Integrating the Nature of Science
In this article a lesson in interdependent and ecosystems is created for third grade students by a third-grade teacher and education professor. The lesson is based on “Variation in Populatio... See More
In this article a lesson in interdependent and ecosystems is created for third grade students by a third-grade teacher and education professor. The lesson is based on “Variation in Population” Environments Unit (FOSS 2013) and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) performance expectation 3-LS4-3: Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all (NGSS Lead States 2013). What I like about this article is that it gives educators an example of how to engage students in the scientific process, by encouraging students to think as scientists. They emphasize that scientist ask questions about the world around them, use models to understand things, work in teams, they look for patterns and collect data by observing and counting. The article also shows how the students went through the scientific process step by step with the help of the teacher. They were asked a question, they were given a model that they could use to help understand the questions and information found through observations. It is a very detailed article of how through a scaffold engaging lesson students can become scientists and be excited to learn about science. Teachers would find the article helpful because it is detailed on how the teacher scaffold the lesson, what worked, what didn’t work, what they had adjust and how they assessed the students understanding.
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In this article, third grade students learn about interdependent relationships and ecosystems while behaving like scientists and learning the nature of science. An education professor and th... See More
In this article, third grade students learn about interdependent relationships and ecosystems while behaving like scientists and learning the nature of science. An education professor and third grade teacher wanted to integrate nature of science into a third grade life science unit. Students were learning standard 3-LS4-3: Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all. In this particular lesson, students used colored paper “organism” models to demonstrate how different levels of camouflage can benefit differently in populaitions.
During this lesson, the professor and third grade teaher emphasized to students to act like scientist, specifically thinking about how and why scientists use models. They related this to nature of science by explaining that scientists collect empirical data by making observations and inferences and use models to represent natural phenomena. The school this lesson took place at emphasized CER framework, claims, evidence, and reasoning when supporting students’ data explanation. For this lesson, the goal was to scaffold the CER framework so that students could generate individual explanations.
In this lesson, students were given different colored “organisms” to live in an environment. Students were to hide their “organisms” throughout the environment and allow other groups to try and be the predators and find organisms placed by the other team. This activity was accompanied with discussion as well. The questions asked were questions that connected students back to the nature of science. Using this lesson, students were able to understand the natural world but also recognize components of the nature of science and why models are important. I really enjoyed this article and found it helpful.