Tag: Science

Engaging Girls in STEM

Three things middle level educators can do to encourage more girls to engage in STEM The movie Hidden Figures, the story of four African American women working at NASA in the 1960s, has reinvigorated the role of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) careers. Although women comprise 48% of the current U.S. workforce, they comprise

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Mathematics and Science in Middle Level Classrooms

Integrating disciplines to encourage exploration and discovery. AMLE’s This We Believe calls for teachers to be engaged in active, purposeful learning in which students have the opportunity to engage in meaningful questions, formulate conjectures and hypotheses, and explore patterns and relationships. This depends, in part, on the instructor choosing a curriculum that is challenging, exploratory, integrative,

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Partnering for Success

The excitement in the room is palpable. Teams of middle grades students are engaged in a fingerprinting lab to gather evidence for identifying the likely culprit in a forensics project, “Who Kidnapped Thunder?”, Georgia College’s mascot. “I got it!” one student exclaims, and the entire team races from the room to their suspect board in

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“Think bigger about science”: Using Twitter for learning in the middle grades

Introduction Middle level educators have a deep awareness of their students’ tremendously social nature. Young adolescents yearn to be connected with their peers, whether sharing excitedly during lunch, on the school bus, or in the hall- ways, and regardless of whether they are face-to-face, across a room, or immersed in a screen. Digital tools, including

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Coding Is TOPS in Middle School

Creating learning opportunities that promote problem solving in today’s world. One fine September morning, a class of eighth graders funneled into Angela’s fourth floor classroom expecting a new logic problem, math puzzle, or challenge. But not that day. Instead, the students noticed 12 small, sphere-shaped mechanical robots placed around the classroom. They looked like something

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