My nephew is on the spectrum and essentially a savant when it comes to science, but unfortunately he is very socially isolated to the point that he is home schooled. (This was mostly due to bullying because he demonstrated such high aptitude.) He has already been tested and his rational/logistics aspects of thinking are off the charts. For fun he takes apart technology and figures out how to put it back together, watches endless science videos, and he is always trying to manufacture unique contraptions using things he finds around the house. He is ready for the science world. What he lacks is access to resources and opportunity. As his family we are at a bit of a loss. He has so much raw talent and potential but we don't know where to put him.

He really needs to be in some kind of applied science program for kids, but what's available in our city in Canada is limited. The science camps for kids tend to revolve around more basic models, like "watch this acid/base volcano erupt," whereas he really needs to be in some kind of step program that prepares children of his caliber for a life in science. We don't know what to do. The science camps are too rudimentary, but he is not globally advanced enough to receive official placement in higher education with older students.

Could anyone here offer some advice on how to get him into some kind of applied science education that is appropriate for his level? The mainstream system is just not working. He should really be learning the how-to's of lab work at this point in physics and chemistry, which are his two main interests. We feel bad because at family and friend gatherings he is constantly spouting off science facts and he is DESPERATE to exchange peer-level knowledge with others, but those type of people are just not around him.

I'd love any insights that educators have about this. Again, we are in Canada in a big city (Toronto). Thank you!

First time STEM coach here! I'm currently preparing for Codebusters and a Crime/Forensic Science theme. Any activity ideas or website recommendations would be greatly appreciated, searching Google feels like falling down a rabbit hole! Thank you all in advance

Hi all,

I am in my first year as an instructor at a university, teaching gen chem recitation and lab. I have one section of recitation that has a neurondivergent individual. She is most of the time not disruptive, if anything she just participates a bit aggressively and makes a snarky comment about herself when she gets something wrong, but today we were working through some problems on the board and at one point I think she had a short moment and started hitting herself.

Now I'm mature enough to move past this, and keep class going, but some of my students occasionally laugh (like quietly, but not quiet enough) at her and it just breaks my heart. I don't know what to do.

My strategy has been to ignore it, not draw attention to the laughing or the behavior. But sometimes I want to tell these students to be more tolerant. The behavior itself is not much of a disruption (this is the first time it's been this bad, and still it only lasted like 5 seconds max). I also don't want to make the student uncomfortable by being called out in the middle of class.

I have been a middle school science teacher for nine years now, and have used McGraw-Hill/Glencoe iScience books the entire time.
Our district stopped our online support a couple of years ago, and I apparently misplaced my saved resources.
Does anyone have access to Course 3 Chapter Resources?
I have the full set of Course 1&2, I just can’t figure out what I did with Course 3.
Anyway, I hope someone in here can help. Thanks!

Ps: I’m new to this sub, and tried to read the rules beforehand, so I hope this type of post is allowed.

Hi,

I’m teaching a middle school engineering class in multiple rooms from a cart. My budget for materials is fixed and I don’t feel comfortable having students use power tools for build days. Are there any good resources for simulating labs? Just trying to provide a meaningful learning experience under less than ideal conditions.

A lesson on light/shadows.

Me: “You know, when I was in the military you always have to look busy, otherwise they will give you a broom and tell you to go sweep the shadows off the sidewalk”

Student (sarcastically): “did it work?”

Me: “I mean it took a couple of hours but we always seemed to shift them.”

I am trying to make an EdPuzzle for Hunting The Elements, but can't find all of it on youtube. Does anyone have a file or know where to get one to upload to Edpuzzle? Or do you have an Edpuzzle that covers the last hour and a half or more?

Hi all, I’m teaching 11th grade chemistry and looking for ideas for the Friday before Halloween. We’re in the middle of stoichiometry and balancing equations, so something that ties into either would be great, but I’m also totally open to something that’s just plain fun for the kids.

I already know about the exploding pumpkin, so I’m looking for other ideas. Labs, demos, or stations all work.

If you’ve run something that went well (or something that flopped, so I can avoid it), I’d love to hear how it went, including rough timing and any safety notes. Thanks in advance!

I teach 9th grade biology in NYC, which means my students take the regents at the end of the school year. I’m a new teacher and have been getting bored with how the content is being taught. I am being told not to try changing things up too much because it’s my first year, but I can only imagine that if I am bored my students are too. Where do I go? My students could benefit from more discussion and projects but there’s a big focus on just the Regents, which is reasonable

Go to www.ocvts.org and under administration go to lower bottom of page under employment. This job is near the Jersey Shore in Tom's River, NJ. High School full-time academy but it's public school and county employee with NJ benefits.

I've been teaching middle school for a few years and next year I will be going into year 11 and 12 human biology. I'm confident with the content, but I want advice on how I should approach introducing/teaching/discussing controversial topics such as abortion in year 11 and human evolution in year 12 (a large portion of my students are Christian and do not believe in human evolution). Any tips or resources are greatly appreciated - I'm rather nervous!

If you have a student who's absent the day you do a heavy amount of notes (for example you introduced vectors and projectile motion), how do you handle that student getting the notes? Are you doing notes digitally so they have them already, redoing the entire lesson for that student during extra help, giving them supplemental material to watch/read on their own, or something else?

