Interactive Virtual Field Trips

What is an Interactive Virtual Field Trip

There are times when talking about something just isn’t good enough. Great examples are glaciers, deserts and canyons. Even if my school allowed field trips post pandemic (mine hasn’t) there are still plenty of places I want my students to “visit” that aren’t possible. During remote schooling, I started using interactive virtual field trips to show my students ecosystems and geology in other parts of the world. An interactive virtual field trip allows students to learn about a remote location without leaving their desks. Incorporating videos and interesting articles to read along with some guided questions allows students to experience places they would ordinarily not be able to go.

How do you do an interactive virtual field trip?

The format for your interactive virtual field trip can be any format that your students can access. I typically use hyperdocs with links to videos and articles embedded along with guided questions. I’ve seen other teachers use Google Slides or even Google Forms (warning: Google Forms does not allow embedded links so students will need to copy and paste links which might be a challenge for some students).

Examples of Interactive Virtual Field Trips

One of my favorite interactive virtual field trips is this trip to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History  Among its truly fantastic exhibits, this museum’s presentation of the evolution of life on earth is engaging and easy to follow.

Students enjoy visiting the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island via an interactive virtual tour. The National Park Service interactive tour is lengthy and presents a terrific historical background for the island as well as how Hurricane Sandy impacted it.

The Seattle Aquarium offers a 30 minute video tour. While there are no guided questions to accompany this tour, the video does a really good job exploring interactions among organisms at the aquarium.

The National Aquarium‘s virtual tour is a fun way to see still images of their huge collection. They also offer live webcams of coral reef ecosystems and jellyfish.

Monterey Bay Aquarium offers 10 live web cams of jellyfish, sharks, and penguins, among others.

The Georgia Aquarium has 8 live webcams including sea otters, beluga whales, and jellyfish.

The San Diego Zoo offers 11 live web cams of various animals including baboons, koalas, and giraffes.

Space Science

Learn the night sky with Star Atlas which shows you the stars and the planets in real time and also in the future so you can plan what you want to look for tonight. Take a virtual tour of Mars on the Curiosity rover. The International Space Station recently published a virtual tour here.

Earth Science

Check in with an assortment of live volcano cams and compare action from one day to the next.

Take a virtual tour of the Son Doong Cave in Vietnam.

Look for aurora on Fairbanks AK’s Aurora cam.

Take a virtual tour through the Grand Canyon, Antarctica, the Galapagos Islands, or a rainforest. Tour Easter Island, the Bermuda Triangle, the Himalayas, or the Hoover Dam.

Ocean Science

The Virtual Archaeology Museum offers fantastic virtual tours of 5 different shipwrecks.

Live webcams:

YouTube offers a panda-cam from the Atlanta Zoo, a Shark-cam produced by Explore.org, and a penguin-cam and giraffe cam by the Kansas City Zoo. Southwest Florida hosts an eagle cam which, as of today, has a nesting pair of eagles. Explore.org also hosts a polar bear cam based in the Scandinavian Wildlife Park in Kolind, Denmark. The African Safari cam overlooks the main beach of the watering hole at Mpala Research Centre in central Kenya’s Laikipia County. We saw giraffes, a herd of elephants, hippos, and a crocodile.

National Parks

  • Death Valley National Park – Interesting exploration into the geology and biology of Death Valley National Park. This interactive virtual tour includes guided questions leading students to discover the adaptations of plants and animals in the Death Valley as well as some of the geologic features including the Racetrack Playa, the Eureka Sand Dunes, and Ubehebe Crater.
  • Everglades National Park – This 13 page Google hyperdoc includes multiple links to videos and virtual tours as well as guided questions that explore the Everglades including the characteristics that make the Everglades unique. The virtual tour examines how crocodiles and alligators are different and how lily pads work. The Everglades National Park virtual tour also helps students understand invasive species such as the Burmese python that impact the Everglades.
  • Glacier Bay National Park – In this interactive virtual tour, students learn about the animals of Glacier Bay and their adaptations. Learn how glacier form, retreat, and calve. Explore the native people of Alaska and learn about the earthquakes of Alaska.
  • Redwood National and State Park – Students follow links to make their own observations on web cams and videos and read about living things in the park including the great redwoods, the Roosevelt elk, banana slugs, black bears, and the California Condor and its conservation efforts. This interactive virtual tour also explores the redwoods prescribed fire program and how rangers help to prevent wildfires.
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What’s your favorite way to use an interactive virtual tour?

