Hi everyone. I am a retired chemical engineer, have a professional teachers license, endorsed (Illinois) in both chemistry and physics, have a Masters in Teaching, and cannot get an interview.

I have been told, quietly, that I would not be considered.

My last job I was at had declining enrollment. A teacher had to go. I was hired the same time as a 25 year old female, who had an environmental sci background. She was rehired for a Physics/Chemistry class over me. I had helped her with very basic science concepts during the year we worked together.

Kids loved me...nice letters. Several wept when they found out i would not continue.

I can think of no other reason. ageism

Hello!

I have a coworker who is adamantly vocal about “teachers not teaching their politics”. Which, I agree with. With various social movements and a divisive political climate I can see how tensions can rise when faced with information that appears bias. I know the line where I can’t say “Brazil is corrupt” but I can say “I don’t think the Brazilian government should deforest the Amazon jungle because…” and give a valid reason using CER thinking.

But, because the times we are in are just… so fucking stupid… when it comes to the cultism of Donald Trump fans, that logic goes out the window.

My question is… would I be deemed “political” to say I vehemently oppose the building of a data center in my community?
I can do CER thinking to support my knowledge (thanks to https://www.brockovichdatacenter.com), but also this is unprecedented and nebulous territory. I can infer to support my reasoning. But I don’t fully know.

We have data center proposal site in our town, and this is/will be an issue of political discussion where we live. To add to this (because surely, who would support a data center!?) Trump attacked voters who oppose data centers online, warning that they will have only themselves to blame if they “kill the Golden Goose.”

You know the cult of personality will follow this logic. I made the topic of data centers my rant last June. If I do it again this year, am I too political?

EDIT: to everyone saying “present the data and let the students decide.” Where is the data!?!? The website I linked is the best one I could find. The data is clandestine and it’s a “new problem”.

Hi everyone, here are some free online interactive activities which I made that could be useful.

Please consider using and sharing your feedback :)

https://edtechsims.com/category/chemistry/
(The formulae writing games are really well-received by learners.)

(The glossary below may be helpful.)
https://edtechsims.com/category/chemistry-worksheets/

Just like the title says. I'm on the hunt for a database, list, something!, of Myth Busters episodes. Anyone who watched this show as an adult knows there was a LOT of really good science (particularly physics) for which they'd give good, in-depth explanations.
Rather like Magic School Bus or Bill Nye the Science Guy, but for the talls.

But the only episode lists I find are just the typical title/synopsis ones.
Surely there is some science nerd out there who has made a database cross-referencing with the actual scientific explanations, right??

I teach 7th grade science at a very community-based school where a lot of students are significantly below grade level. I’m bilingual, and in a typical class I may have several students who primarily speak Spanish, students at very different English and Spanish literacy levels, students with IEPs, and even some students who struggle to read or write independently at all.

I can differentiate, translate, use partners, model things on the board, use visuals, simplify readings, explain things individually, etc. My problem isn’t really knowing that those strategies exist. It’s figuring out what this actually looks like at scale while still teaching science and keeping approximately the same pacing as the other science classes.

I’m also starting to wonder what experienced teachers realistically accept. I see veteran teachers who have developed classrooms that work for them, but those classrooms don’t all look the same. Some move through material much faster. Some are almost entirely in English even with multilingual students. Some classrooms are extremely quiet and controlled. Mine tends to have more conversation, questions, humor, and relationships with students. Classroom management itself isn’t really the issue for me—I can manage the room—but I also don’t want “well managed” to mean students are afraid to talk, ask questions, or be themselves.

What makes this difficult is that a very quiet, compliant classroom can look excellent during a short administrative walkthrough. What an observer doesn’t necessarily see is the culture you’ve built, which students actually feel comfortable asking for help, who genuinely understands the lesson, or what compromises you had to make to keep everyone moving.

I’m in my second year, so I’m trying to separate things I still need to learn as a new teacher from problems that simply don’t have a perfect solution.

