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I think a major aspect of teaching science is being able to gain students attention and keep it. Fostering an interest or curiosity could be the beginning of that students love of science. I, for instance, was never particularly interested in astronomy, until recently. The Discovery Channel aired a show titled "Journey To The Edge of The Universe". It was fascinating. "In one single, epic camera move we journey from Earths surface to the outermost reaches of the universe on a grand tour of the cosmos, to explore newborn stars, distant planets, black holes and beyond." This prompted me to enroll in astronomy classes at my local community college and I am even considering a minor in astronomy at UMBC. Teachers may not have the time to show their students this entire film, but if they can, they absolutely should! Follow link: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/journey-to-the-edge-of-the-universe-3023

My school has recently purchased a membership to Discovery Education. This is an online resource that teachers and students can use to assist with explaining various topics in many different subject areas. This website shares short (some are long) videos that may help students become interested in science. I have used this website to explain some social studies concepts and many science concepts. If you get a chance take a look at discoveryeducation.com.

Every lesson plan seems to start with the goal to “Engage!” students. So, I agree with you—Ashley—that engagement and inspiring interest is so key to student learning. Your link to the astronomy video reminded me of how much I enjoyed the BBC’s Planet Earth series. In my class, we study Antarctica, and I showed a portion of the Planet Earth series on Ice Worlds to my students, and they absolutely loved it. I teach younger children, so they find animals so fascinating. To show them those clips, I actually used the site that Cristey suggested—Discovery Education. It is a fantastic site for supplementing your instruction with some multimedia. To answer Arlene’s question, I inspire my students by helping them get hands-on in the classroom. Our school has a Scott Foresman Science Program that is SO extremely boring. It’s basically a reading program that covers science content, so I rarely use it. Instead, I prefer to create my own lessons and mini-units where the students can get as hands-on as possible. I have also found a lot of success inspiring student engagement and interest with the FOSS Science series. I have worked on a Fabric Unit with my Kindergarteners and also a Trees Unit, where we actually plant our own tree and practice stewardship. The students absolutely love it.

Believe it or not, something that really works for us in grabbing our students interest is using Cornell Notes. They feel so grown up and find it as an easier to help them study. Thanks for ll of your great and helpful advice. Ricki Luster

Being an innovative instructor can impact student learning and interest. Communicating with other teachers about creative teaching practices can help the process but it is important to tailor those practices to your teaching style.

Fostering an interest or curiosity could be the beginning of that students love of science. I love how you said this because I think it is completely true. Having the excitement and energy while teaching science will rub off onto the students. They too will be excited and ready to learn something new. As teachers, I think we can make science fun by giving hands-on activities that get the students a little messy. Being outside is always great, and having the same curiousity as the students will be a great learning experience for both us and the students. I truly believe you must love what you are teaching or the students will not enjoy it. The vibe you give the students stick on them, which will make them love or hate science, usually for the rest of their lives. Teach something you love so the students can share the love you have for science.

Ashley, thank you for posting the National Geographic link for the video. It’s always nice to have a wide variety of “tools in the toolbox” when working with students. Isn’t it amazing how we can become inspired to want to know more and find ourselves pursuing further education ourselves? It is my greatest desire that I am able to inspire that same passion for learning in the students I teach every day. This link is perfect for several of my students, they will be excited to view it.

Arlene asks, 'How do others inspire their students?'
I love Ashley's link to Discovery. On the same lines, NOVA's The Elegant Universe is very well received by my students. The teacher's guide and all of the video clips (3 hours worth) are available for free. There are other programs listed there as well. When I can make connections to the what my students are learning in the classroom with what the great scientific minds of today are thinking and having to say about the topic, my students are inspired to want to know more, learn more, and sometimes even start thinking about new scientific career possibilities. Have you found other video series, websites, etc., that are inspiring your students to want to learn more about what they are reading about in class? How else can we create interest? Please share.

I believe that an introductory "hook" is a really meaningful way to start a lesson and grab students' attention. One way I like to engage them is by showing a short video clip (not more than a few minutes long) and connecting it to the topic/concept at hand that day. For a unit on Newton's Laws of Motion, I found a segment from America's Funniest Videos that was basically all about people falling or running into things. It was a perfectly entertaining illustration of Newton's First Law, regarding inertia. My students laughed hysterically along with me, and right after the video we discussed why these funny incidents were relevant to physics. I feel that if I can hook my students from the very beginning of the lesson, they are more likely to be engaged for the duration of the class period.

