Teacher Testimonials: Flipside Science

See how this youth-powered series has resonated with middle and high school teachers.

At the Academy, we take feedback seriously. Below we've shared some of the feedback—both positive and constructive—that we have received from educators about our Flipside Science series.

"My teaching colleague and I have been discussing possibilities for activities on getting our students involved in problem-solving and critical thinking about the environment. This sounds like such a perfect fit! We wanted real-world situations that they could use, and create possible applications in their home environment." -Middle School Teacher, Incline City, Nevada

"These resources would be a great addition to the ecology lessons we teach. I know this would be current and my co-teacher and I would be able to hook our students!" -9th Grade Teacher, Lockport, Illionois

​"I love that the images in the video reflect the diversity of students and teachers I work with. I think this will help urban students see they are part of the equation of learning about and caring for our world." -High School Informer Educator, Missouri Department of Conservation

"I want to help my students critically think and problem solve about the problems they may encounter in their lifetime. This gives them some practice to collaborate with their peers and look for solutions." -7th Grade Teacher, Lincoln Nebraska

"As a science teacher with a diverse group of learners, I am always on the lookout for new ways to present learning interactions, to maximize concept understanding. I think that this is a form of education that will be beneficial to my student's needs and interests. My school consists of students with learning disabilities, some with mental health issues... Thank you for adding another tool to our toolbox." -7th-12th Grade Teacher, Califon, New Jersey

What are educators saying about Flipside Science?

• "I love the peer to peer aspect. I REALLY like the engineering and ideas approach."
   
• "It can be tough find videos and media that are "cool" and not outdated. Flipside is solution oriented, and calls upon students to use critical thinking--both of which are exactly what we need to create future leaders."
   
• "It allows us to bring technology and factual current concerns and solutions to our students in a student friendly manner that is very engaging. Also it allows them to start thinking on how to make a difference, help the environment and improve our future goal. These lessons may even help shape their future and inspire a future career and passion."
   
• "I love any opportunity to bring real and relevant science into the classroom. The curriculum asks the students to solve real problems and uses multiple modalities to explore the topics."
   
• "I am already recommending it to a colleague and will be sharing with my other middle school science teachers. It may even tie-in or integrate to some ELA common core standards. I look forward to exploring these further."
   
• "As an environmental organization that provides educational experiences to youth of all ages, we are always on the look out for current and relevant resources and media. It can be tough find videos and media that are "cool" and not outdated. Flipside is solution oriented, and calls upon students to use critical thinking--both of which are exactly what we need to create future leaders...plus it seems aligned with NGSS! Thank you for the good work."

How are educators using or planning to use Flipside Science resources?

• "Applicability to the curriculum is the basic driver. I can imagine doing a feeding the world-based engineering challenge, in which many of these could apply as background info, but mainly the design thinking activity."
   
• "I want students to look at solutions critically. Many times we jump on "solutions" without looking at what potential problems could be created due to the solutions. I love the idea of students investigating further."
   
• "These are great lessons. I may use parts of them as I doubt that I could devote so many instructional days to this topic within the framework of the HS biology curriculum."
   
• "I think these resources are great because they have the potential to be used as a unit or as any combination of standalone or supplemental resources."
   
• "The videos are a great tool to incorporate technology in the classroom and help teachers promote "flipped" teaching for those looking for a place to start."

What suggestions do teachers have for us?

• "I really like the effort here. As a math teacher, I would say the more math the better, although I do incorporate science into my assignments."
   
• "Some of students struggle with math, so the statistics for several of the videos will not as impactful for a lot of my students. Maybe use more 1 out 4 rather than 25%."
   
• "Please translate to Spanish and add an Environmental Justice component. Great start!"  [Update! We added Spanish and Chinese-language student worksheets to the lesson plans associated with the Flipside Science videos.]