Organic Compounds - Student Choice Projects - MS

Engage your middle school students with creative, student-led projects that explore organic compounds and their importance in living organisms.
Aligned with middle school chemistry and life science standards, this resource allows students to choose a project format that best fits their learning and output style, promoting independence, curiosity, and deeper understanding.

The project choice board includes six ready-to-use project options plus a “design your own” project, empowering students to demonstrate learning in meaningful, personalized ways.
An editable grading rubric makes assessment simple for teachers, peers, or students themselves, evaluating vocabulary, concepts, presentation, clarity, and accuracy.

Flexible, Creative, and Student-Centered

These Student Choice Projects are designed for flexibility and differentiation.
Teachers can easily modify the rubric to align with classroom expectations, while students select from multimodal project options—written, visual, digital, or hands-on—to show what they know.

This approach encourages critical thinking, creativity, and student ownership, while allowing for a variety of learning styles and ability levels.

What’s Included

• Nine project choice board options plus a “design your own” project

• Teacher Directions page with setup guidance, support suggestions, and differentiation ideas

• Editable rubric pages to assess vocabulary, content understanding, clarity, presentation, and accuracy

Differentiated for All Learners

To support all students, this resource includes two versions of the project page:

• A modified version with three scaffolded projects for students who need additional support or remediation.

• A standard version for grade-level or advanced learners, with the option to assign multiple projects for enrichment using the same rubric.

Differentiation is built in—no additional planning required!

Simple Supplies, Maximum Creativity

No special materials needed!
The Organic Compounds Student Choice Projects use common classroom supplies such as paper, markers, and scissors.
Many projects can also be completed digitally, making this resource perfect for in-person, hybrid, or virtual classrooms.

Optional crafting materials can be added for students who want to build models or visual displays to represent organic molecules and their roles in living systems.