Students will analyze examples and non-examples to deduce the topic: inventions vs discoveries.
First, students get a set of items categorized in two groups.
Then they get a set of ungrouped items. Which columns will they go in?
Finally, I reveal the topic: inventions vs discoveries.
Students will analyze examples and non-examples to deduce the topic: Magnetic vs. Non-Magnetic.
First, students get a set of items categorized in two groups.
Then they get a set of ungrouped items. Which columns will they go in?
Finally, I reveal the topic: Magnetic vs. Non-Magnetic.
Students will analyze examples and non-examples to deduce the topic: carnivores and omnivores.
First, students get a set of items categorized in two groups.
Then they get a set of ungrouped items. Which columns will they go in?
Finally, I reveal the topic: carnivores and omnivores
Students will analyze examples and non-examples to deduce the topic: misnomers.
First, students see a set of items categorized in two groups.
Then they get a set of ungrouped items. Which columns will they go in?
Finally, I reveal the topic: misnomers! Guinea pigs are not pigs.
Students will judge with criteria to decide which of these not-so-famous inventors is the winner.
First, students work through the first round of the tournament, knocking out four inventors and inventions.
Then, they'll continue through Round 2 before deciding on their champion!
Students will compare a cell to another example of a system, looking at how components serve the same job.
First, students think of another example of a system and note several of its components.
Next, they look for parts of their system that have similar jobs to parts of a cell. They note parts of a cell that have no counterpart in their system.
Finally, they'll write a conversation between a cell and their second system in which the two systems discuss their related components.
Students will analyze examples and non-examples to deduce the topic: Kinetic vs Potential Energy.
First, students get a set of items categorized in two groups.
Then they get a set of ungrouped items. Which columns will they go in?
Finally, I reveal the topic: Kinetic vs Potential Energy.
Students will judge with criteria to decide which type of energy is the winner.
Students will research and analyze four National Parks, finding at least one reason why each one is not like the others.
Students will analyze examples and non-examples to deduce the topic of conductors.
First, students get a set of examples and non-examples to analyze.
Then they get a set of ungrouped items. Which are examples and which are non-examples?
Finally, I reveal the topic of conductors vs non-conductors.
Students will research and analyze types of diseases and find at least one reason why each one is not like the others.
Students will research and analyze four microorganisms, finding at least one reason why each one is not like the others.
Students will come up with at least one reason why each of the states of matter is not like the others.
Your students will be surprised by the size of this turbine… and by what's hanging from it!
Students will analyze real bridges and then use straws to build their own.
First, students will analyze photos of bridges, looking for structural patterns.
Next, they'll play with their materials: straight drinking straws and small paperclips.
Finally, they'll create a blueprint and then build a model of a new bridge.
Students will analyze examples and non-examples to deduce the topic: Reptiles vs Amphibians.
First, students get a set of items categorized in two groups.
Then they get a set of ungrouped items. Which columns will they go in?
Finally, I reveal the topic: Reptiles vs Amphibians.
Students will analyze examples and non-examples to deduce the topic: Arctic vs Antarctic.
First, students get a set of items categorized in two groups.
Then they get a set of ungrouped items. Which columns will they go in?
Finally, I reveal the topic: Arctic vs Antarctic
Students will judge with criteria to decide which natural disaster is the winner.
Students will analyze examples and non-examples to deduce the topic of archipelagos.
First, students get a set of examples and non-examples to analyze.
Then they get a set of ungrouped items. Which are examples and which are non-examples?
Finally, I reveal the topic.
Students will rank how renewable natural resources are along with how easy it is to find each resource. They will produce a two-dimensional scatter plot.
Students place post-it notes for each of the natural resources onto their graph.
They answer questions about their thinking: Which resources were easiest/trickiest to place on the graph? What new ideas did you think of while working on the graph?
Students decide which adaptations would help an animal if it switched locations - and which would hurt it.
First, students research how one animal is adapted to its environment.
Then, they pick a related animal from a totally different biome and research its adaptations.
Imagine that the two animals switch locations. Which adaptations will now be an advantage, neutral, or a disadvantage?
