Scientific Inquiry Through Famous Scientists

This article is great for all grade levels and content areas. The article uses books that talk about famous scientists to show how their struggles and challenges impacted their search for s... See More

This article is great for all grade levels and content areas. The article uses books that talk about famous scientists to show how their struggles and challenges impacted their search for scientific discoveries. It offers both suggestions, a sequence to follow, and a chart for students to use in developing a presentation about a chosen scientist that they research. Cross-curriculum and differentiation ideas are suggested, making the ideas discussed in this article very adaptable for teachers. This is a well thought out article, full of potential for the teacher wanting to integrate more reading into their science program.

Using biographies to teach the scientific method

The authors propose using the biographies of famous scientists to help students better understand the nature of science. Taught as a collaborative interdisciplinary unit, the unit has three... See More

The authors propose using the biographies of famous scientists to help students better understand the nature of science. Taught as a collaborative interdisciplinary unit, the unit has three components: teacher instruction, reading of the biographies, and student discussion. Graphic organizers are included to guide students reading. Samples of student work are given. Recommendations for possible biographies and places to find biographies (including online sources) are given.

If You Have The Time

This is an Interesting article about how to teach inquiry through biographies of scientists. The author suggests 12 days for the unit only 3 days are allotted for science inquiry. The artic... See More

This is an Interesting article about how to teach inquiry through biographies of scientists. The author suggests 12 days for the unit only 3 days are allotted for science inquiry. The article does a great job of how to do this in detail but realistically in most science classrooms there is not enough time to provide time for just reading and related strategies. This might be a good article for a teacher of G/T or advanced honors students but not practical in my opinion for the teacher in an average science classroom.

Collaborative Approach to Reading About Famous Sc

Using ascientists' biography to elicit students interest is not a new subject. This article however, carefully helps teachers develop a plan to effectively use a scientists' biography to tea... See More

Using ascientists' biography to elicit students interest is not a new subject. This article however, carefully helps teachers develop a plan to effectively use a scientists' biography to teach lanuage arts skills as well as develop the inquiry skills needed in science. The focus of this article uses the collaboration between a science teacher and a language arts teacher to blend the skills that a student needs (through acquisition of language arts skills) to communicate scientific knowledge. This article provides a well designed implementation plan to guide teachers wishing to "team-teach". It provides examples of students work, an example of a graphic organizer, offers advice for pre- and post- assessment to demonstrate a students growth, and an excellent set of references for student reading. The only negative feed-back I see with this articles recommendations is the amount of time and cooperation needed between the teachers. It requires a large amount of time, something many tea