Sub plans for middle school science

It’s inevitable. One day this year, or probably more, I’ll get sick. There’s nothing harder than waking up at 6:00 in the morning, realizing you’ve got a cold, and having to call in sub plans. That’s why most of us just go in to work sick – it’s easier to go to work than it is to craft meaningful lessons that will occupy and entertain your students for a whole class period. When you’re done reading this blog post, you’ll have a dozen great ideas to use for easy peasy sub plans that will save you a ton of time and effort, and keep your students learning science even when you’re not there!

What are sub plans?

A sub plan ideally is a single day assignment that students can complete independently. Because you never know when you’re going to be sick, it’s convenient if the sub plan is not curricular but instead is a stand alone activity that is not dependent on students having any prior knowledge that you might not have taught them yet.

What should a sub plan include?

When I write sub plans, I include rosters and any special medical considerations a sub might need to know. I also include seating charts and behavior referral forms just in case the sub encounters behaviors s/he can’t manage. But the best classroom management plan is to prevent any problems by assigning a high engagement activity that is easy enough for students to complete without assistance but challenging enough to be interesting.

How do you write sub plans for middle school science?

I’ve found that a great sub plan is an enrichment activity that incorporates informational text into scientific literacy. Not only does it address NGSS skills, it also addresses Common Core skills. The trick to great sub plans is to make them relevant but not necessarily curricular so that they can fit anywhere in the year when you may need them. Building scientific literacy and using informational text to analyze information is always a skill that’s high on my priority list. Give students a scientific passage to read like scientists and engage with the text. Have them analyze and evaluate data and form opinions. Ideally, let them defend their opinions using data to support their answers.  sub plans for middle school science

Ideas for sub plans for middle school science:

To create a relevant sub plan or mini-unit, select appropriate reading passages, preferably from both sides of the spectrum on opinion pieces, and add in some background information and data.   Then, generate some relevant analysis questions.

Bonus!

Additionally, preparing these plans in advance can give you handy enrichment activities for early finishers.

Daily Bellringers for Middle School Science

What are Daily Bellringers?

Daily Bellringers or Do Nows are quick 2-5 minute assignments that students begin as soon as the bell rings every day.

Why use Bellringers?

Some schools require daily bellringers for all classes, but, even if your school doesn’t require one, they’re still a great idea.  Here are some reasons I love them:

  • Daily bellringers get your students settled, focused, and working immediately which helps your classroom management.
  • Daily bellringers give you a few minutes to take attendance and check in with students returning from absences, etc.
  • Bellringers are great for fast and effective formative assessments.

daily bellringers for middle school science

What are great daily bellringers for middle school science?

For middle school science, daily bellringers can take any form. Some general categories are:

  • Content related review
  • Content related preparation
    • picture walk – based on these photos around the room (or on the projector), ask students to form hypotheses about a concept
    • Assemble materials for a lab
    • Read background information for a lab
    • Highlight new vocabulary words in a handout
    • Examine phenomena in the form of photos, demonstrations, videos, or models related to new lesson.
  • Random
    • Today in Science – Write a response to a prompt based on a historically significant event in science on today’s date.
  • Team Building and Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)
    • Rock, Paper, Scissors championship
    • Find a partner and share what you did this weekend, or what costume you’re going to wear for Halloween, or what your favorite tv show is, etc.
    • Arrange yourself in height order (or birthday order, etc.) without talking.
    • 4 corners – go to this corner of the room if you prefer McDonalds, this corner if you prefer Wendy’s, this corner if you prefer Subway, and this corner if you prefer Burger King. Try it with Coke, Pepsi, Sprite, and iced tea. Or The Office, Walking Dead, Parks and Rec, and Stranger Things. The possibilities are virtually endless.
    • Two truths and a lie
  • STEAM based
    • What’s in the mystery tube?
    • Work with your table to build a card tower in 5 minutes.
    • Write directions for making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
    • Logic puzzles.
    • Write a meme to go with this photograph.

How do you start your class period to get students ready to rock ‘n roll?

Meet the Teacher Night

Maybe it feels like butterflies or stage fright, but Meet the Teacher Night can be intimidating even for the most veteran of all teachers. Here are some tips and tricks to help you get through the night with flying colors!