I just write notes on the whiteboard and have students write down the information into their notebooks. I teach physics, so lots of diagramming, definitions, example problems, etc. I've had suggestions of writing my notes digitally for the students, but what's to prevent the students who are present to just not write the notes and say "I'll read the information later online when it's posted"? How do you handle that one student who's out and looking for notes?

What are the most time consuming teaching tasks that drive you crazy?

Physics has always been my thing, and I always wished someone had shown it to me this way in school. Between work and the kids I only get a couple of hours at night, so that's when I built it: 50 free 3D scenes where students change gravity, speed or mass and see the result on the spot, and you can send a whole lesson as one link. No ads, no accounts. If it gets even one kid excited about physics, every late night was worth it.

Short tour of what it does: https://youtu.be/VXJTi-RSu54

I’m at a rural school where I’m the only science teacher and teach everything. I’m originally a biology major and don’t always feel the most confident when it comes to chem labs. When doing the flame test lab, do you have your students wear gloves? I have nitrile gloves for the chemicals, but with an open flame should they be wearing them? Let me know what you do!

You can now see regents exam questions mapped to their exact PLD on the NY Science Standards Wiki. This has been the most heavily requested resource by science teachers for a while now.

All NGSS style questions released by NYSED through August 2026 have been classified for biology, physics, earth and space sciences, chemistry, and the grade 8 science exam.

Hope this can help you out a bit!

I am in an interesting and probably rare situation in that I have funding I need to use for supplies for our HS science program. We have Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. It's a small program, but our bases are pretty well covered in terms of basic lab supplies- or so I think.

The funds have to be used to purchase materials and supplies, but that could probably include more general classroom supplies as well.

I am running low on creative energy so I thought I would crowd source some ideas on what I could purchase to enhance our science program (we're talking about a few hundred bucks, so nothing too crazy...)

Thanks for any general or specific recommendations or ideas!

So I'd written a comprehensive proposal to design and construct a fab-lab for our school and my administration are lazy and do everything half-a$$ed, at most. I was told last June I'd be teaching "your maker thing" by our principal which I'd spent the summer developing a curriculum for.

I get back and I'm told I'm teaching 2 separate classes, engineering design and make(i think their interpretation of a makerspace but idk). They told me they must be distinct but gave me nothing to go on for how to adjust my curriculum.

Engineering I'd began with basics but wanted to kick things off with a "bang" by using one of my better engineering design projects using model rocketry.

The gist of my issue is I'd kind of expected, for many reasons, we would be obtaining some 3d printers but I was wrong. I'd begged and begged, asked if I could write and submit grants(we're told not to...idk) and the outcome was our principal got us 11 3d printers on loan from some guy he knows.

Awesome.....I'll take what i can get. I was told up front that 5 needed a new part. I looked up the part to identify how expensive and how much time it'll take and it's an easy fix. They drop them off and out of 11 printers 8 don't work.

Of the 3 that don't have an error code on startup 1 has a trashed usb port(and isn't wifi ready) and the other 2(1 makerbot replicator 2 and 1 flashforge creator pro) that seem operational will not recognize the SD cards I've tried.

I've formatted them as FAT-16(makerbot) and FAT-32(flashforge) sliced them using cura with the .x3g plugin, saved them to the SD card and each time nothing is recognized. The printer says SD slot empty or SD card empty.

I'm adept with using my old dremel 3d40 and my snapmaker but I'm by no means a 3d printing expert. However, I need to print the rocket nose cones and tailfins and I've all but given up on troubleshooting., I've scoured the internet trying to identify problems and have had no luck.

If anyone has any info, ideas, anything I would very much appreciate it. I don't know why our admin won't buy 2 or 3 printers. I'd much rather have 2-3 Bambu P1S or any new printers of the same brand and model over 11 random make/model crap 3d printers but idk. the bar is really low in the expectations department so I'm trying to work with what I have.

thanks in advance.

I have a bunch of Mineral and rock sets from the Earth Science Educators Supply of Lee's Summit, MO and I can't find any ID keys. Does anyone have these? The minerals are labeled like 9A and rolls are like 10B.

Hi everyone, I've been working on a physics-driven, ecosystem-based evolution simulator called NodeSpawn. I think it could be a useful resource for explaining or understanding evolution, but I'd really like to know what you think. Any feedback, good or bad, would be really helpful.

here is the free demo: https://triple-donut-games.itch.io/nodespawndemo

Thanks!

I teach 8th grade science. We are doing a lab showing a chemical reaction with backing soda, calicum carbonate, and pH indicator. It was a fun lab that showed a chemical reaction with color change and temperature change. The kids LOVED it. Now I want to do a lab that shows precipitate forming from a chemical reaction. I want to do this because my kids are having a hard time wrapping their heads around the fact that two liquids can form a solid. Does anyone have any lab ideas? Funding is tight at this title one school that is spending all of their funds in math and reading. So, any ideas?

Hi,

I’m teaching from a cart this year and going into three different classrooms. It’s a lab based class with a lot of materials. Any advice for staying sane?

Thanks