r/ScienceTeachers

I always hear that getting a physics cert is a guaranteed job, but there’s usually only one physics teacher at each school. Wouldn’t that mean it would be hard to find openings?

The physics teacher at my school is also screwed with four preps because not many kids take physics. He has 2 AP Physics (1 & 2), gen Physics, and our school has him teaching earth science too. Just curious what that situation would be like at others’ schools.

Do you use weighted grades or total points for quarter/semester grades? I have used total points for the last 2 years because thats is what the previous teacher did, but I am debating switching to weighted.

For context, I teach in a smaller rural school that allows teachers to decide grading policy within reason.

I have been teaching bio for 3 years. I love it. When I interviewed for this job they said a possible bio and forensic teacher which I was super excited about. I was currently a building sub for family reasons but wanted to keep teaching. They turned me down...I was scared I wasn't going to have a job come fall ans they offered me Chem and earth science teaching position. I needed a job so I said yes.

Its my first day on site and im panicking. I hate Chem, I hate earth science. Now I have to teach both, it will be like im a new teacher again, but with stuff im not excited about. I have to teach a state exam on these topics. I cant do a crappy job, but these subjects are actively my least favorite science.

Im the breadwinner in the family so I needed a job for us to survive. My 5 year plan is to go to med school so I figured this job allowed me to review for Chem. But......im activity freaking out that I chose wrong.

Idk I need help or words or some words of encouragement.

Edit: I feel some people are getting caught up on the disliking aspect. I need some perspective on teaching two new topics that im not familiar with at the same time too...like my background is in human biology, I have never taken an earth science class and...chem ain't my strongest subject. I appreciate those telling me to try to find the joy and to be 1 day ahead...but that sounds like ima be a year one teacher staying up late and coming in on the weekends..

Edit 2: I think its also important to mention that I work in an area with 90 percent of the kids are low income and are disadvantaged. The parents in this city actively see no point in education besides babysitting. The kids i have to teach get bought in to do well/ try in the class by the teacher. And so my super power ha been to make kids care because I care so deeply and love it so deeply. Ans because my background is in Bio Archeology, I have so many fun facts about things they get bought in to the fact that im knowledgeable and worth doing the work for. And here thats important. So I guess the purpose of this post was to get some advice on teaching two new subjects i dont enjoy....not...telling me how wonderful they are....im an adult, I know what earth science is...i just dont care about it.

Edit 3:

Thank you to everyone with kind words, I didnt expect so many responses . I have realized the thing ill hold onto in this class is review of material for me and the experiments for the kids. I feel the experiments in chem, while not second nature to me, will be very engaging once I learn the science behind them.

What kind of biology/medical experiments would be good to do in my school science club? We have pretty much all the equipment we could reasonably need. Looking for something actually interesting and not just the usual like looking at onion cells under a microscope.

I've been interested and looking for documentaries about education in different cultures. Does anyone else know of any shows, films, podcasts, books, that explore or showcase the similarities and differences in education (or more specifically science education) across the world? One that I've found is Frames of Reference. From the trailer, it looks like it's focused primarily on elementary education, but it's along the lines of what I'm looking for. Thanks!

I’m looking for suggestions for my 6th grade science classroom library!

Unfortunately, I’m in South Carolina so there can be no mention of someone being LGBTQ+, no mention of barriers someone faces as a minority, or explicit talk about climate change.

They can be for any reading level (some of my students are on a kindergarten level but I also have students reading above grade level)!

I’d prefer books about these topics:
-Cells/Human Body Systems (no reproductive system please)
-States of matter
-Thermal energy and heat transfer
-EM waves
-Water/water cycle
-Rocks/rock cycle
-Weather
-Climate (as in climate zones, ocean currents, and wind currents)
-WED
-Plate tectonics
-Fossil record
-Earth’s layers
-Natural hazards (hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, earthquakes, volcanoes, flooding, thunderstorms, heat waves)

Thank you in advance!

I want to start introducing cool organisms (animals, plants, bacteria; everything is fair game) as bellwork on Fridays every week. We would watch a video about that week's OOTW and have them write down cool facts about it. I'm having a hard time coming up with cool ones to show my students. Do you all have suggestions? Here is what I have so far:

Water Bear/Tardigrade

Axolotl

Mantis Shrimp

Panda

Naked Mole Rat

Superb Bird of Paradise

Flying Squirrel

Immortal Jellyfish

Platypus

Venus Fly Trap

Hi guys,

A little background about me- I taught years ago (like before snapchat was super popular let's put it that way). I decided to be a SAHM, and was tutoring here and there, then I took over a very small upper classmen anatomy course during a short maternity leave, and then I took over a position at the tail end of the school year for a remediation class (the original teacher had quit... long story), but that class is no longer being offered this year.