Finally they write the story of the two animals switching places.
Students will research and analyze four cephalopods, finding at least one reason why each one is not like the others.
Students will research and analyze flowers, finding at least one reason why each one is not like the others.
Students will analyze examples and non-examples to deduce the topic: Saltwater vs Freshwater Organisms.
First, students get a set of items categorized in two groups.
Then they get a set of ungrouped items. Which columns will they go in?
Finally, I reveal the topic: Saltwater vs Freshwater Organisms.
Students will analyze examples and non-examples to deduce the topic: Deciduous vs Coniferous.
First, students get a set of items categorized in two groups.
Then they get a set of ungrouped items. Which columns will they go in?
Finally, I reveal the topic: Deciduous vs Coniferous.
Using examples and non-examples, students will attempt to infer the concept of living vs non-living things.
Using examples and non-examples, students will attempt to infer the concept of invertebrates.
Students will research and analyze desert birds, finding at least one reason why each one is not like the others.
Students will research and analyze types of penguins, finding at least one reason why each one is not like the others.
Students will judge with criteria to decide which plant's adaptations stand out.
Students will research and analyze four types of ants, finding at least one reason why each one is not like the others.
Students will work through a tournament to determine the most interesting, most valuable, or strangest animal adaptations.
Students will research and analyze four snakes, finding at least one reason why each one is not like the others.
Students will research four deserts, analyze their findings, and determine why each one is not like the others.
Students will research and analyze four rainforests to find at least one reason why each is unique.
Students will analyze four birds from the rainforest and determine why each is unique.
Students will analyze examples and non-examples to deduce the topic: nocturnal animals.
First, students get a set of examples and non-examples to analyze.
Then they get a set of ungrouped items. Which are examples and which are non-examples?
Finally, I reveal the topic: nocturnal vs diurnal animals.
Students will think from the perspective of producers and consumers, judging each other's positive and negative contributions to the ecosystem.
Students will gather information about producers and consumers.
Then they analyze that information and write down the positive and negative contributions of producers and consumers to an ecosystem.
Students create a script in which a producer and a consumer have an honest talk about what they appreciate about each other but also what they other could improve.
Finally, students add in the decomposers! They'll research decomposers, consider their positive and negative contributions, and then add them to the script.
Students will research and analyze creatures of the tundra, finding at least one reason why each one is not like the others.
Students will evaluate eight biomes in a tournament format. They'll justify their thinking as they go and, in the end, will crown a champion!
Students will create a new flower designed to attract a specific pollinator.
First, students research five flowers to see how they attract particular pollinators.
Next, they design their own flower and pollinator.
Finally, they team up with other classmates to create a pollinator garden. After viewing the other gardens, they will create an award for themselves.
Students develop a realistic (but fictional), extinct creature that could really have lived in the biome of their choosing.
Students identify existing adaptations of creatures in a particular biome.
They design a new creature that would be successful in this biome.
They write about a day in the life of that new creature.
Students will research and analyze four types of volcanoes.
Students will research and analyze four types of rocks, finding at least one reason why each one is not like the other three.
Students will research and analyze four types of natural disasters, finding at least one reason why each one is not like the others.
Using details about each type of rock, students will develop personalities and, eventually, a story about the rocks.
Students create personalities for the three types of rocks using.
Building on the rocks' personalities, students will craft the problem (and solution) to a story
Students will research and analyze four rivers, finding at least one reason why each one is not like the others.
Students will judge using criteria and determine which type of precipitation wins the tournament.
Students will develop a realistic river for their civilization.
Students will research and analyze four types of natural disasters, finding at least one reason why each one is not like the others.
Students will determine which location in the solar system is the most wonderful.
Students will work through a tournament to determine which object in the solar system is the most habitable.
Students will research and analyze four different stars and decide why each one of them is unlike the others.
Students decide which of these items will help them survive on the moon and which would be useless.
First, students decide which items are essential, helpful, and useless.
Then, they decide how they could actually use their "useless" items.
Finally, they can create a story (published however you'd like) about how they used the items to survive for three days on the moon.
Students will research and analyze four planets to determine which is not like the others.