I’d especially like to hear from people who have taught in similar schools:

• When students in the same class have drastically different literacy and language levels, who do you actually pitch the lesson to?
• How much do you stop/reteach versus accepting that some students will need additional support later?
• How do you differentiate without essentially preparing several separate lessons every day?
• If you’re expected to stay on common pacing with colleagues, what happens when your students genuinely need more time?
• How useful is comparing assessment data classroom-to-classroom when student populations and language/literacy levels differ substantially?
• For bilingual teachers specifically, how much Spanish do you actually use? Do you teach bilingually throughout the lesson, use Spanish strategically, or primarily teach in English and intervene in Spanish when needed?
• What does a good classroom in this environment look like to you—not an idealized one, but one you could realistically sustain for an entire school year?
• And how do you reconcile the classroom that actually works for your students with what administrators tend to value during a 10-minute observation?

I guess what I’m trying to understand from experienced teachers is: how did you learn the difference between a classroom that looks “right” and a classroom that actually works for your students? And how do you communicate that to administrators while still being open to feedback and continuing to improve?

I feel so lost. I’m a non-traditional, first-year teacher teaching 9th grade Physical Science, 10th Biology (OpenSciEd), and 11th Environmental Science. I don’t have a curriculum for 9th or 11th, and I don’t have a science background.

My 9th grade Physical Science class is really struggling. We spent two weeks on basic concepts—matter, physical vs. chemical changes, elements vs. compounds, density, and CER. I used slides, videos, discussion, journals, and two full days of review. Students were allowed to use their notes on the test, and everything they needed was in Google Classroom. They were given plenty of time to update from GCr in class and had the option to take their journals home to update/review.

Only 11 of 30 students turned in the test. Several need more time, which I’m allowing Monday. So far, the grades are 1 A, 1 B, and 1 C.

Behavior is also a major issue. I had to have my principal come into class because I couldn’t get the larger group to stop talking. She encouraged me to crack down and said she supports sending students to the office when necessary.

I’m considering going back to worksheets and really drilling the concepts before attempting labs or projects. I’m also planning to change the seating from pods of 4 to tables of 2 (that's what I have to work with).

Please send all the advice/help you have. I’m really wondering if I made a huge mistake accepting this job.

Hi everyone!

I'm relatively new at my school (joined towards the end of the last academic year) and will be picking up A level teaching from September (i.e. next week).

For the year 12 students, I feel like it's quite straightforward to spend the first lesson giving an overview of the course content, making sure they've got their folders etc set up, showing them how to access our independent work resources, and practicing simple note-taking skills while reviewing relevant GCSE content relating to the first chapter (cells). I've got that lesson prepped and ready to go.

But I'm not sure how to approach things with the year 13 students. Their previous teacher left mid-year last year so they've had a non-specialist covering them for a while (that all happened before I joined). I don't want them to think I'm wasting their time going over the syllabus or whatever, when tbh we quite closely follow the textbook anyway and they've already been studying A levels for a year. But I also worry that jumping straight into the first "proper" lesson will be a bit much after the summer break and with me being a new teacher for them too.

Does anyone have any insights into what they usually do as the first lesson back with yr13?

Thanks!

So every year, when we get to ionic bonds, and look at the way ions form a crystal lattice structure, we use sodium tetraborate (brand name 20 Mule Team Borax) to create a saturated solution, then ‘grow’ crystals on pipe cleaners.

We get mixed bag on crystals. People with oily skin who get those oils all over the pipe cleaners, get almost nothing. The rest are a mix of 2-3 mm up to almost a cm, which is rare for us.

Anything I can do to increase average Crystal size? We currently decant the solution into styrofoam cups to cool slowly. I’m wondering if slowing down the cooling even more would increase Crystal size. Thinking of having my Honors students experiment with different ways to affect crystal size and just curious as to what methods are giving people what results?

For the curious, my kids normally dissolve about 45-50 g of the Borax in approximately 400 mL of de-ionized water, boil for 1 minute after dissolved, decant into a styrofoam cups, suspend their pipe cleaner ornament/shape in the solution, and allow it to sit on the counter over the weekend.

Depending on when we hit ions each semester, classes make themed shapes for Halloween, Christmas, Valentines, or St Patrick’s Day, and take them home.

