marine science Archives - Secondary Sparks

Why You Should Try Project-Based Learning in Middle School Science

Michelle Rudolph — Fri, 17 May 2024 16:00:59 +0000

Project-Based Learning, or PBL, just seems to be one of those buzzwords in education right now. You hear about it online, your school’s district or admin might be pushing it and you’re unsure because it feels like just another trend in education that will fade. Let me be the first to tell you that I thought the same way when I first heard about PBL. Then, I actually tried it and it changed my entire mindset on the topic, for better. Let me tell you why project-based learning in middle school science is something you should try at least once during the school year.

It's Not Your Average Project

Project-based learning in middle school science is not the same as the projects you’re used to assigning in class. It’s not limited to things like edible cell models, posters of the solar system or powerpoint presentations on Newton’s laws of motion. It’s bigger and much more meaningful than that. It’s an experience students will remember.

PBLWorks (bie.org) defines project-based learning as “a teaching method in which students learn by actively engaging in real-world and personally meaningful projects.” Not the vibe you get from a simple poster project or shoebox diorama, right? The focus on PBL is to relate your classroom content to the real-world. This makes it more relatable to students so that you spark their interest, make them curious and get what we all want from our middle schoolers: buy-in.

Real-World Relevance

PBL takes classroom content and relates it to the real world. By having students answer a driving question that requires critical thinking and problem solving skills, you are creating a learning experience that is more meaningful to students. Once you tap into a student’s interests and align standards with it, you are likely to maintain engagement. How many times have you been asked “how does this relate to my life?” in your science class? Give them the opportunity to find the answer themselves in an authentic way.

Inspire Creativity and Innovation

Your students have talents and abilities beyond what they demonstrate on a summative assessment. PBl offers students a chance to have some autonomy in their learning, encourages creativity and allows them to be innovative. During the OBL process, students have the chance to explore different solutions to a problem, try out new ideas and think outside the box.

As the teacher, you are the “guide on the side” during the PBL process vs being the “sage on the stage.” The autonomy your students will have will allow them to explore learning in a way that is different from any other way they have learned before. You are tapping into students’ natural curiosity and their desire to explore.

PBL Encourages Collaboration

Having students work together to answer the PBL driving question fosters collaboration because students are required to communicate, share ideas and coordinate their efforts to achieve a common goal. These are skills that are not only important in the classroom, but will follow them into their lives through adulthood.

The feedback process can also be very impactful for students. By providing, and receiving feedback from their peers, students learn how to use constructive dialogue and refine their thoughts with the help of their peers.

Of course, collaboration will sometimes involve conflict. Students may not always see eye to eye. It’s important for students to navigate these challenges and work to solve them appropriately. Once again, this is another skill that will follow them into adulthood. PBL promotes open communication, encourages productive working relationships and develops interpersonal skills.

Your Students Will Surprise You

They will surprise you in the best way. Letting go of some of the control in the classroom and giving your students autonomy in their learning can have real benefits. You will see things in your students that you normally don’t get the opportunity to see. You will be able to see their creative skills, how they work with others to solve problems, watch them actively work to come up with a solution, revise their work and present their findings. You will learn so much about your students beyond their academic skills which can be such a rewarding experience for not only the student, but for you as the teacher as well.

Have I Convinced You Yet?

I’m hoping that you are reading this and realizing that implementing project-based learning in middle school science can truly be a transformative process in your classroom, in the best way. If you’re looking to try one out for yourself but you aren’t quite ready to do all the thinking and planning yourself, check out these ready-made project-based learning activities:

1. Create a Musical Instrument: Sound Waves Project Based Learning

This is a five-part project-based learning activity for students about sound waves. This project allows students to take their knowledge of sound waves and apply it to creating their own musical instrument, advertisement for that instrument and a music video. This can be done after a unit on sound waves and energy or throughout.

