This is a selection of activities, games and exercises designed to dig deeper into scientific concepts by using different learning modalities:
-Visualization
-Movement
-Free Writing & Brainstorming
-Art & Crafts
Many of these exercises employ the use of the senses through play and imagination, to think about patterns and archetypes as a means to explore deeper dynamics of scientific phenomena. If this kind of play is new to you, start by experimenting with some of these activities on your own. See what helps to light up your imagination and curiosity and how it might be adapted for your own course work.
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An alternative bibliography
You need this exercise when: You feel uninspired about your project – either at the beginning of it or when you feel like you have spent so much time with scientific literature that it feels like you have exhausted it and you need to gain more movement, space, and a change of perspective. Time: 30…
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Locality: Where are you at? (writing/brainstorming)
Free-write about that place and how you relate to it. Is it a park in your hometown? A piece of land you have been living on in recent years? A place you always come back to when you want to think and process? As a second step, write down the things you know about this…
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Tracking Cycles
Read our blog post about the 4Love and Science Class for SFPC here: When we pay attention, we can recognise patterns – repeating cycles – within us – on a human scale – and on a multiplicity of scales replicated in the universe. Moods and moon phases, we are moving closer to the world around…
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Arriving in & with the body in space
time: 15-20 minutes Description: ice-breaker exercise to open up a space where students can engage with their senses, find a playful way to introduce themselves, and learn that their senses have a place in the classroom. You need this exercise when: you want to introduce students to each other, get a sense of their attunement,…
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Everyday objects, research, orienting
Exercise The story of an object Time: 30 minutes Description: By tuning into the qualities of everyday objects, familiarizing ourselves with their shape, form, density, and our relationship to it, we learn about its place, our relationship with it, and can look at different modes of engagement. Instructions: -Choose an object and first get familiar…
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Color feelings with Miro
This is a good online activity for remote/virtual classes. Miro is a great tool for simultaneous drawings and notes. This prompt can be used at the beginning of a class as a warm-up/check in Age: middle school + Time: 2-5 minutes to draw, 5 min for optional share back or noticings Prompt: What colors are…
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Laser Rhythms
Laser Rhythms: Making rhythms with a group and experimenting with coherence and incoherence I use this exercise to illustrate the dynamics of order and chaos and how both serve purposes. Age: Elementary school + Time: 20-30mins Start by clapping out a very basic rhythm and have the group copy you. Change it up a few…
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Particle-Wave duality Visualization
Sometimes we are solid ~> and sometimes we are wave-like. We are taught to forget how to blur our edges. but we remember and find…
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Science Zines
Materials: Science Zine making is a fun and creative way to explore the components of a scientific research paper or poster. The templates I have created outline the sections in a traditional scientific research paper or poster: Students can be prompted to think about their most far out research project and use the images they…
