A practical methods text that prepares teachers to engage their students in rich science learning experiences Featuring an increased emphasis on the way today's changing science and technology is shaping our culture, this Second Edition of Teaching Science in Elementary and Middle School provides pre- and in-service teachers with an introduction to basic science concepts and methods of science instruction, as well as practical strategies for the classroom. Throughout the book, the authors help readers learn to think like scientists and better understand the role of science in our day-to-day lives and in the history of Western culture. Part II features 100 key experiments that demonstrate the connection between content knowledge and effective inquiry-based pedagogy. The Second Edition is updated throughout and includes new coverage of applying multiple intelligences to the teaching and learning of science, creating safe spaces for scientific experimentation, using today's rapidly changing online technologies, and more. New to This Edition: Links to national content standards for Mathematics, Language Arts, and Social Studies help readers plan for teaching across the content areas. Discussions of federal legislation, including No Child Left Behind and Race To The Top, demonstrate legislation's influence on classroom science teaching. New "Scientists Then and Now" biographies provide practical examples of how great scientists balance a focus on content knowledge with a focus on exploring new ways to ask and answer questions. Sixteen additional video demonstrations on the Instructor Teaching Site and Student Study Site illustrate how to arrange and implement selected experiments.

Teaching Science in Elementary and Middle School offers in-depth information about the fundamental features of project-based science and strategies for implementing the approach. In project-based science classrooms students investigate, use technology, develop artifacts, collaborate, and make products to show what they have learned. Paralleling what scientists do, project-based science represents the essence of inquiry and the nature of science. Because project-based science is a method aligned with what is known about how to help all children learn science, it not only helps students learn science more thoroughly and deeply, it also helps them experience the joy of doing science. Project-based science embodies the principles in A Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards. Blending principles of learning and motivation with practical teaching ideas, this text shows how project-based learning is related to ideas in the Framework and provides concrete strategies for meeting its goals. Features include long-term, interdisciplinary, student-centered lessons; scenarios; learning activities, and "Connecting to Framework for K–12 Science Education" textboxes. More concise than previous editions, the Fourth Edition offers a wealth of supplementary material on a new Companion Website, including many videos showing a teacher and class in a project environment.

"This book comes at just the right time, as teachers are being encouraged to re-examine current approaches to science instruction." -Lynn Rankin, Director, Institute for Inquiry, Exploratorium "Easy to read and comprehend with very explicit examples, it will be foundational for classroom teachers as they journey from novice teacher of science to expert." -Jo Anne Vasquez, Ph.D., Past President of the National Science Teachers Association "Teaching Science for Understanding is a comprehensive, exquisitely written guide and well-illustrated resource for high quality teaching and learning of inquiry-based science." -Hubert M. Dyasi, Ph.D., Professor of Science, City College and City University of New York Even though there is an unending supply of science textbooks, kits, and other resources, the practice of teaching science is more challenging than simply setting up an experiment. In Teaching Science for Understanding in Elementary and Middle Schools, Wynne Harlen focuses on why developing understanding is essential in science education and how best to engage students in activities that deepen their curiosity about the world and promote enjoyment of science. Teaching Science for Understanding in Elementary and Middle Schools centers on how to build on the ideas your students already have to cultivate the thinking and skills necessary for developing an understanding of the scientific aspects of the world, including: helping students develop and use the skills of investigation drawing conclusions from data through analyzing, interpreting, and explaining creating classrooms that encourage students to explain and justify their thinking asking productive questions to support students' understanding. Through classroom vignettes, examples, and practical suggestions at the end of each chapter, Wynne provides a compelling vision of what can be achieved through science education...and strategies that you can implement in your classroom right now.

