Katherine Willet
Williamsburg Middle School
VA

Take Off With NASA’s Kepler Mission!

Thu, Nov 15, 2012 2:04 PM
Great for so many uses

I use this article with 7th grade students in a Life Science class. Students have prior knowledge from the previous year about the universe and how aspects of the universe are being explored. I focus on the Kepler Mission because the information gained from the project is related to looking for where life could survive elsewhere in the universe. The article is a great place for students to gain information about the Kepler Mission, and then use that information to conduct a project about which planets NASA should focus their investigation on. The article builds background for the students to enrich the project. The article is also great for promoting STEM because the aspects of the project draw on science, technology, engineering, and math for the entire thing to be complete. I have been able to engage uninterested students in science through explaining the application of other areas of STEM through what they learn in this article.

Science Sampler: Cancer -- Mitosis run amok

Sun, Jan 29, 2012 7:21 PM
Good introduction to Cancer

I think this could be a good introduction to cancer. I know my students would have so many more questions than they are capable or willing to research. I discuss cancer with my students, and rather than having them conduct their own research I have a discussion day. It is a day the students are able to direct what we discuss, but rather than having everyone research individually we have a whole class discussion. I have found it useful for the students to hear each other's questions, and I think they miss out on some of that haring y conducting an individual project like this. It could be good for students who are sensitive to the subject due to personal experiences.

Movie Mitosis

Sun, Jan 29, 2012 7:14 PM
Helpful in addition to a previous project

i use to do a very similar project. Rather than the students modeling a cell I had them use a favorite book or movie to demonstrate meiosis. Students would use something like Harry Potter, and use the protagonists and antagonists to demonstrate the chromosome division. I always felt the project was missing something and this article gave me some ideas of how to bring the project back and improve it. I really appreciated the rubric, seeing how someone else would grade this project. I also appreciated the advice about different sites where videos could be uploaded.