Stimulating Science Simulations

Awhile back, I shared a post about my Life or Debt unit.    As we approach the holiday season I wanted to share a little update. Last week my students had to "go shopping" for all the fixings for a traditional Thanksgiving meal.  Today, I surprised them with a little Black Friday and Cyber Monday Holiday Shopping. I used the same app that I mentioned previously to create a list of items that people are purchasing this year with the actual costs during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.  In class, the students rolled a die to determine how much shopping they would do. The number on the die correlated to the number of times that they had to tap the button on my app and buy something. The room was buzzing immediately! Students were groaning, exclaiming, consoling each other, and generally had great difficulty containing themselves.  Further accentuating the event, last week was a short "work week" and student pay day today was only averaging $40. As if that wasn't...

Finally, it is here!  Some of my colleagues have been after me to write up the details of a simulation that I created last year for teaching financial literacy.  Well, now that I have successfully defended my dissertation (yes - I am now Dr. Kaiser 😎), I finally had time to sit down and put it all together. I will give you a brief overview and then you can go grab the PDF from my website . The challenge is for students to end the school year "debt-free".   As the teacher, you are going to make this a difficult task - just like IRL (in real life). There are 2 main costs for starting up this simulation. 1. Journals for every student.  These can be composition notebooks, spirals, 3 ring binders, or just some paper in a folder.   2. Purchase the pro version of the Random Name Selector app.   Note: I do not receive anything for promoting this app.  Other apps may work but this is the one I used and I thought it was well worth the upgrade fee. ...

NC Science Essential Standard 4.E.2.3  Give examples of how the surface of the earth changes due to slow processes such as erosion and weathering, and rapid processes such as landslides, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes. Open any science book and you'll find plenty of ideas for modeling erosion and weathering.  One of my favorite things to do is take students outside after a heavy rain and look for signs of erosion, weathering, and deposition. But, none of this makes the STEM and career connections I want to afford my students.     I specifically wanted to stay away from the typical, "let's make a volcano" that isn't really a volcano but more of a chemical reaction (vinegar/baking soda) experiment.  So I went looking for something specifically geared toward an interactive simulation of an earthquake. I found just what I was looking for (and then some) at Teach Engineering . I have a feeling I will be referencing this website a LOT!  They have ton...