Jamie Vescio
Vanderbilt University, Peabody College
TN

Teaching Through Trade Books: The Force Is With You (or Against You)

Tue, Jun 12, 2018 3:30 PM
Incorporating students' experiences into science

Organized as two separate lessons (one for K-2 and one for 3-5), this article introduces two trade books that teachers might consider incorporating into force and motion lessons. The two books, Forces Make Things Move by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley and The Marvelous Thing That Came From a Spring by Gilbert Ford, are presented as thought-provoking texts for any teacher looking to build upon students’ funds of knowledge when it comes to force and motion. For example the Bradley text (intended for lower-elementary) shows connections between force and common child activities, like playing on a playground, while Ford’s book (intended for upper-elementary) uses the Slinky as a potential anchoring event to examine within instruction. The lessons that follow within the article utilize the 5E instructional framework. An overlap between the two lessons can be found in the engage portion, during which students from both the K-2 and 3-5 levels engage in various familiar activities as a way to investigate force, such as tug-of-war, yo-yo, and toy cars and ramps. In this way, the trade books and suggested activities seem like they would elicit meaningful student-driven connections between force and their everyday lives!

May the Force Be With You!

Tue, Jun 12, 2018 3:22 PM
Bridging the visualization gap

This article is the definition of hands-on learning! Force/motion is all around us, yet can be one of the most difficult concepts within science to conceptualize. Even the NSTA SciPack on this topic emphasizes the importance of providing students with both qualitative and quantitative experiences with force and motion in order to bridge this common visualization gap. Using the 5E framework of engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate for science instruction, this article dissects an upper-elementary lesson that integrates an engaging (and cost-effective!) device into the classroom: the Fin-di. The Fin-di illustrates ideas around net force, acceleration, friction, and inertia using the simple materials of a peanut-butter jar, cork, piece of string, hot glue, and water. By including photographs and rubrics, this article also makes it easy to imagine how the Fin-di could be used as an initial hook, to elicit students’ prior knowledge, for just-in-time instruction, or for a variety of other functions that align with Ambitious Science Teaching. The best part? Teachers are always looking for resourceful ways to integrate technology and devices into the classroom and the Fin-di is an excellent tool for doing just that!