K-5 Science Planning

Intent of this Website:

The intent of this website is to provide K-5 classroom teachers with access to curriculum standards and resources, including websites, curriculum examples, videos, and project ideas, to support project-based instruction in science, technology, and engineering.

What is STEM Education?

STEM education integrates concepts that are usually taught as separate subjects in different classes and emphasizes the application of knowledge to real-life situations. A lesson or unit in a STEM class is typically based around finding a solution to a real-world problem and tends to emphasize project-based learning.

For example, a unit on forces and balance would integrate art through the design of mobiles and kinetic sculpture, or a unit on piracy would include investigating the physics of sailing, the mathematics of navigation, geography, and literature.

STEM education emphasizes '21st-century skills' of collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking.

Standards-Based Instruction:

Public schools in Massachusetts generally implement some version of the Massachusetts Science and Technology/Engineering Frameworks, which in turn are primarily based on the Next Generation Science Standards(NGSS). Many schools use commercial science education units by FOSS, Amplify Science, and others, which are based on NGSS. The MA frameworks I find easier to follow than NGSS, and is more explicit about technology and engineering than NGSS.

Schools typically do three science units per year, interspersed with social studies.It should be noted that technology engineering is an outgrowth of social studies, as technology often has major affects on both daily life and society as a whole.

Critical Thinking:

It should be noted that the MA Frameworks are not  a laundry list of facts, but rather ask the student to be able to apply critical thinking to apply knowledge and evidence, such as:

• 3-ESS2-1. Use graphs and tables of local weather data to describe and predict typical weather during a particular season in an area.

• 3-ESS2-2. Obtain and summarize information about the climate of different regions of the world to illustrate that typical weather conditions over a year vary by region. 

• 3-LS3-1. Provide evidence, including through the analysis of data, that plants and animals  have traits inherited from parents and that variation of these traits exist in a group of similar organisms.  

• 3-LS4-2. Use evidence to construct an explanation for how the variations in characteristics among individuals within the same species may provide advantages to these individuals in their survival and reproduction.

Critical thinking cannot be done in the absence of subject-matter knowledge. 

"...After more than 20 years of lamentation, exhortation, and little improvement, maybe it's time to ask a fundamental question: Can critical thinking actually be taught? Decades of cognitive research point to a disappointing answer: not really.

 People who have sought to teach critical thinking have assumed that it is a skill, like riding a bicycle, and that, like other skills, once you learn it, you can apply it in any situation. Research from cognitive science shows that thinking is not that sort of skill. The processes of thinking are intertwined with the content of thought (that is, domain knowledge). Thus, if you remind a student to "look at an issue from multiple perspectives" often enough, he will learn that he ought to do so, but if he doesn't know much about an issue, he can't think about it from multiple perspectives. You can teach students maxims about how they ought to think, but without background knowledge and practice, they probably will not be able to implement the advice they memorize. Just as it makes no sense to try to teach factual content without giving students opportunities to practice using it, it also makes no sense to try to teach critical thinking devoid of factual content...." Daniel Willingham, at https://www.readingrockets.org/article/critical-thinking-why-it-so-hard-teach

Standards-based instruction intends to give students a broad overview of important skills and concepts, to ease the acquisition of new knowledge. A downside of standards-based instruction is the the curriculum can often feel like a forced march, leaving little opportunity for students to follow their own interests.

Inquiry-based Instruction:

Many private/progressive schools( see for example Nueva ) tend to have a less structured approach, similar to Acera, especially in the early years, emphasizing broach themes and the students' own interests. Acera takes this less formal approach, relying on a thematic approach created by core classroom teachers and specialists, with lessons changing from year to year.

This ad hoc approach seems to result perhaps in more joy and buy-in, from what I have seen, ( see article on Deeper Learning ) while making it harder to answer a parent's question, 'what will my child learn this year?' 

On the other hand, the structured approach perhaps insures that all students have 'covered' certain topics, with the danger that student curiosity can get squelched in a forced race through the curriculum ( the word 'curriculum' stemming from the Latin verb “currere,” meaning to run, the noun curriculum verbally translates as “racecourse.” ), which it often feels like.

There is a  middle ground between the two approaches, with teachers perhaps teaching three project-based units per year, each on a real-world theme, but with substantial room for choice,  innovation, and development of mastery, with specialists helping to integrate Frameworks topics into the theme. 