What are parents looking for when they come to your Meet The Teacher night?

Administrators think parents want curriculum information. And that’s not untrue, but it’s also not the complete picture.

But what parents really want is this. They want to know that you like their child. That their child will be safe with you. That you want to help their child. That you are engaging and compassionate and passionate about education.

 

What should be included in Meet the Teacher?

meet the teacher night

  • Slide Show – Slide shows are great ways to remember what you need to say when you might be wrestling some nerves. Include:Your name and info like education, experience, etc.
    • Contact info – How do you prefer to be contacted? What are your email address and phone number?
    • Curriculum – What will we be studying this year?
    • Grades – How will your students be assessed? How can parents see their student’s grades? When should they expect to get grades back?
  • Handout – Back to school night is overwhelming for parents also. Especially in the middle school ages, parents have to meet 4 or 5 or even more new teachers and they’re going to be on sensory overload. They’ll forget things like how to contact you or what school supplies their child needs. Help them out by providing a handout with all that info on it.
  • Sign in – Parent sign in is critical. You’ll forget which parent you met and which asked you to contact them. Have a sign in sheet and then write notes on it as soon as parents leave.

Tech Upgrade

  • QR codes – Instead of handouts, give parents an index card with a QR code leading to your About Me internet page where you give them the lowdown on how to contact you, what school supplies they need, and what the curriculum is.meet the teacher night
  • Have a Chromebook ready for digital signing in, OR include a link on your About Me page for parents to sign in using their phones.

Stations for Meet the Teacher Night

Show the parents what being in your class is going to be like. Have them rotate around your classroom, completing various activities at each stations. Here are stations I use:

  • School supply list – What materials will Suzie need to be successful in your class? Have copies of a printed list or have a QR code to bring them to your supply list website. I like to have sample binders, pencil cases, etc available for parents to see what I’m looking for.
  • Write a note to your child. This is really an elementary activity, but middle school parents (and kids) find it fun too! Have parents write a quick note to their child (“I’m proud of you” is a standard) and leave it in an envelope on the child’s desk for them to see the next day.
  • Curriculum. At this station, parents can pick up a handout on the curriculum and participate in a quick lab such as:
  • Photos – Add a selfie station for parents to snap a selfie in a particularly photogenic area of your classroom. Include props like Erlenmeyer flasks or goggles. Let them send it to their child – kids and parents will love this!
  • Meet the teacher. After parents have completed all of the other stations, I greet them with a handshake and a smile and ask if they have any questions. If they have more than a simple question, I point them to a “Sign up for a conference or phone call” QR code where they can input their name and what kind of information they need from you. This helps move the evening along and keeps you from getting bogged down with Johnny’s parents who want to tell you all about their son’s hobbies.

Good luck. They’re going to love you.

Lab Safety Resources for Middle School

Teaching lab safety is an essential job skill for middle school science teachers. Students have to be told what to do, and, more importantly, what not to do. I usually teach lab safety in one large lesson at the beginning of the year and require students to pass a quiz in order to  participate in the first lab. Here are the lab safety resources that I use in my middle school science classroom.

SlideShow

When I teach safety in middle school science, I want a slide show that specifies the rules while I talk about them. I usually tell stories about each rule. They like the story about the time a student broke a graduated cylinder and didn’t tell me about it and the custodian needed stitches when he accidentally “found” their hidden broken glassware. Another favorite story is about the time a student spilled acid on the lab table and didn’t report it. Within a few minutes, it had dripped off the table onto the leg of their lab partner where the acid ate through their pants (I know, I didn’t think that would really happen either) and left a burn mark on their leg for a few weeks. A third favorite is the time students were fooling around in the hall before school and one boy got perfume sprayed in his eyes, resulting in the one and only time I’ve had to use the eye wash. lab safety rules for middle school

Practice

Just hearing my stories and watching my slide show isn’t enough for students to master the lab safety rules. Every year, I try to do something different for a practice session. Last year, when pixel art was all the rage, I did a pixel art worksheet. This year, I’m going to do a digital escape room that uses a Google form as its base. Directions to create your own digital escape room using Google Sites can be found here.

 

Assess

Before my students can participate in a lab, they must demonstrate mastery. Since every student is highly motivated to participate in the lab (it helps when the first lab is a fun one like the Ice Cream Lab), I usually get pretty high compliance. To make it easier on myself, I give the students a self-grading quiz on Google forms and allow them to retake it as many times as necessary to get 100. Steps to creating your own self-grading quiz can be found here.

