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Managing an Active Class

By Gabe Kraljevic

Posted on 2019-05-10

How do you maintain classroom management and control during active science lessons? I am curious about how to keep students under control when encouraging movement and active involvement in teaching. 

— A., Texas

I have always liked an active class—provided the activity is focussed on learning! Observing what is happening is important—so pick a spot in the room where the entire class is visible and set yourself up there. A corner is often the best. When helping someone, turn yourself to have as many students (or particularly sneaky ones) in front of you.

I think a key management strategy is having the class listen to you. Developing procedures to quiet the class is a good place to start. Use your teacher voice and be direct: “I need everyone back in their seats.”

Don’t talk over a class. Give one simple command and wait until all students have complied. Insist that students put everything down and face you before talking. When needed, you may want to count to three out loud. Most students respond quickly to this—especially if you have been using it all year.

A last resort for a rambunctious class would be to look at the clock and write the time you asked them to settle down on the board. Remain quiet until the last student is seated and looking forward. Write down this time. Add the delay time to the end of the period (provided it didn’t interfere with the next class or bussing). You’ll likely only need to do this once.

Hope this helps!

How do you maintain classroom management and control during active science lessons? I am curious about how to keep students under control when encouraging movement and active involvement in teaching. 

— A., Texas

Supporting Emergent Multilingual Learners in Science, Grades 7–12

Many middle and high school teachers are educated to teach science content—they don’t anticipate that one day they may be teaching it to students who need to learn both content and English. If the day has come when you’re facing that two-pronged challenge, here’s the resource you need.
Many middle and high school teachers are educated to teach science content—they don’t anticipate that one day they may be teaching it to students who need to learn both content and English. If the day has come when you’re facing that two-pronged challenge, here’s the resource you need.
 

Ideas and inspiration from NSTA journals

By Mary Bigelow

Posted on 2019-05-09

Sometimes  it seems like there are artificial boundaries in education: elementary vs. secondary, K-12 vs. higher education, middle school vs. high school. Having been an educator at all of these levels, I’ve found that there are more similarities than differences. If you take a few minutes to browse the table of contents for the journals that are outside your own teaching assignments (or read the blogs) you might identify a few articles of interest to download and read. For example, if you need a refresher on content, the secondary journals may help you. You may have students who could benefit from more advanced activities or students who need more fundamental experiences. You can see what the NGSS “looks like” at different grade levels. And get ideas for investigations that could be adapted for your grade level.

The Journal of College Science Teaching is another excellent NSTA resource with food for thought. It’s interesting that some of the articles in this higher education publication are about topics and issues with which K-12 teachers can identify, such as assessments, homework, the use of technology, and investigations. Even though the students described in these articles are older and more experienced, there are a lot of commonalities with science education at all levels. Best of all, unlike some higher education publications, the articles in JCST are very readable, not written in heavy “journalese.”

For example, in this year’s issues there have been articles about

September 2018

November 2018

January 2019

May 2019

As an NSTA member you can download articles from all four journals as PDFs directly to your device. Or you can take advantage of NSTA’s Learning Center to save relevant articles in your own online library or organize them into a resource collection to share with colleagues.

Sometimes  it seems like there are artificial boundaries in education: elementary vs. secondary, K-12 vs. higher education, middle school vs. high school. Having been an educator at all of these levels, I’ve found that there are more similarities than differences. If you take a few minutes to browse the table of contents for the journals that are outside your own teaching assignments (or read the blogs) you might identify a few articles of interest to download and read.

