A major part of developing concept-based instruction is the use of an overarching idea to provide a conceptual lens through which students view the content of a particular subject. By using a conceptual lens to focus learning, students think at a much deeper level about the content and its facts (Erickson 2007). Therefore, the authors collaborated on an ecology unit with sixth graders that incorporated concept-based instruction into a problem-based activity. This article describes the steps they took to develop their concept-based unit. It also explains how students used their scientific skills of observing and inferring to explore and address an aerator problem in a pond ecosystem.
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The National Science Education Standards (NSES) specifically addresses the frequency with which teachers should incorporate inquiry as a strategy in their science classrooms. “Although the Standards emphasize inquiry, this should not be interpreted as recommending a single approach to science teaching. Teachers should use different strategies to develop knowledge, understandings, and abilities described in the content standards. However, there is no one right way to instruct students. Rather, their instruction should be through a variety of strategies, selected based on current student understanding, their value in the continuum of learning, the goals of the lesson, and available resources.
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This monthly feature contains facts and challenges for the science explorer.
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The “Needs of Seeds” formative assessment probe can be used to find out whether students recognize that seeds have needs both similar to and different from plants and other living organisms (Keeley, Eberle, and Tugel 2007). The probe reveals whether students overgeneralize the needs of seeds by assuming they have the same needs as the adult plants that grow and develop from a seed during the life cycle of the plant. Through a process of elicitation, exploring, and testing their ideas about seeds, engaging in argumentation and sense making, and reflecting back on their initial thinking, “Needs of Seeds” provides an assessment springboard for students to learn about the needs of living things, hone their skills of inquiry, and experience the nature of science. In addition, teachers can gather valuable formative assessment information about their students’ thinking and their ability to identify the evidence they need to support their ideas.
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Inquiry-based science can be a powerful approach to learning scientific concepts and keeping wonder and curiosity alive in the classroom. As stated by Hubert Dyasi, Professor Emeritus, City College New York, “Inquiry aligns with children’s natural impulses to learn. It is an affirmation of a person’s capacity to learn, an essential ingredient in every child’s wholesome intellectual and cultural development.” However, the challenge for us as educators, even amidst pressures to teach for “accountability,” is to find ways to continually create the pathways that nurture this development. We can afford to do no less to prepare our students to take their place as citizens of an increasingly complex world.
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Real science means wrangling with peers over real ideas. Wouldn’t it be thrilling to emulate a real life model of science in action in classrooms? How? By starting with a great, hands-on activity modeling an object in space that introduces both key vocabulary and science concepts with visuals to support retention and learning; encouraging collaboration to enrich student engagement with those concepts as students develop their models; and capping the experience by scaffolding an opportunity for students to engage in scientific argumentation as they discuss the strengths and limitations of their models and brainstorm ways to improve them. Read on to find out how the authors did all of that and more!
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An outdoor classroom is an exciting way to connect the learning of science to nature and the environment. Many school grounds include gardens, grassy areas, courtyards, and wooded areas. Some even have nearby streams or creeks. These are built-in laboratories for inquiry! In the authors’ third-grade classroom, they align and integrate language-arts process skills with science-process skills through a curriculum based on nature study in their outdoor classroom. This article takes the reader through their basic format in a science unit from skill-based reading about nature to conducting outdoor inquiries to writing about nature learning. They provide three examples of units that they have completed following this model in their outdoor classroom: seeds, butterflies, and stream health.
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Teachers often have questions about how the strategies they learned at a professional development (PD) workshop will work with their students. Wouldn’t it be great if teachers had the opportunity to practice implementing new strategies during PD so that they could hone their skills before returning to their classrooms? That’s what 35 teachers got to experience as part of the QUEST (Quality Elementary Science Teaching) program. The unique design of the summer institute allows teachers to shift into the role of learner as they participate in the workshop, and then shift back into the role of teacher as they facilitate a summer outreach program for students. In this article, the authors describe QUEST as a model for meaningful PD.
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Convection is when different parts of a fluid move in a more-or-less circular path, with parts of the fluid at the bottom moving to the top and vice versa. Here fluids refer to both liquids and gases. Convection happens when you have two fluids together that are different densities, but we can come up with a more detailed explanation than that. In doing so, we’ll concentrate on liquids because they’re easier to mess around with.
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Most children want to help wildlife and save the planet. The following “Spot It! Scavenger Hunt” allows students to connect with nature by exploring the outdoor environment. Students are encouraged to explore their local environment and learn more about the animals and plants that live there and better understand the relationships that exist in nature instead of just reading and seeing it in a book. The activity also fits in well with units on classification, ecosystems, and biodiversity.
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“You’ve got cooties!” is a traditional taunt between children on the playground. Although children’s avoidance of “boy or girl” germs is not scientifically based, students have an innate understanding that transmission of germs can happen through touching. This column won’t touch on “cooties,” but it will provide students with an opportunity to examine what germs are and how they are spread.
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An in-depth science inquiry is an ongoing investigation in which children are introduced to materials through hands-on experiences and, with teacher guidance, begin to investigate a question that they can answer through their own actions, observations, and with teacher-assisted research. Qualities that make an experience appropriate to include in early childhood science inquiry are described as being interesting to children, linked to their experiences, and accessible to all children’s direct exploration. As children pose questions and seek answers, teachers can use these qualities to decide whether the question has the potential for ongoing inquiry. In addition, developing the skills to do science inquiry is part of the National Science Education Content Standard A: Science as inquiry.
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The authors conducted a test to determine whether they could incorporate a discovery box into a preschool setting was successful. It stimulated the students’ natural inquiry processes while promoting understanding of healthy foods and allowing for practice of fine-motor skills. It was easily incorporated into the curriculum and classroom space. Since preschoolers are naturally curious, they tried to determine and predict how the tools and components worked. They inspected the materials and used the tools to measure, analyze, and create mental models. They also constructed their own explanations. This article describes the authors’ experiences developing and setting up the discovery box learning activity center for preschoolers.
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The authors developed a demonstration with two similar setups that provide students with both the prior experience to form an expectation and the discrepancy to grab their attention. They follow the demonstration with a structured exploration format that gives students a method for experimenting to find the one built-in difference (i.e., the variable) that caused the different results between the two setups. Because the demonstration-experiment approach can be applied to various science content areas, inquiry is not the focus of just a single unit, but is used to teach content throughout the school year. This article describes one such activity that deals with the concepts of density and convection currents and is called “Chill Out.”
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