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Science is an adventures subject to study at school. Children in the elementary years enjoy it a lot, because they get to explore new things, and conducts experiments. When they due so, they are engaged, having fun, and getting their education. Sadly, when students start third grade, the focus shifts to mostly reading and math. After that, children start loosing interest in science, and then don't get the proper education. With that being said, I want to know what are some science projects third graders could be doing while at home. I feel that as an educator we need to try our best to have a balance between the subjects, and never loos focus on the end goal. A great way of looking at this is starting with the end in mind. In our case as teachers, we need to always keep in mind that children need to get the best education they can including all of the subjects. in addition I wanted to ask, how could I integrate science with the other subjects that are tested in the STAR test such as, math and reading.
Thank you for reading, Have a great day.
Henry Campos.
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Science projects are a great way to incorporate STEM-related activities and content in the school curriculum. It gives students an opportunity to choose from a variety of topics regarding what they would emphasis on with their project. This also gives students autonomy in allowing them to select what aspect of science peaks their interest the most.
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Hi Henry, I definitely agree with you that once you're in the 3rd grade level and beyond that the school highly focus on the important subjects for STAAR testing. Sometimes it would be difficult for students to be working on science projects at home because they might not have the materials and support from the parents because they might not be able to help. I thought it is a great idea on how to integrate science with other subjects! Just some suggestions, but if your students is doing a article reading, try to have it relating about science. Once they are finish reading with it, maybe incorporate and ask about the main idea and supporting details regarding the article. Another one would be if the students were learning a specific topic, they could create a poem or story with key terms. Good luck!
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I agree! I am currently student teaching and in my school we are only focusing on STAAR testing. They have taken science as an elective for once a week. I find it really unfair, because science was part of doing experiments, exploring and learning new material that will connect a you move on to the next grade. I once observed their science class and it was mostly was paper and pencil or cut and paste. I would not imagine my elementary years with out doing experiments and just learning with hands on activities. Many children do loose their interest with just paper and pencil. I think as an adult I would also loose interest, because the best learning that I remember is by actually doing or seeing it done by my teachers. Science can be easily integrate in reading by reading passages about science topics that they are interested. I am in a all math class, so the way that I teach science is by doing science math problems and experiments that can relate to the math problem. It is time consuming, but that is the only way that my students are able to get science in their everyday learning. Overall,I agree with you and as future teachers we need to understand how to balance subjects especially without loosing their interest.
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Hello Henry. I agree with you, Science gets pushed back for reading and math very often. Some schools do not even have time scheduled in their day for science. It really is a disadvantage to students that have an interest in science and its offerings. For third graders, I would say they would love experiments, such as, making slime or making balloons blow up with coke bottles. These are simple, inexpensive experiments that can be done with minimal parental supervision. Have a great day!
Naomi
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I have noticed that too, many teachers are pressured into having all of their students pass the STAAR that they loose focus on the other subjects. My daughter is suffering from this too. Unfortunately her teacher is not teaching her science, but still needs to take a grade for it. So what she does, is give her readings about science. I see she is trying to kill two birds with one stone but this is just affecting the way my daughter sees science. To her is just another boring subject that doesn't make sense to her. What I have been doing with her is teach her the experiments I learn in our science methods class.
I think one way to help students is to give them opportunities to explore experiments through the science fair. Maybe allow them to read more about science and have them do small experiments at home. Another thing you can mention to your students is that making slime is science. I see a lot of elementary students are interested in slime. If you let them know they are creating science by mixing all the ingredients, you may spark their curiosity. If they have internet access you could have them research more about slime.
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