Overview of How To Make Science Fun For Every Student

For this blog project, I chose to focus on ways to make science fun for every student in the classroom. I feel that it is very important for students to know science because it’s everywhere and they will need to know it for everyday life; it’s important for all students not just those who go on to college. Science classrooms when I was in school (and still some now) were not that fun. I always enjoyed learning about science (I am a science minor after all) but there are still some topics that I just can’t get into and I can remember the environment in which they were taught – not fun ones, I can tell you that!

Using fun activities and innovative ways to get students hooked on science are things that every teacher should be doing every day. There’s no reason not to – it’s helping all students enjoy science and school.

My first post was focused on two things to bring into the everyday science classroom: a type of current event activity and a weekly scientist. I really wanted to stress that teachers had to get creative with their thinking and that there should be no excuse for this because we literally have thousands of ideas at our fingertips when using the internet.

Next, I looked at virtual field trips in the science classroom. This was a new idea to me but I found some great sites that I know I can use in the future (even if it’s just for myself or my own kids!).

My third post was about science fairs. I had no experience with this idea either because my schools never offered them but I did find some pretty awesome videos on YouTube (Steve Spangler is awesome!) that showed science fair ideas. Hands down, I will be using this idea in the future.

Next, my post was about using holidays to inspire learning in a science classroom. I found a few ideas with science behind them that could be used with a whole class or in small groups/centers. I think it’s great to pull ideas from outside the classroom into your class because it mixes things up and gives students something to look forward to.

My fifth post revisited the idea of using current events in a classroom. Current events are a powerful way to connect student’s lives with what they are expected to learn so I think they are beyond important.

Next, I explored using science TV shows as a way to ignite learning for students. It seems that students have so much going on outside of school that there’s no reason we can’t bring those things into their learning. I wish I would have been able to do something fun like this when I was in school because I enjoy science and connecting it to TV would have been a great way to get me more excited.

My seventh post was like my fifth post in the way that I came back to an idea. I examined letting students have choices in the classroom. It’s a tried and true classroom management method and is also just a great way to let students feel empowered.

I wanted to write this last post as an overview of everything I wrote about so that my peers could see everything I’ve talked about in one place. I know we’ve all been busy this semester and we haven’t been able to get on every week and check out what everyone else has said. Hopefully, if you see a topic that is interesting to you, you follow the links and save some ideas for your own science classroom.