 

How about you? How are you going to teach safety this year?

First Day of School Activities for Middle School Science

What do you do on the first day of middle school science?

What are you going to do on the first day of school? Whatever you decide, make sure it’s memorable! Let the other teachers do the rules and the syllabi and what supplies students need. In your class on the first day of school this year, your new students will be engaged, trying new things, getting to know each other (and you), and learning some science. Here are some great first day of school activities for middle school science to get them out of their seats and into the learning zone!

Getting to Know You

Start the day with a getting to know you activity. Can’t be boring and can’t take all period – 5-10 minutes, max. I try to do a different activity each day for the first week or two. Try these:

  • Getting to know you bingo – set a timer and see who can get the most signatures in 5 minutes.
  • Group or team ice breakers – build a house of cards on your lab table or balance a bean on your straw while walking across the room.
  • Would you rather – I played this with a PearDeck last year, but this year I’m going to do it as stations. One question at a station, students travel in groups of 3 and discuss for 1 minute.
  • Two truths and a lie – in small groups for 3-4 minutes, this can be fun. In larger groups, it’s all a boring blur.
  • Jenga questions – write would-you-rather or general getting-to-know-you questions on jenga blocks and have students pull a block from the stack and answer the questions.
  • Line up – give students a criteria like birth date or height and have them line up without talking to each other.

Four Cornersfirst day of school activities for middle school science

One of the few permanent things in my classroom are the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 in the corners. Give a getting-to-know-you kind of question like: “Go to Corner 1 if you have no pets, corner 2 if you have a dog or cat, corner 3 if you have multiple pets, and corner 4 if you have an unusual pet.” Then, let them talk about it for a minute or two. All year long, I use the corners as my Do Now or as a way to poll the class. Later in the year: “Go to corner 1 if you think GMOs are perfectly safe, Corner 2 if you think they are sometimes safe, corner 3 if you think that we should only use them if we have to, and corner 4 if you think they should be banned.”

Today in Science

One good way to get students engaged and working right from the bell is a bellringer. A new product I’ve just launched is my Today in Science series. For each day of the month, I have a slide with an image about something interesting that happened in science on that day. Then, I have 2 writing prompts that you can choose to assign for students to write about. This gives you 3-4 minutes to take attendance and get set up (and breathe!) Here’s great news – right now, I’m selling this resource as a Growing Bundle for $12 (20% off the list price of $15). As I add more months to the bundle, the price will go up $4. By this time next year, you’ll have 365 days of science trivia!

Classroom Scavenger Hunt

I usually give students a map and ask them to label the locations of the safety equipment and other places they need to know about – where to hand in homework, where to borrow a pencil, etc.

This year, I’m thinking about hanging QR codes around the room pointing students to info like how to join the class Google Classroom, class rules, or bookmarking my email address.

Escape Room

If you’ve ever read this blog before, you know I’m deeply into gamifying my classroom and I’ll play a game for just about any activity.  On the first day of school, however, no one really knows what to do and it’s hard to get them to work together. My favorite way to engage kids in a game is with an escape room. Try a simple digital escape room that encourages students to work in groups and can be completed in under 20 minutes. Three of my favorites are:

An alternative might be to design your own escape room (digital or with a locked box for each group of students) using clues around your classroom like the location of the safety equipment.

The Scientific Method

first day of school activities for middle school science

This requires a bit of preparation but kids talk about it for years. I always prepare my seating charts in advance and post them on the projector and let students find their own seats. Then, I tell them that they’re not seating alphabetically by last name and challenge them to guess-and-check how I’ve chosen to arrange their seats. Some years, I use birth date. Other years, I’ve used their house numbers or arranged them alphabetically by their mother’s first name or street name. There have been classes that have taken three or four days to solve the puzzle and then they beg me to rearrange them a different way so they can figure it out again. Just a word of caution – if you’re doing this with multiple classes, make sure you use a different secret arrangement with each class because they will talk about this one.

Tower building

Challenge your students with 20 pieces of uncooked spaghetti, 12 inches of masking tape, and a marshmallow at each table. Tell them that they have to build the highest tower they can, with the marshmallow on top, in 8 minutes. I usually reward the winning table with ice cold water bottles or a lollipop.

