The ability to ask and answer questions while reading is essential to comprehension. This article discusses instructional strategies used to teach questioning and provides many online resources. The article appears in the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle, which explores the seven essential principles of the climate sciences for teachers in k-grade 5 classrooms.

AtomTouch is a molecular simulation app, created through a partnership between UW MRSEC and Field Day Lab. It allows learners to explore principles of thermodynamics and molecular dynamics in a tactile, exploratory way. The simulation was developed to help students understand the structures and attributes of particles at the molecular level, providing real-time feedback and responding to students’ actions.

You are a material scientist who just crash-landed on an abandoned mining planet. You’re out of fuel, and your suit’s oxygen is running low. You need to mine enough fuel to power your ship, or you won’t survive.

You stumble into the old mining facility. That’s where you meet MAL, the mine’s Artificial Intelligence, who is thrilled to have someone to talk to. With MAL’s help, you’ll build scientific models to predict if you’re mining fast enough and what you need to do next.

Each level puts the student in the role of the scientific modeler. Students will set up equations, work with graphs, input data, and use models to make predictions. Along the way, as obstacles keep popping up, students will experience how models are used as a tool to make decisions.

Note: For best compatibility, use Chrome.

Use Lost at the Forever Mine to introduce units on graphing or scientific modeling. The game was designed to help kids experience the need for math to make predictions. This story-based game gives a context to why graphing, math equations, and collecting data can help us solve problems.

Try introducing a unit with this game. Let the kids figure out how the game works with little introduction. Remember, struggling to figure it out is part of the process. Games are safe places for struggle and failure to become part of the fun.

I use this activity to reinforce student understanding for predicting products or making sense of their products.Before this activity students should understand multiplication expressions and/or equations.  Students should know that the first factor represents the number of groups, and the second factor represents the size of the group.  For instance, 5 x 3 means five groups of three, or taking 3, five whole times.  So with fractions, 2/5 x 3/4, is the same as 2/5 of 3/4, taking a fraction of a fraction, or a part of a part.Students should use their understanding of expressions and/or equations to help them make predictions about the product.  For instance, if they are taking a part of a part (fraction times a fraction) it makes sense that their product would be less than.  If multiplying by 2/2 or 1, they are taking the whole amount, and only the whole, so their product would be equal to.  Lastly, if they are multiplying by a number greater than a whole or one, then it makes sense that the product will be greater than.  The whole amount and more is being taken, so again a greater product is reasonable.

Reciprocal Teaching (Palinscar & Brown 1984) is a guided reading comprehension strategy that encourages students to develop the skills that effective readers and learners do automatically (summarise, question, clarify, predict and respond to what they are reading). Students use these four comprehension strategies on a common text, in pairs or small groups. Reciprocal Teaching can be used with fiction, non-fiction, prose or poetry.

This resource was created as part of the CESA #1 EL OER Project to help EL students preview vocabulary related to the book, Henry’s Freedom Box by Ellen Levine. The vocabulary organizer template can be used with other books by changing the vocabulary and picture support.