2. Hurricanes Project Based Learning: Tracking and Preparing for a Storm

This is a Project-Based Learning activity that can be implemented in almost any science classroom for a hurricanes or severe weather unit. It is all about hurricanes. Students will learn how storm systems are tracked throughout the season, how to prepare for an approaching storm and create a PSA or newscast to help the community prepare.

3. Plastic Pollution and its Impact on the Biodiversity of Coral Reefs

This is a Project-Based Learning activity that can be implemented in almost any science classroom and comes with a digital google slides version. It is all about how plastic pollution has an effect on the biodiversity of the coral reefs. Students compile research, create a public service announcement and then an action plan to create a solution to this real-world problem.

The post Why You Should Try Project-Based Learning in Middle School Science appeared first on Secondary Sparks.

How to Infuse Current Events in your Science Classroom

Michelle Rudolph — Fri, 10 May 2024 17:10:31 +0000

“How does this even relate to us?!” This is a question you get a lot in your middle school science classes, right? It’s not always easy to show students the answer. Some topics in your science class are hard to find hands-on labs for and sometimes an online video just doesn’t do it justice. This is one of the reasons I love using current events in the science classroom. They relate what you’re teaching in the classroom to the real world.

Why Should You Use Current Events?

By using current events in your classroom, you are relating topics from your curriculum to the real world. You are giving students the opportunity to learn about something going on right now in the world that ties into what they are learning in the classroom. This brings that topic to life in a brand new way. It shows its relevance in the world and answers that famous question you get in your middle school classroom which is “why is this important?”

Science is constantly evolving and changing with new discoveries and technological advancements. Students need to understand that and what better way to help them understand it than to actually see that it is occurring in real time? Promotion of scientific literacy will also give them a way to look up this information on their own so they can make informed decisions about their lives using articles that are from reputable sources.

Also, not only are you relating your science standards to the real-world, but you are also helping your students become better critical thinkers and improving their writing skills. The ELA teachers will thank you!

How Can You Infuse Them in Your Classroom?

There are a few ways you can infuse current events into your science classroom.

1. Find an article related to what you are teaching at the time. For example, if you are currently on a unit about galaxies, you may want to find an article about a new, recently-discovered galaxy that is light years away. Have all the students complete a science current events template like the one shown below to learn about it and describe how it relates to what they are learning.

2. Dedicate a section or wall of your classroom to this. I called mine “Science in the News.” I used a string and some clothes pins to add various articles I found online to, what looked like, a clothes line. Students can walk up to the wall, find an article that interests them and fill out the same current events template shown in the image above. I loved to find informative articles as well as some more silly ones that related to science but also would peak students interest. Students would grab the article, a template and start writing.

Where Can You Find Science Articles?

Whether you teach Earth Space, Life Science, Physical Science, Marine Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, STEM, Forensics or any other secondary science subject, there is a ton of news sources you can use to find articles to suit your needs.

If you have a NewsELA subscription, you can find articles there by searching the science category. I also loved using NewsELA because you can sort by lexile levels to adjust the level of difficulty with each reading.

Here are some other sites where you can find up-to-date, relevant and reputable science articles for students:

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Activities For the End of the Year in Your Marine Science Class

Michelle Rudolph — Fri, 26 Apr 2024 19:13:26 +0000

As the school year wraps up and all the testing chaos ends, you may be thinking “what can I do for the rest of the school year?” “How can I keep my students engaged?” Well, I believe the end of the year in marine science is all about having some fun while still keeping the activities content-focused. Here are some of my favorite ways to wrap up the end of the year in marine science.

Did you Miss Anything?

This one may be simple but just looking at your pacing guide and curriculum map can be really helpful here. What are some of those big projects or labs that you put off because you didn’t have enough time earlier in the year? The end of the year is the perfect time to revisit those activities.

