Ch. 2

Chapter two was a more interesting read for me than chapter one. Here more specific processes and strategies for inquiring in science were discussed. I was familiar with some of the processes, such as observing, classifying, measuring, communicating, predicting, hypothesizing, and experimenting. It was a very good review since I do not remember everything incorporated with these processes. Although all processes are important when teaching science, I feel observation is a key point. This chapter goes in depth about how children observe and what educators can do to help them improve their observation skills. 'Young children tend to observe globally and, thus ,to miss potentially relevant details' (31). We as educators are to ask questions and provoke ideas that will get our students to see such details and raise further questions in their mind for them to begin to observe effectively. I also liked that the chapter reviewed different ways in which the students can record and organize their findings. Bar graphs, histograms, line graphs, and other charts are all helpful ways for children to organize and analyze the information they discover. Investigation strategies was also a section i enjoyed reading, because I was unfamiliar with the different types of investigations. Descriptive, classificatory, and experimental investigations are all approaches to investigating that involve the five tasks of inquiry which were described in chapter one.

Another part of this book I find interesting is the activities they list to do with students. Activity 2-5, which helps children identify the parts of a seed, is an activity that I have seen used in the classroom of the school I am employed at, and the students love it. They enjoy learning the parts of the seed, and then actually watching the seed grow is a very interesting experience for them. Participating in investigations that incorporate science processes and strategies is very engaging and rewarding to the science learning of students.