Middle School Project Guides

Remote learning has become the new normal during the coronavirus pandemic. Students are left doing classes at home on their computer. Unfortunately, this means that the science exploration usually conducted in the classroom — that is, experiments, demos, and modeling — can no longer happen as effectively. Science exploration is a vital component of science education as it develops critical thinking and analysis skills; it is also, in many ways, the most engaging part of science classes for students. We’ve created a reasonable facsimile of this science exploration by designing a series of “Explore-at-Home” experiments. Each experiment has been designed to be inclusive: materials are limited to everyday household items (so no food, no extra purchases, etc.). Additionally, we provide students with a video and worksheet that discusses the scientific concepts covered in each experiment, a procedure, and a series of guiding questions to enhance their scientific understanding of the material covered. Experiments have been designed to cover material taught in the spring of 6th, 7th, and 8th grade in alignment with New York City’s Common Core Standards.