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 boo... See More

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!