Contributions to Marine Science Project

This is a fun project that I usually like to assign at the beginning of the year but I have done it at the end of the year as well. The Contributions to Marine Science Project is a research project that allows students to learn more about inventions and technologies that have made the lives of marine scientists easier and advanced research. The students get assigned a contribution (or you can let them choose) from a list. Once they have theirs chosen, they begin to do research about it. What does it do? What does it look like? Who uses it? How does it help marine scientists?

Once they have their background knowledge about the invention, they take on a marketing role. Their job is to pretend they are on the marketing team for this invention or advancement. They must design an advertisement for their contribution that shows what it is capable of and convince others why it’s so helpful. If you want to take things up a notch, you can add a Shark Tank twist. Have your students present their advertisements as if they are on the show. This always made it a bit more fun!

Plastic Pollution and the Coral Reef PBL

This is an excellent long-term project for marine science. It covers coral reefs, biodiversity, ecology and the impact of plastic pollution on coral reefs. It reviews many of the concepts you have gone over throughout the year and ties it all together. You can learn more about the project here or grab the resource for the project here. You will need about 2-3 weeks to complete this PBL, making it perfect for the end of the year.

Here is the quick summary of the project plan:

1. Introducing the project. This really sets the tone for the unit and keeps students on track with a goal in mind. I like to write the question (How does plastic pollution affect the biodiversity of life on coral reefs?) on the board and come back to it throughout the project.

2. Create a sketch. Have students create a sketch of what they think a healthy, biodiverse coral reef looks like. They can apply what they know about coral reefs here.

3. Research. Students will begin researching the coral reef and the current state of things. This can be done individually, with a partner, or even in small groups depending on your class size and dynamics.

4. Create a new sketch. After researching, have students create another sketch that represents the “true” state of coral reefs based on what they learned.

5. Create a PSA. Now that students know why coral reefs are important and what is happening with coral reefs – they can inform others! Put students into groups to create a PSA about biodiversity and how plastic pollution has affected coral reefs.

6. Create an Action Plan. Finally, have students create an action plan that gets the school or community involved in efforts to reduce the plastic in the oceans. Their action plan will focus on why coral reefs are important and what the average citizen can do to help.

Polynesian Nautical Stick Charts

This is a fun project that ties in the history of marine science and early map making. Ancient Polynesians made their maps out of sea shells, sticks and other natural materials to create personalized maps that helped them with seafaring. With this Polynesian Nautical Stick Charts Project. With this project, Students will learn about Ancient Polynesian stick charts, how they were created, and their significance. Then, they will build their own map using various materials and include islands of their choice. Once they have created their own charts, they will trade with a classmate to see if they can be read and understood by others. This project will take a couple of class periods so that students get an idea of how to tie the sticks together.

You’ll need some supplies such as:

Kabob sticks

Sea shells

Clay

Beads

Strings

Build an Edible Coral Polyp

Students love a good food lab. They can be messy but they are fun and educational too! This Edible Coral Polyp Lab is a simple lab that you can do with students to review coral polyp anatomy. Students bring in different candies or snacks to create their coral polyp. However, the foods they use must represent the different parts of the anatomy for their coral polyp. Have your students review the anatomy, the function of each feature and how the food they choose represents that anatomical feature. This one was always a favorite in my marine science class!

Marine Animals Bingo

If you are looking for a way to have your students review characteristics of marine animals, this Marine Organisms Bingo Game is perfect. It is played similar to the traditional style of Bingo but, in order to win, students need to be able to identify and understand the characteristics of organisms in various phyla, classes and orders. As the teacher, you read off the characteristics and the students mark the correct organism on their Bingo card. Make the game easier by giving students game cards with images or make it more challenging by providing game cards without images.

Marine Animals ABC Book

One of my favorite projects is the ABC’s of Marine Vertebrates Book. This is a collaborative project in which each student’s contribution puts the whole project together. Each student gets a page of a book with a letter. The students have to find a marine vertebrate that matches that letter and research it’s characteristics. Then, they draw their animal and color it. Once all students are complete, you can place all the pages together in order, bind the book with string and there you have it! A book that your class made together. Sometimes, we donate the book to our local elementary school so that the younger students can enjoy it.

