To capture the interest of middle school eighth-graders and increase their understanding of key science concepts, physical science teacher Anthony Rohm is intertwining technology into daily lessons that promote inquiry and deeper thinking among students.

Recently, in teaching a unit on heat transfer, Mr. Rohm created a lesson using the iPad app, Nearpod. The presentation included an animated video, informational slides, an experiment related to heat conductors and infrared photography technology. Students were challenged to answer questions and make inferences in real-time using the Nearpod app on their classroom iPads. The lesson continued with a parallel, hands-on teaching lab that aimed to further increase student understanding of the concepts being taught.

“It is important to capture the attention of students and motivate them to explore and reason to understand important science concepts that will continue through to high school,” said Mr. Rohm.