All posts by David Swart

High school science teacher

Matter, Atomic Structure, and Bonding: Lab Safety

The theme of the day was lab safety.  We started class with a YouTube clip of Jimmy Fallon and Kevin Delaney releasing energy in candy, making elephant toothpaste, and using smoke to visual air bursts coming from an air cannon:

The video naturally led into a talk of lab safety, and students received a Safety Contract to read through.  They learned the location of key safety equipment in the classroom and will need to bring the contract back (signed by the student and a parent/guardian) on Tuesday.  Next, students completed a questionnaire to better introduce themselves and to provide me with data for the WABS Teacher Externship program I am participating in this year.  Students turned in the completed questionnaire, along with the signed syllabus.  They also received a folder, wrote their name on it, and placed it in the file cabinet.  The folder will help students stay organized throughout the school year and provides students with ready-made organizational strategy for keeping track of classwork.  Finally, students had the last few minutes of class to browse through our brand-new chemistry textbook.

We are planning to start our first chemistry lesson on Tuesday, so students need to be sure they have the Safety Contract signed and returned then.  Have a wonderful 3-day weekend!

Matter, Atomic Structure, and Bonding: Critter Diagram

Welcome back, Pirates!  It was nice to meet so many new people today.  With 20 minute periods, our accomplishments were limited to taking attendance, handing out the course syllabus, previewing the class website, and creating a critter diagram.  The critter diagram helps students share a bit about themselves with me and also introduces them to a technique for organizing information. Tomorrow we will learn about lab safety in the classroom.

Cells & Homeostasis: Critter Diagram

Welcome back, Pirates!  It was nice to meet so many new people today.  With 20 minute periods, our accomplishments were limited to taking attendance, handing out the course syllabus, previewing the class website, and creating a critter diagram.  The critter diagram helps students share a bit about themselves with me and also introduces them to a technique for organizing information.  Next week, we will learn about systems and networks, and the critter diagram will provide students with a reference for discussing the concepts of nodes and edges in a network.

Year-End Reflection & Clean-up

What a year!  It has been my great pleasure to get to know so many students this year.  Sophomore year can be quite a challenge, so it is nice to look back and realize that many of my students truly demonstrated tremendous personal and academic growth.  With the year winding down, I asked my students to help me identify what went well and what could be improved so that I can continue to grow and develop as a teacher.  Their year-end reflections will help guide my instruction next year.

To all of my students: have a relaxing, fun, and safe summer break.  Keep learning, seek challenge, and do science!  And of course, stop by and say hi from time to time.

Evolution: Evolution Project – Reflection

The Evolution Project concluded today with students reflecting on their learning during the project and using their rubric to grade their project.  The reflection and grading was recorded on the evolution project reflection worksheet and turned in along with the rubric, the written summary, and the additional project item.  The variety of topics covered, the depth of student research, and the quality of work was impressive.  Examples of student work are located on the Evolution Projects page.

Evolution: Evolution Project – Days 6-8

Students are continuing to work hard on their Evolution Projects.  Students have the option of presenting their work on Thursday for 10 points of extra credit.  Projects are due Friday, with students using their grading rubric to grade their projects and completing a reflection worksheet.  Students who finish the project early are encouraged to complete any missing assignments.  Looking for inspiration?  Check out the videos below:

Evolution: Evolution Project – Days 3-5

Students spent the rest of this week working on their Evolution Projects.  We are taking full advantage of our access to the computer cart in our room and student research is progressing rapidly as a result.  As a reminder, there is a list of possible research topics listed on Day 1 of the project, along with links to a website resource for each topic.  Remember, projects are due next Friday and are worth 100 points.

Evolution: Evolution Project – Day 1

With the Biology EOC behind us, and the end of the school year rapidly approaching, we began our last project of the year.  The Evolution Project is designed to provide students with the opportunity to research a topic of high interest and consider what the future holds for their topic.  Today, students received the Evolution Project outline.  They were tasked with selecting a topic from those provided, or coming up with their own.  Some students were quickly able to identify their project of interest and jumped right into the research.  Other students spent much of the class period learning more about the listed topics and it was exciting to watch them research and eventually determine their project topic.  The project is worth 100 points and is due next Friday (June 12).

Evolution Project Resources:

Biology EOC Review

Here are the documents available for review prior to the Biology EOC this Thursday:

Key areas of review using information previously learned in class this year: