Teach Science With Fergy

Engagement Through Application

Organic vs. Conventional (GMO) Farming

Organic is a HUGE industry at the moment but is it better? There are a lot of opinions out there and unfortunately, most (if not all) are biased one way or another. Let’s try to break it down scientifically. At the bottom of the page, I’ve included an awesome podcast episode from Science Vs. I highly […]

Device-Based Scavenger Hunt Activities

This activity is the coolest thing I’ve created and your kids are going to love it, mine do. Here’s how you implement them. Print the QR codes and place them around the room Place your students into groups Let them loose! They move from Location to Location as they complete their tasks. Each Task is […]

Dealing with student misconceptions

Please note, all names have been changed. Dealing with students’ misconceptions Before they reach your classroom, students have spent their entire lives making guesses about why things happen, checking out these guesses in the real world, and refining their theories about how the world works. Generally, this process works. But sometimes, students can end up […]

Telling Time to Five Mintues – Task Cards and Engaging Review Activity

This 15 Telling Time to Five Minutes Task Card resource covers is geared towards grade 1-3 students (or higher grade students experiencing difficulty) who are learning about or reviewing telling time with analog clocks with five minute increments. It can be utilized in a clue gathering, puzzle solving, highly active and engaging activity for those […]

5 concise and interesting science videos to begin and create discussion in your classroom – Part 1

How to start every class.  To begin a class I want my kids thinking science and what better way than to show a quick science (connected to the content or students lives in general) video, usually 3-4 minutes long which leads to a class discussion. These videos create a minds-on mentality, generate discussion and allow […]

Space – Make It More Engaging For Your Students

It’s maybe not the most relevant for everyone but I’d wager its the most interesting for many students and the topic they look forward to most when I introduce the year ahead. Why, well Space is amazing!  It’s huge and full of mysteries like Black Holes and potentially, aliens.  In fact what I tell my students […]

How and why to use debates in the classroom.

There’s very little that gets my kids more engaged and excited in the classroom as my Climate Change Debate. The debate focuses on the idea of human-man/natural climate change. Students have to argue whether we are responsible for the current situation we find ourselves in or whether it’s a natural process that we have little […]

Making Math Fun – Learn through Games and Simulations

For anyone who is interested in making math more fun and engaging for their students, I came across these three sites which can easily be incorporated into any classroom.  If you teach math, they are definitely worth a look.   Prodigy Game – Great adventure-based mathematics game   CLIPS   NLVM Algebra Manipulatives    

Colour Blind Test

Please pay attention as there will be a test when you are done. The tricky thing about colour blindness is that many people don’t know they are colour blind until they get tested (40% of colour blind pupils currently leaving secondary school are unaware that they are colour blind – http://www.colour-blindness.com/general/prevalence/).  Why would they?  They naturally […]

25 Things Successful Teachers Do Differently

Teachers should always be trying to improve their teaching technique. By staying current, teachers will more effectively reach their students and provide the best educational opportunities possible. This posting was originally posted by teachthought.com and can be found HERE: If you ask a student what makes him or her successful in school, you probably won’t […]

Teaching the Phases of the Moon

I came across this activity for teaching the phases of the Moon and thought it was amazing. Here’s a look at the finished product and also some details so that you can implement this activity in your classroom – CLICK HERE.       Want some more classroom activities? Teaching the Phases of the Moon Grudgeball […]

Animated Explanations

I’d like to pass along a really great site I came across today.  It’s still growing but I think the potential is there and it’s already got some fantastic animations and videos including a heart animation which does a good job showing how blood flows inside the heart. http://www.explania.com/en Fergy    

Refraction Demonstration – Scooter Style

When I teach refraction in my optics unit I find the students have a really hard time understanding why the waves change direction.  I explain that it’s because one side starts moving slower relative to the other causing it turn, similar to what occurs when a car has its two right wheels on the shoulder.  […]

Educators Reference Section

I know going through Teachers College and even into my own teaching career, I’ve always wanted a convenient place to access reputable teaching materials and references. I remember thinking that it would be great to have a book full of demonstrations, activities and lessons that I could use to jump start my teaching career. Many […]

The Home-School Connection

This article was published by Scholastic.com. As a parent, you are the major provider of your child’s education from birth through adolescence. You guide the development of her character and mental health and help form the foundation from which she’ll develop lifelong attitudes and interests. And because your home is the primary environment in which […]

Misconceptions: How They Hinder Student Success And How To Overcome Them As An Educator

Misconceptions are one of the most difficult things we as educators face.  “It is only reasonable that students would not accept a new idea without first feeling that their existing views are unsatisfactory in some way” (NARST).  Due to many factors including time restraints, lack of creativity and laziness, many teachers simply tell their students […]

Exploring Current Scientific Ethical Issues In Society

“Modern practice shows that new conceptions arrived at over time or through guided inquiry and student discourse are in fact stable and do in fact come to replace old conceptions” (Mason, 2006). Engagement through application is my moto and therefore, as an educator I feel that it’s vitally important to expose my students to content-related […]

Human Digestion Demonstration – The Bread In The Bag

Human Digestion Demonstration – The Bread In The Bag. In the first post, I talked about a demonstration I use with my science class to show what digestion looks (and feels) like in the mouth.  Click here to read Part 1. In this post, I will be talking about a digestion demonstration I use to […]