Teach Science For All Blog

I found the "Science for All" blog to be very interesting. The link for this blog is http://teachscience4all.wordpress.com/, incase you wanted to view it. Science, in itself, is very interactive in nature because so much of science is based on our own observations about the world around us and our experiences. However, this blog shows teachers how they can make even the bookwork and memorization part of science interesting. It includes science themed rap songs, which I think is an excellent idea for upper grade students. Everyone can recite the lyrics to their favorite song, but not everyone can tell you how far the earth is away from the sun. However, by putting information that students need to know to a catchy beat, these students are more likely to remember and retain what they are leaning in school.

You can also view a really interesting video about a retired astronaut who now works with children on understanding science, and making it interesting and relevant to them. One way that he does this is by working at a space themed miniature golf course, where each hole contains a mini lesson about space. Before you putt each hole, you learn about escape velocity, anti-gravity, etc., and how well you address these concepts determines how successful you will be at putting the ball in the hole. This is a really cool way to make learning fun for students. It combines a recreational activity that we already know that students like to do, with a learning experience. The only concern with this tactic that I forsee is that there would need to be a facilitator there all the time, because otherwise students may skim over all of the information at each hole and simply play the game like regular miniature golf.