Chapter 6
Science is included as part of my school’s curriculum, but the specific implementation is left to the digression of the lead teacher for each grade. The lead teacher collaborates with the other teachers at each grade level to decide the schedule, content, and order of the science instruction that will be used. This allows for all students in each grade to be exposed to the same material and learning. There is not a formal science curriculum in use currently.
The teacher that I am working with moved from the first grade to the second at the beginning of the school year. In first grade, Mrs. Hammond used the weekly reading to help plan the science that would be covered. She read the stories in advanced, then used them to plan related science and social studies units. She made sure that the lessons planned aligned with the science standards and were grade level appropriate. Moving to second grade changed the way that Mrs. Hammond teaches science. The lead second grade teacher worked closely with last year’s teachers to plan the schedule for this year however, Mrs. Hammond was not part of that collaboration. Now, she has the schedule of topics and the lessons that will be included in them, but she is waiting for the rest of the second-grade teachers to begin instruction.
While I understand the purpose of teaching all the second-grade students the same material, what I don’t understand is why the teachers are required to teach the units at the same time. The schedule that the lead teacher has laid out states that the students were supposed to learn about space in August, and government in September. We are already half way through September and neither space or government has been covered at all. If Mrs. Hammond were still covering science topics as she had in the first grade, the students would have already covered at least some science and social studies content. Having to wait for the other teachers is not effective, as it does not allow the students in Mrs. Hammonds class to cover any of the science standards while they wait.
Chapter 5
Chapter five of Pearce (1999) discusses the idea of outside education and provides a variety of ideas for outdoor activities. I love the idea of taking science education outside. We live in such a beautiful state, with great weather and lots to explore; it would be a shame not to use it to educate students about the world around us. The Farmington area, like the rest of the state, has been experiencing extreme drought; and while this is unfortunate, I believe that it also provides learning opportunities for students. In the classroom, I would have students explore the amount of water that they use by journaling every time they use water. We would conduct experiments on how much water plants need to grow and compare the water requirements of plants native to the area with plants that have been imported from other climates. I would tie this study in with exploring the water cycle and would include activities involving recording the rate of water evaporation.
A unit on exploring water in our area could incorporate other areas of study as well. Students can explore social studies by talking about water rights and the best way for everyone to get the water they need. Students can also explore the history of Farmington including the reason for its location in relation to the rivers in the area. The Native American relationship with water in history and culture in the area can also be explored. It would be easy to incorporate math into the lesson as students would be measuring volume and finding rates of evaporation. Research about the water needs of plants and animals would also require students to incorporate reading; while writing reports and presenting their findings would incorporate the other language arts.
I believe that outdoor science education is important for all grades, K-12. Our society has become so technology focused, that students are not spending anywhere near the amount of time outside as they used to. When my dad was a child, his mother would drop him and his brothers off at the river and she would go to work. They would spend all day fishing and exploring the rivers of Florida and Texas. When I was a child, I would go explore the hilly grassland area in my neighborhood with friends. We would look under rocks and inside dying trees to see what we could find. Children today do not have these same opportunities. This is certainly safer than the exploring my father and I did, but our children are missing out on these amazing adventures. When we take our students into nature, we are allowing them to have the hands-on learning opportunities that we had as children, only in a safer manner. I believe that by taking them outside we are also teaching them to appreciate the world around them. As humans, we are more likely to take care of something when we truly appreciate it. Our students need to see the beauty our world has to offer, before it is too late. They need to learn to take care of it, so that they do not make the mistakes that previous generations have made.
References
Pearce C. R. (1999) Nurturing Inquiry, Real Science for the Elementary Classroom. Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Heinemann.
Chapter 4
Student’s in Farmington are not given official placement for their first semester of student teaching, so I am writing this post on my future plans and the Farmington School District curriculum.
I would use discovery boxes at the beginning of each unit. In the boxes I would put a variety of materials related to the unit, as well as some of the forms found in chapter 4 of Pearce. I particularly like the cover sheet, and the discovery log (Pearce, 1999, p.35, 37). I would organize the boxes by topic’s that will be included in the next unit we are covering. For example, if we are learning about the water cycle, I would have an evaporation box with tubs of water, blow dryers, heat lamps, and measuring cups. I would also have a box for condensation, which would contain similar materials but would also have a plastic sheet (to catch the evaporated water). I believe that this type of learning is important and that we can find ways to fit it into our schedules and curriculum. If I had to justify how the day fit into the curriculum, I could show how the boxes are related to the unit of study that we are beginning. I believe if we show that there is value in the activity, it fits into our curriculum, and that it is not taking time out of other activities, then there should be no problems fitting them into the schedule.
References
Pearce C. R. (1999) Nurturing Inquiry, Real Science for the Elementary Classroom. Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Heinemann.
Chapter 3
Working on student documentation provides ample opportunity to assess what they have discovered during their inquiry sessions. The author states that the initial inquiry period is not the time to work on documentation; however, students should still be expected to share what they have learned and discovered (Pearce, 1999, p.29). Asking effective questions can facilitate this process. In the scenario found in the text the teacher facilitates the discussion of the class’s discoveries by asking open-ended questions. By asking the student, “what did you find out,” or “what could you try another time,” the teacher is leading the student to develop their explanations and scientific reasoning. These types of questions can also lead students to discover and correct their misconceptions.
Some examples of questions that fill this purpose include:
“Why do you think that worked?”
“Why do you think that did not work?”
“How did you reach your conclusion?”
“What did you think was going to happen when you started your experiment?”
“What would you change if you did the experiment again?”
References
Pearce C. R. (1999) Nurturing Inquiry, Real Science for the Elementary Classroom. Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Heinemann.
Chapter 1 and 2
The weeks reading spoke to me before I even reached page one. In the introduction, Pearce states, “Children are authentically motivated to do science for one basic reason: to find out! Kids are intrigued by the unknown. The world around them is a mystery to be unraveled and solved” (Pearce, 1999, p. IX). If properly guided, students can learn astonishing amounts of science, without realizing they are learning. As future and current educators, we are always looking for ways to authentically motivate our students. Students are naturally motivated by inquiry-based science, not just in the classroom, but in their everyday lives. This inquiry includes: asking questions, developing experiments and investigations, gathering data, observing results, and drawing conclusions; in other words when students are learning through inquiry, they are learning through the scientific method (Pearce, 1999, p. 5). While this is awesome for students, for teachers it provides so much more. We talk about meeting our students where they are in their development. An inquiry-based approach allows us to do just that (Pearce, 1999, p. 5). We can observe where they are during their initial inquiry. Unlike the textbook, I feel like using this method would also allow for assessment to be completed easily. For example, while watching a student a teacher may assess if that student is using the scientific method, if the student is using academic vocabulary, if the student is conducting trails and drawing conclusions.
The inquiry approach to science is important for students and teachers alike. This approach facilitates the learning of the students, because it is how they naturally learn. This approach also makes the information more memorable to the student, because they are discovering the information on their own, and they are exploring topics of interest to them.
This is very different from the science exploration I remember as a young student. I remember looking at a textbook and then filling out a worksheet or answering the questions at the end of the chapter. Most of the time, I could not tell you what was on the worksheet after turning it in. The first positive science experience I had was in the sixth grade. I was allowed to pick my own topic of exploration for the science fair. I was then able to research something I found interesting, blow up a few dozen plastic bottles, and won third place.
References
Pearce, C. (1999). Nurturing Inquiry: Real Science for the Elementary Classroom. Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Heinemann.