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I am a student at FIU and one of the requirements for me to graduate is that I complete clinical hours at selective elementary schools. From my observations I notice that the subject science is barely ever touched in a week frame. Teachers and their classes could go through a whole school day and not participate in science lessons. They mostly base their instruction on the reading and math subjects, especially during state standardized testing time. Although I feel that a balance needs to be found between core subjects like reading and math mixed with science. I recognize that there is not so many hours in a day to teach the children everything they need to know and that there may be other obstacles but if teachers created more lesson that involve a little from every subject, then the student could acquire a lot of knowledge. For example a reading lesson could be on a science concept, in which the students practice reading skills and learn about a science concept. What do you think? Could you give me strategies on how to do this?

Hello!

I recently read an article about teaching Science through the use of literature circles. The article completely opened my eyes to exploring the many different ways to integrate science throughout different subject areas. Reading time seems to be a perfect place to incorporate science concepts; children truly do enjoy reading nonfiction books and learning about the world around them. Biographies of scientists and other informative pieces could be used as well to address some of the concepts behind the nature of science itself.

Additionally, I like the idea of incorporating STEM activities into the curriculum whenever possible. The beauty of these activities is that they are interdisciplinary by nature. In one activity, a teacher can address concepts in earth science, physics, and mathematics, all while using technology and working on problem-solving skills. Students truly find joy in completing a STEM challenge task or building and testing models. Additionally, math itself can be easily integrated with science. Students can learn many math concepts in the context of science-related story problems and scenarios. 

Check out the article titled 'A Literature-Circles Approach to Understanding Science as a Human Endeavor' by William Straits on the NSTA website when you get the chance. As I said before, it really encouraged me to think outside the box and look for more ways to connect science to other subjects.

I'm currently working on a research project this summer on climate change. I'm learning how to use different charts to integrate into my curriculum and can see how I can easily combine this with math. For example in introducing the students to thermometers I can do this during math and have them compare celsius and farhenheit. As we create the graphs and skill such as line plots I can also integrate math into our science findings. There's so many opportunities to incorporate science into other subjects.