Not sure if that lesson is really NGSS aligned? Enter the EQuIP Rubric. A MUST for creating effective, efficient, and engaging NGSS lesson plans. Below I list 7 reasons why.
When I first started teaching science, my basic lesson planning formula was:
Front load vocabulary.
Teach content from the textbook (usually in an outline form).
Find some fun hands-on activities that confirmed what we just read (or even just slightly connected).
It's true. My “hands on” activities were more fluff than substance.
Let me give you an example: Volcanoes
We made beautiful model volcanoes that all looked the same (cone-shaped and brown) with a small PVC pipe in the middle to fit a test tube. Something like this:
"All models are wrong, but some are useful" (Spoiler alert: This is not one of them)
Then, we I poured pre-made mixtures into the tubes to model three different types of eruptions--low viscosity; medium...