SWMSA BOY Tips by Victoria Ash

Build a Scientific Identity!

vash4 — 2025-09-08 14:05:14 UTC

Start the year by showing students that they are scientists themselves. Often, students perceive scientists as highly intelligent individuals who consistently get it right, which can discourage them from seeing themselves as equally brilliant scientists. Start the year by showing students that they are scientists!

Setting Up a Growth Mindset!

vash4 — 2025-09-08 14:09:18 UTC

Science is hard, and younger students struggle to overcome the failure that is an essential part of figuring something out. Foster a growth mindset in students by sharing a slideshow featuring diverse scientists' perspectives on failure and perseverance.

Create a Phenomena Wall

vash4 — 2025-09-08 15:27:43 UTC

Allow students to write about different phenomena that they wonder about. This will give you a chance to see your students' interests and provide you with time to incorporate their interests into your science units.

Science Practices in Action!

vash4 — 2025-09-08 15:32:31 UTC

Discuss the different practices (habits) that scientists use every day and give your students opportunities to practice them in class. Scientists ask good questions, so show your students images or short videos that they can ask questions about.

Facilitate Constructive Feedback

nicholsk17 — 2025-09-08 15:53:40 UTC

Empower your students to communicate respectfully and effectively during class discussions! This list of sentence starters is a fantastic tool to help them give thoughtful feedback to their classmates. You can easily share this resource by printing it for a bulletin board, posting it on Google Classroom, or placing copies at lab stations. Feel free to adapt the list to perfectly fit your classroom's needs!

Help Students Communicate Effectively

nicholsk17 — 2025-09-08 15:54:50 UTC

Facilitate Constructive Feedback

nicholsk17 — 2025-09-08 16:00:35 UTC

Empower your students to communicate respectfully and effectively during class discussions! Open the shared Google Drive Folder with lists of sentence starters for high school students. These lists are fantastic tools to help them give thoughtful feedback to their classmates.

You can easily share this resource by printing it for a bulletin board, posting it on Google Classroom, or placing copies at lab stations. Feel free to adapt the list to perfectly fit your classroom's needs!

2025-09-10 19:30:52 UTC

Start with an activity that all can do easily - my first assignment is to draw a scientist. We then discuss bias and how culture determines who we think scientists are.

2025-09-10 19:33:48 UTC

I had small individual sized whiteboards in my classroom, so at the beginning of the year, I had students draw their names and I would have to guess their names. They couldn't use actual letters, so it's a lot like pictionary. It helped me learn their names, and everyone had a chance to learn more about each other.

A lot of Inclusion Activities... with Science

jbeck151 — 2025-09-10 19:34:06 UTC

Group activity building (spaghetti/ marshmallows, spaghetti/index cards; freestanding index cards...) working together as a team, establishing team norms, evaluate success, and reflect on the process. Allows teacher to see the leaders, the supporters, and those who don't do a whole lot. Also using inside/outside circle structure to ask questions of a partner (low stakes questions) and learning how to respond with gratitude. Revisit often with class to reinforce expectations and how we converse with each other.