GCISD Science Blog

Ready to learn new things about science instruction? Want to build a professional network of other science teachers? Have you ever heard Dr. Johannes Strobel speak? Need some freebies from informal science and science vendors and a chance to win prizes? The answer is D/FW Mini-CAST! D/FW Mini-CAST is a one-day, mini-conference, a smaller scale version of the Conference for the Advancement of Science Teaching. This year, the conference is being held in Mesquite ISD on Saturday, February 17, 2018. Presentations are related to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education and is attended by science teachers, administrators, supervisors, and vendors. Read more about D/FW Mini-CAST and register for the event at the website. www.dfwminicast.org The registration cost is already very budget-friendly, but GCISD teachers, you are invited to attend the conference for FREE. And that includes lunch. That's right, Tony Zahn is treating you to lunch. From the main pa

Word walls are a common classroom tool used to support vocabulary development in science and other content areas. Traditional word walls usually only include single words and sometimes a picture, but really don’t allow students to connect the academic vocabulary with the scientific concept. So how can a traditional word wall be transformed to become an Interactive Word Wall (IWW)? Julie Jackson, a professor at Texas State University outlines these five steps to designing an IWW: Teachers plan the IWW by determining vocabulary from the TEKS and sketch a concept map or frame. Teachers create a student organizer/record sheet that mirrors the concept map or frame. Teacher builds the frame for the IWW and places in an area where students can access easily. Students build the IWW in class using artifacts and/or pictures (during the Explain phase) Students complete their student organizer/record sheet and write their claim in class. The power of an IWW is that t

On January 11th approximately 100 students competed in a high school Science Fair.   Entries from both campuses were judged by 30 volunteer judges.    21 projects were awarded 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place recognitions across 7 categories.   Please refer to the table below for titles of recognized projects. Thank you to the volunteers who judged and coordinated the event.   Kudos to Sonya Loughran from CHHS and Erin Smith from GHS for their dedication to supporting student success and for coordinating this effort so that students may display their work.  37 projects will advance to compete in the Fort Worth Regional Science Fair, February 16-17 at UTA. Congratulations to our future scientists who will proudly represent GCISD. Category Place Project Title Biochemistry/ Microbiology/ Plant Science 1st A Bright Future: The Use of Organic Waste in Dye-sensitized Cells in the Creation of Efficient Solar Ene