Jefferson Lab Teaching Aids

Jefferson Lab is a research center located in Newport News, Virginia. The lab provides resources for teachers and students in the fields of math and science. In an effort to address the gap women and minorities tend to have in math, science and technology, the facility posts educational materials online to be used in the classroom.

The Newport News City Public Schools in Virginia participates in the Jefferson Lab initiative called BEAMS (Becoming Enthusiastic About Math and Science). The curriculum is appropriate for 6th, 7th and 8th graders. Objectives of the program are to motivate and readdress women and minorities through teacher aids and lessons plans. All materials are easily accessible in a PDF.

Hands-on activities offer lesson plans, Virginia State Standards of Learning and forms for students to show their work. Experiments complete with procedures and data recording sheets are provided. Questions incorporate bloom's taxonomy and the activities encompass Gardner's multiple intelligences. The lessons integrate disciplines giving students a variety of opportunities to succeed and 'show what they know'. Instructors may modify teaching aids to better meet a particular educational goal or to accommodate students' needs.

Worksheets, puzzles and games comprise of individual and whole group instructional possibilities. Chemistry related subject matter is the focus, but students also practice reading, comprehension and math skills.

On-line puzzles and games require a browser enabling JavaScript. Mac users experiencing difficulty can download Firefox for free. The games tend to reinforce the periodic table of elements, computation skills and science vocabulary.

Jefferson Lab's Workbench projects currently has four suggestions. A picture of each finished project is shown with instructions and warnings on how to build the model. Background for each concept being taught and/or reinforced is explained and also how to operate the device once it is built.

Odds-n-ends gives projects that are simpler to build than Workbench Projects. These additional projects are worthwhile motivators and enrichment activities.

Overall, the website serves its purpose. Educators and learners can easily access information about science, math and technology subject areas. Teaching aids are easy to find, access, print and select depending upon abilities of students. This is useful site for teachers working with middle school students.