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Monday, November 15, 2010

Differentiation and excitement cont...

I was really enjoying researching ways to make science lessons engaging for students, especially those with behavioral needs, so I decided to do it for my final post as well. I found a great website that gave some ideas to make science exciting. It was directed for students in Ohio, however the ideas were easily interchangeable for students in Wisconsin.

The website really stressed the idea of making science exciting by tying it to something they are already excited about. The point of this is to show that science is all around them, and they can use their interests to learn about science.

One idea was to use popular theme parks, like Six Flags, to learn about roller coasters and physics. You can ask students what their favorite roller coasters are and use these specific roller coasters in your physics lesson. This will keep them interested because they will want to learn about their favorite roller coaster!

Wisconsin is home to many lakes. This can be used to strike students interest in learning about nature. You can talk about lakes students are familiar, maybe lakes they live by or have cabins on. You can have students research these specific lakes and find important information on them

Wisconsin is also home to the Milwaukee Zoo. If you can't plan a field trip there, you can ask students who have been there and what their favorite animals were. They can choose these animals to research when learning about animals or animal cycles.

The website made a great point that it is very easy to tie student experiences in with learning about science. This will allow them to take personal interest in science and be excited about what they are learning about!

http://ezinearticles.com/?Ideas-to-Get-Ohio-Elementary-Students-Excited-About-Science&id=3791792

2 comments:

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  2. I think that it is very important to connect the content to the students lives! I feel that students are more engaged and interested in what they are learning about IF they can make those real life connections.

    I love the examples you listed above: Six Flas- physics, WI lakes- nature/biology, Milwaukee Zoo- zoology.

    This concept of relating the content to the students lives is great to remeber with all subjects! Students will definitely be more engaged.

    Thanks for the info!

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