Science Worksheets Don?t Grow Dendrites: 20 Instructional Strategies That Engage the Brain

"Tate and Phillips provide research-based strategies that will shape your students′ learning. From music to graphics to technology, they show educators how to incorporate methods that will excite students and make science memorable."
―Emily Neddersen, Lead Science Teacher, Myford Elementary School, Tustin, CA

A brain-friendly guide for motivating students to live, eat, and breathe science!

Best-selling author and renowned educator Marcia L. Tate brings her trademark practicality to teachers seeking the latest brain-compatible tools for engaging students and bringing science to life in the classroom. Co-authored with award-winning science teacher Warren G. Phillips, this must-have resource includes 20 proven brain-compatible strategies and 250 activities for applying them. Teachers will find concrete ways to integrate national science content standards into their curriculum with visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile experiences that maximize retention, including:

• Music, rhythm, rhyme, and rap
• Storytelling and humor
• Graphic organizers, semantic maps, and word webs
• Manipulatives, experiments, labs, and models
• Internet and Excel projects

The book covers a full range of K–12 science subjects, including physical, life, earth and space science, and provides brain-compatible sample lesson plans. Each chapter offers real-life examples; a what, why, and how for each strategy; activities; and note pages for brainstorming how to implement these exciting new ideas.

Marcia L. Tate, EdD, is the former executive director of professional development for the DeKalb County School System in Decatur, Georgia. During her thirty-year career with the district, she has been a classroom teacher, reading specialist, language arts coordinator, and staff development executive director.

 

Marcia is currently an educational consultant and has taught over 500,000 administrators, teachers, parents, and business and community leaders throughout the world. She is the author of the eight books in the best-selling Worksheets Don’t Grow Dendrites series and four additional books: Formative Assessment in a Brain-Compatible Classroom: How Do We Really Know They’re Learning?, 100 Brain-Friendly Lessons for Unforgettable Teaching and Learning K–8, and 100 Brain-Friendly Lessons for Unforgettable Teaching and Learning 9–12, and her latest book, Healthy Teachers, Happy Classrooms that is designed to address both the personal and professional lives of all educators. Participants in her workshops refer to them as some of the best ones they have ever experienced since Marcia uses the twenty strategies outlined in her books to actively engage her audiences.

 

Marcia received her bachelor’s degree in psychology and elementary education from Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. She earned her master’s degree in remedial reading from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, her specialist degree in educational leadership from Georgia State University, and her doctorate in educational leadership from Clark Atlanta University.

 

Marcia is married to Tyrone Tate and is the proud mother of three children: Jennifer, Jessica, and Christopher, and nine grandchildren: Christian, Aidan, Maxwell, Aaron, Roman, Shiloh, Aya, Noah, and Alyssa.

 

Marcia and her husband own the company Developing Minds, Inc. and can be contacted by calling the company at (770) 918-5039, emailing her at marciata@ bellsouth.net, or by visiting her website at www.developingmindsinc.com. You can also follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @DrMarciaTate.

Warren Phillips has taught science for 35 years for the Plymouth Public Schools in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Phillips recorded and produced three CD’s of Science Songs entitled Sing-A-Long Science teaching the science standards. From these songs, he developed a musical entitled The Science Secret.

His creative teaching strategies earned him a Disney Award in 2004. From 39 Disney teachers nationwide, Warren was selected as the Disney Middle School Teacher of The Year. He was a guest on the Tony Danza Show in Fall 2004. In 2005, Phillips was selected as a contestant on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. He was selected as national winner of the Time/Chevrolet Teacher of the Year in 2002 and the USA Today All-USA Teaching Team in 2006. Bridgewater State University featured him in a commercial in 2007.

His essay about teaching is featured in the NSTA monograph entitled Exemplary Science in Grades 5-8: Standards-Based Success Stories. He is co-author with Marcia Tate in a brain-based book about teaching strategies entitled Science Worksheets Don′t Grow Dendrites. He is also a contributor to a collection of inspirational stories entitled Today I Made A Difference.

Currently, Phillips travels around the country doing keynote speeches and teacher professional development for Developing Minds,inc., Blue Ribbon Schools Of Excellence, etc. He is a contributing writer for the Prentice-Hall Science Explorer series and has written curriculum for Northeastern University’s Project SEED and the Plymouth Public Schools science curriculum. He’s also been a certified teacher for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS). He received an Earthwatch fellowship to study elephant behavior at Tsavo East National Park in Kenya. Phillips has a B.A. in Earth Sciences, an M.A.T. in Teaching Physical Sciences and an M. ED. in Instructional Technology from Bridgewater State University in Bridgewater, Mass.

Warren was inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame in Emporia, Kansas in 2010. See his web page at: http://www.wphillips.com/