Hailey French
Oklahoma State University
OK

Scope on Safety: Tooling Up for Safer STEM Activities

Wed, Nov 09, 2016 9:28 PM
Safe STEM Activities

This is a great article that goes over in detail good safety procedures and rules when doing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) activities in the science classroom. The procedures and rules are stated in ways that is understandable to most anyone. Everyone needs a reminder when it comes to safety related things, and this article does a great job of that!

Methods and Strategies: Strategy Makeover—K-W-L to T-H-C

Tue, Oct 25, 2016 10:44 PM
K-W-L to T-H-C

This article is about switching from a KWL chart which is what students know, want to know, and have learned about a specific topic - to a THC chart which is what students think, how they can find out, and what they conclude about a specific topic. I think this chart would be much more useful in a inquiry based science classroom. It gives students more opportunity to explore their thinking in the H column, and also makes it more clear in the T column that they do not necessarily have to have the right answer for what they know but rather now look at it for what they think. This chart also allows for more inquiry based topics and is more appropriate for a science classroom.

Science Shorts: Observation Versus Inference

Mon, Oct 17, 2016 8:29 PM
Inquiry vs Observations

I loved this article/lesson plan for understanding the differences between observations and inferences. It is important for students to know the difference when doing science projects or experiments. This lesson plan is a great idea for students to really grasp the concept of the similarities and differences between the two and why they are both important for scientists to use. I definitely plan to use this lesson when teaching this topic to my students in the future.