Special Features

Printable Version for your convenience!

Five Ways to Make Science Exciting in Your Classroom

If children have a favorite question, it is probably "Why?" They instinctively know that they live in a fascinating world, and they are curious about how it works. Science is the study of "why." Why does a caterpillar form a chrysalis? Why does water stick together in drops? Why do I get out of breath when I run? Helping students find meaningful answers to their "why" questions can encourage them to retain their curiosity about the world.

Unfortunately, many students find science class boring. It requires the memorization of facts and terms that sometimes have little relation to what they want to know. While memorization of key concepts is important, it's also essential to tap into your students' natural curiosity with hands-on exploration. Home Science Tools offers five ideas to help you make science exciting for your students, plus suggestions for products that bring science to life:

1. Watch It.
   The animal world is full of amazing transformations. Let your students experience them firsthand through life cycle studies. Hang a butterfly rearing kit in the classroom so they can observe the day-by-day changes from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly. Or get a frog hatchery kit so they can watch tadpoles grow legs and become frogs. (For something less familiar, get a ladybug habitat and show them the incredible change from strange alligator-like larvae to the ladybugs we all recognize.) In the spring, students can search for their own tadpoles and caterpillars. They will love caring for the live creatures and watching their progress every day. Encourage them to carefully observe and journal about the changes they see.
   
   
2. Find It.
   Most kids like to collect things. Capitalize on this interest by encouraging them to bring their finds to class. If you are doing a geology unit, have them bring interesting rocks they have collected, and then provide field guides and a mineral test kit to identify each rock or mineral sample. They can learn about the properties of rocks and minerals as they perform tests on their own specimens, checking the streak, color, hardness, luster, and more. The same principle of collecting, identifying, and sharing can be used for botany, insects, and more.
   
   
3. Hold It.
   Diagrams and charts in books help students visualize concepts, but it's even better to let them get a 3-D model in their hands, especially for human anatomy studies. Set up a class skeleton, let them take apart an eye model, and show them how all the organs fit together with a torso model that has removable parts. For chemistry studies, teach them about molecules and bonding and then let them build their own molecules with a molecular model set. These types of do-it-yourself activities will supplement textbook concepts and help students have fun learning.
   
   
4. Build It.
   How do you get your students excited about physics? Let them become engineers in the classroom! The ever-popular K'Nex construction kits come in classroom-size kits designed to be used with multiple students. They include a middle school curriculum with a teacher's guide, lab worksheets, and instructions for great construction projects, including building motorized simple machines or six-foot-long bridges! After using K'Nex, challenge your students to build weight-bearing structures with common materials like cardstock, straws, paperclips, and bottles.
   
   
5. Take a Break.
   If your students are feeling burdened by science facts, give them a breather with fun and inexpensive demonstrations that still pack a scientific punch. Introduce them to the concept of surface tension with the astonishing properties of "waterproof" Space Sand, or explore absorption with expanding jelly crystals that absorb 200x their volume in water! These and other fun demonstrations bring out the "wow" factor and will help your students look forward to science class.