangout for grade 3 - 8 classrooms in order to learn about the diverse ecosystem of Palau's Coral Reefs.  Students will learn about the symbiotic relationships between the many organisms, the environmental dangers facing the coral reef, and how people can act to protect the reef. From the developers, "We hope the virtual field trip will build student's knowledge of and emotional connection to environmental issues that are at the heart of The Nature Conservancy's mission."

When is it?  The live Google Hangout will take place on Tuesday, May 19, 2015 at 12:00 pm.

How do I sign up?  Click this link to sign your class up  for the coral reef virtual field trip.

What will my students learn on this virtual field trip?  "Join the Nature Conservancy on a Virtual Field Trip to the Coral Reefs of Palau: a remote network of islands deep in the Pacific Ocean. Here, sharks snatch up smaller prey; decorator crabs apply bits of shell, algae, and sponge to their own backs for camouflage; and massive 2,000-pound sea cows graze. Our journey to the Coral Reefs will open students’ eyes to an amazing, interconnected ecosystem built on symbiosis and mutualism, where diverse organisms are designed to protect, clean, nourish, and even camouflage one another. In this underwater city, the coral supports its many “workers” and they, in turn, keep the coral healthy. 

Called “the medicine chests of the sea,” Coral Reefs provide ingredients that are leading to new lifesaving medications. They are also an astonishingly rich source of food for many species, including humans, and provide a perfect buffer to protect shorelines from erosion. Join our expert scientist, Marine Biologist Stephanie Wear, as we take a deep dive to learn about one of the “seven underwater wonders of the world.” May 19, 2015 at 12:00 pm (ET). Length: 40 minutes."

Many of the key ecological concepts that we have been teaching all year long will be reviewed and reinforced:  Symbiosis, mutualism, interactions within communities, predation, competition, food chains and food webs.  

Who will be leading this virtual field trip?  Marine biologist Stephanie Wear will be leading us on this adventure.  Stephanie is Director of Coral Reef Conservation for The Nature Conservancy.  Stephanie is articulate, engaging and explains concepts in a clear and easy to understand manner.  You can take a look at one of her coral reef videos at this link:  Coral Reefs - Feeding and Protecting Us.

Are there resources I can use to get prepared before we take the virtual field trip?  YES!!  These links will provide you with many free resources to prepare you for teaching and your students for learning.

• The Need Is Mutual Lesson Plan
• NOAA: Coral Ecosystems Education Collection
• NOAA - Ocean Acidification Education Collections

You mentioned above that this is the third virtual field trip presented by The Nature Conservancy.  Can I still view the first two fields trips?  Absolutely!  The first two virtual field trips can be viewed below:

Wild Biomes:  From America's Rainforests to America's Deserts

Deserts and Grasslands of Africa

This sounds great!  What do I do now?  Be sure to sign up for the live Google Hangout.  Then sit back and get ready for a fun classroom adventure!

Disclosure:  This post has been sponsored through a partnership with WeAreTeachers and NatureWorks Everywhere.

Science Stuff: Top 5 Blog Posts of 2014

At the end of each year, I enjoy reading articles or watching TV shows about the the "most, best, greatest" things that happened in the year.  In doing so this year, it occurred to me that I should check my blog stats to determine "The Best of Science Stuff for 2014."

I looked at each blog post and picked out the top five that had the highest number of hits.  Already this is flawed..... A post written in January 2014 had a lot more time to receive hits than a post written in December of 2014.  Nonetheless, I stuck with the original plan and went with the five getting the most hits.

Of the five, three of them were no surprise.  They covered topics that are highly popular right now.  But I was a bit surprised by the other 2.

I am very pleased with all five of these posts.  I believe that each and every one of them offers tips, suggestions, and valuable information for the science classroom teacher.  I may be living in a world of denial, but it is my hope that some of my ramblings have been helpful to other teachers.

Below is the countdown to the top five.  Each is hyperlinked to the original blog post.  Click on the image to read the full article.  

So without further ado.....

And finally.....  The #1 post of 2014

Wishing you a very Happy New Year, and a successful second half of your school year!