Winter is here! The world outside is a ready-made lab—perfect for noticing, questioning, and figuring out how things really work. We've put together three ready-to-use structures that help students investigate how systems—biological, physical, and chemical—respond to the season.
"How do living things adapt to the cold?" This Noteboard ask students to research, collect evidence, and organize the strategies living things use to survive the bitter cold, from hibernation to blubber. In just 15 minutes, your class will have constructed a comprehensive library of biological survival. Use this structure in your classroom!
Students know things cool down outside, but how fast does heat actually escape? This Spectrum asks students to rank items—a thermos of hot cocoa, a pair of wet gloves, hot tea in an open mug—based on how quickly they lose thermal energy. It forces them to analyze variables like specific heat and surface area, turning their observations into a rigorous, evidence-based discussion about energy flow. Use this structure in your classroom!
From steam on a window to frost on a branch, water is changing states all around us in winter. This Columns structure gives students the categories—like freezing, condensation, and evaporation—and invites them to fill in examples from their own winter experiences. It helps them connect what they see every day to how molecules behave in the cold. Use this structure in your classroom!
These three cool structures focus on Biology, Physics, and Chemistry, but the approach—helping students model, reason, and classify—works across all scientific disciplines. Use Soop’s Structure Starter to instantly generate a custom activity tailored to your next topic.