Question: Hi, Micki. I am hoping you can help me come up with some ways of making tutoring more entertaining. I work with a bright, friendly 10 year old who is really, really bored with the botany part of her science class. She works really hard, and her grades are good, but I feel bad that she is so bored during tutoring. Any ideas for how to make botany more thrilling to a 10 year old?
Thanks!
Science Tutor in IN
Answer: Hi there, Science Tutor - the short answer to your question is ABSOLUTELY! Sorry, I know I'm a bit too excited, but science is one of the few subjects for tutoring that automatically lends itself to fun, hands-on activities.
First, if you are an ITA tutor, check out the resources once you login to your account. There are a ton of cool science experiments for kids, exercises, and activities that will jazz up any tutoring session. Besides botany, there are also experiments and activities for biology, chemistry, astronomy, and a host of other subjects!
Second, look over the lesson plans and homework for the next few weeks (if it is available), and talk to your tutee about what she is currently studying, what she is going to be studying, etc. Then, come up with a few simple experiments that will highlight the botany principles she is studying.
For example, if she is learning about chlorophyll, check out an experiment like this:
http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/leaves.html
Is she studying up on plants and watering? Check out this experiment:
http://www.helium.com/items/1608049-plant-science-experiments-for-kids
Is your tutee learning about different plant and flowergroups? Try putting together a plant field guide or a flower press: http://belladia.typepad.com/crafty_crow/2009/06/make-a-portable-flower-press.html
Is your tutee learning about fungi or growth patterns of other plants? Try putting together a simple herbarium!
The possibilities are endless, so have fun with them - Your tutee will be grateful, and your tutoring will be even more effective!
And, as always, happy tutoring!
3 comments:
Thanks for the ideas, Micki! I have an 11 year old science student who is going to be thrilled the next time we tutor! =)
I love babes and I would love to be baby nurse, but I hate science, should i even bother with trying to become a nurse? I would also like to become a teacher maybe, history or english. What should I do? I like math but I have always heard always heard you have to be pretty good at science to become and RN. Could I not become an RN an just be a LPN? I want to do something with kids. Pls help!!!!
Sorry for the delay in responding! Blogger didn't alert me to the new comments until today! :-)
Helena: Happy to help! Hope everything went well with your budding scientist!
Alex: It's great that you have figured out that you want to work with kids, and there are a lot of things that you can do with that! When you have time, send me an email, and let's talk in more detail about your exciting future plans! (micki@itatutor.org)
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