Tag Archives: hands-on

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, or Never Use a Formula You Don’t Understand

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Ed Hitchcock

In my grade 10 Science class I recently gave my students an introductory microscope lab, and in my haste I used a “canned” lab from a textbook. Although there are some good activities in this lab, students are presented with … Continue reading →

Posted in Activity, Assessment, HDYMT, Pedagogy | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

A Foray into “non-traditional instruction”

Posted on October 28, 2011 by Ed Hitchcock

This year, with the Ecology unit in my Grade 9 Science classes, we focused heavily on invasive species. So after seven weeks of class (we have each class every other day), I think I gave a total of 4 traditional … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, Authenticity, Pedagogy, Philosophy | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Simple analogy for homologous chromosomes

Posted on October 23, 2011 by Ed Hitchcock

I am teaching Grade 11 Biology this year for the first time in seven or eight years, and quite enjoying it. One thing about doing a course you haven’t taught in a while is the joy of going back through … Continue reading →

Posted in Activity, Pedagogy | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Bingo! From academic to authentic

Posted on October 6, 2011 by Ed Hitchcock

This year, for the ecology unit in grade 9 Science I decided to focus on invasive species. The Ministry of Natural Resources and other non-government organizations have been putting out plenty of information on invasive plants and animals in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Authenticity, Cool | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The cake is the truth

Posted on October 4, 2011 by Ed Hitchcock

Three of my Grade 9 students, who happen to be fans of Cake Boss on the food network, decided to use a cake to represent the water cycle for a project. And hey, who am I to argue?
Behold the wonderfulness:

… Continue reading →

Posted in Activity, Authenticity, Cool, Pop Culture | Tagged | Leave a comment

Squishy circuits

Posted on July 27, 2011 by Ed Hitchcock

I have not tried it yet, but with my intro to electricity in grade 9 this coming year I am SO doing this:

Funny thing is, she says “high school physics teachers have been doing this for years” – where the … Continue reading →

Posted in Activity, Authenticity, Cool, resources | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Dynamic video of the sun

Posted on July 26, 2011 by Ed Hitchcock

Since this is TeachScience.net I think it is time to get back to the Science part, as I have been focusing on the Teaching part lately.
One of my interests is astronomy – I am an avid amateur astronomer, and one … Continue reading →

Posted in Authenticity, Cool, EdTech, HDYMT, Video | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Using the Sloan SkyServer

Posted on May 5, 2011 by ed

In Grade 9 Science, we are currently doing the Astronomy unit. Today we were looking at the shapes of galaxies, and a variety of deep sky objects one can see with even a modest telescope. Instead of just rambling off … Continue reading →

Posted in Activity, Authenticity, Cool, EdTech, HDYMT, resources | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Getting to “I don’t know”

Posted on April 7, 2011 by Ed Hitchcock

I like Isaac Asimov’s quote about Science:
The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!’ (I found it!) but ‘That’s funny …’
I tell them repeatedly that all the interesting stuff in … Continue reading →

Posted in Authenticity, Cool, HDYMT, Philosophy | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Great free tools for sound recording and analysis

Posted on March 31, 2011 by Ed Hitchcock

With my grade 11 Physics class we are currently studying sound, and we have been using a variety of tools. Here are some of the great free tools that we have found useful:
Free Audio Editor
The title of this software pretty … Continue reading →

Posted in Authenticity, Cool, EdTech, HDYMT, resources | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment