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Hi! I am a senior in college and going to intern in an Elementary classroom. Soon I will have to teach a science lesson and I have never been a huge fan of science throughout my years in school. Do you have any tips to make science more engaging and fun to students? I want to get them involved and excited about science! I would love for them to be more interested than I was and want to learn more! Thank you!

Hello! I would say to make the lesson as much of a "hands on" lesson as possible. Younger kids love to actually do the lesson and discover things on their own. I would do a bit of background information to prompt them in the right direction, but let them discover and come to conclusions on their own. Its amazing to see the looks on their faces when they discover new information.

I have thought about this topic often and i feel engaging children and making them feel excitement towards a subject is a very important priority. I am excited to hear what other people recommend as this is something I have wondered. The only advice is something I heard in my science for elementary class and that is to be as excited for the subject as possible. When you are excited and have a real love for the subject the students will feel this and feed off it. I also agree science needs to be very hands on and not taught like a history class where they just read and are talked to the whole class.

Hi my name is Fiorella Carpio. I am from Midwestern State University. I believe that creating lesson plans that are fun and interesting maintain students engaged when they are learning.

Hi, I hope that you were able to make your lesson engaging for the kids. I did a five senses lesson plan with my 1st graders and I feel that science lends itself for hands on activities. You can do centers with the children. It is very hands on type os subject.

Hi Chelsea! Making science fun and relatable is something that is very important in keeping students engaged in the classroom. For this reason I have created a YouTube Channel called FunScienceDemonstrations which is home to hundreds of free video demonstrations that cover a variety of topics! They are all common core aligned and can easily be recreated in the classroom. I encourage you to check it out and subscribe as we will be releasing new videos regularly and in the coming year we will be adding supplemental materials such as readings, problems, poems, and more! https://www.youtube.com/user/funsciencedemos Hope you find this helpful, Dr. George Mehler Ed.D., Temple University

Hi Chelsea, I know the feeling! I am also a student teacher and will be teaching a science lesson this Friday. I was a little nervous but I found with my students that the more hands on and interactive I make the lesson, the more they will be interested and participating in my lesson. I suggest that you search for fun, hands on activities because those are always fun and will keep the students engaged. Goodluck!

Hi there! I'm currently student teaching in a kindergarten classroom and just did a science lesson on the 5 senses and popcorn. Essentially the kids will be using each individual sense to describe the popcorn. For example, "when you look at the popcorn, what do you see? It is white, yellow, bumpy etc." The kids absolutely loved this lesson because it was very engaging, hands-on, and of course involved food! Here is a link with more details: http://www.education.com/activity/article/Popcorn_for_five_senses/ Best of luck.

Thanks for sharing that link it was very helpful!

Begin your lesson with something relavent to their lives!

Hi Chelsea, I would say the key to engage students and make them excited to learn science would be to have an exciting anticipatory set. The anticipatory set will set the mood for the lesson. As I'm sure you have learned, the anticipatory set is essentially the hook to get the students excited so be sure to plan this out well. A lot of times for younger students, getting them to do hands on activities or even to watch some type of video will get them engaged and exited to learn. Another key factor to never forget also is your attitude when teaching. Make sure you are just as excited to teach the lesson because the students will feed off your energy as well. Good luck! 

I use various tools and activities to engage my kindergarten students.My students love for me to read stories and use videos. I use these tools that are connected to their real live experiences. 

Things that students are interested in!

I taught a science lesson this last semester over light energy. The students were very engaged in the lesson because there were a lot of hand-on activities. I also incorporated think-pair-share  in the lesson and the students really seemed to love being able to share with a friend. I think that as long as the kids are up and moving, and working in teams or pairs they should be engaged.

Wow, the YouTube Channel FunScienceDemonstrations is great! I am a senior at Florida International University, and what I am finding and learning through my course work is that the word "engaging" is sometimes misunderstood. I think that the best way to engage students is by having them discover and do on their own. This may not be practical 100% of the time in the actual classroom setting, but I think that it is important to aspire to have hands-on, minds-on be a common theme throughout science lessons, and all lessons in general. 

It gets hard when it comes to engaging students that are not interested. The foundation of Science was very poor for them to be able to focus back on. It is tough to find something that will grab there attention, but nothing is impossible. These are great suggestions. I will consider them in my future class. 

Hi! In my opinion I would suggest starting with a really fun, interested and engaging activity. This will drive the students curiosity to learn anything about science. Also a lot of hands-on activities is a must when teaching science. Good Luck! 

I am also a senior and I  had a similar problem but one thing I noticed and have grown to love about science is that it is so hands on, the students really get to learn through "play" which is amazing.  I have noticed students like anything "gross" such as decomposition of fruit or carving pumpkins.

