Why should we be using presentations in our science lessons? Presentations are an engaging way to get kids excited about science. It allows you to break down the material into smaller chunks, which makes it easier for students to understand. You can pre-teach vocabulary and also incorporate visuals like infographics or videos into your presentation which will help keep students’ attention focused on the material. And lastly, it is going to boost information retention and help students gain mastery!
1- Breaking Down Material
Firstly, science presentations help students make sense of complex concepts by breaking them down into manageable pieces. When you’re preparing for a science activity or experiment, there are many parts to consider. Science concepts can be overwhelming for younger learners. There is so much to understand to gain mastery. So, using a presentation to break it down into parts can be extremely beneficial.
When using a presentation, you can present a part of the science concept before doing an interactive activity or experiment. Then, students will have time to take in that smaller chunk of information before moving on to the next part.
For example, if you’re teaching about force and motion, you may want to break your information down into four parts: pushing/pulling, magnetism, gravity, and friction. Present the four types, then focus on only one. Present information, visuals, diagrams, etc., for pushing and pulling before completing and experiment or activity with the concept. Then, your student will be ready to come back to the content to learn about the next part, magnetism.
2- Pre-teaching Vocabulary
Similarly, presentations will allow you to pre-teach important vocabulary concepts. It is highly beneficial to be exposed to vocabulary before diving into complex topics. So, you can simply add the important science vocabulary to your presentation and introduce the terms prior to doing any hands-on activities or exploration.
When pre-teaching vocabulary, you don’t have to go into depth about the meaning behind the words. You can simply present the words, and possibly, a simple definition. When students engage with the content later, they will be able to recall vocabulary terms that are important, helping them understand the overall concepts.
3-Incorporating Visuals
Using presentations in your classroom is an effective way to make learning about science fun and engaging for your students! Incorporating visuals, activities, and multimedia elements into your presentation will help keep kids engaged while still providing them with all of the information they need in order to succeed in science class.
Visuals and diagrams are also extremely important to science understanding. We don’t always have access to real-life materials that would show what students need to see in order to understand science concepts. So, when you can, use visuals to aid in their understanding.
4- Increased Information Retention
We all know that when information is presented visually, students have a higher chance of retaining the information over simply reading or hearing the information. Adding an element, like note-taking can increase retention even further! The combination of visuals, spoken words, and note-taking makes it easier for students to recall the material they’ve learned.
So, in addition to promoting critical thinking skills, science presentations also help students retain information.
Resources That Are Ready to Go!
If you want to use presentations in your science class without the work of creating them, look no further! Each of these Science Presentations sets comes with a presentation, teacher script, and note-taking pages for the students!