What activities might a teacher use to help children explore the life cycle of butterflies? What does a science teacher need to conduct a "leaf safari" for students? Where can children safely enjoy hands-on experience with life in an estuary? Selecting resources to teach elementary school science can be confusing and difficult, but few decisions have greater impact on the effectiveness of science teaching. Educators will find a wealth of information and expert guidance to meet this need in Resources for Teaching Elementary School Science. A completely revised edition of the best-selling resource guide Science for Children: Resources for Teachers, this new book is an annotated guide to hands-on, inquiry-centered curriculum materials and sources of help in teaching science from kindergarten through sixth grade. (Companion volumes for middle and high school are planned.) The guide annotates about 350 curriculum packages, describing the activities involved and what students learn. Each annotation lists recommended grade levels, accompanying materials and kits or suggested equipment, and ordering information. These 400 entries were reviewed by both educators and scientists to ensure that they are accurate and current and offer students the opportunity to: Ask questions and find their own answers. Experiment productively. Develop patience, persistence, and confidence in their own ability to solve real problems. The entries in the curriculum section are grouped by scientific areaâ€"Life Science, Earth Science, Physical Science, and Multidisciplinary and Applied Scienceâ€"and by typeâ€"core materials, supplementary materials, and science activity books. Additionally, a section of references for teachers provides annotated listings of books about science and teaching, directories and guides to science trade books, and magazines that will help teachers enhance their students' science education. Resources for Teaching Elementary School Science also lists by region and state about 600 science centers, museums, and zoos where teachers can take students for interactive science experiences. Annotations highlight almost 300 facilities that make significant efforts to help teachers. Another section describes more than 100 organizations from which teachers can obtain more resources. And a section on publishers and suppliers give names and addresses of sources for materials. The guide will be invaluable to teachers, principals, administrators, teacher trainers, science curriculum specialists, and advocates of hands-on science teaching, and it will be of interest to parent-teacher organizations and parents.

What is science for a child? How do children learn about science and how to do science? Drawing on a vast array of work from neuroscience to classroom observation, Taking Science to School provides a comprehensive picture of what we know about teaching and learning science from kindergarten through eighth grade. By looking at a broad range of questions, this book provides a basic foundation for guiding science teaching and supporting students in their learning. Taking Science to School answers such questions as: When do children begin to learn about science? Are there critical stages in a child's development of such scientific concepts as mass or animate objects? What role does nonschool learning play in children's knowledge of science? How can science education capitalize on children's natural curiosity? What are the best tasks for books, lectures, and hands-on learning? How can teachers be taught to teach science? The book also provides a detailed examination of how we know what we know about children's learning of scienceâ€"about the role of research and evidence. This book will be an essential resource for everyone involved in K-8 science educationâ€"teachers, principals, boards of education, teacher education providers and accreditors, education researchers, federal education agencies, and state and federal policy makers. It will also be a useful guide for parents and others interested in how children learn.

2018 Outstanding Academic Title, Choice Ambitious Science Teaching outlines a powerful framework for science teaching to ensure that instruction is rigorous and equitable for students from all backgrounds. The practices presented in the book are being used in schools and districts that seek to improve science teaching at scale, and a wide range of science subjects and grade levels are represented. The book is organized around four sets of core teaching practices: planning for engagement with big ideas; eliciting student thinking; supporting changes in students’ thinking; and drawing together evidence-based explanations. Discussion of each practice includes tools and routines that teachers can use to support students’ participation, transcripts of actual student-teacher dialogue and descriptions of teachers’ thinking as it unfolds, and examples of student work. The book also provides explicit guidance for “opportunity to learn” strategies that can help scaffold the participation of diverse students. Since the success of these practices depends so heavily on discourse among students, Ambitious Science Teaching includes chapters on productive classroom talk. Science-specific skills such as modeling and scientific argument are also covered. Drawing on the emerging research on core teaching practices and their extensive work with preservice and in-service teachers, Ambitious Science Teaching presents a coherent and aligned set of resources for educators striving to meet the considerable challenges that have been set for them.

A broad review of science and ways of teaching science, emphasizing science, technology, and society, including extensive treatment of ecology, environment, and energy. Organized in parallel A & B chapters?"A" chapters present science background, fundamental concepts, principles, and illustrations; "B" chapters contain specific teaching methods.