If you want to make your science lesson more engaging, make sure you incorporate an activity into your lesson that will get your kids moving, whether they are cutting, glueing, coloring, or building something. I've learned that my second graders really enjoy activities that they have to use some sort of manipulation. It keeps them engaged and interested. The more they have to do, the better. 

I would definitely recommend doing something that is hands on, not book work. Another thing can also be to take them outside and work on activities outside. 

I think this is a great question, it's really important to engage students in science, especially in elementary school! I suggest that each lesson begins with something engaging that students can ask several questions about. Inquiry is key in science! They are able to develop their own explanations and learn new information if they are ensure about something. 

I am in my senior year of college also but am taking my science method class while student teaching in a 1st grade class also. I had to do a science lesson which at the start of the semester I was frazzled by. While expanding my knowledge in my methods class I become more enthused in the subject. I can say it was mainly due to the way she presented the information. So first I knew I would have to do the same in my classroom. As I learn in methods class I began to understand the power of knowledge, the more I knew about the content the better understanding I had to present information in a lesson format. I would advise you do learn as much as you can about the topic you will teach and then spend time planning to research different resources that are readily available. 

The key to making science fun is allowing the students to explore and engage in different types of investigations. Let them get messy! Though you may not love the chaos, they will!

Proficiently understanding the content before we teach it is essential and something that I myself need to perfect. While taking methods courses myself this semester, I came to the realization that some of the science content was essentially all new to me because it had been so long since some of these concepts were taught to me or reviewed. I have learned or rather, re-learned so much while taking methods courses and hope to learn and refine my prior knowledge before getting a classroom of my own in a few months!

Have the students engaged in hands-on activities and constructing their own knowledge, you will be surprised what they come up with! Take them outside and have them explore their playground or school garden. Get them actively involved in their learning and making their own models and developing their own explanations about phenomena. 

My advise would be to find out as much as you can about the students interests. Often kids are being taught about stuff they care nothing about. I understand that this is hard to avoid when dealing with standards but there are ways to find relationships between things that are generally not paired together. If you have to teach a lesson about photosynthesis and the kids seem utterly uninterested in plants and the lesson in general. Start relating it to their lives. Ask them what would happen if photosynthesis stopped occurring? Get them involved by making it about them. 

My cooperating teacher always says if you are excited then the students will be too. Science is also not my favorite subject as some of you mentioned above. I find that my students are most engaged during hands on activities such as when they have to create something. The often loose focus/interest if we spend too much time doing book work. 

Hello  The best way to get student engaged is to build their curiosity and find an interactive lesson that will get them involved. I'm not sure how many students you are working with but setting up station will be good or look up some webquest for the topic you have to teach on. 

Science is always more fun if there is an activity or some way that is engaging students. It makes it less work on the teacher if the students are in small groups rather than the teacher doing all the work. I think it would definitely be a mistake to have a science lesson that is only a lecture.

Science is always more fun if there is an activity or some way that is engaging students. It makes it less work on the teacher if the students are in small groups rather than the teacher doing all the work. I think it would definitely be a mistake to have a science lesson that is only a lecture.

Hello! My name is Isabella Pousada. I am an Elementary Education major at FIU. Throughout my years in school, I did not enjoy science either. I just did not understand it and it did not like it. I think a great way to engage students in science is to do a lot of inquiry activities. Give students a problem or a question that they need to investigate to find the answer to. The process of the investigation and discussion will engage students in scientific learning!

Hi, For those of you who are just starting to teach and science may not have been your 'thing' my biggest recommendation is to talk to other teachers in your school or district, use your resources.  Find something about your subject that interests you.  If you aren't interested then neither are your kids.  Try to use multiple activities like dioramas, skits, songs, poems, etc.  The more options you use the easier it is to reach multiple learning styles.  Do not rely on worksheets and lectures.

NSTA has resources that are free to non-members, including The Early Years blog where I write about science inquiry in preK-grade 2--the background 'why' and an activity that can be the start, or part of, a science inquiry. Check it out and add your comments to share your experiences. http://nstacommunities.org/blog/category/earlyyears/

There are some wonderful ideas to get students more engaged with science. There are some great resources for teachers on the NSTA website. I have put a lot of great resources in my library to help me in my future classroom.

There are some really engaging videos on YouTube that can be used as a "hook" in your lessons. Also, check out other websites like Pinterest and Teachers Pay Teachers, you can gather ideas from these websites and create something wonderful. 

I am currently student teaching in 5th grade and I have found that I find most of my engaging ideas off of Pinterest and Teachers Pay Teachers. My students seem to really like when I am able to incorporate fun videos and clips from popular movies to teach concepts in the classroom. 

I am currently student teaching in 5th grade and I have found that I find most of my engaging ideas off of Pinterest and Teachers Pay Teachers. My students seem to really like when I am able to incorporate fun videos and clips from popular movies to teach concepts in the classroom. 

