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Hello. When I was in elementary I remember loving science because of all the fun activities. During this pandemic how are teachers managing the experiments? What was changed from physical instruction to virtual? 

Hi there!

One of the things I did in March when we closed due to COVID I recorded myself making playdough, oobleck, and other fun science experiments. Then I sent the information over to the parents and they could do the experiments at home and send me a video or just watch mine! It worked well!

That's a great idea. Since Science is the one subject that is hands-on, recordings are almost necessary. If I was teaching Science during this pandemic, I would try to find simple experiments that only require lost cost materials and have the class each perform them from home every Friday on Zoom. If I ran out of experiments to do at home that met with the NGSS, then recordings of myself would have to do.

Recording yourself is always great!  I also have done a bunch of "let's do this together" activities, with material lists sent out ahead of time.  That's a fun way to collaborate.  With PreK, I tried to keep it to about 20 minutes becuase of zoom fatigue.  However, sending out related pictures, stories, songs, and making yourself oopen to family questions, adds depth

Thanks

Anne

Science is a fun topic for children because it oftentimes involves experiments and hands on activities. Getting children acquainted with science will help them be more open minded and curious about the world. Experiments helps them stay engaged and eager to learn. 

There are also some great virtual field trips available. In April, my first grade class took a virtual field trip to Mars. We navigated the Mars Rover and they had a great time. 

On Wow! I want to look that up. I still use virtual field trips even though we are in the classroom because we still cannot attend in person. I really miss our yearly pumpkin patch field trip.

Aida