Decode + Describe: A Fun Learning Strategy That Builds Vocabulary and Understanding

The end of the school year can be tough.

As days are getting longer, school days seem to do the same.

Motivation wanes. Students want to be done. Teachers want summer.

But we still need to keep learning going and our students engaged.

So start class with a puzzle.

It’s not one of those busywork ones; I promise.

It‘s Decode + Describe—a fun, 5-minute challenge that uses retrieval practice in disguise that’s perfect for the end of the school year blues.

Just give students a scrambled key term and make them figure it out from memory—no tech, no notes.

How It Works (5 minute Bell Ringer)

1. Put a scrambled term on the board: “NOISOTPYHSESP” → (Photosynthesis)

2. Students work individually or with a partner to decode the word

3. Once solved, they must describe it: (1) define it in their own words, (2) give an example, and (3) make a connection to other content or real life

4. Optional upgrade: Use the word in a diagram, sentence, or quick sketch

Why Decode + Define Is Active, Effective Learning

1. Forces retrieval (not recognition): No multiple choice. No word bank. Students have to pull the term from memory—that’s where learning happens.

2. Desirable difficulty: The scramble challenge slows them down just enough to make thinking effortful. That friction strengthens memory later.

3. Dual coding opportunity: When you add a sketch or example, you’re layering words + visuals, which leads to stronger recall.

4. Fun Repetition: You’re revisiting key vocabulary, but it feels like a puzzle, not a soul-crushing worksheet.

Pro Tips For Classroom Implementation

• Use recently learned key terms (prior week etc.), not brand new ones

• Keep scrambles solvable—don’t make it frustrating

• Require meaning after solving (definition, example, connection etc.)

• Follow with another word for round 2 or even 3 to recall 3 key concepts

• Make it a timed challenge or a competition between small groups (e.g. when a group completes the first word, it shows the solution to the teacher and is given the second scramble to solve.

Example Decode Words For Various Subjects

Science

• “NOITCAVRNEOC” → Convection

• “SISOTIM” → Mitosis

Math

• “NOITARUQE” → Equation

• “NOITCNUF” → Function

ELA

• “ROHAPMET” → Metaphor

• “ECNEREFNI” → Inference

Social Studies

• “NOITULOVRE” → Revolution

• “YCARCOME D” → Democracy

Bottom Line

Decode and Describe is an easy to implement, but highly effective classroom activity that moves students from re-reading information to retrieval practice.

It’s not just an effective strategy, it’s a fun end of year activity for middle school and high school students as it breaks up the monotony of completing this or filling out that.

Because you don’t just give students the word to copy—you challenge them by making them rebuild it.

When students retrieve, decode, and then explain a concept, they’re not just reviewing content—they’re recalling it, which strengthens memory.

That’s not just vocab practice.

That’s learning that works.

---

Thanks for reading!

Want more easy to implement, high impact strategies like Decode + Describe?

Sign up below and get 5 Active Learning Strategies You Can Use Today. It’s 5 Editable Activity Slides you can use in your classroom right away—any time, any subject, zero prep required + 5 Teacher Slides with pro tips and rationale.

My new book High Impact Teaching Tools: 100 Brain-Based Micro-Lessons for Macro Learning is set for release on August 1st and I plan to offer it at 50% off to the first 100 buyers, so sign up to get notified when it drops.

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BOOKS & TOOLS

Memory Palace - 3 Lesson Series (Teach Students a Powerful Memory Technique)

$3.00

Flashcards are okay but there's a better way. The Memory (or Mind) Palace Method is a powerful learning and memorization technique that when mastered allows a student to remember 10, 20, or even 30 vocabulary words or concepts (definitions included) with ease.

And, they actually remember what they learned using memory palaces! This series of lessons (which can be used as classroom handouts) walks students through creating their first memory palace, filling it with information they need to learn, and using it to train their memories. It also contains short readings, a video lesson, memory palace examples, and practice drills.

Fair Use

Feel free to use with your students. Please do not share it with other parties or use for profit. All rights by crushschool.com.

Add to cart

Mistakes Are... Poster

$3.00

In this classroom Mistakes are Expected, Respected, Inspected, Corrected!