Hi Chelsea! I totally  relate to you not always being a huge fan of  science throughout the school years.This semester I am in student teaching and taking my method courses. One of my classes is a science course and it has been very helpful about what strategies to use when engaging your students in science. I have learned this semester that you can make science fun and students can still learn. I have learned to engage students examples is doing a read aloud, experiments, hands on activities, and etc. An example of engaging students is for my lesson plan on metamorphosis and incomplete metamorphosis we did a hand signals for each part of each cycle. The kids loved it because it was hands on and helpful way to remember each part of every cycle. I have been on pinterest and other teacher resources to help me prepare on engaging my students in my science lessons. 

Hi Chelsea! Like you,I am also a senior at a university in Houston. This semester I learned that engaging students is essential to students motivation to learn. When I teach a lesson,I love to incorporate. Videos and read aloud. This two really help me tap to students previous knowledge on some of t science concept we ate going to go over. Good luck 

Hi Chelsea! Like you,I am also a senior at a university in Houston. This semester I learned that engaging students is essential to students motivation to learn. When I teach a lesson,I love to incorporate. Videos and read aloud. This two really help me tap to students previous knowledge on some of t science concept we ate going to go over. Good luck 

Hello Chelsea, I recently introduced my first 5E science lesson as well and I felt the same way. Since it was inquiry based I had to think quick on my feet based on their unpredictable responses. However, implementing authentic items such as plants, a fish, a rock, and a drone to teach the difference between living and nonliving was engaging for them.

Hi Chelsea, I can relate with that same feeling about science but I have learned that as along as you do hands on activities and you have your students do collaborate work they will be more engaged. 

I thought the same way about science. However, there are so many ways where you can incorporate engaging activities. For example my science teacher modeled a lesson about water density by having us make a lava lamp. Each student created a lamp using household items; an empty water bottle, oil, water, and food coloring. The students learn about water density by seeing what happens to each thing when it is combined inside the water bottle. This was engaging because it was a hands on activity, and it a fun product the students can show others. 

I think that I have a similar experience as you. I did not really enjoy science as I was growing up. I feel that in order to help students to become more involved and interested in learning, we need to present and expose them to something that is hands on and engaging. In my class, I taught a 5E Lesson that involved the students dissecting flowers. Each student had their own flower, tweezers, and hand lens so that they could observe and conduct the experiment for themselves. This encouraged students to become more inquisitive and excited to learn about flowers and plants. 

I can  talk about my niece. She is only six years old, but already very engaged in science). Really! And this is a little bit strange, because her parents not very scientists and  even not very interesting. But her  favorite games is to make something  like experiments in physics and chemistry, she loves to  grow up something or  to produce crystals.  I  am happy for her, maybe she is the famous scientist chemist in the future, but also I am worried that her parents don't very interesting in that and don't help her much. So maybe  interests come from family too, every mother or father  have to  find what interesting to their children even before they go to primary school.

Hello! i have a similar situation to you. I am not very fond of science but i feel that as an educator, we can make a difference when teaching science. It can be very confusing for students to understand science, so it is important for us to come up with engaging activities and make science fun. The only science activities i remember from being a student were the fun ones!

I think for making it more interactive it is always mandatory to explain them with practically and along with this you can also make use of presentation slides for explaining them .

Dear PreK-6 Teachers, Looking for ideas to engage students in the classroom, consider attending the next NSTA Virtual Conference on June 29, meet other educators, and NSTA Press authors Peggy Ashbrook and Christine Royce. The conference is three hours long and begins at 10 am ET. The registration fee includes one of their books...your choice! Visit the website below for more information and to register: http://learningcenter.nsta.org/virtualconference See you online! Flavio.

Dear All,

Dozens of early childhood and elementary school educators  have registered to attend June 29's virtual conference: Engaging Students in Science: PreK-6. If you haven't, register today:

http://learningcenter.nsta.org/virtualconference

• Learn about specific instructional strategies that educators can use to engage young learners in science


• Meet and ask questions of NSTA Press Authors


• Engage in dialogue with science educators from across the country and the world


• Receive an NSTA Press e-book (approximate value $20) with your paid registration

I love all the replies on this discussion! Science is an intimidating subject to teach to many teachers and I enjoyed reading through all these replies as it made me feel like I am not the only one who fears science lessons. I love all the advice on making lessons hands on and not just lecture based! I will love to implement the idea of having science experiments to be included in all if not most science lessons to ensure I am building life long learners. 

I love all the replies on this discussion! Science is an intimidating subject to teach to many teachers and I enjoyed reading through all these replies as it made me feel like I am not the only one who fears science lessons. I love all the advice on making lessons hands on and not just lecture based! I will love to implement the idea of having science experiments to be included in all if not most science lessons to ensure I am building life long learners. 

