After I did my first question about How to teach young elementary grades science, I found a lot of information about WHY we should teach them science. So, I have focused my next research question on exactly that, Why should we teach young elementary students science?
Here is what I found:
1. Science is an important topic that is essential in today’s modern technical world. Time should be set aside for science every day/week just like math, language arts, and all the other subjects. Too many times science and social studies are rotated. Science one week, social studies to next. These are both important topics that must be taught to students.
2. Science is a practical subject. It is a way about finding things out about the world. Science is not all about teaching facts, but about teaching skills that students can take with them. When students are given the correct skills, they will be able, with your help or advising to find the facts themselves. This is important because you, there teacher will not always be there to give them facts. They will need to learn the skills to figure things out on their own.
A great example of this would be the Ice cube experiment. When children are younger, you could put an ice cube on a dish in the classroom and ask what they think will happen to it. As they get older, you ask more specific questions. How long will it take for the ice cube to melt? Does where the ice cube placed in the room make a difference? How will the temperature in the room affect the ice cube, and so on.
3. Science is a playful subject. Children are naturally curious about the world, and if left alone, will find out about the world through play. As teachers, we can encourage this playfulness learning by allowing time for students to play with equipment. For example, give each pair of students a flashlight and 10 minutes and then have them report everything they found out about shadows. There are more activities on the website, which I will post at the bottom of this blog. These are great for young students because they are actually teaching themselves, and learning how to problem solve on their own.
4. Science is a fun subject! Most students love to do hands on work. Sometimes the concepts can be more difficult than those in other subjects, but if you are doing hands on activities, students are more willing to participate and learn because they find them more enjoyable than sitting and listening to a lecture. Hands on activities also help students who have short attention spans because it gets them up, moving, and having something to do. The website I found breaks down a one hour block of science in a way that younger students would stay engaged for longer.
Overall, I think this website had some great reasons why science should be taught in the early elementary grades.
http://cnx.org/content/m14527/latest/
This is a great post and a great question. I agree with your posts. Yes, younger children are curious about the world around them. Yes, children are creative and of course are always looking for fun! Teachers also enjoy teaching when their students are having fun. Las t semester I was doing my literacy practicum and the fourth graders were disecting an owl's feed pouch. The children in elementary grades need science as part of their curriculum to help them comprehend what is happening in their world around them.
ReplyDeleteNatalie,
ReplyDeleteI really like Karen Worth's writing and resources related to science in early childhood. For example: http://www.heinemann.com/products/E00573.aspx
Some of the shows on PBS also have great websites for 4K & 5K students - check out Peep and the Big Wide World and Sid the Science Kid!
I was very interested in this post- mainly because I was so shocked to learn that many schools rotate science instruction, so kids only have 2-3 days of science a week. As an elementary student, I had science everyday, and I looked forward to that time because- as you mentioned- it was fun and I got to be creative!
ReplyDeleteI think that science gives students an opportunity to not only learn content, but to also question the world around them, which I think students should be exposed to at a young age. Unfortunately, a couple of elementary teachers that I have talked to about science say they are happy to only teach the subject a couple times a week because they are so worried about covering all the literacy and math material in a day.
Thanks for the resource!
Thanks for the resources! I will be sure to check them out!
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