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NSTA Recommends
Hard-to-Teach Science Concepts
by Susan Koba and Carol T. Mitchell
Price at time of review: $33.95
256 pp.
NSTA Press
Arlington, VA
2011
ISBN: 9781936137152
Grade Level: 3-5
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Reviewed by Lois Spangler
Second Grade Science Teacher
This newest volume in the popular Hard to Teach Science Concepts series is an excellent resource that provides a wide variety of detailed instructional tools and research-based strategies. Readers will learn why some science topics are harder to teach and learn than others and how to transition from a theoretical teaching framework to practicing teaching.
The volume is divided into two parts. In Part I, the authors share their research-based framework to address conceptual change as well as a process and instructional tools to put the framework into practice. This is the predictive phase of the process, during which students’ preconceptions are identified and the learning targets and their learning sequence for a given unit are clarified. Part II provides models for instruction. This is the responsive phase, in which the authors show teachers how to consider the needs of their students in creating conceptual understanding by following a step-by-step process. The authors walk teachers through the application of the framework using the following science topics—matter and its transformations, Earth’s shape and gravity, and understanding changes of motion.
I highly recommend this book to elementary and middle school teachers as well as those using differentiated instructional strategies and those teaching special education. This is also an excellent volume for preservice teachers and those studying the teaching of science. It would make an excellent book selection for book clubs and science curriculum groups.
Review posted on 7/20/2011
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