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Hi all,

I'm a professor of early childhood education, teaching science methods among other things. I'm looking for a book (or other resource) that focuses on elementary science content. Teaching the pedagogy is tricky when the content knowledge isn't there, and some student are anxious about engaging in science, in part because they feel they don't know enough.

Does anyone have a good title I could to recommend to my students? Something brief, perhaps not 100% comprehensive, but solid? I like this text for social studies content; an equivalent for science would be nice. Ideas?

Thank you all!

Katherine

Interesting! I would encourage any elementary teacher to focus on experimental design. Ther are some works from a few years ago (cauthron i think). That way, fully understanding content is not necessary. Also, through experiments, science can be a vehicle to deliver reading writing and math content. For inspiration, i would recommend either reading or watching "the pleasure of finding things out" selected writings and interviews with Richard Feynman.

Secondarily and maybe not as diplomatically.... They should just get over themselves. They cant avoid things or choose not to teach them because they dont understand it. If that is he issue, they should choose to not teach at all. That being said, i will find some other reasources. In one way, they should embrace the fact they don't know things. Then they can explore with the children and the kids will also lear "hey... Our teacher lkes learning!"

Hi Dan (and all), I completely agree with your philosophy. I emphasize the importance of having an open, curious, ever-growing disposition, and encouraging children to ask and explore their own questions. Many of my students have embraced this perspective as their own. Some of those students, though, would have difficulty explaining the where the moon, sun, and Earth are in relation to each other during a lunar eclipse for example. I'd like to give students a resource that can help them brush up on the science knowledge, maybe remind them that the DO know this information. Hope that makes sense. Thanks very much for your thoughts. Katherine

I started my career in early childhood and now teach middle school science and it is my belief that the most benefit to the students is a sound foundation in the process of science. Developing their observation skills, cause and effect, procedures, and recording data. Many teachers at the EC level often just allow student to do but never explain the how or why. For example, getting youngsters to collect and record data using voice recorders and then transcribing, photos with their thoughts as captions below, or a drawing of class vote on what will happen next. All of these methods teach how science is done while re-enforcing math and LAL skills. One book I found to be a great tool is Discovery Science for preschool and it works u to grade 3 for struggling students. Below is a list of resources from PBS- Teachers website: In Print Science with Young Children Revised Edition by Bess-Gene Holt Publisher: National Association for the Education of Young Children, Washington, D.C. 1993 Biology for Every Kid, Chemistry for Every Kid, Physics for Every Kid, Animals, Machines, Magnets, Microscopes and Magnifying Lenses, Molecules, Play and Find Out about Science, Play and Find Out Human Body, Play and Find Out Insects by Janice VanCleave Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York Discovery Science Explorations for the Early Years, Pre-Kindergarten by David A. Winnett, Robert A. Williams, Elizabeth A. Sherwood, and Robert E. Rockwell Publisher: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, CA 1996 Look Once, Look Again, Science Series Topics include: Exploring Habitats and Exploring Plants and Animals Publisher: Creative Teaching Press, Cypress, CA 1997 Scholastic titles include: Insects and Spiders, Animal Homes, Polar Regions, Amazon Rainforest, Weather Tree, Energy & Force, Machines & Tools, Animal Life Cycles, Birds, Desert, Ocean Publisher: Scholastic Publishing, Jefferson City, MO Your Big Backyard and Wild Animal Baby Magazines Publisher: National Wildlife Federation, Harlan, IA Online Jay Jay the Jet Plane http://pbskids.org/jayjay/ ZOOM http://pbskids.org/zoom/ Exploratorium Science Snacks http://www.exploratorium.edu/snacks/index.html National Wildlife Federation http://www.nwf.org/kids NSTA: Elementary Science Classroom: Science & Children http://www.nsta.org/elementaryschool/

Again. I think those are things that are difficult to think about. Nothing wrong with telling little kids. "Oh, I always forget the exact details and have to think about it for a few minutes (or look it up), we can't know everything all of the time. I can remember walking past one classroom seeing a first grade teacher with kids standing up holding balls in front of an overhead projector to try to figure out phases of the moon and eclipses and then into the classroom where my son's teacher was busy being sure they were sitting quietly and straight in rows. It was sad. Fear of what we can't do keeps us from being effective in the classroom.

Hi, Katherine,
In NSTA Press, we have a few book series that you and your students might look at---I'm including links to pages that highlight free chapters from each of these books. One series is called Stop Faking It! Finally Understanding Science So You Can Teach It by Bill Robertson. It combines science content with humor to help teachers fill in content background they might not have covered in coursework. Another series is Uncovering Student Ideas in Science by Page Keeley, which includes science formative assessments as well as summaries of the science concepts covered in the formative assessment probes. Richard Konicek-Moran's Everyday Science Mysteries series also has helpful background content for the teacher along with mystery stories centered on everyday puzzlers that can be investigated through science. These series are being used in both professional development sessions and science methods courses.

Claire

The National Science Teacher's Association has created an entire series around your exact concern. Improve the content knowledge, comprehensive enough and still reasonably fits into the realistic time constraints that we all face: The "Stop Faking It" series has books on just about every science topic you're looking for. http://www.nsta.org/publications/press/stopfakingit.aspx

Thank you, Claire and Jason! I'll check those out. Best, Katherine

Finding a book or books that deal with both content and pedagogy can sometimes be difficult. I cannot recommend highly enough a series that Karen Worth wrote with Ingrid Chaloux. Discovering Nature with Young Children Exploring Water with Young Children Building Structure with Young Children I also think there are some articles in Science & Children that might be helpful also.

Katherine asks, 'I'm looking for a book (or other resource) that focuses on elementary science content. Teaching the pedagogy is tricky when the content knowledge isn't there, and some student are anxious about engaging in science, in part because they feel they don't know enough.'
Hi Katherine, there have been a lot of great ideas shared already -I especially like the Stop Faking It book series by Dr. Bill Robertson, too. Some of his individual book chapters are available in the Learning Center. Have you considered having your students go through a SciPack? I am an elementary science methods instructor, and I have my students complete Sci Packs to help increase their science content knowledge and understandings of key concepts. The NSTA Learning Center's Sci Packs not only address science content/conceptual knowledge, they also address student misconceptions and the pedagogical implications by grade level.

Hi all, Thank you for posting helpful resources and insights. Within the last 2 years I've been using BrainPop videos to help explain concepts in different content areas. I find it very kid friendly, especially in the lower elementary grades. The video clips are short (2-3 minutes on the average) and gives a very good introduction on subjects that my students can understand. After watching a BrainPop video, we have discussions about the subject. BrainPop also provides follow up activities and quick checks for understanding. Some science videos also provided investigations that the students can do. I love it, but most of all, my students look forward to it!

Hi everyone! I am a teacher candidate at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. I much understand Katherine's concern because my science method instructor also guided us to explore this site and to check out resources that we can learn to teach students effectively. I enjoyed reading thoughtful posts from you all and I definitely will bookmark sources you shared for my future reference. As Mary said above, I have seen one of my mentor teachers in the field classroom using BrainPopJr for both herself and students to gain background knowledge of the content. I think it is helpful for teachers and students. Thank you so much for sharing!