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Hi, I am still in school and about to become an elementary school teacher. I know from my experience and from what i hear from my nieces and nephews science is not a subject that is taught with such importance. I am not sure if this is everywhere but i have heard it frequently. I also think that it may be taught just not explained to the students well that what they are doing is science. I do not think many students know that science is everywhere and everything. As a future teacher i just want to make sure i remind myself to incorporate science in the classroom. I want students to have fun with it as well. I want them to know what they are learning is SCIENCE.
thank you!
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I'm so glad you made this comment Alma! I don't know for sure about other places, but where I work, elementary teachers receive no professional development in science once they begin teaching! It's terrible. Science is all around us and we need to know how scientific principals affect us in our every day lives. I've been very lucky the last three years to be involved in a grant where I have received a lot of professional development in science so that I can go out and share that with science teachers in our parish. One of the very best places to spend time and work on your own science development is right here on the NSTA Learning Center. Also take a look at http://ngss.nsta.org/
click on Classroom Resources that will show you the alignment to the NGSS and resources with lessons, materials, rubrics, etc.
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Alma,
I, too, am a preservice teacher who will be have my own students in 1 1/2-2 years. I'm learning in my science methods class how lacking the instruction is in regards to science. There doesn't seem to be any importance placed on science. I don't remember learning much about science when I was in elementary, middle, or high school. Science is an important subject that teaches critical thinking and unfortunately, I feel like people today lack the ability to think critically. I will be very conscious when it comes to incorporating science into my classroom because of this reason alone.
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Hi Alma,
I couldn't agree with you more. In successful elementary school classroom, science is incorporated as a co-curricular activity. Student apply their reading, math, and writing skills as they learn science concepts. When my children were in elementary school, they learned science using both hands-on activities and through the reading of some excellent science trade books.
As you develop your learning units, you might consider using some of these. Science and Children, the NSTA publication for elementary school teachers, has a regular column that makes recommendations for many trade books that can be used in the classroom. You can find out more by using the search bar in the Learning Center and typing in 'Teaching Science through Trade Books.'
Here is the link to one such article, Teaching Science Through Trade Book: Becoming a Citizen Scientist.
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I am glad to see that so many preservice teachers have a conception of what science really means to elementary students. Good luck in getting science into your classroom successfully.
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