Interactive Science | Energetic Atoms- Heat ‘Em & Speed ‘Em

This lesson is a classic example of how showing someone is better than just telling them. Being told that a 50 foot-long trash bag filled with air (which is hard enough by itself to imagine!) will heat, expand, and rise isn’t that exciting. But take students outside and let them see for themselves, and you’ve got a lesson with “end of the year” status (one they’ll still remember on the last day of school). Once students understand the cause of what's going on inside the bag, they'll grasp what essentially drives the states of matter: energy. FREE Teacher Notes preview

Realistic Lessons

We hope one thing noticeably missing from our website and lesson plans, or at least used sparingly, are the words “easy” and “simple” (we’re not fans of exclamation points either!!!!!). Nowadays those two words tend to be overused, and in most cases they exaggerate a claim. If you’ve ever had trouble assembling something that the directions said to just “simply” do, then you understand where we’re coming from.

The other reason we try to avoid the words “easy” and “simple” is that there’s nothing particularly easy and simple about a well-done lesson. An easy and simple lesson would amount to giving students a worksheet or pushing “play” on the vcr. Guiding a class of 30 students through a 45 minute journey through a topic in which everyone in the room learns something meaningful is actually pretty hard to do.

The Gift Of Curiosity

Do you know how lucky you are to be a science teacher? Imagine you woke up tomorrow morning and you suddenly had become an English teacher and had to come up with something for your students to do. Your mind is probably not exploding with exciting things to do. Ok, calm down, you’re a science teacher again. Remember what you dreamed of doing when you first decided to become a science teacher? Was it worksheets? Long lectures? That doesn’t even deserve an answer.

Science teachers get to use human curiosity to our advantage, and it can take us anywhere we want to go. Here’s a fun demonstration idea: gift-wrap a box as beautifully as you can with ribbons and bows. Then start class one day by putting the package in front of your classroom and try to teach a normal lesson while attempting to ignore it. Your students will go nuts wondering who it’s for and what’s in it. It’s mean, but fun!

Keep this gift box handy for when you get questions like “why are we spending so much money on space exploration?” Basic human curiosity. It drives everything we do, and it gets to the root of what science really is- looking around, noticing, and wondering why things are.

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