Summary
Your one-stop hub for everything we shared at WSST
Welcome, WSST attendees! If you joined us at the Wisconsin Society for Science Teachers Conference in Appleton, this page is for you.
Instead of scanning multiple QR codes or digging through the full Switch Classroom website, you’ll find everything we featured at the conference right here. Session descriptions, lesson links, and alignment guides are all organized below so you can quickly access what you explored with us.
Below, you’ll find direct access to all the resources we explored together.
Session Resources
1. Zap! Squish! Light It Up! Play-Doh Circuits for Grades 4–12: Teachers built and tested Play-Doh circuits to model conductivity, resistance, and series versus parallel designs. The room buzzed with troubleshooting, redesign, and discussion about how this hands-on lab makes abstract electricity concepts click for students in grades 4 through 12.
2. Catch the Breeze! Build and Test Windmills with Recycled Materials: Participants designed, built, and tested mini windmills using simple materials while exploring renewable energy and energy transformations. Teachers compared blade designs, analyzed results, and discussed how to bring this engaging engineering challenge into their own classrooms.
3. Energize Your Classroom! Exploring Transformations and Trade-Offs: Teachers rotated through energy activities that examined resource benefits, limitations, and trade-offs. Through modeling and discussion, participants explored how to help students think critically about energy systems and real-world energy choices.
Optional Flinn Scientific Materials Kits
Prefer an easier prep option for labs?
Switch Classroom has partnered with Flinn Scientific to offer optional materials kits for select energy labs. These kits bundle the supplies needed for each activity, making it easier to run hands-on investigations like the Building a Windmill lab featured in our WSST session.
Prefer DIY? Every lesson still includes a complete materials list so you can use what you already have. Flexibility = teacher win.
Explore the optional Flinn materials kits for solar, wind, hydropower, and bioenergy labs here.
Quick-Start Alignment Guides
Want to quickly see how these lessons fit into your course?
These Alignment Guides map Switch Classroom resources directly to your subject area so you can plug them into your pacing right away.
Keep Exploring
All Switch Classroom resources are free, classroom-tested, and built for real classrooms.
Explore the full Resource Library, with over 400 lessons and activities here.
If you have questions about implementation or want help finding something specific, we’d love to connect.
Thanks for spending part of your WSST conference with us. We’re excited to see how you bring these activities to life in your classroom!
