NSTA - National Science Teachers Association

Member Login

Science Store

Bestsellers

Science StoreView Cart   View Cart

What Good Science Looks Like in the Classroom


By: Olaf Jorgenson, Jackie Cleveland, and Rick Vanosdall
$2.79 - Member Price  
$3.49 - Nonmember Price

Details

Type of Product:Book Chapter
Average Rating:
 based on 2 reviews
Publication Title:Doing Good Science in Middle School: A Practical Guide to Inquiry-Based Instruction
Publication Date:1/1/2004
Pages:9
Grade Level:Middle School
See Also:View all available chapters for this book
View the full version of this book
View the downloadable PDF version of this book


Description

In the inquiry process, students acquire valuable skills through their interaction, collaboration, and problem solving with other students—skills that cannot be learned sitting in desks in rows and listening to a teacher. Learning science is a process, rather than a database of facts. To achieve this goal, the authors recommend as a foundation the model of science instruction and lesson planning commonly referred to as the 5E method (Bybee 1997): Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate. This chapter discusses how this model can be incorporated into the curriculum and effectively illustrates what good science looks like in the classroom.


Ideas For Use

"Learning science is something students do, not something that is done to them" (NRC 1996, p. 2). In this way, students become "coinvestigators" rather than vessels for information--they share with their teachers the responsibility for engaging in the process, the outcome, and the reflection during an investigation. This is part of a larger structural shift in our approach to science instruction in the middle grades (see Table 3.1).

Additional Info

Intended User Role:Curriculum Supervisor, Middle-Level Educator, Teacher
Educational Issues:Achievement, Classroom management, Curriculum, Educational research, Inquiry learning, Instructional materials, Learning theory, Professional development, Teacher content knowledge, Teacher preparation, Teaching strategies

Technical

Resource Format:application/pdf
Size:337 KB
Requirements:Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader


Customers who bought this item also bought
25% Ten Activities for Middle School Science: Developmentally Appropriate, Inquiry- and Standards-Based
Member Price: $2.79 Nonmember Price: $3.49
25% Inquiry Activities in Action: Questioning, Differentiating, and Assessing
Member Price: $2.79 Nonmember Price: $3.49
15% Picture-Perfect Science Lessons, Expanded 2nd Edition: Using Children's Books to Guide Inquiry, 3-6
Member Price: $30.36 Nonmember Price: $37.95
15% Inside-Out: Environmental Science in the Classroom and the Field, Grades 3–8 (e-book)
Member Price: $16.87 Nonmember Price: $19.46
15% The Cornerstones of Good Science: Inquiry and Collaboration
Member Price: $2.79 Nonmember Price: $3.49

National Standards Correlation

This resource has 9 correlations with the National Standards.  
[VIEW CORRELATIONS]

This resource has 9 correlations with the National Standards.  
[HIDE CORRELATIONS]

  • Process Standards for Professional Development
    • Research-Based
      • Address teachers' needs as learners and build on their current knowledge of science content, teaching, and learning. (NSES)
    • Learning
      • Applies knowledge about human learning and change. (NSDC)
      • Incorporate ongoing reflection on the process and outcomes of understanding science through inquiry. (NSES)
  • Teaching Standards
    • Teachers of science guide and facilitate learning. In doing this, teachers
      • Encourage and model the skills of scientific inquiry, as well as the curiosity, openness to new ideas and data, and skepticism that characterize science.
      • Focus and support inquiries while interacting with students.
      • Orchestrate discourse among students about scientific ideas.
    • Teachers provide students with the time, space, and resources needed to learn science.
      • Create a setting for student work that is flexible and supportive of science inquiry.
    • Teachers of science develop communities of science learners that reflect the intellectual rigor of scientific inquiry.
      • Model and emphasize the skills, attitudes, and values of scientific inquiry.
      • Nurture collaboration among students.


Customer Reviews
Learning Different Characteristics in Science
  Reviewed by: Daniel Cadima (Miami, FL) on September 24, 2012
  It provides different characteristics of teaching science in a classroom. For example, the learner centered teaching places the emphasis on the person who is doing the learning. Learning centered teaching focuses on the process of learning. Overall great article. Highly recommended.

Solid Argument for Adopting Inquiry Instruction
  Reviewed by: Caryn Meirs (Smithtown, NY) on July 15, 2011
  This book has been around a while and the well referenced chapter here shows its age, but the argument is still solid and presented using clear, persuasive language. The tables and bullet lists are also useful in so many ways - a quick reminder to ourselves - is this what science looks, feels and sounds like in my classroom right now? - or as part of an appeal to teachers to use more inquiry in their classrooms.

If you wish to add your review, click here.

All