The post Activities For the End of the Year in Your Marine Science Class appeared first on Secondary Sparks.

8 Atmosphere and Ocean Currents Activities for Oceanography

Michelle Rudolph — Fri, 22 Sep 2023 18:35:02 +0000

Ocean and atmospheric circulation is a big unit. It can be a challenge to cover all the information you need about ocean circulation patterns, the Coriolis Effect, and so on. Much less, make it engaging for students. These eight atmosphere and ocean currents activities will add some fun to your ocean and air unit and will help students retain the information!

#1 Ocean Currents Read aloud

Children’s books aren’t just for little kids (in fact, I use them all the time in marine science). You’d be shocked by how engaged middle schoolers can be reading 10 Little Rubber Ducks by Eric Carle. This picture book does a great job of introducing the concept of currents and ocean circulation patterns. It talks about how scientists learned more about these concepts after a cargo ship accident that dumped rubber ducks into the ocean.

#2 Guided Notes for Your Ocean Unit Study

I love using guided notes, especially when introducing a topic. Guided notes help students get down the basics in an organized way so they can refer back to their notes later as needed. Have students research the information to fill out their notes or use them alongside your lessons. My ready-to-go unit on ocean circulation patterns includes a lesson with guided notes and an assessment!

#3 Ocean Current Activity with Ducks

Bring back those rubber ducks! If you have access to a large Pacific-centered map, you can grab some toy rubber ducks and have students plot the locations they were found on a map. Then, students guess which currents brought them to that location. This lesson is really hands-on and will challenge students’ critical thinking skills. This resource will help you introduce the background information needed for this project.

#4 Coriolis Effect Experiment

Demonstrate the Coriolis Effect by using a rotating turntable, a ball, and a marker. Spin the turntable and allow students to observe how the ball’s path curves due to the rotation of the Earth. Those live-action illustrations go a long way in helping our students retain the information they need!

#5 Ocean Current Activity with Maps

One of my favorite ocean current activities is this collaborative art project. Create small groups of students, give them a current to focus on, and have them create their own map of the ocean currents in an artistic way. Then, put them all together to make one giant map. This would be a great way to wrap up an ocean unit study.

#6 Hurricane Project Based Learning

Do you teach about hurricanes? I’ve tried lots of hurricane projects over the years, but this hurricane PBL is my favorite. Add this to your ocean unit study to show how natural disasters come about due to warm water and air circulation. Use it during hurricane season for real-life application and have students track approaching storms and create a PSA to help communities prepare.

#7 Ocean Circulation Pattern with NASA

NASA’s Perpetual Ocean is an incredible resource that helps us visualize the ocean’s currents. I recommend projecting this for students when talking about ocean circulation patterns. It’s a great way for students to visualize the concept.

#8 Model Ocean Current Activity

This final ocean current activity is one of my favorites. To do this with students, create a tabletop model with a shallow container of water, food coloring, and a heat source. By heating one side of the container, you can demonstrate how warm water rises and cold water sinks, simulating ocean currents.

Give these activities a try during your ocean and atmospheric unit!

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4 of My Favorite Marine Science Picture Books

Michelle Rudolph — Wed, 31 May 2023 02:28:21 +0000

When it comes to picture books, you might think of little kids during literacy time. But picture books can actually be fun and informational for middle schoolers as well. In my experience, middle schoolers appreciate a chance to be a “kid again” and take a break from more challenging texts. Which is why I love using marine science picture books with middle schoolers.

Not only are picture books enjoyable, but they can make complex concepts accessible. One of my favorite ways to use science picture books is to introduce a new unit. It gets students engaged in the content and gives them basic background knowledge to build on.

Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase.

