It’s that bittersweet time of the school year. The good news is the end is near, and the sad news is the end is near! You and your students have worked hard both academically and socially and some strong bonds have developed. Take full advantage of the understanding, trust and respect you now have with your students. You are all perfectly positioned for activities that will help students review the year’s major concepts and forge new understandings between and among the concepts–often perceived as discrete and unrelated–through positive social interaction.

Here are some activities that will allow students the movement and social interaction they crave this time of year, while enabling them to further clarify and solidify their knowledge of science concepts.

Science A to Z

http://sciencespot.net/Media/ScienceAtoZChall2.pdf

Use the pdf as is, or create your own using terms from your science course. Students can work in teams to promote social construction of knowledge.

Dichotomous Key

http://www.eduref.org/cgi-bin/printlessons.cgi/Virtual/Lessons/Science/Process_Skills/SPS0002.html

Was the concept of dichotomous key in your curriculum this year? Multitask by having students review the concept at the same time they become familiar with a new group of living things. What group of living things did you not get to introduce to your students for lack of time? Provide students with images of organisms in that group and have the students create a key for them.

Film Canister Fun: Science Skills

http://sciencespot.net/Pages/classgen.html#Anchor-sillysci

Want to review the skills of observation, inference, hypothesizing, induction and deduction? Scroll down the Science Spot page to find teacher Judy Flaherty’s simple but effective activity.

Super Scientists Challenge

http://sciencespot.net/Pages/classgen.html#Anchor-sillysci

This activity is also found by scrolling down the Science Spot page. Here you can review the major historical scientists students have been introduced to this year or in past years. Several handouts, keys, and suggestions for variations are provided.

Measuring a Solid

http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/middle-school-math-science/2009/04/15/measuring-a-solid/

This post from the blog Exemplary Resources for Middle School Math and Science lists several possible activities. However, the first one, Keeping Cool: When Should You Buy Block Ice or Crushed Ice?, will allow students to review scientific thinking and science skills in general, as well as the concepts of surface area and volume and their relationships.

Energy Kids Page

http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/sources/whatsenergy.html

Did your curriculum include a unit on energy? This home page contains a summary of forms of energy and energy sources. Click on the Fun and Games page for engaging, quick review activities.

Rader’s Chem4Kids Chemistry Quiz

http://www.chem4kids.com/extras/quiz_chemistry/index.html

Here are some fundamental, multiple-choice questions. Have students work in groups to not only collaboratively decide the correct answer but to also provide justification as to why it’s correct and the others are not. Rader’s has similar quizzes for every major science discipline: Astronomy Quiz; Biology Quiz; Earth Science Quiz; Physics Quiz

Concept Maps

http://www.conceptmapping.com/Examples/Inspiration#Science

Creating an accurate and thorough concept map requires students to think deeply and enables them to demonstrate conceptual understanding. This page from Inspiration Software contains examples. You can provide students with a list of terms/dates/names, or they can brainstorm their own list related to a particular unit. Then they work in teams to collaboratively construct their map, either on the computer or in hard copy, making sure each item has a minimum of two connections to other items and, most importantly, the relationship between the connected terms is explained in writing along the arrows that connect terms. You could give each team a different unit to map, then have the teams connect their maps into one large one, illustrating the relatedness of all science concepts! Bonus points or extrinsic rewards can be given for artistry to encourage those with art skills to participate fully.

We Need Your Help

We want and need your ideas, suggestions, and observations. What would you like to know more about? What questions have your students asked? Do you have a favorite activity that you would like to share? We invite you to share with us and other readers by posting your comments. Please check back each week for our newest post or download the RSS feed for this blog. You can also request email notification when new content is posted (see right navigation bar).

Let us know what you think and tell us how we can serve you better. We want your feedback on all of the NSDL Middle School Portal science publications. Email us at msp@msteacher.org