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Incorporating phenomena in your instruction can be daunting at first - that is why this site exists! This page is an ever-expanding source of phenomena-based materials for you to use with your students. While these materials range in topic, we hope that sharing these will help educators nationally who are working hard to create equitable opportunities for ALL students in science.  

Because the goal is to continually build out these resources and offer them for free - your feedback is critical in our pursuit. If you use or adapt these resources please let us know how it went. If you found something else that worked perfectly, share it with us and we will happily host it here to share with other educators working to make science meaningful for all students!

Each Virtual Science education Card is linked to a post with phenomena and resources

As ALWAYS, Please provide feedback as this resource evolves.

Featured
30 Day Back-to-School Science Challenge
30 Day Back-to-School Science Challenge

Science is awesome - even if you are doing experiments over Zoom, sharing your thinking through your mask, or writing observations using virtual science notebooks!! Here are 30 more ways to have fun with science, no matter what "back-to-school" looks like for you!

Six Degrees Of Phenomena - A Science Connection Game
Six Degrees Of Phenomena - A Science Connection Game

Let’s make this one fun – how can we make connections from one phenomenon to the next so students can show you their thinking and how they use ideas to play Six Degrees of Phenomena, our variation on the famous Kevin Bacon game.

30 Day Science Challenge - Summer Edition!
30 Day Science Challenge - Summer Edition!

Science? During the summer? With this challenge, we can identify the science around us we feel connected to. What can we do around our homes or in our communities to think about science? Answer - the 30 Day Science Challenge - Summer Edition!

Music Can Bring Us Together
Music Can Bring Us Together

Let music open a new door in our thinking and help make science more familiar and accessible for everyone. While we are looking at patterns in terms of music - is this a lens we can use to make sense of other phenomena that we didn’t really notice a pattern in before?

Leveraging Student Questions About Coronavirus
Leveraging Student Questions About Coronavirus

When students are naturally curious about events that are happening around them it brings authenticity to the classroom - let’s capitalize on the motivation that comes with their questions. Here, we brainstorm and model questions and a way to incorporate the Science Practices

Science Notebooks Support Meaningful Science Learning
Science Notebooks Support Meaningful Science Learning

With a science notebook, anyplace can become a place for science learning. By using science notebooks we can give students the freedom to explore their learning and thinking using a tool they help develop.

Good Selfies - Is That A Science Thing?
Good Selfies - Is That A Science Thing?

Why do my selfies always turn out differently - sun behind, sun to the left, bright lights over my shoulder, tallest person first - how can I keep it all straight? I never thought light really mattered, and I wasn’t sure it was even real. Why can’t my smartphone just, well, fix it!?! Maybe I should try science.

Science Is For Everybody - Go Out And Find It!
Science Is For Everybody - Go Out And Find It!

With the potential for students to be learning virtually or just spending more time at home, there is a need for parents to be able to find high quality science resources to stimulate and encourage learning. Here, we walk through an example of engaging children with phenomena and science at home.

What Is An Anchoring Phenomenon
What Is An Anchoring Phenomenon

We have probably heard these terms - anchor phenomenon and lesson level phenomenon - and wondered, how we can tell them apart? To tease this apart, let’s look at an example where students use their science notebooks to start thinking about the night time sky.

Real or Fake? How Do We Know?
Real or Fake? How Do We Know?

If a video is fake how can we tell? If it is real how can we defend a claim - what evidence do we need? Here we use a virtual tool - a Google Form - so students can share their thinking with you, a support for developing claims and provide a model template.

Doing Science With M&Ms - Candy In A Cup
Doing Science With M&Ms - Candy In A Cup

What happens when you place M&M’s in any dish and add a little warm water? This resource supports students as they organize their thinking about this phenomenon and prepare to share their thinking about why it happenend

30 Day Science Challenge
30 Day Science Challenge

Time for some fun with science! What can we do around our homes or in our communities to think about science? Answer - the 30 Day Science Challenge!

Popping Balloons For Science!
Popping Balloons For Science!

As students take time to think about their understanding of what constitutes as a chemical reaction, they are immediately confronted with this phenomenon, an orange rind popping a balloon, and are provided with an opportunity to develop an investigation that will help clarify their understanding.

H2-OH My Goodness!
H2-OH My Goodness!

What happens if we change the material ice is placed on and - watch it melt? This activity is scaffolded to support students as they describe their thinking about an everyday phenomenon (ice melting) and prepare to share their ideas about investigating different materials with others.