This activity focuses on comparing objects using a balance. Introduce children to the balance by putting identical objects of equal weight on the two sides of the balance. Then give children time to explore by putting different objects on the balance. Encourage children to add or subtract weight from one side and to predict what will happen when they do. A materials list, internet resources, standards, and safety practices are provided.
This activity focuses on comparing objects using a balance. Introduce children to the balance by putting identical objects of equal weight on the two sides of the balance. Then give children time to explore by putting different objects on the balance. Encourage children to add or subtract weight from one side and to predict what will happen when they do. A materials list, internet resources, standards, and safety practices are provided.
This activity is about exploring rocks. Put out a box of rocks and let children explore, observe, and compare rocks, matching them by shape, size, and color. Encourage children to use magnifiers as they observe. A materials list, internet resources, standards, and safety practices are provided. This book selection also includes the Table of Contents, Preface, About the Editors, Introduction, Simple Graphing for Young Children, Science Teaching Boards and Boxes, Basic Materials List, and Index.
This activity is about exploring rocks. Put out a box of rocks and let children explore, observe, and compare rocks, matching them by shape, size, and color. Encourage children to use magnifiers as they observe. A materials list, internet resources, standards, and safety practices are provided. This book selection also includes the Table of Contents, Preface, About the Editors, Introduction, Simple Graphing for Young Children, Science Teaching Boards and Boxes, Basic Materials List, and Index.
This activity is about collecting rocks. Take the children on a rock hunt and ask them to select three rocks to put in their bags. Once back inside, have each child choose one rock to show to the others and describe what they like about the rock. As a follow-up activity, it works well with leaves, shells, seedpods, twigs, or other natural materials. A materials list, internet resources, standards, and safety practices are provided.
This activity is about collecting rocks. Take the children on a rock hunt and ask them to select three rocks to put in their bags. Once back inside, have each child choose one rock to show to the others and describe what they like about the rock. As a follow-up activity, it works well with leaves, shells, seedpods, twigs, or other natural materials. A materials list, internet resources, standards, and safety practices are provided.
This activity is for testing the strength of different magnets. Use a pile of paper clips for children to explore with. As they begin picking up paper clips with their magnets, they will see that some magnets can pick up more than others. Encourage children to discuss the strength of each magnet. A materials list, internet resources, standards, and safety practices are provided. This book selection also includes the Table of Contents, Preface, About the Editors, Introduction, Simple Graphing for Young Children, Science Teaching Boards and Boxes, Basic Materials List, and Index.
This activity is for testing the strength of different magnets. Use a pile of paper clips for children to explore with. As they begin picking up paper clips with their magnets, they will see that some magnets can pick up more than others. Encourage children to discuss the strength of each magnet. A materials list, internet resources, standards, and safety practices are provided. This book selection also includes the Table of Contents, Preface, About the Editors, Introduction, Simple Graphing for Young Children, Science Teaching Boards and Boxes, Basic Materials List, and Index.
This activity uses a magnet to push another magnet through a maze. Discuss how a magnet can pull or push another magnet and give each child a “Magnet Maze” sheet and two magnets. Briefly demonstrate using one magnet to push another through the maze and then let the children try on their own. A materials list, internet resources, standards, and safety practices are provided. This book selection also includes the Table of Contents, Preface, About the Editors, Introduction, Simple Graphing for Young Children, Science Teaching Boards and Boxes, Basic Materials List, and Index.
This activity uses a magnet to push another magnet through a maze. Discuss how a magnet can pull or push another magnet and give each child a “Magnet Maze” sheet and two magnets. Briefly demonstrate using one magnet to push another through the maze and then let the children try on their own. A materials list, internet resources, standards, and safety practices are provided. This book selection also includes the Table of Contents, Preface, About the Editors, Introduction, Simple Graphing for Young Children, Science Teaching Boards and Boxes, Basic Materials List, and Index.
This activity focuses on exploring the magnetic force through objects by placing magnets in a small box. Slowly move the box about a half-inch above a pile of paper clips and watch the paper clips attach to the bottom of the box. This activity could be done again with different objects to help the students discover the objects a magnetic force goes through and the objects it does not. A materials list, internet resources, standards, and safety practices are provided.
This activity focuses on exploring the magnetic force through objects by placing magnets in a small box. Slowly move the box about a half-inch above a pile of paper clips and watch the paper clips attach to the bottom of the box. This activity could be done again with different objects to help the students discover the objects a magnetic force goes through and the objects it does not. A materials list, internet resources, standards, and safety practices are provided.
This activity focuses on the use of magnets and finding magnetic items in the classroom. Give each child a magnet and have them go around the room and find objects that are attracted by their magnet. Activity may be extended outside to discover which items on the playground are magnetic. A materials list, internet resources, standards, and safety practices are provided. This book selection also includes the Table of Contents, Preface, About the Editors, Introduction, Simple Graphing for Young Children, Science Teaching Boards and Boxes, Basic Materials List, and Index.
This activity focuses on the use of magnets and finding magnetic items in the classroom. Give each child a magnet and have them go around the room and find objects that are attracted by their magnet. Activity may be extended outside to discover which items on the playground are magnetic. A materials list, internet resources, standards, and safety practices are provided. This book selection also includes the Table of Contents, Preface, About the Editors, Introduction, Simple Graphing for Young Children, Science Teaching Boards and Boxes, Basic Materials List, and Index.
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