Tips for Teaching Elementary Science
Teaching elementary science can be one of the most rewarding experiences an educator has. It affords the opportunity to both satisfy and cultivate the innate and insatiable curiosity of pre-adolescents. It also provides the opportunity to teach a problem solving methodology that will serve students well not just through their academic career but for the rest of their lives. Here, then, are a few tips for teaching elementary science that educators might find helpful.
o Monitor Vocabulary. Be careful with specific word usage as science, above all other disciplines, demands an exacting vocabulary. Be aware, specifically, of specific wording demanded in the curriculum. Don’t fall into the trap that one Grade 3 teacher recently experienced. When the class took the Standardized Provincial Exam they failed a section on space en masse because the exam used the word “satellites” when referring to “moons” and the class had not been taught that iteration of the word. Be careful, then, to vary vocabulary, use lots of synonyms and a variety of different sentence structures to make the point.
o Encourage Interactivity. With the obvious exception of Phys. Ed, there is probably no other class in the curriculum that offers as much opportunity for physical interactivity as elementary science class. Students can be up and moving about using equipment, conducting experiments and being actively, physically involved in the lesson. The wise teacher will take advantage of the pre-adolescents natural tendency toward the tactile to make elementary science class an active and enjoyable atmosphere. Remember, children at this age, especially the younger ones, are just a few years away from infancy and a baby’s first natural instinct with any object they come into contact with is to put it in their mouth!
o Use videos. In this information age video is almost as natural to children as breathing. Take advantage of the innate technological bent in today’s children to encourage the use of both watching and making videos. Videography itself is rife with opportunities to explore aspects of teaching elementary science involving light and shadow, optics, mechanics and physics. Putting a video camera in the hands of a child and teaching them to use it well provides a wealth of teachable moments.
o Involve Students in Quiz and Exam Preparation. What better way to insure that children are learning the materials than by having them prepare their own exams that will be administered to their peers? Imagine a class of 20 kids developing 5 questions each and the 25 “winning” questions get put on the exam. One wise teacher even challenged the class to develop “unanswerable” questions. This not only determined the level of understanding the children had of the material, but taught the valuable lesson that even science can’t answer every mystery of the universe..
Teaching elementary science provides a veritable plethora of opportunities to instill long lasting truths and principles in the lives of students. The wise educator will take advantage of those opportunities and, perhaps, in the process, have the privilege of making permanent, positive changes in a child’s life.
I agree, I just taught a grade six unit on diversity of living things and the way the students received my lessons daily and the results they provided on the unit test were amazing!! Using many manipulatives helps greatly to appreciate the uniqueness of nature.
Mark
Seldom I write comments but resource really cool