Learned helplessness is a result of years of conditioning that mistakes are bad for learning. Nothing is further from the truth - some of the most powerful life lessons come from making mistakes, reflecting on them, and growing as a result.

This is a PNG Poster you can print and display in your classroom to encourage a culture of risk-taking and learning from mistakes.

Add to cart

EQUITY Poster

$1.50

Equity-Promoting Classroom Poster. What does EQUITY in the classroom look like?

• Everyone has a different start and finish line

• Quality is more important that quantity

• Understanding that diversity makes us stronger

• Inclusion despite beliefs, appearances, and circumstances

• Thoughtfulness lowers barriers and reduces biases

• Yesterday's mistakes are today's learning agenda

You can teach your students about equity and make it a daily classroom practice using this inspirational poster, which also includes images that accompany the equity description. You can discuss each letter characteristic with your students as a way of introducing your inclusive classroom and display it prominently as a reminder that diversity makes the classroom community stronger.

Add to cart

Sale

Smart Practice Digital Poster

Sale Price: $2.00 Original Price: $3.00

Retrieval Practice, Spaced Practice, and Mixed Practice (Interleaving).

Studying Hard is not the same as Studying Smart. This High Quality printable, digital (PNG) poster is a constant classroom reminder of best practices for teachers and learning the smart way for students.

Add to cart

Earth Science: 7-Day Weather Report Project (NGSS) HS-ESS2

$4.00

Save planning time with this Atmosphere Unit, 5-day Honors Earth and Space Science Project in which students research, design, create, and present a 7-day weather forecast for a specific city in the US or abroad.

Student Performance and Learning Objectives:

1. Explain how weather data is collected and interpreted.

2. Explain how weather patterns may be affected by geography (mountains, plains, valleys etc.).

3. Explain the atmospheric conditions (pressure, moisture etc.) necessary for different weather (sunny, windy, rainy etc.).

What's included:

1. 16 slides (Google Slides link for easy use and editing to fit your purposes)

2. Learning Objectives

3. Group Roles / Jobs (up to 5 with detailed description of jobs)

4. Detailed Project Directions / Requirements

5. Materials/Web Resources List

6. Link to a "Wheel of Names" containing city names - students spin and receive their assigned city.

7. Link to a grading rubric for student and teacher use (printable doc).

The project follows the guidelines set by the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

Questions?
Email me at oskar@crushschool.com. I’m happy to answer your questions.

Fair Use
Feel free to share and use this resource with your students.

Please do not share it with other parties or use for profit. All rights by crushschool.com.

Add to cart

Beating the End-of-the-School-Year Blues and Engaging Students

By mid-May, even your best students start to fade.

Not because they suddenly stopped caring.

It’s their brains—they are already halfway out the door to summer vacation.

Emily, a junior in 5th-hour chem, stares blankly at the board while I explain calorimetry for the third straight day. Her eyes on me, red dry erase marker in hand, she writes something on her whiteboard table. I continue my not-so-lengthy spiel, put my students to work on heat transfer problems, and start my daily group to group helper drill.

“I WANT SUMMER,” stares at me when I get to her group—Emily forgot, or never intended to erase the words she wrote not 5 minutes ago.

I could be mad, but I get it.

Outside? Sunshine. Lacrosse practice after school. Weekend plans.

Inside? Long lessons and summer countdowns flooding TikTok and Snapchat feeds.

So her brain had already checked out and that’s kind of normal.

The Brain Science of “End in Sight” Thinking

Humans are wired to mentally shift gears when the finish line appears.

It’s why marathon runners suddenly get this impossible burst of energy in the final mile. It’s why employees mentally disengage before vacation. And it’s why students become tragically harder to motivate in May and June.

The brain starts prioritizing anticipation, reward, social connection, and movement. This is why they keep asking if we can have the class outside today like every day.

Lectures, worksheets, and passive note-taking feel more painful than before.

Already shrunk attention spans shrink some more. Motivation doesn’t dip; it sinks. Cognitive stamina—what’s that?

This is exactly why the end of the year is the worst time to teach the same way we did in September.

If you want students engaged, you have to increase mental participation, movement, novelty, and… yes, challenge.

Translation: Talk less. Have them do more.