TIA!

I’m a newer teacher (less than 5 years) who I received training to teach students AP Physics 1 for Juniors and Seniors. However, in my new school, students take the course as sophomores without taking Physics ahead of time. Also, I recently found out that some of these students will be taking Geometry as they take AP Physics. But I was under the impression that they needed to take or be taking Algebra 2 first?
Any advice or resources on how to teach at the AP pace for students who have only taken Algebra 1?

With the start of the new school year soon on the horizon, I like to view my students' previous math & science regents scores to get an idea of their past performances. I know standardized tests aren't the only thing to base a student's academic level on, as a disclaimer.

However, as a chem teacher, my district is now administering the new chem exams this June. Usually, my students pass Earth Science & Bio, but this year I've noticed there are some that passed ESS or LS regents exam but others that came close or weren't even close. How much grace should I really factor into these new exam grades?

This is for 7th grade. I’ve redone my lesson plans this year and most days my students will be doing a hands on activity of some sort that would be hard to replicate outside of class. (We don’t have a text book.) After the activity, they will have questions to answer in their binders. I will grade the binders weekly. I’m not sure how to handle makeup work for kids who are absent. I‘d rather not have to come up with whole other lessons every day that can be done at home or outside of class, but I may have to. Any ideas? How do you handle this in your classroom?

First year chem teacher, need a triage strategy for AP Chem.
I found out I was teaching AP Chem about four days before students showed up. No prep time at all, and it even took admin a few days to sign off so I could get the AP classroom code activated.

I inherited some bare bones materials from the previous teacher, so I’m not starting completely from zero, but it’s thin.

The real problem is that most of the kids in this class never took high school chemistry. I’ve had to stop mid lesson to cover foundational stuff like reading chemical formulas, moles, dimensional analysis, the kind of thing that’s normally assumed knowledge walking into AP. We all left class today feeling pretty frustrated.

On top of that, the section has about 40 students.
Anyone dealt with an AP class where most kids are missing prerequisite content? Looking for a system or pacing approach to get them caught up on fundamentals without completely sacrificing AP pacing. Open to anything: bell ringer routines, diagnostic tools, remediation modules, whatever has actually worked for you.

Sorry this is so long. Trying to summarize 20 years of teaching is hard.

I moved to a rural Oregon town as a lifestyle choice 20yrs ago. Had 2 years of teaching middle school science under my belt in the Portland area. I instantly got a job in my new town after subbing for 6 months.

I was handed an entire middle school science program. 6, 7, 8th grade. No other science teacher. Just a one man program. No real budget, no curriculum, just an outdated textbook. I spent countless hours year after year developing curriculum from scratch. The end result was that I became a pretty darn good middle school science teacher; valued by my community and the kids. Tons of work, but it felt worth it.

As our district got smaller, admin decided to combine the middle school with the high school. I was working at a K-8, now I'm at a 7-12. I was resistant to this move because I had a good thing going. I also saw the writing on the wall: they want all the secondary teachers in one building so they can spread us thin...and that is exactly what is happening.

The last 3 years my job duties have expanded. Admin keeps adding electives they want me to teach at the expense of my core classes. My first year they added an additional 7th grade tech elective and requested I teach a science elective for HS, so I developed a Forensics course because it sounded fun. The next year admin instructed me to renovate the old greenhouse and create a horticulture elective for HS kids. I did it and knocked it out of the park. At the end of last year I was asked if I could take over the 8th grade tech elective. I wasn't happy about it, but worked with admin to make some compromises I could live with. So I spent the summer developing an elective around the Arduino platform.

This brings me to the beginning of this year. I show up and the schedule has been changed. My principal has consolidated my core science classes to free up a period for yet another elective (yet to be named). So in addition to the new electives I've been tasked with in the past, I now have TWO new electives to teach this year. Not only that, it makes the student numbers in my core classes skyrocket.

So now I teach the following courses: 7/8th grade Life Science, 7/8th grade physical science, HS Forensics, HS Horticulture, 7th grade tech, 8th grade tech, and HS (yet to be defined a week before school).