Project-Based Learning, in which students learn skills and content in the context of a meaningful, real-world project involving a compelling driving question, student choice, and public exhibition, has been found to increase student motivation.

Technology- the knowledge and practice of making things, whether electronics, woodworking, cooking, fiber arts, or software- is inherently engaging to students, and should be integrated into a liberal arts education.

Guiding Principles from MA Frameworks(Selected)

An effective science and technology/engineering program develops students’ ability to apply their knowledge and skills to analyze and explain the world around them.

Students are naturally curious and motivated to know more about the world in which they live. Asking questions about everyday phenomena, issues, and how things work can provide rich science learning opportunities for all students. An STE curriculum that is carefully designed around engaging, relevant, real-world interdisciplinary questions increases student motivation, intellectual engagement, and sense making. Learning theory research shows that expert knowledge is developed more effectively through these interdisciplinary real-world connections than through isolated content or practice (e.g., NRC, 2012; Schwartz et al., 2009). Real applications of science—and rapid developments in STE fields such as biotechnology, clean energy, medicine, forensics, agriculture, or robotics—can promote student interest and demonstrate how the core ideas in science are applied in real-world contexts.

An integrated STE curriculum that reflects what we know about the learning of science and how mastery develops over time promotes deeper learning in science (e.g., Wilson et al., 2010). Each domain of science has its particular approach and area of focus. However, students need to understand that much of the scientific and technological work done in the world draws on multiple disciplines.

Oceanographers, for instance, use their knowledge of physics, chemistry, biology, earth science, and technology to chart the course of ocean currents. And when a community initiates a public works project, such as removing a combined sewer overflow system, there are various aspects of physics, biology, technology, and chemistry to consider. Connecting the domains of STE with one another and with mathematical study, and to applications in the world, helps students apply, transfer, and adapt their learning to new situations and problems.

An effective science and technology/engineering program provides opportunities for students to collaborate in scientific and technological endeavors and communicate their ideas.

Scientists and engineers work as members of their professional communities. Ideas are tested, modified, extended, and reevaluated by those professional communities over time. Thus, the ability to convey ideas to others is essential for these advances to occur. In a classroom, student learning is advanced through social interactions among students, teachers, and external experts. In order to learn how to effectively communicate scientific and technological ideas, students require practice in making written and oral presentations, fielding questions, responding to critiques, and developing replies. 

Students need opportunities to talk about their work in focused discussions with peers and with those who have more experience and expertise. This communication can occur informally, in the context of an ongoing student collaboration or in an online consultation with a scientist or engineer, or more formally, when a student presents findings from an individual or group investigation. Opportunities to collaborate and communicate are critical to advance students’ STE learning.

An effective science and technology/engineering program integrates STE learning with mathematics and disciplinary literacy.

Mathematics is an essential tool for scientists and engineers because it specifies in precise and abstract (general) terms many attributes of natural phenomena and human-made systems. Mathematics facilitates precise analysis and prediction through formulae that represent the nature of relationships among components of a system (e.g., F = ma). Mathematics can also be used to quantify dimensions and scale, allowing investigations of questions such as: How small is a bacterium? How large is a star? How dense is lead? How fast is sound? How hard is a diamond? How sturdy is the bridge? How safe is the plane? With such analyses, all kinds of intellectual and practical questions can be posed, predicted, and solved.

In addition to mathematics, reading, writing, and communication skills are necessary elements of learning and applying STE (also see Guiding Principle IV). Teachers should consistently support students in acquiring comprehension skills and strategies to deepen students’ understanding of STE concepts as represented and conveyed in a variety of texts. Scientific and technical texts contain specialized knowledge that is organized in a specific way, including informational text, diagrams, charts, graphs, and formulas. For example, scientific texts will often articulate a general principle that describes a pattern in nature, followed by evidence that supports and illustrates the principle.

 STE classrooms make use of a variety of text materials, including scientific and technical articles, journals, lab instructions, reports, and textbooks. Texts are generally informational in nature, rather than narrative, and often include technical information related to a particular phenomenon, process, or structure. Students should be able to use a variety of texts to distinguish fact from opinion, make inferences, draw conclusions, and collect evidence to test hypotheses and build arguments. Teachers should help students understand that the types of texts students read, along with the reason(s) for reading these texts, are specific to STE. Supporting the development of students’ literacy skills will help them to deepen their understanding of STE concepts.