I just applied for a biology maternity sub position opening up at my local high school! But now I'm starting to panic because of... well.... notes! This is freshman bio with larger class sizes and I know that their attention spans have changed since I was teaching full time over a decade ago. With my other two sub teaching positions they were slightly different and I can't really compare them to a class of 25 freshman in bio.

I'm not looking for answers that say not to lecture because flipped classrooms aren't for everyone. I intend to keep the notes light (as in breaking them up into parts instead of lecturing for 50 minutes straight), and adding a couple check-ins on the way. Any other tips for giving notes these days? Am I overthinking it?

I haven't even been offered the job yet, but it would start next week, so I'm just mentally preparing.

Amplify Science is one of the worst science curricula I've ever used — and I don't understand why NYC keeps using it

I taught science for two years in NYC public schools — one year in Manhattan and one in the Bronx — and I came away convinced that Amplify Science is one of the biggest reasons science is so difficult to teach well in NYC.

Time and time again, I watched science teachers leave after a year or two. I also saw teachers who were technically “using Amplify” but were really just using their own materials because the curriculum was so cumbersome and difficult to work with.

My biggest problem with Amplify is that it seems to take the science out of science.

The lessons are extremely long and often don't fit naturally into a 45-minute class period. Instead of doing an actual science lab or experiment, students are frequently completing a small task, reading extensive amounts of text, working through digital activities, or navigating a Chromebook-based component. At times, it feels less like a science curriculum and more like an ELA curriculum with science vocabulary sprinkled throughout it.

And I really don't understand the obsession with putting so much of it on a screen.

Kids already spend an enormous amount of time looking at screens. Science should be one of the classes where they get to do things: conduct experiments, manipulate materials, make observations, collect data, make predictions, and actually see scientific concepts happen in front of them.

After leaving NYC in 2024, I worked at a school in another state and experienced a completely different approach to science curriculum. The units were straightforward. You had a unit of study, lessons that actually fit into the instructional schedule, established labs that went along with the unit, assessments, and a logical progression from one concept to the next.

And you know what? It was much easier to teach science.

The students actually got to experience science instead of constantly trying to decipher what the curriculum wanted them to do next.

I'm not saying science should be completely devoid of reading, writing, projects, or technology. Obviously those things have a place. But there needs to be a balance. When the curriculum requires hundreds of pages of materials, endless copies, Chromebook activities, apps, readings, and complicated project-based tasks just to teach a basic science concept, something has gone seriously wrong.

Honestly, I would love to see NYC move toward something much simpler:

• 6–7 solid lessons per unit
• Clear, straightforward instructional materials
• 2–3 actual labs/experiments per unit
• A quiz and/or assessment
• Opportunities for students to work with physical materials
• Less screen time
• Less unnecessary paperwork and curriculum navigation
• More time actually learning and doing science

Science doesn't have to be this complicated.

I genuinely believe there are teachers who could be much more successful — and students who could enjoy science much more — if they weren't fighting the curriculum every single day.

I left NYC schools in 2024, so maybe things have changed since then, but I'm curious: For those of you currently teaching science in NYC, are you still using Amplify? What has your experience been?

And if you've moved from NYC to another district/state, did you notice the same thing I did — that science curriculum can actually be much more straightforward and enjoyable to teach?

Welcome back to another school year

I created this little evolution game and hope it helps with your lesson on survival of the fittest, reading cladogram, environmental pressures, etc.

https://evoworm.vercel.app/

I have a worksheet on the website as well for you to print it out for students to follow along as they play this game in a class setting.

Some teacher-led discussion questions to bring up with the kids after they have played a game or two:

1. Natural Selection & Fitness In biology, "fitness" refers to an organism's ability to survive and reproduce in its environment.

• How is an organism's "fitness" defined in the game EvoWorm?
• What is the evolutionary "reward" for being the most fit worm when another worm dies?

>Teacher's note: This game is a simulation, and like all simulation, it's a limited portrayal of the real world, so in the game, fitness is defined solely by the worm's berry count. The living worm with the highest berry count is considered the most fit.

The reward is that when another worm dies, it is reborn as a descendant of this top worm.

2. Heredity & Inheritance

• When a worm is reborn, what specific traits does it inherit from its ancestor?
• How does this mechanic mimic the real-world process of heredity?

>Teacher's note: The reborn worm inherits the ancestor's entire mutation set and berry count. This mimics real-world heredity where successful genetic traits that aid survival are passed down to offspring.

3. Limitation of the Simulation

>Teacher's note: It is important that the students know while mutations can happen in an individual, an individual don't "evolve", a population does. So it is crucial to remind the students that even if a single worm received a new mutation that led to it having its own branch on the evolutionary tree at the end of the match, it does NOT mean that an individual worm has evolved. Instead, tell the students that each worm represents a population of worms.

