Engagement Strategies for the Classroom

Bringing Your Research into the K–12 Classroom

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Presented by: Dr. Rachel Acuna

racuna26@gmail.com

Session Goals

• Learn practical engagement strategies
• See how the strategies fit into the 5E lesson format
• Tips for learning student names and classroom management strategies
• Practice making research accessible and relevant to students

Fellow Teaching Context

• Visit classrooms approximately twice per month throughout the school year
• Build continuity from one visit to the next
• Coordinate planning and between-visit activities with the educator
• Establish predictable routines even when visits are periodic

Strategy 1 - Stations and Rotations

• When to use: Periodic visits (Explore and Elaborate)
• Description: Students complete different short activities at designated locations around the classroom.
• Why it works: Variety, hands-on participation, manageable content chunks, physical movement
• Geoscience example:
• Set up 4 stations:
• Mineral identification
• Topographic map interpretation
• Earthquake wave analysis
• Groundwater modeling

Strategy 2 - Card Sorts

• When to use: Periodic visits (Explore)
• Description: Students organize cards into categories, sequences, or relationships.
• Why it works: Requires comparison, reasoning, and pattern identification
• Geoscience example:
• Sort rocks by observable properties or formation process
• Clarify evidence type

Rock Types Card Sort Activity

Strategy 3 - Gallery Walks

• When to use: Periodic visits (Explore or Elaborate)
• Description: Students move around the room to examine posted images, data, models, or responses
• Why it works: Movement increases attention and exposes students to multiple perspectives
• Geoscience examples:
• Analyze different coastline photos for erosion and deposition evidence
• Students create posters about different rock types/earthquake hazards/climate zones and present while others walk around to view and take notes

Weathering Erosion and Deposition Gallery Walk

Strategy 4 - Anticipation Guides/

Agree-Disagree Statements

• When to use: First visit or periodic visits (Engage and Evaluate)
• Description: Students respond to statements before and after learning, then discuss how their thinking changed
• Why it works: Activates prior knowledge, reveals misconceptions, and shows learning growth
• Geoscience example: Before learning about plate tectonics, students agree or disagree with statements such as “Mountains form slowly over millions of years” or “Earthquakes only happen near oceans”

4 Corners

Strategy 5 - Sticky Note Parking Lot

• When to use: Explore (Bell Ringer) and Evaluate (Exit Ticket)
• Description: Students share questions and observations in writing during a presentation or demonstration
• Why it works: Quieter students participate and instructors can check understanding in real time
• Geoscience example:
• During a volcano-monitoring presentation, students post questions about warning signs

Strategy 6 - Whiteboarding

• When to use: Periodic visits (Explore or Elaborate phase)
• Description: Students work in small groups on whiteboards to solve problems, draw models, brainstorm ideas, or show their thinking visually
• Why it works: Makes thinking visible, encourages collaboration, easy to share with the class, low-stakes and easily erasable
• Geoscience example:
• Groups draw and label the rock cycle with arrows showing processes
• Sketch a cross-section showing different rock layers and explain what each layer tells us about Earth's history

Whiteboarding in the Science Classroom

Making Research Accessible to K-12 Students

• You are the expert, but students may be encountering the topic for the first time
• Students need a clear path from experience to understanding
• The goal is not to remove the science or dumb it down
• Build accurate, appropriate challenging explanations step by step

Key Approaches

CREDITS: This presentation template was created by Slidesgo, and includes icons by Flaticon, and infographics & images by Freepik

Ask Scaffolding Questions

• Move from simple observations to explanations and evaluation
• Weather map example:
• What patterns do you notice?
• Where is the warm front?
• What weather might occur next?
• What evidence supports your prediction?
• Use the “10-year-old test”: Explain the central idea in one or two sentences without specialized vocabulary
• Introduce formal scientific terms after students understand the basic concept
• Example: Earth’s surface is broken into huge pieces that slowly move. Then introduce tectonic plates.

Connect to Student Experience

• Begin with something students have seen, felt, or encountered
• Examples:
• Puddles drying ➡ evaporation
• A hot car ➡ energy transfer
• A local storm ➡ atmospheric pressure
• Beach erosion ➡ sediment movement
• Use the familiar experience as a foundation for formal concepts, models, and data

5E Lesson Plan Example

Free Technology Tools

Always have a non-technology backup plan!

Learning Names and Building Relationships

Quick strategies:

• Use a seating chart, preferably with photos
• Name tents
• Name tags
• Name sticks
• Greet students at the door
• Learn names through small-group work
• Ask students how to pronounce their names
• Interest inventory

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➤Strong relationships support engagement and helps with classroom management

Classroom Management Basics

Your role: Partner with the educator and follow established routines

Preventative strategies: Move around the room, build relationships, reinforce productive behavior

Responsive strategies: Start with a pause, gesture, proximity, or quiet reminder. Correct privately when possible. Use classroom procedures established by educator. Follow school policy and involve the teacher when needed.

Safety essentials: Establish boundaries and buddy systems for fieldwork simulations. Follow school procedures for chemical testing. Label materials and provide appropriate protective equipment.

Transitions: State what to do, where to go, materials needed, time available, and expected product

Quick Planning Checklist

• Before the lesson, ask yourself:
• What should students learn or be able to do?
• What familiar phenomenon introduces the topic?
• What will students do, not just listen to?
• Which vocabulary is essential?
• How will you move from concrete to abstract?

• Which 2 or 3 engagement strategies will you use?
• How will you check understanding?
• What directions and safety procedures are needed?
• How does this visit connect to the next one?
• What will students do if they finish early?

Work Session

Work with your educator-fellow partner:

1. Choose a topic or research area to focus on.
2. Outline one 5E lesson or a two-visit sequence.
3. Select 2 or 3 engagement strategies to include.
4. Identify one way to make the research accessible for students.
5. Plan how to assess student understanding.
6. Prepare a brief share-out of your lesson idea.

Planning Resources

(also posted on CIELO-G website)

• 5E Model Graphic Organizer

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• Key Components of the 5E Model Lesson

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• CIELO-G Lesson Plan Guide (with guidance)

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• Lesson Plan Template v2 (blank template)

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• My completed example - Endothermic and Exothermic Reactions Lab (HS Chemistry)
• Note: This contains more detail and resources than you are expected to include