Start with a Question

For a couple days only half of the 8th grade (about 100 students) were here at Parker Middle School while the rest traveled on a school trip.  Four subject area teachers had to come up with a way to keep them busy, happy, and learning. Challenge accepted. First we looked into the educational movies that are playing at the nearby IMAX at Jordan's.  We found Galapagos .  It is only 40 minutes and can be watched in glorious 3D!  Here's the trailer. Then we discovered the Teacher Resource Packet also available online. Before we knew it, we were English, Spanish, and History teachers guiding 8th graders through concepts like tides, currents, geology, and natural selection. Day 1 : In preparation for the film our students learned about natural selection, island formation through volcanic eruptions, and scientific poetry.  In my class they were tracking the survival of animals with various adaptations (paper dots of differ...