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Science Choice Boards to Support Background Knowledge

Author // Sarah Mowery Thursday, 24 October 2024

Choice boards are a helpful tool for instruction, supporting and engaging students. Choice boards provide options for students to engage with a topic or concept using a variety of media including eBooks, videos, learning modules, and activities. Choice boards also provide differentiation for students, with a variety of representations of information. They also support building background knowledge and strengthening vocabulary to help students tackle and comprehend more complex text. In addition, choice boards are an easy way to keep students engaged in their learning by giving them choice in how they want to learn the content.

Support PreK-12 students' background knowledge with choice boards on selected science topics including biology, chemistry, earth science, space science, and the scientific method. 

Each choice board is created using Google Slides. Students simply click on the square of the eBook, video, or activity that interests them to learn more about the topic. 

biologychoiceboard

 

Science Choice Boards for Grades PreK-5

Science Choice Boards for Grades 6-8

Science Choice Boards for Grades 9-12

Many of these science-themed choice boards include more in-depth activities from ScienceFlix and Science Online. ScienceFlix is an ideal resource for middle-grade students. Each learning module in ScienceFlix consists of a video and articles about the topic. In this example from the Periodic Table of Elements choice board, there is a ScienceFlix learning module in the second row. 

scienceflixonchoiceboard

Learning modules in ScienceFlix include many ways to learn about the topic. There is a short video, a highlighted article with three different reading levels, and additional information to dig deeper into the topic. Students can find additional articles on the topic, discussion questions, and a quiz to test their knowledge. 

scienceflixmodule

Science Online is an in-depth science resource for high school students. Science Online includes encyclopedia articles, videos, eLearning modules, and interactive experiments. The choice board, Chemical Reactions, includes interactive experiments from Science Online.

chemicalreactions 

The interactive experiments allow students to interact with the text and test their knowledge of what they are reading with drag-and-drop and matching activities.

scienceonlineexperiment 

Educators may want to provide more direction with these science choice boards to lead students, starting with simpler media and working toward the more complex options such as learning modules and interactive experiments.

How to Find Choice Boards from INFOhio

You can find the choice boards in Educator Tools. Enter the keywords "choice board" in the search bar. The results yield more than 60 choice boards on social studies, art, creativity, and literature topics. 

choiceboardedtools

To share choice boards with students click the blue i button in the top right corner of the choice board you want to share. Then, click the red LMS/Direct Link and share the link that appears in the pop-up window.

choiceboardedtoolslmslink

We are here to help! If you have questions visit support.infohio.org 

About the Author

Posted by: Sarah Mowery

Sarah Mowery is a Professional Instructional Specialist with INFOhio. She has worked in education for 16 years as a school librarian and technology coach in elementary and middle school settings. While in these roles, she's been an integral part of the building leadership teams working as a curriculum connector and integrating web-based tools. She earned a BA in Sociology from Bowling Green State University and an MLS with a specialization in PK-12 schools from East Carolina University. Sarah was one of the original INFOhio ICoaches when the program first began in 2013 and has a passion for sharing how INFOhio resources can transform teaching and impact learning for students and educators across the state of Ohio. 

Sarah Mowery
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