Dr J. Randy McGinnis (on right), Principal Investigator, presents a digital camera to a lottery winning participant (a Native American elementary/middle school major) in the 1st year baseline survey study.

This winner is currently teaching at an elementary school in Prince George's County, MD

Science Emergency Lesson Plans

When you need science emergency lesson plans you want something that is simple, requires minimal guidance, and results in student work that can be collected and assessed. Many times teachers will show a video with a set of questions to be answered. Although sometimes effective, students often pay limited attention and rely on peers for the answers.

One option for a science emergency lesson plan is having students complete an exercise similar to the Draw a Scientist activity. In this activity students are asked to draw themselves learning science and provide a written description of what they drew on the back.

For most students drawing is an enjoyable activity and the written portion allows them to practice their writing skills. It also provides the teacher with an assignment that can be collected and give ideas about how students think about learning science. In terms of science emergency lesson plans there aren’t many that students enjoy and provide useful information about student learning to the teacher.

You can download the lessons plan at www.DrawnToScience.org for elementary, middle, and high school classes.

This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0455752. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

© 2005 University of Maryland