That doesn’t mean turning every class into a hacky sack circus. Don’t even…

It means using quick, brain-friendly activities that reset attention and pull students back into learning.

Here are 3 fast HITs (High Impact Tools) that work extremely well during the end-of-year slump.

They might even cure Senioritis. I need more data to be sure, but my summer brain is screaming NO MORE!

HIT #1: Last Team Standing (Bell Ringer)

How It Works (5 minutes)

1. Split the class into small teams

2. Put a topic from your current unit on the board

   Examples: Chemical reactions, Causes of World War I, Linear equations, Literary themes

3. Everybody stands up.

4. Teams (you point at random for suspense) take turns rapidly naming anything related: vocab, concepts, examples, formulas, facts, processes

5. No repeats allowed.

6. If a team hesitates too long, repeats an answer, or gives an incorrect response, they’re out! Ruthlessly yell: SIT DOWN!

7. Keep going until LAST TEAM STANDING

8. Optional: Write a new topic for round 2, then 3.

Why It Works

• Competition creates urgency and attention immediately

• Instead of a lame, slow warm up, student brains are forced into rapid retrieval practice

• The fast pace increases fun: focus, participation, dopamine release, energy

• Because students are trying not to let their team down, even reluctant learners become more engaged, which is basically a schoolhouse miracle

Cognitively-speaking, this activity also strengthens:

• memory retrieval

• verbal processing

• content connections

• collaborative thinking

And most importantly, you Jedi mind trick your way to the whole experience feeling more like a game than school, while they’re actually learning.

But keep this on the DL, or I’ll come over there.

HIT #2: Four Corners Chaos (Middle-of-Class Reset)

How It Works (5 minutes)

1. Label the four corners of the room with: Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree

2. Then yell out funny, weird, or debatable content-related or completely unrelated statements

   Examples: “Aliens definitely exist,” “A hot dog is a sandwich,” “Math is better than science”

3. Students pick a corner and move there quickly

4. Pick on someone to defend their choice with shady evidence or highly-questionable reasoning

5. Optional: Ask each corner to pick a student to become the “official spokesperson” for their side.

Why It Works

• Movement instantly resets attention.

• The physical act of standing up and relocating increases alertness and breaks the passive classroom rhythm that causes students to mentally drift.

• The humor and absurdity lower stress and increase participation—even from the reluctant ones.

And because students must explain their reasoning, they’re still practicing:

• retrieval

• argumentation

• critical thinking

• content connections (maybe)

It’s the end of the year and students don’t want another slideshow.

They need a reason and a way to wake their brains back up.

HIT #3 Trash Ball Recall Exit Ticket

How It Works (5-15 minutes)

1. Split students into small groups of 4–5

2. Read or project a question, scenario, example, or short description connected to a single-word concept or vocab term

3. Groups quietly discuss and write their answers on a sheet of paper

4. After 20-30 seconds (use a countdown timer for fun) they simultaneously reveal their answers

5. Groups that are correct earn a shot at the trash can in front

6. Groups write their number/name and crumple their answer sheet into a ball

7. Each group’s MVP steps up to the line, teacher yells “GO,” and they all shoot at the same time

8. Scoring: 1 point for the answer, 1 point for a successful shot

Optional twists if you can devote more than 5 minutes of class time:

• Longer shots = bonus points

• Sudden death final round

• Bank shot = extra point

• Fastest correct answer gets first shot

• Students must justify why the concept fits before shooting

The Key Twist: Make the Questions Require Thinking

Instead of asking direct definition questions, give examples, scenarios, patterns, applications, mini case studies, real-world situations.

Deeper learning happens when students figure out the underlying concept.

Example Trash Ball Recall Questions

Pro tip: Give an AI the “ Instead of asking…” prompt in the Key Twist above finished with your class concepts and ask it to write a series of questions. Then, put each question on a separate slide and project it, or simply read to students.

Science

Question: “A student notices that dark-colored cars become hotter in sunlight than white cars.”

Answer: Absorption / Albedo

Social Studies

Question: “A country raises taxes on imported steel to protect its own steel industry.”

Answer: Tariffs

ELA

Question: “A story repeatedly mentions storms whenever conflict is about to happen.”

Answer:Foreshadowing

Math

Question: “The graph crosses the y-axis at positive 3.”

