Direct instruction in science is not dead. I’m sure you’ve heard that it is, but trust me, it’s not. The traditional method of just standing there and teaching while a group of 28 middle school students stare blankly at you for 45 minutes is dead, but not the idea as a whole. Listen, I am all for student-centered learning. Stations, projects, labs, you name it. Sometimes, though, direct instruction in science is exactly what you need to do in order to get students to understand certain concepts. Especially those that are impossible to find a lab for. It’s all in the way that you teach using direct instruction that makes all the difference. These tips will give you the strategies you need to transform your direct instruction in science to boost engagement.

Visual Learning

If you’re using slides, make sure they are visually appealing. Include graphics that are eye-pleasing and also relate to the content in a way that helps students understand what they are learning better. Also, make sure that you’re not adding too much information to each slide. You need it to be digestible for your students. Less is more!

Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration Lesson, Guided Notes and Assessment

Guided Notes

Guided notes help students follow along with the lesson, write down important information and have something to reference back to later when they are studying or need to look at vocabulary. Guided notes are the perfect addition to interactive science notebooks if you use them, too.

Have an Engagement Piece

Make them think about what they are about to learn before they learn it. You know, activate their prior knowledge. This has to be something that will make them curious, suspicious and eager to know the answer. You can do this with a video, a demonstration, a simple question or even a mini lab. I have always started my lessons with an engagement piece. It invites your students into the lesson and gives students the opportunity to participate from the very beginning. I even include my engagement questions within my guided notes so that they look back on it towards the end. You’ll see why this works later. An example of a simple engagement piece for a thermal energy lesson could be a demo. Use a beaker with cold water and a beaker with warm water. Add blue food coloring to the cold water and red food coloring to the warm water. Ask students to explain what they think is happening.

Include Checkpoints Throughout

Make sure that every few minutes or so during your lesson, you are checking for understanding. I call these checkpoints. Right after I introduce new vocabulary or a new concept, I’ll have students answer a question. You can have students answer questions on guided notes, using white boards, completing a quick digital quiz on a platform such as Nearpod or just simply raising their hands to answer. I include checkpoints within my guided notes so that students can refer back to them later. This can be 1-3 questions. I usually keep them simple to make sure that students are following along and are grasping the content. Not only does this keep students engaged during your lesson, but it can help guide your instruction as well. If students are answering questions correctly, you know that you can move on. If students are struggling, you’ll catch it early and be able to reteach.

Changes in States of Matter Lesson, Guided Notes and Assessment

Bringing it Back

Remember that engagement piece? You are going to revisit that at the end of your lesson. You can do this with another question. This question should be something students can answer that is related to the engagement piece. This will allow students to demonstrate the knowledge they’ve gained during the lesson. For example, if you were to do this for the thermal energy engagement demo, you could ask students to explain what actually occurred and why using the new vocabulary they learned. Think of your “bringing it back” portion of your instruction as tying your lesson up with a bow.

Have Students Write Summaries

This is a Cornell-Notes strategy that I love. Having students write a summary after a lesson really requires them to understand what they have learned. I usually have them write 3-5 sentences for their summary and draw pictures if they choose to do so.

Periodic Table Lesson, Guided Notes and Assessment

I have created many lessons and guided notes structured with the engagement piece, checkpoints, “bringing it back” and summarizing components. You can find lessons for each of these subjects here:   Earth/Space Life Science Physical Science Marine Science