3 Ways for Engaging Students in Science with The WOW Factor

Want to know how to engage students in science? Read this post about these 3 methods.

Did you know the engaging students in the process of learning helps to increase their attention and focus and motivates them to critically think at higher levels?

That’s what we want as teachers, right? We love to see our students love to learn and thinking deeply about the content.

So, in this post today, I want to discuss how we can make this happen in your classroom, and I’d like to introduce to my framework for you to do this.

I call it the WOW factor.

Yes.. you can bring the WOW factor to your classroom to and engage your students so they are intrinsically motivated to learn! This is the pathway that I took to get my students to say, “I love science!” It is truly a great feeling to hear those words!

So, let’s learn more!

engaging students in science with the wow factor - students doing a science experiment — Engaging Students in Science – Read to learn more

Wonder: Engaging Students in Learning

The first thing that you can do to bring the WOW factor is to wonder. This allows students to first get the motivation to actually learn.

This is especially important when the content is a little dry or even if it’s not your favorite. You just have to be in it to win it and be ready to go!

So how do you get your students to wonder?

engaging students in science - boy writing outside — Engaging Students in Science – Part 1: WONDER

Here are some ideas:

have class discussions
science demonstrations
show a fun video about the content
talk about current events
participate in citizen science
take a survey with post-it notes
discuss STEM careers
think-pair-shares
food! Food always makes things better!
invite guest speakers
tell stories
inquiry-based learning
writing prompts
go outside
get students moving
sort activities

Try some of these things out to see what gets your students excited about learning. Middle school students will definitely let you know if they like it or not!

There are so many way to engage students and get them to wonder!

Overcome Overwhelm: Engaging Science Lessons

The second part of the WOW factor is making sure that your students are not overwhelmed when you are delivering the content or when they are learning the content through student-centered methods.

Even if students are engaged and excited about learning, they will turn up their nose if they have too much information being thrown at them at once!

If you have not checked out the 7 Steps to Help Your Students Retain Information Like a Rockstar, you should definitely check it out!

These 7 steps give you tips on how you can create or adjust your lessons to make them better suited for students to learn the material more easily and keep it in their long-term memory.

engaging students in science quote — Engaging Students in Science – Part 2: OVERCOME OVERWHELM

Here is a summary:

Start Simple
Chunk Information
Show Information in Segments
Show Worked Examples
Direct Students to Important Information
Keep Related Pictures and Text Together
Take Out Unnecessary Information

These were adapted from Richard Mayers principles of Multimedia Learning.

These will help your students have a more effective learning experience and reduce their cognitive load.

Widen: Extend Student Content Knowledge

So, your students were excited about learning new science and now they have learned that new science. What’s next? Well, now it’s time do the last portion of the WOW factor, and that is to widen their knowledge.

This is the portion of WOWing your students that they can learn things beyond what they ever thought they could. This is where TONS of light bulbs go off for you, teacher!

So, here are some ideas on how you can widen and extend your students’ knowledge. These are great engaging science activities.

science experiments
taking students outside to learn
podcasts
CER
graphic organizers
creative writing
news articles
choice boards
games
guest speakers
STEM challenges
QR code activities
photo booth
debates
online activities
movies
book studies

There are so many things that you can do to help your students’ knowledge. If you’ve tried these ideas or have some more ideas. Please feel free to share!

I truly hope that the WOW factor brings some science fun into the classroom and helps students to understand the question, “Why is science important for students?”. It’s so critical (along with math and reading, but I will not go off on a tangent).

Happy WOWing and enjoy these activities with your students!