Answer: Intercept

Why It Works

This activity combines:

• retrieval practice

• elaboration

• discussion

• movement

• competition

• application-based thinking

Students aren’t just memorizing vocabulary.

They’re identifying concepts from evidence and examples—the same type of thinking required for real understanding.

The quiet group discussion also lowers pressure while still keeping participation high.

And the anticipation of earning the shot keeps energy up right until the bell.

At the end of the year, that matters.

Because sometimes the difference between a dead classroom and an engaged one is as simple as letting students throw paper at a trash can for educational purposes.

---

Thanks for reading!

If you found these boredom-killing, active learning strategies helpful consider signing up for my High Impact Teaching Tools Newsletter below.

My new book High Impact Teaching Tools: 100 Brain-Based Micro-Lessons for Macro Learning is set for release on August 1st and I plan to offer it at 50% off to the first 100 buyers, so sign up to get notified when it drops.

But no pressure. I will keep sharing many strategies I use here for free!

No results found

BOOKS & TOOLS

Memory Palace - 3 Lesson Series (Teach Students a Powerful Memory Technique)

$3.00

Flashcards are okay but there's a better way. The Memory (or Mind) Palace Method is a powerful learning and memorization technique that when mastered allows a student to remember 10, 20, or even 30 vocabulary words or concepts (definitions included) with ease.

And, they actually remember what they learned using memory palaces! This series of lessons (which can be used as classroom handouts) walks students through creating their first memory palace, filling it with information they need to learn, and using it to train their memories. It also contains short readings, a video lesson, memory palace examples, and practice drills.

Fair Use

Feel free to use with your students. Please do not share it with other parties or use for profit. All rights by crushschool.com.

Add to cart

EQUITY Poster

$1.50

Equity-Promoting Classroom Poster. What does EQUITY in the classroom look like?

• Everyone has a different start and finish line

• Quality is more important that quantity

• Understanding that diversity makes us stronger

• Inclusion despite beliefs, appearances, and circumstances

• Thoughtfulness lowers barriers and reduces biases

• Yesterday's mistakes are today's learning agenda

You can teach your students about equity and make it a daily classroom practice using this inspirational poster, which also includes images that accompany the equity description. You can discuss each letter characteristic with your students as a way of introducing your inclusive classroom and display it prominently as a reminder that diversity makes the classroom community stronger.

Add to cart

Mistakes Are... Poster

$3.00

In this classroom Mistakes are Expected, Respected, Inspected, Corrected!

Learned helplessness is a result of years of conditioning that mistakes are bad for learning. Nothing is further from the truth - some of the most powerful life lessons come from making mistakes, reflecting on them, and growing as a result.

This is a PNG Poster you can print and display in your classroom to encourage a culture of risk-taking and learning from mistakes.

Add to cart

Climate Change Debate: The Earth Science Intellectual Thunderdome

$4.00

In this 3- to 4-day lesson, designed for a high school Earth and Space Science classroom, student groups are assigned and investigate 4 leading solutions to the climate change crisis our planet is experiencing. Then, they are called upon to debate against each other to try to convince others that their solution is the most viable and provide counterarguments against other solutions. It’s an intellectual thunderdome in which students are encouraged to use science to attacks each others points of view on climate change but not character.

Why and how does this learning strategy work?

Rote memorization out; seeking answers and deeper learning in.

The debate-style approach to learning is engaging and motivating for learners, because they are challenged to use real evidence and their wits to outmaneuver their opposition.

Not only do they act as investigators, developing communication, collaboration, and argumentation skills but they learn about viable solutions to the climate change conundrum we all find ourselves in. They learn Earth and Space Science content while investigating and debating solutions to a real-world phenomenon, which is what the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) call for.

Student Learning and Performance Objectives:

3. Research multiple, complex climate change solutions to discover that the world is more complicated than a single TikTok trend.

4. Articulate scientific arguments with actual evidence.

5. Listen to opposing viewpoints, to hone "social awareness" skills.

6. Realize that climate change solutions are multi-faceted, messy, and require more than just good vibes.

7. Describe and support with, not mere belief but actual evidence, the leading climate solutions proposed by, not the coven of online witches but the scientific community.

