Ask A Scientist

 Last week we were introduced to the ASK A SCIENTIST website.  This website was full of all the scientific questions that one might want to ask.  However, if your question was not addressed, this website also provided you with the opportunity to ask the scientist your own unique question and  get an answer. 

I decided to asks the scientist about the genetic traits of my endangered species.  Unfortunately, I have not heard back from them yet, so its just a waiting game.

I can see directing my students to this site when they have basic scientific questions that might already be in the ASK A SCIENTIST data base.  This site would be one that I would encourage students to use when they are beginning their research, or if they have a question that I don't know the specific answer to (I would have to monitor for the response).  Another way that I would use this website or one similar in my  classroom would be as a point to ponder (warm-up).  I would have my students answer a question that has already been posted, then we would look at the answer that was given and debate its merit.

Because of the wait time that I am experiencing, I think it would be difficult for students to ask a question and get a response in a timely manner, thus this tool might be difficult to use if they have a specific problem and they need a quick response (ie. research paper).  Because of this I would have them use this as a starting point for any questions they may have.  Additionally, many of my students lack the resources at home to get on this tool, so they would have a difficult time checking to see when a response was given.

COMMON CORE
I recently went to a professional development class on incorporating common core in the science classroom and they gave us the following website to help use create lesson plans:
http://modulecreator.com/ModuleCreator/#page=login&step=Login.

The really neat part about this site is that it will get  you reading material based on the topic and the students lexile level.   I am not sure if you can log on without a password but if  you email me I will send you the link they sent us to sign it.