Well, I’m over half way through my first nine weeks of teaching 8th grade physical science. As you might imagine, some kids are doing great, some are doing so-so and some just openly declare that they hate science and refuse to do any work at all.
I’m trying to keep the students interested w/hands on activities when possible but I’m looking for some extra “thinking activities” for them when they first enter the classroom. Does anyone have any links for science “fact of the day” type sites that are free AND accurate? Preferably related to physical science (basic physics and chem). Right now we are starting on the fundamentals of matter. I’ve done some Google searches w/out much luck.
Any ideas to interest students who would rather be somewhere else would be greatly appreciated.
You know, I don’t get this. I’ve always found “hands-on” activites to be mundane. I’d rather devote time to learning why something works, then seeing it work once.
MichaelP, check out some of the pages linked from refdesk.com. In particular, the Earth Science and Astronomy pictures of the day, and some of the science news sites might serve your purpose. Also, check out the “Science” link under “Natural Sciences” near the bottom.
I agree. I never had an undergraduate lab class in physics or chemistry that was worth the time involved. My experience was that the work was done sloppily and results fudged to look right because everyone knew that the work was without scientific meaning.
I taught a Community College class in electric circuit analysis that also had a lab. After two semesters of following the syllabus I decided that the next semester I would use the lab to demonstrate experimental methodology thoroughly, even if we never completed a single experiment, rather than just try to complete the syllabus requirements.
Unfortunately the class was discontinued because the Navy cut off the financial support it had been providing before I could put my plan to use.
