Teaching Science with Lynda R. Williams
Elementary Science Ideas, Lessons, and Resources
Task cards are a versatile and effective tool for teaching science. They can be used in a variety of ways to engage students, reinforce concepts, and assess understanding. Here are some different ways to use task cards in science:
Stations: Set up stations around the classroom, each with a different task card activity. Students can rotate through the stations, completing each task card as they go. This approach works well for reinforcing concepts that require hands-on activities, such as experiments or data analysis.
Put cards up in different parts of the room (or better yet, outside on trees or a long wall) and have students move around the room with their answer sheets on a clip boards.
Use the document camera to display one task card for the whole class. Students can answer on individual white boards (great for short answers or multiple choice). When the teacher says, ‘Show me your answers!”’ students stand and display their boards to the teacher for a quick assessment. For added excitement you can have them try to be the first to stand up!
Four Corners – Assign a different letter (A, B, C, or D) to each corner of the room, and use the document camera to display a multiple choice task card. Students then go to the corner corresponding with their answer https://www.kaganonline.com/ I like to have students occasionally share why they chose their answer and allow students to convince each other to switch corners.
For longer, discussion-type task cards, you can pair students up and have them walk with a partner around the perimeter of the room discussing the answer to their question. This is can also be done outside! Have students walk all the way around a circle discussing something. This is great for open-ended questions, “Do you think GMOs are bad for us?”
Q and A Trade Each student has a question. They mill around the room and when they find a partner they each ask their partner the question. Then they trade questions and mill around the room again and find a new partner. Again they ask their partner to answer and they trade questions. Do this about 10 times. At the end you can have a few students share the question they ended up with and what the answer.
Interactive Notebooks: Task cards can be incorporated into interactive notebooks, where students create a visual record of their learning. This is great for task cards that require students to draw diagrams, label parts, or explain concepts, and have them glue them into their notebooks. The notebooks make great study guides for tests.
Fossil Record Task Cards
Overall, science task cards are a powerful tool for teaching science that can be used in a variety of ways to engage students and reinforce concepts. Whether used for review, inquiry-based learning, assessment, or any of the other approaches outlined here, task cards are a valuable addition to any science classroom.
I have several great sets of science task cards in my store! Science task cards are a great way to review information and they are no-prep for you!
This is a set of science task cards for grades 5-8. Each set of task cards comes with answer sheets and answer keys. Some of the task card sets come with other response sheets and slide shows. These task cards are self-checking with the answer keys. Save 20% by purchasing this bundle.
Get your science task cards today and try some of these engaging strategies for review and reinforcement. Science task cards are no-prep and students enjoy these activities.
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