Let me know if you have questions about the worksheet or about the game itself.

I am hosting the game on a free tier server, and haven't tested this with a high number of players, so it might get laggy if too many people are playing at the same time. If you like this project and would like to contribute to this game's server upgrade, I have a ko-fi link in the website.

I’m starting at a private school (2-5th grade) and this will be my first time teaching. I’m having a hard time creating my lesson plans because I’m not sure how long each lesson will take the kids. Does anyone have a calendar or timeline they could share? Or give me any advice on how they create their calendars? Also, how often am I supposed to be giving quizzes/test/projects?

Sorry for all the chaos, I feel very alone in this and cannot find a lot of support.

I will have my first student teacher this fall, and want to provide her the best experience I can. I personally did not have a good mentor teacher when I was student teaching so I don’t have my own experiences to build off of. Please tell me about your student teaching experience and what your mentor teacher did that was helpful, and things that weren’t. Thank you!

I’m interested in becoming genuinely knowledgeable in the natural sciences—not just learning random facts, but actually developing a strong understanding of biology, chemistry, physics, earth science, astronomy, etc.
For those of you who have studied science extensively:
What are the most practical and effective ways to become really good at the natural sciences?
In particular, I’d love advice on:
Where should I start if I want to build a solid foundation?
What subjects should I learn first, and in what order?
How important are mathematics and programming?
Which textbooks, online courses, websites, or other resources would you recommend?
How much should I focus on exercises and problem-solving versus reading/watching lectures?
What are the best ways to develop actual scientific thinking rather than simply memorizing information?
If you had to start over and teach yourself the sciences from scratch, what would you do differently?
I’m looking for practical advice and a realistic path, especially from people who have gone through this themselves.
Thanks!

The physics curriculum I've taught roughly goes kinematics, forces, energy, momentum, electricity & magnetism, waves, and EM radiation. Does anyone have experience with a different organization of these units and how you like/dislike it? For example do you do momentum before energy, or is momentum embedded into an intro "motion" unit to cover the conservation laws early on? Maybe you do waves before E&M? I'm curious what your experiences are and the reasoning behind the differences.

For clarity we follow NGSS, so we have to hit certain standards, but aren't limited to those standards for what we teach.

I’ve been trying for weeks to purchase mastering codes for my tenth grade students for chemistry. We use Tro‘s Introduction to Chemistry, which I guess is technically a jr college textbook.

https://www.pearson.com/en-us/subject-catalog/p/introductory-chemistry/P200000009745/9780138198411

Historically, K12 schools had to purchase Pearson college texts from Savvas, and I’ve done that for years with no issues. Now, they evidently don’t do that Anymore? But neither does Pearson sell non vo-tech titles to k12 schools?

This is driving me crazy—I can’t get any customer support from either Pearson or Savvas.

Can't even believe it.

Just found out that one of my physics classes is going to become a college in high school class. The college wants me to submit my syllabus. I have always just used total points but they are seeming to want me to use weights. I have been wanting to try it out for awhile but just haven’t yet. I have no district requirements. Any opinions on the weights? Right now I’m leaning on 40% tests, 30% labs, 20% quizzes, 10% homework. Also considering moving tests to 50% and quizzes to 10%.

Has anyone taught both curriculum? Our school is applying for IB certification and trying to decide between using MYP or OpenSciEd for our students. I’ve taught neither before.

The Middle Years Program stuff looks basic but lots of room for us to make it our own. I’m new to this school but have 9 years of experience and the other science teacher has almost 20 so realistically we’ll both want to make some of the lessons our own and do some of our own tried and true labs/investigations/projects.

OpenSciEd looks more phenomenon based which I like and I also like that they have lots of labs and hands on activities though it might be harder for us to get through units generally because our classes are short and they look pretty meaty.

Curious about thoughts on either curriculum!

Hello and happy 26-27 school year!

TLDR: I would like help coming up with some philosophical questions for my students to debate as a science class warmup.

I teach high school Chemistry (south central PA), and like many teachers I have daily "do now" warmup exercises for my students to do at the start of class. In college I minored in Philosophy, and sporadically throughout the year I've done "Philosophy Fridays" where we discuss some philosophical debate instead of the content. There's always some science connection, but not necessarily Chemistry.

Many students have told me how much they loved Philosophy Friday, and former students come back telling me that's something they remember. So I want to make it a more regular, weekly thing. However, I need more ideas. I avoid politics and religion, obviously.

Here are some examples that students have enjoyed:

- Trolley problems of all sorts

- How would a cat's language be different from a human's?

- What is the difference between an AI boyfriend/girlfriend and a long distance partner you've never met?

- Can vegans eat "lab grown" meat? Would you eat it?

Thanks for the ideas!