Hands On Science That Includes Everyone

Is it really true that these hands on science lessons are for every student in your room? Let’s see- we know the “good” kids who normally pay attention will continue to do so. But what about the daydreamers, the troublemakers, and those who panic when things get “wordy” and technical? Our hands on science activities have been designed to keep everyone interested:

• The daydreamer will become intrigued with the demonstration
• Troublemakers are usually kids who hate worksheets because they have trouble reading, so they’ll love getting their hands on science
• And those with weak stomachs will be ok too, because they’ll get a boost of confidence from what they did themselves. And that which you have done with your own hands you are no longer afraid of

Establish Credibility With A Hands On Science Approach

Imagine this- the bell rings at the beginning of class and you immediately begin lecturing. Is anyone listening? Unless you’re a phenomenal speaker, the answer for most of us would be no. You first have to build credibility with them, which is to give them a reason to listen. With credibility, you’ve got their attention because they understand the purpose. Without it, you will have trouble making any activity meaningful.

And you have to keep repeating this every single day. It’s almost like you’re a salesman (in this case you’re selling concepts and ideas). In our approach, the hands on science is what we use to get students to “buy into” the lesson. These activities soften their minds, gets them to put away distracting thoughts, and brings them all to a common place where you can teach to everyone.

Is Hands On Science All Fun?

Presenting a hands on science lesson is important, but we want to do more than just entertain your students. The neat thing is that after experiencing a good demonstration, students will actually crave a good explanation. That’s why our teacher notes strongly emphasize you being mentally prepared. You should never walk into your classroom without a clue of what you’re doing that day. If that’s your habit, you might occasionally have a good day of learning, but you and your students are missing out on many more.

Step 1, then, is going in with knowing what you’re doing (occasionally mixing in our hands on science lessons). And step 2 then would be deciding what kinds of things you’ll say during the lesson. If you seldom give thought to your words before a lesson, try it and see what happens. All of our hands on science lessons include an example back-and-forth dialogue between the teacher and students (based on actual words said when the lesson was presented) and other reminders about getting your mind ready. Everyone wants to be part of a great lesson, but often it’s the unseen work and mental preparation that make it successful.

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