Inclusive Strategies for the Science Classroom

This month, the Science Teacher Editor's Corner includes a selection of engaging and responsive assessments to foster inclusive science classrooms. 

Here is the list:

  • Podcast creation
  • Course blog with students 
  • Multi-genre project
  • Social media profiles (centering around the content)
  • Tying students’ identities to the sciences
  • Sharing, through artwork, how their culture views the science content
  • Creating a music playlist related to what they are learning
  • Sharing videos relating to the content; evaluating the videos for misconceptions that are perpetuated in the videos
  • Creating a “Shark Tank” project that addresses content being uncovered
  • Getting involved in a citizen science project related to their identities
  • Shadowing a mentor in a STEM field and creating a project focusing on their findings and experiences
  • Writing an autobiography addressing how they perceive science in terms of their identities
  • Researching a BIPOC STEM professional, one with a difference, or one from various cultures, and portraying them in class
  • Writing a bedtime story focusing on science content in such a way the stories could be read to elementary students.
  • Designing a billboard “selling” concepts, phenomena, or science and engineering processes
  • Designing a book jacket
  • Writing a book review on a STEM book
  • Creating a science-based calendar
  • Designing a mobile that reflects themselves in science
  • Drawing a cartoon
  • Creating stop motion videos of scientific processes
  • Writing an editorial
  • Writing a play for the class to perform
  • Preparing an entry for Wikipedia
  • Creating a flip book
  • Creating graffiti sharing about STEM, STEM concepts, or STEM processes
  • Writing a speech
  • Engaging in a debate
  • Creating a job application and completing it for their ideal STEM career
  • Evaluating hypothetical or actual scientific grant proposals
  • Sharing myths from various cultural backgrounds that address science
  • Creating a parody
  • Designing a poster using Canva or some other technological tool
  • Creating a questionnaire and gathering data on a particular science topic from friends, family members, and some social media groups
  • Writing riddles, limericks, jokes, or puns about content or crosscutting concepts
  • Creating a film, commercial, or other media depicting a NGSS standard
  • Writing tweets for a mock Twitter account related to the science class