Forums

Forums / Elementary Science / Science in the Elementary Classroom

Elementary Science

Science in the Elementary Classroom

Author Post
Henry Campos Henry Campos 695 Points

In your typical elementary school, the main focus is on math, reading and writing. Social studies and Science are not given the importance/attention that it needs. My question is, what are some way to incorporate science in your instruction while having your supervisors put all of the emphasis on math, reading, and writing. I totally understand that the standardized exams are important, but what are we suppose to do as educators if we want to give students what they need to pass, as well as give them an authentic learning experience in the classroom that includes all of the core subjects equally.  Thank your for your time.  Henry Campos.   

Jeff Torrance Jeff Torrance 560 Points

What is it you are writing about? If it’s suffixes and junk then you can present them with a text about life cycles or whatever. Put your science/humanities texts into the writing and math. Have to write a narrative? Write a story about a Roman slave. Have to write a recount? What about the recounts from ww1 soldiers while examining the texts for reputability. Report writing lends itself to any scientific study. Math is tied into science quite well with graphing, ratios and lots of other number crunching based on science. We are doing a health unit right now and math is graphing. We solved a murder based on line graphs of heart rates on a line graph. Then followed it up with lessons on heart and blood function. Later we will be doing heart rates comparisons to an exercise and this pairs nicely with bar graphs. Writing hypothesis about expected outcomes in future tense and past tense. They don’t have to be separate units.

Kaitlin Schlegel Katie Schlegel 2865 Points

I understand your frustration with the emphasis on math and reading in the classrooms, but that is where it is important to become creative and write cross-curricular lesson plans. Many schools have even been moving to thematic units. So, for instance, say the overarching unit is the solar system. Students can read articles/books on the solar system, write about a space adventure, learn about the history of the solar system or the space race, do experiments to learn about the seasons or the lunar phases, and work on measurement between the planets or work on time and calculate how long each planet takes to make a full rotation. In addition, you can go to this link, http://ngss.nsta.org/AccessStandardsByTopic.aspx, and when you click on each standard and scroll down, you can find the connections to other subject area standards in the common core. This will make your life much easier and there are also lesson plans on the right-hand side that incorporate several standards which are also really helpful!
Don't give up on science!!

Post Reply

Forum content is subject to the same rules as NSTA List Serves. Rules and disclaimers