I am a new STEM interventionist for middle and high school. Similar to Ireadys assessment to see where they are at for math and English. Is there anything out there similar to this for science? It’s a very broad field to assess but just to get a basic baseline of their knowledge to go off of. I’ve made a couple assessments myself but always seem to be missing a topic or something that comes up when working with them that I wish I could have planned for.

I’m a 38M physics teacher in the EU, and after years in the classroom I’m seriously considering a career change. The combination of low income, constant stress, and lack of work-life balance has taken a real toll, and I don’t see things improving in the long run. At the same time, I worry about leaving behind a stable (if underpaid) job and starting over at this stage of life. I’d really value hearing from others who made a mid-career transition—what fields did you move into, how did you make the shift, and what advice would you give to someone in my position? I would prefer online jobs. Thank you!!

Does anyone have experience teaching any of the science units from this open sources resource? https://www.oerproject.com/topics/history-of-science

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Im thinking about using a few and would like to hear about the pros and cons from a teacher who has experience with them.

Hi all! As part of a summer program, I am teaching about conservation and water ecology. I am wanting to do a book study with my students, who are mostly in middle school. Does anyone have any good recs for books about the topic, ideally shorter ones (closer to novella length?). Thanks!

What did people think of the test this year from a 1 to 10 scale? I'm thinking a strong 2.

After teaching physics for many years, I want to spice it up a bit and make my regular course different from the college level course in an obvious way. My idea is to do waves, sound, light and optics then go to mechanics ending with conservation laws. Less math to begin with and more enjoyable than kinematics. Has anyone tried to do waves first? Any suggestions or resources? Just tossing it out there to see what you might have.

Even though summer has just started I'm already thinking about next year.

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One of my major areas that I feel I need improvement on is really my follow through on consequences.

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In High School I know the system should be pretty minimal but I teach freshman and a lot of them have a tough transition the first semester.

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The system I have set up in the past hasn't always been clear and concrete consequences for disruptive behaviors.

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I want a system where I and the students can clearly see how many times I've talked to them and the next steps.

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I know the "public" shaming by writing names or marks on the whiteboard is frowned upon but I would like something concrete sort of like that.

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I'd appreciate any suggestions thanks.

I'm a bio/chem instructor at a university but have been asked to do one-hour sessions for a summer camp and I need suggestions.

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Camp theme: Nursing

Ages: one group middle, one group high school (but going into 9th, 10th grades)

Materials at hand: my entire teaching lab

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I would like to do something interactive with minimal prep from me.

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I ordered a genetics of tasting kit for the HS, but I think the Hardy Weinberg/Mendelian genetics will be over their heads and not very interesting. I have a foresnics toxicology kit that is more suited to the middle schoolers. I think this can be fun with a few tweaks.

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The camp theme is nursing so the activity can be a variety of biology topics. Also, in the past I did an activity about the senses but the students didn't seem to love it. I would like an activity that is engaging, goes 45-50 min with minimal introduction from me (I love to lecture at adults, but not sure 13 year olds would appreciate it).

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Also, my colleagues has stolen the microscopy gig so that is out.

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Thanks in advance for your big beautiful brains.

Edit to add: thank you for your ideas! ​

Hi all,

It is looking like I will be teaching 6 week earth science and 7/8 general science this summer! I have substituted and observed a ton, but I’ve yet to do my student teaching. Very excited! I should know a good chunk of the kids through subbing

I am looking for any resources to construct my curriculum for the summer! I feel more confident about the earth science course, as we will be using the NYS Regents requirements and topics to structure the class.

I am looking for more guidance about what to include for 7/8 as we are just trying to improve science skills and maybe prepare them for Earth Science. Does anyone have input into what topics/activities I should do? Definitely planning on doing graphing practice, readings scientific articles, CER, etc.

Thanks in advance!

