Tag Archives: Grades 3-5

Engineering Pollinators (and Next Generation Engineering Curriculum!)

Posted on March 8, 2016 by

To bolster our curriculum council’s understanding of how engineering will be better integrated into our science curriculum, the focus of today’s extended PD was an agricultural engineering challenge to be implemented into our future 4th grade “Structure and Function” unit. The council meeting’s was … Continue reading →

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Developing an Understanding of Light Energy through PhET Models

Posted on February 10, 2016 by

“Light moves in the form of waves” and is “reflected, refracted, and absorbed” are all traditional statements of light energy that become staples of assessment for student understanding. But whether students can apply this understanding is a big question. The NGSS … Continue reading →

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Kinesthetic Astronomy 2.0

Posted on November 9, 2015 by

Dating back to my years as an 8th grade earth & space science teacher, one of my favorite lessons with students has been the kinesthetic astronomy investigation from the Space Science Institute. A wonderful interactive model for students: it puts the learners front … Continue reading →

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Modeling a 5E Lesson Sequence through Sound Energy

Posted on March 30, 2015 by

With a “Next Generation Science Methods” course in full swing, Wendy Pavlicek and I wanted to tackle what a “Next Generation Classroom” feels like and looks like early on by modeling a 5E experience for our PD cohort of K-5 teachers. … Continue reading →

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Mapping Burlington’s Next Generation of Science Curriculum

Posted on March 27, 2015 by

Even the untrained eye can look across the NGSS elementary science standards, (and the adapted version Massachusetts) to see that there are several connections between what have traditionally been taught as separate disciplines of Earth, Life, and Physical Science. To … Continue reading →

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NSTA 2015 “MusselmanScience” Workshops

Posted on March 12, 2015 by

This year I’ll be participating in two workshops at the 2015 NSTA National Conference in Chicago. On Saturday, from 9:30 to 10:30 join me and many of my fellow NGSS@NSTA curators at the NGSS Share-a-Thon. With over 30 presenters sharing … Continue reading →

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Engineering Animal Enclosures

Posted on November 30, 2014 by

An introduction to classification has long been a staple of the fifth-grade curriculum in Burlington. But with a traditional classification test feeling a bit stale the teachers at Fox Hill looked to the Science Center for a way to spice … Continue reading →

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