My Favorite Science Picture Books

10 Little Rubber Ducks

A cargo ship is hit by a giant wave and a box of ten rubber ducks goes overboard. Because of the ocean currents, the ducks are sent in various directions and meet lots of marine life on their journey. This book is a cute way to introduce marine life and habitats, plus wind and currents.

I often use this book to introduce my Air-Sea Interactions unit.

Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean’s Most Fearless Scientist

There are lots of misconceptions about sharks, and Eugenie Clark wanted to change that. In this science picture book, students will learn about a female scientist who devoted her life to researching sharks. One thing I really like about this story is how Eugenie actually gained an interest in sharks at a young age. I think it can be relatable for middle schoolers. I use this book during our Bony & Cartilaginous Fish unit.

Secrets of the Sea: The Story of Jeanne Power, Revolutionary Marine Scientist

What does a nineteenth-century dress maker have to do with science? Well, Jeanne Power changed the way we study underwater life. She built glass tanks to study animals and published her findings in scientific journals. At a time when women didn’t get much recognition in science, Jeanna made a large impact. This science picture book goes really well with our history of Marine Science unit at the beginning of the year.

The World of Coral Reefs: Explore and Protect the Natural Wonders of the Sea

This is a great book for helping students understand the power of coral reefs. During the story, Erin Spencer, a marine ecologist, covers the types of coral, their lifecycle, where they live, and more. This is a great book for introducing your Coral Reefs and Human Impact unit.

Want more tips for planning your marine science units? Grab the free Marine Science Pacing Guide for a week by week breakdown of what I teach throughout the year.

I hope you can see why I love using science picture books in the classroom. They are so many stories out there to choose from which can help you ease into a new unit or topic, while also getting your students engaged.

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Creating a Collaborative Project about Marine Vertebrates

Michelle Rudolph — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 18:52:27 +0000

If we are being honest, you could spend an entire year teaching all of the different marine vertebrate species and animals! But with a school year, as you know, time is limited. This is how the Marine Vertebrates ABC book was born. I wanted to give my students the opportunity to learn about a marine species of their choice and go deeper with their learning – without it consuming too much time.

I also wanted to have a project the whole class could take part in as a collaborative effort. To accomplish both of these tasks, we created a children’s book as a class: The ABCs of Marine Vertebrates.

How to Set up the Marine Vertebrates Project

The good news is that this project is pretty simple to put together. The bad news? Your students might struggle to pick one marine vertebrate. There are so many to choose from!

Assign each student a letter. Or have students pick a letter. If there are more letters in the alphabet than students in your class, you can always assign those leftover letters to a few students as extra credit.

Pick an animal. Next, have students pick a marine vertebrate that begins with the letter they were assigned. This can be a challenge for some letters, so I let them use the scientific name or the common name, which gives them a bit of flexibility.

Gather information. Once they’ve picked their marine vertebrates, students will fill out the full taxonomy (kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species) and draw a picture. I also ask them to add any fun facts and key information they learn about their species as well.
Color the page. The last step for students is to color their page. I ask them to make it look nice and presentable, just like a real book would be! Then you can laminate the pages and bind them, or put them into sheet protectors and store them inside of a binder.

Ideas for How to Extend this Project

You can take this marine vertebrate project even further with a few extension activities.

One of my favorite ways to extend this project is to give our book creation to a local elementary school. If you do this, you can have students write a letter to go with the gift, explaining why the book was created.

You can also have students scale their pages into posters and hang them in the classroom or the hallway. This makes for great decor for next school year.

If you have a good chunk of time to commit to this project, put students into small groups and have each group create their own Marine Vertebrate ABC book.

Another way to extend this project is to have students present their pages! It’s fun to see them share their thinking, and the kids love seeing everyone else’s pages.

Whether you choose to extend this activity or keep it as-is, it’s a fun and engaging way to dig a little bit deeper during your marine vertebrates unit! Your students will enjoy getting to learn more about a specific species and will have the chance to learn collaboratively with others.

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