Jennine - I totally agree with you that every lesson should begin with an engage piece, but do you begin every day with an engage activity or introduction? I used to think this as a first year teacher, but found that I spent so much of my own time preparing for this engagement and then it took so much in-class time to do the engagement. For example, if I were to show the students a graph pertaining to our current topic, it would take up half the class time (about 20 minutes) just working through it and making observations and conclusions about it. What strategies have you used in your classroom to build up engagement piece? Cheers! Kathryn

Kathryn, I completely understand the point you are making. I don't think engagement has to be a separate activity, different from your content lesson. I think engagement can be a critical piece of your science instruction. Learning can be engaging when intentional and carefully planned. For example, if I was sharing a few pages from the graphic noel about Richard Feynman, I would consider it a lead in to my lesson on Nature of Science ,not a stand alone activity. I bet you include engagement s part of your everyday instruction. Anybody else got some thoughts here? Kathy

Hi Kathy - Thanks for your post! I actually found an interesting journal article about cartooning science content knowledge. I have many students who are talented artists and once I start using these types of strategies in the classroom, students become much more interested in the material. I'm attaching the article is anybody is interested in reading about the authors' strategies. I've also found that by allowing students to synthesize their own raps or songs about the content that we just covered. Interpretive dances are also a hit (once the students move past the initial stage of being 'too cool' for dancing in class) and definitely increase student activity.

Hi Kathryn, Thanks for your response, and I completely agree both with your comments and also with Kathy’s comments about engagement. I rarely rely on a formal lesson plan these days, but I do mentor other teachers who share their lesson plan templates and I also take classes for Professional Development credit that require lesson plans. So, because of those activities and that frequent exposure to formal lesson plans, I have been reminding myself about finding that hook for students from the beginning of the lesson. I teach young students--kindergartners—so for them, that opening “Engage!” piece is really just something quick to grab their attention and get them excited about what is to come. Recently, we did a lesson on gravity, and I started it off by dropping various items on the ground. The goal was to get their attention and to get them thinking about “what will happen if. . . “, which it did, but as Kathy mentioned, I also tried to build the “Engage” factor in throughout the lesson. For example, the students made predictions about what might sink or what might float, and instead of having them shout out their predictions, I had them physically move to the left side of the room (if they thought the object would sink) or to the right side of the room (if they thought the object would float). Everyone was participating. Everyone was engaging with the content, and also having fun. From there, we moved into the hands-on exploration testing objects in tubs of water. Since your comment mentions evaluating and discussing graphs, I am assuming you work with older children, and I know things are more complex at that level. I think it’s interesting though that for me that kinesthetic element really engages students, and you mention something similar using interpretive dance in your classes as well.

I have been volunteering at the Science Center in Baltimore. There I run the Stomp Rocket exhibit. I wanted to share this activity to all of you as a potential idea to implement into you classroom. It is a fun and exciting experiment for kids to kinesthetically understand Newton’s law of motion and force. By using stomp rockets students can analyze optimal angles that will project the rocket in various ways (i.e. max height/distance). It is a prime way for students to see that every action has a reaction and that if a force acts upon a body, then an equal and opposite force must act upon the body that exerts the force (Newton’s third law of motion). If you can afford the actual stomp rockets, a balloon would be an alternative example to show these concepts to your students! I hope you all find this activity useful!

I have been volunteering at the Science Center in Baltimore. There I run the Stomp Rocket exhibit. I wanted to share this activity to all of you as a potential idea to implement into you classroom. It is a fun and exciting experiment for kids to kinesthetically understand Newton’s law of motion and force. By using stomp rockets students can analyze optimal angles that will project the rocket in various ways (i.e. max height/distance). It is a prime way for students to see that every action has a reaction and that if a force acts upon a body, then an equal and opposite force must act upon the body that exerts the force (Newton’s third law of motion). If you can afford the actual stomp rockets, a balloon would be an alternative example to show these concepts to your students! I hope you all find this activity useful!

Hi Katie, That's great that you help out at the Baltimore Center. I agree, anything with rockets creates great interest and excitement. When I was at the Minneapolis NSTA conference, I went to a workshop where straw rockets were made and launched using a bicycle pump. That is another way to engage our kids in rocket launching and Newton's Laws of Motion. Thanks for sharing!

I am a pre-service teacher and am currently taking a science course in which I have been learning about the 5E instructional model. Engagement is the first phase of the instructional model and the one on which we have put the most emphasis on. We started out the semester learning about discrepant events as a way to engage our students. We had to present our own discrepant event, and through preparing to present a discrepant event and also watching those of my classmates, I gathered many creative ideas. I was unfamiliar with discrepant events prior to taking this college course and I think they are great ways to ‘hook’ students, especially those who are not big fans of science. Kathryn, I like your idea of using interpretive dance in a lesson; I will have to look into that. I will be student-teaching in a fourth grade classroom and I hope the student won’t think they are ‘too cool’ to dance and have some fun!

I love the sharing going on in this thread. Thanks for so many creative ways to engage students and create interest in science. Bouncing off an idea that Brenda just mentioned, 'I like your idea of using interpretive dance in a lesson; I will have to look into that. I will be student-teaching in a fourth grade classroom and I hope the student won’t think they are ‘too cool’ to dance and have some fun!'
Brenda, I recently read an article called Dramatic Science that you might enjoy reading. the summary says, 'This article describes how this creative approach can be used to develop science process skills and a passion for science in your students.'
I read the article myself, and I loved the ideas shared there. I am wondering how others might be using create role playing, dance, or other performance strategies to help create interest and excite students to learn.
Carolyn

I agree. Trying to make real world connections can also help to stimulate interest. Doug