archive

KWIPPED

KWIPPED is a highly efficient, no-cost resource for chemistry teachers looking to rent equipment for projects. If you need to source equipment that is too expensive to buy, KWIPPED.com is a great way to find short or long-term rentals that will fit your budget. 

Helping or Hurting?

I am teaching this summer and it is especially exciting as I am piloting the labs I wrote this spring. We are using these labs exclusively and I am collecting student feedback for each lab to help in the editing, refining, and revision process.

ELLs and Science Practices

In a previous blog post, I shared my thoughts about the importance of science teachers (and all teachers, really) supporting their claims about lesson efficacy with evidence.  While this doesn’t always need to be a formal research study, it can often be valuable to publish findings that will be helpful to other science teachers.

 

Project Exodus

Critical reviews of "Beyond" by Chris Impey, "How We'll Live on Mars" by Stephen L. Petranek, "Exploration and Engineering: The Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Quest for Mars" by Erik M. Conway, by Elizabeth Kolbert.

Teacher as Researcher

n teaching we regularly change our class structures and routines and we implement new “interventions” in hopes of changing classroom dynamics or reaching more students.  I know that most of the time I make these decisions based upon anecdotal evidence, perhaps after glancing at a handful of exit tickets from my students or based upon how I “felt” the class went.  Recently, though, I’m finding myself a little more hesitant when making a claim about my class.  I require that my students support their claims with evidence, so why wouldn’t I also support mine with evidence? 

 

Community Outreach

I have been involved in several types of community outreach projects to promote science education and chemistry. One of the best was a biannual event I worked on with teachers from each elementary school in our district and from our middle school. It was a Science Extravaganza.