Hello! When I was a student I was almost never excited about Science. This is my first year teaching and when it comes to Science I always incorporate a song and a hands on activity. Students get bored when they are just reading and answering questions. I love to do science experiments. This does take some time to plan, but it is worth it to see the students reactions.

Hi Chelsea,

I am currently a senior and going to school to become an Elementary Education major with a Special Education minor (Strat 2).  I'm definetly in the same boat as you as I am not a huge science fan myself.  I think we need to rememer as teachers that our studets should ever be able to tell that we don't like a certain subject.  If anything, we should promote that subject more and invest ourselves into the subject so that science can be enjoyable for our future studets.  The way we perceive a subject can alter our studets views as well if we make them oblivious.  There are plenty of ways to engage students successfuly into a science lesson.  Personally, hands-on science activites really catch my attention during a science lesson.  An open-ended discussion going along well with the activity can really peak the students interest.  As educators, we need to remember not to shoot down students ideas, because this could turn them away from science.

I would say to make the lesson as much 'hands on' as possible. Students who are younger love to discover things on their own and actually have objects to work with when doing the lesson. You could go over some background information on the topic to help get them ready for what they will be doing in the lesson.

Engaging students is a challenge all educators face at some point in their career. Luckily, though, science can easily be one of the most engaging experiences for students, though, because of the potential for hands-on experiments. For all learners, but especially young learners, it is important to make education relevant and engaging. This comes with many activities in which the students are actively involved in their learning. NSTA is a great resource to find such activities. Another tip would be to do some background research on multiple ways of demonstrating knowledge. Each child in a classroom is an individual and learns differently (for more information, search Universal Design for Learning). With this in mind, having multiple means of demonstrating knowledge will keep all students engaged because of their autonomy to choose how they will display what they have learned. Even something as simple as having stations around the room and the options to assess orally, on paper, through a presentation, etc. are some quick strategies to implment into the classroom to increase student engagement.

There are plenty of amazing suggestions here already, but the main point to keep in mind is this: 'is this lesson student-centered?'  Students are able to pick up when the teacher is bored of a lesson or doesn't want to teach it, so keep your enthusiasm up!  All learners want to be part of the learning - learning is fun and engaging when it is hands-on and student-led.  UDL or PBL are two very good types of lesson planning/instruction types to use in order to create a fun classroom.  

Children want to learn, ask questions, and be a 'scientist.'  Take advantage of this!  Have students try out their own ideas, talk to one another, and experiment with things before diving further into the topic.  Take them outside and let them show off their skills or have them start science with a story or question involving science from the day before (no matter the context).

Hello fellow science teacher,
 
I am replying you behalf of Funsciencedemos YouTube Channel that is home to hundreds of free videos for ideas for teachers and students to recreate in the classroom. Science is our passion and we are so excited to share our engaging, kid-teacher-parent friendly, and interactive lessons with you to use in the classroom or at home. Our videos adhere to the common core science standards, encompass a wide variety of science concepts, and are specifically geared toward younger learners. All videos on the FunScienceDemos channel come with an English subtitle that can be translated into almost any language, making science lessons accessible virtually any place in the world.  
 
We encourage you check it out and spread the word! We post new science videos once a month, please subscribe our channel.
 
https://www.youtube.com/user/funsciencedemos
 
 
Sincerely,
 
The FunScienceDemos Team

Chelsea,

That is so exciting to be teaching a science lesson! Science can be a trickier subject to teach, but I think you can have so much fun with science. When teaching science, you must make sure that the lesson is fun and engaging, otherwise the students will not be on board. I think anytime you can do an experiment is always good! Experiments are always fun and exciting, and it will be a great way to get them drawn in. Fun videos are also a plus! Students love videos, and they can be great ways to introduce a topic. I hope these ideas help!

Katie Weitzel 

Hey with any subject I would suggest making it fun as much as possible. I would use songs, movements, anything hands-on to understand the topics. If you make it fun and engaged then you should see mastery in the learning of the topic taught.

I feel like hands on activities are a great way to engage students! Also, relating the content to the students can grab their attention and make them excited to learn something new. 

Hello Chelsea,

I believe one way to get students wanting to learn more about science is by using hands-on activities. Get them up and working together to learn about science. If you can try to plan lessons around going outside and exploring our environment. Science is everywhere! I know in my field experiences, students have loved getting out of their seats and exploring the world around them. One thing that I like to do when thinking of lessons is I like to think of things that I would remember doing five or ten years down the road.  Another fun way to get students to learn about science is to incorporate food when you can. That could mean making layers of soil out of pudding, cookies, etc. Having this positive experience in the classroom creates a good relationship between students and science. Students will not remember lessons just sitting watching you lecture! Get everyone involved and have fun. I hope this helps you on your journey. If you have any questions feel free to let me know! 

Lily Aulwes