What's included:

1. 24 slides that introduce, explain, and guide the teacher and students

2. Detailed teacher notes on prep, main lesson, and follow up activities

3. General Lesson flow for teacher to follow to make it all seamless

4. A short and funny “hook” to increase student buy in

5. Detailed student directions

6. A list (research starter pack) of links to legit, scientific websites for students to use.

7. Group roles (team jobs) with descriptions of what each entails.

8. 4 climate change solutions to assign to 4 different student groups

9. Student Learning and Performance Objectives

10. Detailed Grading Rubric to guide students and make assessment easy

11. Debate Day introduction and format description

12. Follow up discussion questions (reflection and debrief)

Add to cart

Earth Science: 7-Day Weather Report Project (NGSS) HS-ESS2

$4.00

Save planning time with this Atmosphere Unit, 5-day Honors Earth and Space Science Project in which students research, design, create, and present a 7-day weather forecast for a specific city in the US or abroad.

Student Performance and Learning Objectives:

1. Explain how weather data is collected and interpreted.

2. Explain how weather patterns may be affected by geography (mountains, plains, valleys etc.).

3. Explain the atmospheric conditions (pressure, moisture etc.) necessary for different weather (sunny, windy, rainy etc.).

What's included:

1. 16 slides (Google Slides link for easy use and editing to fit your purposes)

2. Learning Objectives

3. Group Roles / Jobs (up to 5 with detailed description of jobs)

4. Detailed Project Directions / Requirements

5. Materials/Web Resources List

6. Link to a "Wheel of Names" containing city names - students spin and receive their assigned city.

7. Link to a grading rubric for student and teacher use (printable doc).

The project follows the guidelines set by the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

Questions?
Email me at oskar@crushschool.com. I’m happy to answer your questions.

Fair Use
Feel free to share and use this resource with your students.

Please do not share it with other parties or use for profit. All rights by crushschool.com.

Add to cart

Sale

Smart Practice Digital Poster

Sale Price: $2.00 Original Price: $3.00

Retrieval Practice, Spaced Practice, and Mixed Practice (Interleaving).

Studying Hard is not the same as Studying Smart. This High Quality printable, digital (PNG) poster is a constant classroom reminder of best practices for teachers and learning the smart way for students.

Add to cart

Connect It: A Quick Concept Mapping Strategy For Deeper Learning

A lot of studying looks productive.

Highlighting.
Re-reading.
Staring at notes, slowly accepting defeat.

Because the brain doesn’t retain information when it’s stored like a grocery list.

It remembers information when ideas are connected.

This is why the Memory Palace is such a powerful memory strategy.

This is also why students can sometimes memorize 17 vocabulary words for a Tuesday quiz and forget 16.5 of them by Thursday afternoon.

The brain wants structure. It seeks relationships and craves patterns.

That’s where Connect It comes in.

It’s quick, requires almost no prep, works in every subject, and covertly forces students to use three of the most effective learning strategies in cognitive science at the same time:

• retrieval

• organization

• elaboration

Which is basically the educational version of the Avengers.

How Connect It Learning Strategy Activates The Brain

Students build a quick concept map from memory.

Not from notes.
Not from Google.
Not from that one kid in class who somehow remembers everything about everything and scares everyone in the process because he’s either an alien or a super-advanced cyborg.

From memory.

They connect terms, explain relationships, and give examples.

That is learning.

How Connect It Works

1. Give Students 5–10 Terms

Include the BIG concept and either or all of these:

• vocab

• processes

• events

• formulas

2. No Notes

Students must pull ideas from memory first.

Yes, they will groan dramatically like you just asked them to churn butter manually in the 1800s.

Stay mean. It’s for their own good.

3. Put the Main Concept in the Middle

Everything else connects back to it and/or each other with branches or arrows.

4. Connect the Concepts

Students look for relationships:

• causes

• effects

• similarities

• differences

• sequences

Then they explain why these things are connected. Don’t just organize. Rationalize.

5. Give Examples

Examples force students to move from memorization to actual understanding.

Because knowing the word is not the same thing as understanding the idea.

Just ask anyone who has nodded through a meeting after hearing “synergize.”

Why Connect It Classroom Activity Improves Learning

1. Retrieval Strengthens Memory

Students pull ideas from memory instead of reviewing.

That struggle is not a system bug. It’s its necessary feature.

Every successful retrieval strengthens the path back (myelination) to that information later.

Staring at text is pretend learning. Recall of facts is memory forming.

2. Organization Builds Better Understanding

The brain remembers relationships better than isolated facts.

Concept maps help students organize knowledge into connected networks instead of random information blobs.

Which is how expertise works.

Experts don’t know more things. They can explain how things connect.

3. Elaboration Deepens Learning

Students must explain:

• how concepts relate

• why they relate

• examples that prove the relationships

That forces more intense thinking instead of surficial memorization.

Translation: Deeper learning occurs when the brain is forced to process information in multiple ways.

Subject-Specific Examples

Science

Main Concept: Ecosystems

Terms:

• producers

• consumers

• decomposers

• energy flow

• food web

Students connect:

• producers → energy flow

• decomposers → nutrient cycling

Then explain “Without decomposers, dead material would pile up and nutrients wouldn’t return to the soil.”

Boom. Understanding.

Math

Main Concept: Linear Functions

Terms:

• slope

• y-intercept

• graph

• rate of change

• equation

Students explain “Slope and rate of change are connected because slope measures how fast something changes.”

Much better than memorizing random symbols and widespread confusion.

ELA

Main Concept: Theme

Terms:

• conflict

• character

• symbolism

• setting

• evidence

Students connect:

• character choices → theme

• symbolism → deeper meaning

Then explain why.

Actual literary thinking appears. Yes. Miracles do happen.

Social Studies

Main Concept: Revolution

Terms:

• taxes

• inequality

• protest

• government

• rights

Students connect:

• inequality → protest

• protest → revolution

Then explain historical examples.

Now history becomes an interesting story instead of a laundry list of dates.

Pro Tips For Maximum Student Engagement

1. Keep It Messy, not Classy

A concept map is not an art show entry.

If it looks like a clue board from a crime show, you’re probably doing it right.

2. Use Different Colors

Different colors help separate categories and relationships.

Also, students think markers give them superpowers.

3. Make Them Explain Out Loud

The explaining is where the real learning happens.

The map is the vehicle. The students have to hop behind the wheel and drive it.

4. Add One “Mystery Term”

Throw in one slightly unfamiliar or tricky concept.

This forces deeper discussion and problem-solving.

5. Compare Maps Between Groups

Students quickly realize “Ohhhh… you connected those ideas differently.”

That comparison strengthens understanding even more.

The Hidden Superpower: ROE

Return On (Study) Effort

Connect It gives students more learning for the same amount of effort because it combines:

• retrieval

• organization

• elaboration

As opposed to re-reading notes and hoping for divine intervention.

Connecting Facts Makes Learning Stick

Learning is stronger when ideas connect, not when students passively review disconnected facts.

Connect It works because students:

• retrieve ideas

• organize relationships

• explain meaning

Which is exactly what the brain needs for learning to last.

Because understanding is not knowing more facts, but seeing how the facts fit together.

---

Thanks for reading!

Did you find “Connect It” helpful?

Sign up below and get 5 Active Learning Strategies You Can Use Today. It’s 5 Editable Activity Slides you can use in your classroom right away—any time, any subject, zero prep required + 5 Teacher Slides with pro tips and rationale.

No results found

BOOKS & TOOLS

Memory Palace - 3 Lesson Series (Teach Students a Powerful Memory Technique)

$3.00

Flashcards are okay but there's a better way. The Memory (or Mind) Palace Method is a powerful learning and memorization technique that when mastered allows a student to remember 10, 20, or even 30 vocabulary words or concepts (definitions included) with ease.

And, they actually remember what they learned using memory palaces! This series of lessons (which can be used as classroom handouts) walks students through creating their first memory palace, filling it with information they need to learn, and using it to train their memories. It also contains short readings, a video lesson, memory palace examples, and practice drills.

Fair Use

Feel free to use with your students. Please do not share it with other parties or use for profit. All rights by crushschool.com.

Add to cart

EQUITY Poster

$1.50

Equity-Promoting Classroom Poster. What does EQUITY in the classroom look like?

• Everyone has a different start and finish line

• Quality is more important that quantity

• Understanding that diversity makes us stronger

• Inclusion despite beliefs, appearances, and circumstances

• Thoughtfulness lowers barriers and reduces biases

• Yesterday's mistakes are today's learning agenda

You can teach your students about equity and make it a daily classroom practice using this inspirational poster, which also includes images that accompany the equity description. You can discuss each letter characteristic with your students as a way of introducing your inclusive classroom and display it prominently as a reminder that diversity makes the classroom community stronger.

Add to cart

Mistakes Are... Poster

$3.00

In this classroom Mistakes are Expected, Respected, Inspected, Corrected!

Learned helplessness is a result of years of conditioning that mistakes are bad for learning. Nothing is further from the truth - some of the most powerful life lessons come from making mistakes, reflecting on them, and growing as a result.

This is a PNG Poster you can print and display in your classroom to encourage a culture of risk-taking and learning from mistakes.

Add to cart

Climate Change Debate: The Earth Science Intellectual Thunderdome

$4.00

In this 3- to 4-day lesson, designed for a high school Earth and Space Science classroom, student groups are assigned and investigate 4 leading solutions to the climate change crisis our planet is experiencing. Then, they are called upon to debate against each other to try to convince others that their solution is the most viable and provide counterarguments against other solutions. It’s an intellectual thunderdome in which students are encouraged to use science to attacks each others points of view on climate change but not character.

Why and how does this learning strategy work?

Rote memorization out; seeking answers and deeper learning in.

The debate-style approach to learning is engaging and motivating for learners, because they are challenged to use real evidence and their wits to outmaneuver their opposition.

Not only do they act as investigators, developing communication, collaboration, and argumentation skills but they learn about viable solutions to the climate change conundrum we all find ourselves in. They learn Earth and Space Science content while investigating and debating solutions to a real-world phenomenon, which is what the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) call for.

Student Learning and Performance Objectives:

3. Research multiple, complex climate change solutions to discover that the world is more complicated than a single TikTok trend.

4. Articulate scientific arguments with actual evidence.

5. Listen to opposing viewpoints, to hone "social awareness" skills.

6. Realize that climate change solutions are multi-faceted, messy, and require more than just good vibes.

7. Describe and support with, not mere belief but actual evidence, the leading climate solutions proposed by, not the coven of online witches but the scientific community.

What's included:

1. 24 slides that introduce, explain, and guide the teacher and students

2. Detailed teacher notes on prep, main lesson, and follow up activities

3. General Lesson flow for teacher to follow to make it all seamless

4. A short and funny “hook” to increase student buy in

5. Detailed student directions

6. A list (research starter pack) of links to legit, scientific websites for students to use.

7. Group roles (team jobs) with descriptions of what each entails.

8. 4 climate change solutions to assign to 4 different student groups

9. Student Learning and Performance Objectives

10. Detailed Grading Rubric to guide students and make assessment easy

11. Debate Day introduction and format description

12. Follow up discussion questions (reflection and debrief)

Add to cart

Earth Science: 7-Day Weather Report Project (NGSS) HS-ESS2

$4.00

Save planning time with this Atmosphere Unit, 5-day Honors Earth and Space Science Project in which students research, design, create, and present a 7-day weather forecast for a specific city in the US or abroad.

Student Performance and Learning Objectives:

1. Explain how weather data is collected and interpreted.

2. Explain how weather patterns may be affected by geography (mountains, plains, valleys etc.).

3. Explain the atmospheric conditions (pressure, moisture etc.) necessary for different weather (sunny, windy, rainy etc.).

What's included:

1. 16 slides (Google Slides link for easy use and editing to fit your purposes)

2. Learning Objectives

3. Group Roles / Jobs (up to 5 with detailed description of jobs)

4. Detailed Project Directions / Requirements

5. Materials/Web Resources List

6. Link to a "Wheel of Names" containing city names - students spin and receive their assigned city.

7. Link to a grading rubric for student and teacher use (printable doc).

The project follows the guidelines set by the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

Questions?
Email me at oskar@crushschool.com. I’m happy to answer your questions.

Fair Use
Feel free to share and use this resource with your students.

Please do not share it with other parties or use for profit. All rights by crushschool.com.

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