Discover how to engage teenagers in course content using this resource's updated research, new sample activities, and tips for designing and evaluating interactive learning experiences.

"This book will excite teachers who want to motivate today′s secondary students. Information about the brain, presented along with the author′s personal teaching experiences, tips, and creative game ideas, makes for a very worthwhile read!" —Cindy Bean, Seventh-Grade Math Teacher Arcola Intermediate Middle School, Schwenksville, PA Energize adolescents with memorable and engaging learning experiences! Research shows that the adolescent brain is wired to seek novelty and ignore familiar stimuli. This innovative resource demonstrates how teachers can transform everyday classroom lectures into memorable experiences and reinforce course content by introducing new, different, and surprising elements into daily lessons. Based on brain-compatible teaching principles, the updated edition of Making Learning Come Alive shows how to use stimulating interactive learning experiences to connect teenagers with content. Teachers will find activities and ideas for introducing each learning experience and will discover how to design and assess their own. Updated throughout, this new edition offers: Nine new sample learning experiences, including four in math and science A revised assessment chapter that covers standards-based education and NCLB Reflection questions in each chapter The learning activities can be used as is or modified to connect with hundreds of themes and concepts across middle school and high school curricula.

Shift Students’ Roles from Passive Observers to Active Participants. Preparing students for a world that did not exist when they were students themselves can be challenging for many teachers. Engaging students, particularly disinterested ones, in the learning process is no easy task, especially when easy access to information is at an all-time high. How then do educators simultaneously ensure knowledge acquisition and engagement? Ron Nash encourages teachers to embrace an interactive classroom by rethinking their role as information givers. The Interactive Classroom provides a framework for how to influence the learning process and increase student participation by sharing • Proven strategies for improving presentation and facilitation skills • Kinesthetic, interpersonal, and classroom management methods • Brain-based teaching strategies that promote active learning • Project-based learning and formative assessment techniques that promote a robust learning environment Intended to cultivate an interactive classroom in which students take an active role in learning, this book provides a blueprint for educators seeking to amplify student engagement while imparting critical twenty-first century skills.

Your single-best way to nurture higher-order thinkingThere′s no doubt about it: the Common Core has us scrambling. With all the pressure to accelerate instruction, how can we possibly find the time to encourage students to do some serious thinking? For Laura Thomas, the answer couldn′t be clearer: through constructivist, experiential teaching methods. In fact, constructivist teaching is the single-best way to nurture the higher-order thinking so central to the Common Core.Fusing the practical with the theoretical, Thomas offers a clear path for facilitating real understanding and real skill-building within a community of learners. Grade 6-12 teachers will learn how to: Plan learning experiences that teach content and process at the same time Assess students′ development of 21st-century skills Coach students to do the hard work of authentic learning--without leaving them to flounder Teach reflection techniques that help students process their experiences and learn from mistakes. Featuring easy-to-follow graphics, sample lessons, and tools from practicing teachers, Facilitating Authentic Learning is an immediately practical resource that both beginning and veteran teachers can put to work in their classrooms. "This is a valuable book for educators, especially as we strive to help our students move from being receivers of knowledge to owners of their learning. Teachers need to develop strategies to be effective guides for our students, and to facilitate their progress toward educational goals."--Norma Barber, Language Arts TeacherUkiah School District, OR "I LOVE this book! It provides step-by-step instructions for making a classroom student-centered and led by a guide on the side, not a sage on the stage. The author′s real-world examples and reader-friendly writing style make this book a winner!"--Nancy Foote, Teacher/AdministratorHigley Unified School District, AZ

"Students learn by doing. Science investigation and engineering design provide an opportunity for students to do. When students engage in science investigation and engineering design, they are able to engage deeply with phenomena as they ask questions, collect and analyze data, generate and utilize evidence, and develop models to support explanations and solutions. Research studies demonstrate that deeper engagement leads to stronger conceptual understandings of science content than what is demonstrated through more traditional, memorization-intensive approaches. Investigations provide the evidence student need to construct explanations for the causes of phenomena. Constructing understanding by actively engaging in investigation and design also creates meaningful and memorable learning experiences for all students. These experiences pique students' curiosity and lead to greater interest and identity in science"--Preface.

The beloved bestseller, updated for the classrooms of today This updated edition of Ron Nash’s The Active Classroom shows how to protect students from the higher-than-ever risk of becoming passive observers rather than active participants in the classroom. Featuring a wealth of new content plus an insightful foreword by Rich Allen, it shows: Ways to highlight writing as an essential discipline students need to excel within the Common Core Standards and beyond. Techniques for boosting engagement with visuals and technology, especially in modern hybrid classrooms. How the first two weeks of school set the tone for the entire year.

Designed for an inspiring, high-impact K–12 learning experience, HMH Science Dimensions creates a supportive instructional path for teachers and a dynamic learning environment for students. Teachers guide students to learn through exploration, analysis, application, and explanation—in short, to think like scientists.--Publisher's website

Teaching in the Game-Based Classroom is a hands-on guide to leveraging students’ embrace of video games toward successful school performance. Evidence tells us that game-based learning can help teachers design classes, develop transformative learning tools, and assess progress on multiple levels not dependent on one-size-fits-all bubble sheets. Authored by game-savvy teachers in partnership with classroom-experienced academics, the highly varied chapters of this book are concise yet filled with sound pedagogical approaches. Middle and high school educators will find engaging new ways of inspiring students’ intrinsic motivation, skill refinement, positive culture-building, autonomy as learners, and more.

Create powerful teaching partnerships that promote success for every student in inclusive classrooms! Ideal for both general and special education classrooms, this indispensible resource integrates interpersonal skills, instructional design, and teaching philosophy to guide educators through the beginning stages of co-teaching relationships toward smooth collaboration. The authors provide proven instructional strategies such as visuals, mnemonics, formative assessment, and more, for use within co-teaching partnerships. Additional resources include: Chapter activities and checklists for planning lessons Case studies from various subject areas and grade levels to illustrate the realities of co-teaching Resources such as books, videos, and helpful Web sites

"If you've been trying to figure out how crosscutting concepts (CCCs) fit into three-dimensional learning, this in-depth resource will show you their usefulness across the sciences. Crosscutting Concepts: Strengthening Science and Engineering Learning is designed to help teachers at all grade levels (1) promote students' sensemaking and problem-solving abilities by integrating CCCs with science and engineering practices and disciplinary core ideas; (2) support connections across multiple disciplines and diverse contexts; and (3) use CCCs as a set of lenses through which students can learn about the world around them. The book is divided into the following four sections. Foundational issues that undergird crosscutting concepts. You'll see how CCCs can change your instruction, engage your students in science, and broaden access and inclusion for all students in the science classroom. An in-depth look at individual CCCs. You'll learn to use each CCC across disciplines, understand the challenges students face in learning CCCs, and adopt exemplary teaching strategies. Ways to use CCCs to strengthen how you teach key topics in science. These topics include the nature of matter, plant growth, and weather and climate, as well as engineering design. Ways that CCCs can enhance the work of science teaching. These topics include student assessment and teacher professional collaboration. Throughout the book, vignettes drawn from the authors' own classroom experiences will help you put theory into practice. Instructional Applications show how CCCs can strengthen your planning. Classroom Snapshots offer practical ways to use CCCs in discussions and lessons. No matter how you use this book to enrich your thinking, it will help you leverage the power of CCCs to strengthen students' science and engineering learning. As the book says, "CCCs can often provide deeper insight into phenomena and problems by providing complementary perspectives that both broaden and sharpen our view on the rapidly changing world that students will inherit.""--