Introduce my friend

Have students pair up, chat for 3 minutes, then introduce their new friend to the class by stating their name and something interesting about them. Alternately, have each pair of students create a crazy handshake and them demo it for the class.

R, P, S

Pair up students. Each pair plays 3 quick rounds of rock, paper, scissors. The winner moves on to play against another pair’s winner. Keep going until you have one champion and put that person’s name on your white board for 24 hours under a giant “RPS CHAMPION” title.

Click here to let me know what first day of school activities you have planned for your middle school science class!

 

 

 

 

Teaching Measurement in Middle School Science

Teaching measurement in middle school science includes learning the metric system, basic and advanced conversions, and scientific notation. Here are some pro tips to teach, practice, and use those skills all year long.

 

How do you teach measurements?

Forty years ago, we told students that everyone was going to be switching to the metric system soon so they’d better learn it. With a few exceptions (2 liter soda bottles), the United States never really adopted the metric system, marking us as one of only 3 countries in the world (the others being Myanmar and Liberia). Scientists have to use the metric system because science depends on communication between scientists around the world. How does that impact middle school science teachers?  Every year, we teach the standard units of meters, liters and grams and every year we insist students use those units in science, and every year they forget and need to be re-taught the year after. Here are some tips to make the metric system more accessible for your students:

  • Use it yourself. Give metric units for everything rather than standard units.  Display metric units widely – not just their names, but label your bulletin board with its length and width in meters, display a one liter flask or a 400 mL coffee cup with labels. Bring in a 3 kilogram bag of potatoes. The problem with student retention of the metric system is that students never learn to think in metric and can’t picture what a  gram is (a nickel has a mass of 5g) or how long it would take them to walk a kilometer (10 minutes).
  • Practice. Certainly, do the typical metric system labs of using meters, liter, and grams, but do much, much more than that. Practice with task cards in those odd 5 minutes at the end of the period or while waiting for everyone to catch up. Review, review, review. If you want them to remember it next year, practice it every single day this year – or at least once a week!

Conversions

teaching measurement in middle school scienceConversions between units is one of the most “mathy” things we do, but it’s an essential skill in science. Students need to be able to convert in single step and multi-step problems. Very often students approach conversions as something to memorize rather than something to understand. My conversions slide show helps students to understand how and why unit conversion factors work and how to decide which conversion factors to use to get to their goal. I added some practice worksheets of varying levels of difficulty to help students, and teachers, determine how much practice they needed.

 

Teaching measurement in middle school science is one of those skills that a huge investment early in the year pays off dividends over many years. Unfortunately, not making that investment brings a big price in having to reteach the same thing year after year to the same students. This is definitely one of those skills that is best taught five times in five different ways rather than once.

Back to school Bulletin Board for middle school science

My school, at least as of now, will be wearing masks at the beginning of the new school year. I’m going to take advantage of my students’ familiarity with masks and incorporate them in my back to school bulletin board for middle school science.

I’ve chosen a few famous scientific figures – Albert Einstein, Rosalind Franklin, Gregor Mendel, Neil Armstrong, Rachel Carson, Dmitri Mendeleyev, and 26 more – enough that I can rotate them through over the course of the year. I printed large pictures of each of them and then covered their faces with a disposable mask. Underneath their pictures, I printed their names and covered their name with a flap that students can lift when they are ready to guess. Under that, I stapled clues such as “Identified the 3 laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation” (Isaac Newton) and “Founding Father, inventor, publisher, scientist, diplomat. Organized the first public library” (Ben Franklin).

Check out my bulletin board here!

What are you doing for your back to school bulletin boards?

Science and Language Arts – Cross Curricular Opportunities

LAL and Science❤️Perfect Together

I love my Language arts coworkers, but it’s not often that there are crossovers between our curriculums.  I’m always on the look out for some cross curricular opportunities for science and language arts teachers and have come up with a short list of books that are middle school appropriate and actually convey some science.

Harry Potter

While certainly not a story about science, there are a surprising amount of science connections in the Harry Potter series. Truth serum, Hermione’s time traveling adventures, levitation and the three headed dog are just some of the scientific curiosities the book is filled with. Many of the names of people are based on astronomical objects. Sirius Black, Harry’s uncle who can change into a black dog, is named for Sirius, the dog star. Bellatrix LeStrange is named for a star in the constellation Orion. Draco Malfoy is named for the constellation Draco.  Muggles, purebloods, squibs, and Muggle borns are an interesting take on genetics. Remus Lupin turns into a wolf (Canis lupis).