Worth noting that my classroom facilities are old and crappy. I am never provided with curriculum. I simply have to figure it out. No additional prep time, no additional compensation. Fairly low paying district. Low morale. Leadership is not great. I've always just pushed through for the love of my community and the kids. I'm a very popular teacher and I've always scratched and bled to find success despite the challenges. I'm tired, boss.

I think I have to quit. Please tell me I'm not crazy. I feel like no reasonable person would accept this job.

I just moved into a new lab that has power outlets over each of the lab tables. I have a set of microscopes that I love to use in my middle school lab, and I have hot plates that we use a few times a year.

What equipment that you use in your science classroom or lab that you have a found a good investment?

Hi all, I'm teaching ap physics 1 next year for the first time. Im pretty new to teaching but i am a physics teacher so not worried about the content.

Im worried about the pacing and depth. I teach in canada so we actually get one month less than a lot of you to prepare for the exam and it seems like theres a lot of material to get through. Im quite stressed about completing everything in time and also with the appropriate depth. I often struggle with pacing in non ap courses so even more worried for this one.

Does anyone have advice? A pacing guide? Materials they'd be willing to share? Its only a couple weeks until school starts and ive been worrying about this for most of august

I’m a veteran teacher that’s started at a new school this year. I’m teaching astronomy. My new school has no lab supplies. Anywhere I can get models, globes or supplies for cheap or free?

My last school had a celestial globe, moon globe, planispheres, etc

I teach 8th grade biology ( first year at this school) I have a kid (8th grade) that explicitly said he doesn’t take notes for any classes!

I have my lecture and he is as disinterested as can be. How can I accommodate him to still make sure he is included and learn the content. As predicted when given work he’s lost.

Update: OMG the replies have been so helpful. So a little more backstory. No, he does not have an IEP or 504. I DONT REQUIRE NOTE TAKING. I understand all children learn differently ( as I always include visuals in my lectures) and I only do Instruction for about 20-30 minutes in a 90 minute block, and I show them what to actually write in their books. The issue is where there is no note taking, no interest and confused when work is given whether a worksheet or project. I called home this week and explained the situation to build that connection. I’ll monitor and test to see if his “theory” will work out.

Guys can anybody help me regarding science congress like my school put my name in activity corner and i don't know what to do in that and like what to study.

I am like chosen for the 9th to 12th group ,so i can anyone explain to me what should i study.....

The theme for this year is "SCIENCE AND INOVATION FOR SUSTAINABILITY"

Also i just know that they can ask us to make on the spot something from materials or ask questions,but i have no idea what to study😭😭

I am looking for a suggestion, I need something that is invisible, but glows under a UV light. I want to show the students how easily a substance from the lab can be transferred around the room. So I want something I can spray on the lab table and after the students finish their assignments on the lab table I can turn off the lights and use an UV flashlight to show them the spread. It needs to be something safe for their clothes, can be washed off, and if I can make myself thats even better.

I just picked up a job teaching science and engineering (two seperate preps) to 7th graders. I am beginning 3 weeks into the school year so I plan on spending a week or two builidng community and classroom routines and procedures. After labor day I'd like to get started with my engineering class. The school has adopted PLTW but multiple people at the school have advised that I don't depend on it and I haven't received any training so I don't have access to it yet.I'm wondering if anyone on here has taught this class and is willing to share some resources with me to help plan for the upcoming year ahead? Id greatly appreciate it.

Does anyone know of an organization/company that I could reach out to to either sell or donate old microscopes from my classroom to? I'm in the business of getting new ones and will need a place for the old ones when the time comes.

Anyone in here run a women in stem club?

My school has one and I’m taking it over this year, wondering what kinds of things you do month-to-month!

To me, a scientifically literate society is defined first by empirical evidence and falsifiability. It is a dynamic method of thinking - an operational posture toward reality. 

Hey folks,

I am hoping I can convince my administration to give us funding to upgrade our gel electrophoresis system and am looking at either a miniPCR or edvotek system because they are nice and portable?

Anyone have experience with either brand? How have they been? Are there any other systems I should look at?