When you are rushing through your science standards take some time to check for student understanding. Science writing prompts are a great way to integrate your writing and science standards. Using journal prompts allows for students to explain their understanding of what they have learned.
One of the best ways to assess student understanding is to have them explain something not being there. I remember my mom telling me that she took a religion course in college and as a Christian believer she had to write a paper persuading others that there wasn’t a God. She said it was hard at first but jumping outside of the box actually strengthened her faith and understanding.
When I started thinking of ways to deepen my students’ understanding of what I was teaching, I remembered this story. Here are a few of the Science Writing Prompts I created with this in mind.
Science Writing Prompts
- Describe your day if you lived in a world without gravity.
- This topic gets kids thinking outside of the box. First you can assess their understanding of gravity, what gravity does, and how it works. This prompt also gets your creative kids motivated to make others listen and laugh.
- How would your life be different if electricity had not been invented?
- For kids in this technology era it is so hard to think of everything that we use on a daily basis that involves electricity. The bonus to this prompt is that you get to assess some of your history/social studies standards as well. You could use this as a great discussion topic for screen time.
- What would happen if a volcano erupted near your home?
- This topic gives students the opportunity to show understanding of rocks, minerals, and fossil formation. Students also get the chance to show knowledge or plant regrowth and how a volcano erupts.
- Pretend you are a paleontologist. Describe your recent find and how you discovered it.
- This topic allows you to assess student understanding of the job of paleontologists, as well as check for understanding of the steps in forming a fossil.
- Write an essay telling why we don’t need to protect the planet.
- We all know the reasons why we need to protect the environment. This post will take them outside of the box and it’s harder to think of why we should do something that is wrong.
- Write a journal entry from the perspective of a carnivore. What happens throughout your day.
- You could switch this to omnivore, producer, or herbivore. Have students write about what they would do? Build suspense for a hunt, or share joy at finding a patch of blackberries.
- You are taking a trip into Space. How will you get there? What will you see? Write a narrative passage describing your trip.
- Have students include certain things from your standards. Give a list of 10 things you teach in your unit and have them include a certain number of these things in their writing. Have them describe an aspect of those things.
- If you could go to any planet, which one would you go to? Why would you choose this planet?
- Have students give details on the planet they chose. You could add in how they plan to get there. What would they wear?
- Describe your life as a water droplet. How do you travel through the water cycle?
- Have students imagine the life of a water droplet. Let them begin the journey at any point in the water cycle and have them explain what the water droplet is doing at each stage.
- Create an I Survived Story for any natural disaster. What disaster would strike and what safety measures would you take to survive this disaster?
- Combine safety and natural disasters with this prompt. Do a read aloud of Lauren Tarshis I Survived series. There are several that involve surviving natural disasters.
I Survived Read Aloud Suggestions (*** The links below are Amazon Affiliate links.)
- I Survived Hurricane Katrina
- I Survived the Japanese Tsunami
- I Survived the Joplin Tornado
- I Survived the Children’s Blizzard
- I Survived the Galveston Hurricane
- I Survived True Stories #1: Five Epic Disasters
- I Survived True Stories #3: Tornado Terror
How to Create Your Own Science Writing Prompts
To write your own science writing prompts, grab your standards and make them fun. What would inspire your students to think and write? Feed off of the what if questions students ask during lessons. Turn those “what ifs” into science journal questions.
More Science Ideas:
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Photo Konstantin Yuganov/Dollar Photo Club
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