Scavenger Hunts for Middle School Science

What is a scavenger hunt?

Benefits of scavenger hunts  in middle school science

There’s a  lot of content to deliver in middle school science, and I’ve tried it all. I lecture, flip the classroom, peer teach, use discussions, have demonstrations and labs – you name it.  When it comes to delivering content in my 7th and 8th grade classrooms, I want three things:

1. Ease. The activity has to be easy for me to implement. I don’t want to have to collect materials and laminate papers. I don’t want extensive set ups and break downs, especially in a rotating block schedule where consecutive classes might not be on the same activity each day.
2. Science. The activity has to deliver content. I don’t want fluff. Cute is fine, but I’m here for the science. My students need to know the information.
3. Engage. While I don’t expect everything to be a game, students have to enjoy the activity. There has to be a sense of importance and ownership to it.

Our new scavenger hunt product line combines these three elements.

1. Ease – They are simple to use – just a smidge over “plug and play” – the only thing you have to do is print, hang clues, and give instructions. (Fair warning: I had to repeat the directions a few times……but that shouldn’t be a shock!)
2. Science – Scavenger hunts deliver science by the bucketload. Even with zero prior knowledge, students emerged from the activity with a solid foundation of the topic.
3. Engage – When I use scavenger hunts in my 7th and 8th grade classes, students are highly motivated to complete the activity. This is certainly not a game and students wouldn’t call the activity “fun,” but they were engaged throughout the activity.

How does a scavenger hunt work?

The activity focuses on 2 parts – the student handout and the clue cards (numbered 1 to 10) which get hung around the room.

The student handout has spaces for the 10 answers to the 10 questions. Within the 10 answers, some letters are highlighted. If all of the answers are correct, the highlighted letters will spell out the answer to a riddle (I love “dad” jokes – the cornier the better!).

The clue cards each contain a question and a clue. The trick is that the clue is not related to the question but is a clue to a different question.

To complete the activity, the student starts at any clue card. Let’s imagine that the student is starting at card #1. On Card #1 is Question #1. For the Layers of the Earth scavenger hunt, Q1 is “The lithosphere is divided into __ plates.” Students then need to find the answer to that question by reading the other clues around the room. To make it simpler, the modified version of the activity tells students that the answer to Q1 is on card 7.

Students then go to card 7 and read “Earth’s lithosphere is divided into big solid pieces that fit together. These plates don’t just sit still. Sometimes they crash into each other, pull apart, or slide past each other. The plates that the lithosphere is broken into are called tectonic plates and there are many of them.”

So the students would write “tectonic” on their answer sheets next to Q1 and then continue to answer the other questions.

In the layers of the earth activity, highlighted letters of the answers spell out the answer to a riddle. The riddle is at the top of the page – “What side of a turkey has the most feathers?” and the answer is “The outside.” (Yes, I did this activity during Thanksgiving week.)

The great part about this is that students have to search for the answers. This means they’re constantly re-reading, circling back, and reading again.  This helps reinforce the concepts and gives them a break from traditional stand-and-deliver types of lessons.

How do you create a scavenger hunt?

1. Choose a topic. To create a scavenger hunt, first decide on a body of knowledge that is non-linear and can be explained in a few short paragraphs. Check out the scavenger hunts we have listed in the JustAddH2OSchool store for ideas!
2. If you want the answer to be a riddle or a joke, figure out what letters you need for your answer.
3. Write 10 short paragraphs about the topic. Each paragraph should highlight a different aspect of the topic. For example, each paragraph of our layers of the earth scavenger hunt is about a different layer or a different aspect of a layer of the earth.
4. Write 1 question for each paragraph. Here’s the tricky part. The answers to each question have to contain the letters for the answer to your joke. In our layers of the earth scavenger hunt, the answer to the joke was “The outside” so the answers to each of the stations needed those letters.
5. Write a question and a paragraph on each card. Arrange it so that the answers to each question are on different cards to promote walking around and searching for answers.
6. Write the answer sheet for your students. Include highlighted boxes so they know which letter is part of the answer to the riddle!

Do you want to try a free scavenger hunt?

If you’ve been a follower of the JustAddH2OSchool store and blog for a while, you know that we don’t launch a product line without giving away freebies! Try out this new scavenger hunt product line with this freebie – a scavenger hunt about renewable and nonrenewable energy sources! Click here to download your copy now and comment below with your feedback!