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I find it that students enjoy hands on activities, inquiry based lessons and a good pop quiz at the end. I am referring to my Kindergarten students however, strongly believe that all K-12 students prefer these type of lessons.

[color=#000000][size=4][font=HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif]To keep students interested in science, let them keep exploring. I absolutely love the Phenomenon-Based Learning Books (from NSTA Press) and accompanying materials (from Arbor Scientific). The activities can be done at any level, so your both your lower-level students and high-performing students can start from wherever they are and will get a lot out of them. Students work in groups like real scientists and, also like real scientists, they learn not by memorizing facts, but by exploration and discovery. [/font][/size][/color] [color=#000000][size=3][font=HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif][size=4] [/size][/font][/size][/color] [color=#000000][size=3][font=HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif][size=4][url=http://q-r.to/IkB][color=#196ad4]This link[/color][/url] [/size][size=4][font=Helvetica, sans-serif]will get you to all editions — elementary (3-5), middle-school (6-8), and high school (9-12).[/font][/size][size=4][font=Helvetica, sans-serif] [/font][/size][size=4][font=Helvetica, sans-serif]If you click on one of those editions, you can then scroll down, and under “Details,” you’ll see a link for downloading a sample chapter. And if you click on that link, you get not only the sample chapter, but also the table of contents and the Introduction. The Introduction is quite informative in describing how to present the activities in ways that will be pedagogically effective for all levels of students.[/font][/size][/font][/size][/color] [color=#000000][size=3][font=HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif][size=4] [/size][/font][/size][/color] [color=#000000][size=3][font=HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif][size=4]The books are based on "Phenomenon-Based Learning" (PBL), which builds knowledge of and interest in physical science as a result of observations of real-world phenomena, in this case, some fun gizmos and gadgets. [/size][/font][/size][/color] [color=#000000][size=3][font=HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif][size=4] [/size][/font][/size][/color] [color=#000000][size=3][font=HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif][size=4]If you want to see more about Phenomenon-Based Learning, you can look here: [/size][url=http://www.msb-science.com/PBL/][color=#196ad4][size=4]http://www.msb-science.com/PBL/[/size][/color][/url][size=4] [/size][/font][/size][/color] [color=#000000][size=3][font=HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif][size=4] [/size][/font][/size][/color] [color=#000000][size=3][font=HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif][size=4]There are kits of materials designed to go with the book that are sold by Arbor Scientific. You can see them here: [/size][/font][/size][/color] [color=#000000][size=3][font=HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif][size=4] [/size][/font][/size][/color] [color=#000000][size=3][font=HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif][url=http://www.arborsci.com/nsta-kits][color=#196ad4][size=4]http://www.arborsci.com/nsta-kits[/size][/color][/url][size=4] (Click on any book to see the kits.)[/size][/font][/size][/color] [color=#000000][size=3][font=HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif][size=4] [/size][/font][/size][/color] [color=#000000][size=3][font=HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif][size=4]The kits are expensive, but they provide enough materials for dozens of activities and would be a great investment for any school. [/size][/font][/size][/color] [color=#000000][size=3][font=HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif][size=4] [/size][/font][/size][/color] [color=#000000][size=4][font=HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif]Iris[/font][/size][/color]

I believe doing all hands on activities is the best way to keep your students interesting. Their are so many things you can make and do that is science related. In my science class in college , I found it pretty fun how we made ice cream in about 10 minutes in class. Plus it was so interesting.