Maximum Ride

The Maximum Ride series by James Patterson is about a young woman named Maximum Ride and her family who are all human-bird hybrids, born with wings after being used as experimental subjects in a lab. The first book in the series, The Angel Experiment, introduces the characters as children and explains how they were created. Lots of interesting science fiction into animal hybrids and I’ve students enjoy it with my DNA unit. There are 9 books in the series.

The House of Scorpion

Another book that leans in to the genetic hybrid issue is The House of the Scorpion. Main character Matteo was created in a petri dish and developed in the womb of a cow. As a clone of the person whose DNA was used to create him, Matteo faces interesting challenges your students will be fascinated by.

Rats of NIMH

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH is a clever novel about a population of rats and mice. After being captured by scientists and studied for research, the rats developed increased intelligence and have learned how to read, write, and operate complicated machines. They also became smart enough to escape from their captors. This novel was based on research into mice and rat populations at the National Institute of Mental Health in the mid 1900s.

Uglies

Uglies is the first dystopian novel of a series of 4. In Uglies, everyone is born ugly but then has extreme cosmetic surgery to become pretty when they turn 16. In the novel, a teenager rebels against the expected surgery. As a backstory, the city had collapsed when petroleum was no longer available.

Life as We Knew It

Life as We Knew It is a fascinating book based on a premise that a meteor hit the moon and moved it closer to earth. The subsequent alteration of the earth’s rotation causes catastrophes everywhere. The story is told from the point of view of a teenager who helps keep her family alive during the tumult.

First Light

First Light is a novel by Rebecca Stead. A teenage boy named Peter is in Greenland with his parents who are researching global warming. A teenage girl named Thea lives in an underground colony below Greenland which is being destroyed by global warming. Peter and Thea must save the residents of Thea’s colony.

Wing Nut

Wing Nut by Mj Auch is about a twelve year old boy named Grady and his mother’s boss who teaches Grady all about birds.

West with Giraffes

West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge is based on a true story of two giraffes who were brought to the San Diego Zoo to protect the species from extinction.

Hoot

Carl Hiaasen’s Hoot is a novel that explores the efforts to preserve a colony of burrowing owls. The book does a great job explaining endangered species, their role in ecosystems and the importance of nature sanctuaries.

Flush

Flush is another novel by Carl Hiaasen. It is told from the point of view of a teenage boy whose father is an environmentalist. They learn of a casino boat which has been illegally dumping sewage into the ocean so the father and son set about trying to stop the dumping.

Frankenstein

Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein is a classic exploration into what makes something alive. Kids will love it.

The Same Stuff as Stars

The Same Stuff as Stars by Katherine Paterson is about Angel whose life is a series of challenges. She meets a man she calls the Star Man who tells her about stars and planets.

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas

The classic novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas is a fantastic story which was inspired in 1867 when author Jules Verne saw a model of an early submarine. The story begins when a sea monster is spotted and all sorts of expeditions go in search of it.

The 5th Wave

The 5th Wave trilogy is written by Rick Yancey. The story is about a teenage girl named Cassie who tries to survive in a world that has been devastated by waves of alien invasions.  Among other waves that the aliens produce are electromagnetic pulses, giant rods which cause massive tsunamis, and a deadly virus.

Journey to the Center of the Earth

Jules Verne classic Journey to the Center of the Earth  and then later a 2008 movie might make for an interesting “science vs science fiction” debate.

Hidden Figures

Hidden Figures was written by Margot Lee Shetterly about African American (female) mathematicians who worked at NASA. As a biographical movie in 2016, it was critically acclaimed for its representation of these women who calculated the flight trajectories for Project Mercury.

The Radium Girls

Written by Kate Moore, The Radium Girls tells the story of young women who worked in radium dial factories and suffer from radiation sickness long before such a thing was even understood. The Radium Girls was made a movie in 2018.

Fever

Fever, by Laurie Halse, tells the story of the 1793 yellow fever outbreak in Philadelphia.

 

There probably are hundreds (thousands) or more books that should make this list of cross curricular opportunities for science and language arts. What would you add? Click here to let me know!