Pyramid Diorama

Pyramid Diorama's

  

  I got this idea off of Pinterest. The pyramid was actually on the rock cycle, but I figured that this could be used for climate change.  The student's I teach are from a small town in Indiana.  It is important that they have a chance to explore different areas of the world in a classroom other then World History. I do this because I am passionate about my students becoming global citizens.  For this assignment I had them use this interactive map from National Geographic about scenarios that could happen around the world if the climate continues to change. They only had to pick ONE of the scenarios but another option would be having them do 4 different scenarios. Each student made their own, but to shorten the project, they could to it in groups of 2 or 3.  Here is the introduction page that I used to help guide my students on what to put on each triangle.  I also gave a little wiggle room as far as what was on each triangle.  For Example, you can see on the first picture that there is just a picture on the triangle.  I was fine with this as long as the information was put on another triangle. 

  The students have to plan and write everything out before they start gluing/ taping the triangles together.  I have them pre-write everything in their science journals before they transferred them to the triangle pieces.

  It was fun and an easy way to get my students to broaden their horizons about areas of the world and climate change.  I will definitely do this lesson again next year. 

Scavenger Hunt Vocabulary Pictures!

        This lesson is exactly what it sounds like.  Students do a scavenger hunt and take pictures of our vocabulary words.  I do this unit for my Weather and Water unit for the 8th grade. I give the students a list of vocabulary words about a month to a month in a half before I actually want them done.  I give them this much time to ensure they have enough opportunities to get certain weather words like fog, precipitation and specific cloud types that we study.  It is also a great lesson because it forces students to be aware of the weather for that amount of time and can give them real life examples.  I allow the students to take pictures in anyway they can, just as long as they have the right cords to transfer them onto their laptops.  This allows them to use their cell phones, tablets, laptops, iPod's and cameras that they may have.  To make sure that the students are not getting their pictures from some other source they must have an "item" in the picture at all times that is unique to them.  It works best when it is something that they already ave on them all the time.  The easiest items I have seen work with this are glasses, bracelets, cell phone covers or the new favorite their faces! Allows them to take a lot of selfies! (I should mention that along the way you want to have mini deadlines.  Have them have 5 pictures by this date, 5 more by this date just to make sure they do not procrastinate).

At the end I give them a few options for what they can do with their scavenger hunt photos.  I also give them a Menu project to give them choice.

Here is an example of a blog an 8th grader of mine did with her photos.

Here is another one that was done slightly different.

This is a Prezi that another student did on Pictures.

These are the Menu Projects I also give my students if you are looking for some more ideas. It is also easy to differentiate the instruction.  If I have higher level students I will not allow them to do an appetizer and if you have lower level students you can have them focus on the desert and appetizer rather than the meal.

This one is in Pages if you have MAC

This one is in Word if you have PC


Modifications for other types of science classes

Chemistry- Different chemicals found in household appliances and foods.
Physics- Different types of energy transfers in everyday life. (electrical, chemical, heat transfer etc.)
Environmental- Pictures of places around town where you could improve the town and why. Places where a rain garden could fit instead of a drain, places to plant shrubs to absorb extra run off or areas that could use improvement. (probably for older students)

Basically any part of your curriculum you can force the students to have a heightened awareness of how this particular science is involved in their everyday lives.