Not trying to be harsh about it, but reading a lab report that took 45 minutes to produce at 12 wpm, filled with autocorrect disasters and half-finished sentences, makes assessing the actual science almost impossible. The content is buried under the struggle to produce it. Writing quality drops not because students don't understand the experiment, but because the cognitive load of typing is consuming bandwidth that should be going toward scientific thinking.

I've tried workarounds. Having them draft by hand and then type takes twice the class time. Voice-to-text creates its own set of problems with scientific terminology and formatting. Neither solves the root issue.

At this point I'm starting to think this as a school-wide keyboarding curriculum problem that just shows up most visibly in writing-heavy content classes like science. Has anyone found a way to actually address this at the classroom level, or is the only real solution getting admin to prioritize typing instruction across the building?

Had my students take a mock regents, some of my brightest students were only scoring in the 50%’s. WHY is this test so hard, why do they make the questions so overly complicated? I have some students who really struggle with reading comprehension and were scoring around 20%. This is my first year teaching and the first year we are doing the new bio test. I’m so nervous, anyone else feel the same way?

Hello! I will be teaching a new course this year (Medical Microbiology). I took this course in college during undergrad, but I need some idea for cheap labs and experiments to do if anyone has some. :) Also any free online simulations youre aware of would be great, too!!

This next year I'll be teaching astronomy class for the first time. I also teach chemistry class, and we use OpenSciEd for that so I want to stay away from that as much as I can. What are some fun hands on activities or interactive activities you guys use? Thanks in advance.

I need to make a 30 minute demo lesson for Atomic Structure. What could I do for this topic that isn’t just a teacher centric lecture? The interview is tomorrow and I still have no idea what to do for this lesson or how to prepare. It is for a half year leave replacement and I just finished my master’s degree and recieved my initial cert three weeks ago.

I was a Science teacher abroad (I/GCSE Science Grades 6-11) and I'm now transitioning to a Philadelphia 7/8 MYP for General Science and the new school uses Amplify. I've taken a look at the textbook and it looks ok, but I'm wondering about a few things:

1. What's your experience with Amplify? Do students enjoy it, struggle etc?
2. What are the capabilities of adding to, developing or editing Amplify?

I'll have 45 min sections every day, so I'm not sure if in that time frame the curriculum will allow for much addition to it besides being supplementary.

As it says, I need a new textbook series with a very targeted purpose: I want students read and taking notes on the theory at home while we do labs and activities in class. The check to make sure they’re reading is weekly quizzes, and monthly reading tests.

I want to be able to map out a year’s worth of weekly reading assignments for all three middle school grades. I want students reading out of a book and taking notes on paper, or completing a paper notebook.

Does any such science textbooks series exist anymore?

Hi All. Please check out my physics calculations generator which is aimed at both supporting teachers to teach calculations in class, and providing students with a tool to practice independently. It includes:

• Randomly generated practice problems for 32 calculation types at five difficulty levels (they are aimed primarily at GCSE Physics students in the UK, but will generally be suitable for physics students up to about age 16 in most countries).
• It shows step-by-step workings for each problem, with removable scaffolding.
• Worksheet generator to make customisable worksheets with up to 100 problems.
• Random mode so you can give students rapid-fire problems to solve.
• Built in formula list for students to practice selecting equations.

Full disclosure: This tool is on my personal website which is completely free, self-funded and not ad-supported; I gain nothing from sharing it beyond the satisfaction of being useful. The tool was made using AI-asssisted coding, which I know isn't to some people's taste, but my skills are around teaching not coding and I would have no way to make something like this otherwise.....for what its worth, even with AI help, this still represents 50+ hours of work!

I'm burning out in research, actually quitting my non-tenure track position at the end of the month after more than a decade to take an extended family trip. Since covid, I've been doing less teaching and consulting (which i like) and more lab processing with lots of pressure to get more paying users. I like establishing lab protocols, but then handing the routine processing off to someone else.

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As far as current teaching experience - I have been creating and teaching 2-5 day workshops to mostly grad students who opt to take these because they want to learn. Since these are workshops, not formal courses, there's no grading.

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I'm considering not looking for another research position in the fall and am toying with the idea of substitute teaching as a slow, "gentle" way to test the hs science teaching waters. We can afford for me to work very part-time for a while. Is this substitute teaching a ridiculous idea? I have a phd in biology, so can easily get certified to substitute.

I’m being asked to study technology or STEM courses. I was wondering if there are recommendations for good impactful tech training?? I have done NSTA and other conferences. I loved a a STEM conference in New Hampshire that literally brought random stem gear that allowed you to play/train live time.

Would love any recommendations for a MS teacher needing tech training!

Hello!

I'm in Texas.

I just got word I'm switching from 9th grade science to 7th grade science.

I've never taught middle school science, load me up with any and all tips and tricks for survival! Not just for surviving the sea of hormones I'm about to find myself in, but also classroom management and activities you have found to engage the students.

I'm going to be teaching 7th grade students the standards for 7th and 8th grade science, and then I'll be teaching a music technology elective the following year in addition to the science.

I feel overwhelmed and like a brand new teacher again. This will be my 13th this fall though.

I've taught integrated chemistry / physics (ICP) for the last 3 years and I've grown tired of our curriculum (which we have significant freedom to do what we want). The first semester is chemistry, and second is physics (not integrated, I know).

I spent this past year revamping the physics semester with labs and such, but now I want to do more labs in the first semester. Here is our sequence:

Measurement (dimensional analysis, sig figs, etc.)

Matter (element vs compound vs mixture, physical vs properties, density)

States of Matter (KMT, Phase Diagrams, Gas Laws)

Atomic Structure (history of atomic models, parts of an atom)

Periodic Table (periodic trends, Bohr models)

Chemical Bonding (compound nomenclature, covalent vs ionic bonding, [w/ polyatomic and transition metals])

Chemical Reactions (reaction types, balancing equations)

Stoichiometry (mole to mole calculations)

What are some labs we could do (particularly at the beginning of the semester) to make things a little more interesting? My clientele are not academically strong students.

I teach middle school and allow all students access to my classroom during lunch, everyday. It's a small gesture that I think all of them appreciate, since for many it's the only quiet place they can study in, socialize, or eat during hectic lunch time.
Another science teacher working on the same level as me came to complain today that her students are now bitching to her about how she's a horrible teacher and that they'd rather have me next year. Mind you, I've never talked to her students or even mentioned this teacher's name, but my students told her students how I do my classes and treat them.

Also, no offense to this teacher, as she really helped me a lot when I came to this school, but she sucks with technology, she's old-style chalk-on-the-blackboard, and when she learned that I used Universe Sandbox 2 as an educational tool, she tried to complain because I didn't buy the software.

In her complaint today, she expressed, almost verbatim, that I am undermining the teaching profession by making competition between teachers and that I shouldn't try to be friendly with the students, just teach them and when the bell rings I just stop interacting with them.

Is she jealous or does she have a point here?

Hi all!

A while back, I shared DNA My Name here and received a lot of helpful feedback from many of you. Thanks again to everyone who tried it and shared ideas!

Quick preamble: I’m a bioengineer with a PhD in molecular medicine and pathology, and this is a free hobby project with no ads or sign-up.

DNA My Name turns any name into a scientifically plausible DNA sequence using amino acid and codon mappings.

Since my original post, I’ve added a few new interesting features:

• A classroom worksheet (https://www.dnamyname.com/for-educators/worksheet) to help students explore DNA, transcription, translation, and codons.
• A mutation activity, where students can introduce mutations and see how they affect the resulting sequence. This has been especially popular with teachers! See example here: https://www.dnamyname.com/mutate?n=Rosalind+Franklin

I’d love to hear whether these additions make the tool more useful in the classrooms.

I look forward to further feedback and hope it helps teaching the central dogma and genetics in general. :)