Forums

Hello! I am an education student and I will be starting my student teaching in the next year. I plan to teach elementary students and I am very interested in teaching early reading, however, I also LOVE science, particularly Biology. I have considered teaching secondary school to teach science but I've always been more drawn to younger students. I plan on putting lots of science books and posters in my room when I teach and hope to get my students as excited about science as I do. I just want to ask some more experienced teachers- how do you get young students interested and even excited about science? I know that most kids find hands on activities like  the caterpillar activities and in-class experiments but how can I put that that same wow factor when I just have to teach a content lesson? How can I instill that "WOW" and "SO COOL" effect into young students when they're learning about the water cycle or anatomy of a flower? I want science to be something my students look forward to and that they're excited to learn about.

Hello Rebecca,

I found some links within the Learning Center that are hopefully helpful!

First is the link to access the Science and Children journal articles by year. This publication is specifically for elementary educators and is full of ideas, lesson plans and helpful advice!

http://learningcenter.nsta.org/browse_journals.aspx?journal=sc&year=2017

Second, there are multiple texts found within the Learning Center that include ways to engage students, depending on the subject matter and what you are specifically looking for. I used the tools to narrow down the search to 'Elementary' and 'Books' and found quite a few resources. Take a look and see if any of these may have the subjects you are looking for!

http://common.nsta.org/search/default.aspx?action=browse&tex...l=&author=

I also wonder if anyone else has strategies to make lessons come to life for students. Do you have any go-to plans that classes love? Share more in the comments below!
-Megan