In chapter 2, I was surprised at the fact that some of the experiments and concepts had grade levels attached to them, while others did not. This could either be interpreted as acceptable for all ages. After reviewing these sections, I do not feel that it would be acceptable for all ages. Although, students now are learning material at a much earlier age, than when I was in school.
I was surprised at the grade levels that you could teach some of the material explained. For example the book thought that from grades 3 – 6 science and mathematics classes, students should be able to do understand certain concepts. Estimating measurements and determining when estimation is appropriate, and expressing measurements in terms of decimals when appropriate. I would not have guessed that a third grade student would be able to do this. If I remember correctly, I was not doing this in third grade. It is amazing that the school curriculum is that advanced now that students are able to do these types of things much earlier than years ago. Doing these types of lessons towards the later grades suggested I feel is more likely that the students would gain a deeper understanding.
Teaching students that there is more than one way to display results made sense to me. Whether students can really understand and comprehend all the ways to display results may not be important at an early age, but they will learn in more detail as they go through the grade levels. Exposing the students to bar graphs, histograms and line graphs would be important for them to see. All these graphs show the same results, but just in a different way. Some types of graphs the students in the lower grades may not understand completely.
It appears that a lot of the work involved in doing experiments with students, especially in the younger elementary grades would need more teacher guidance than student centered work. Grasping the concepts involved in doing some of these experiments completely from start to finish would seem too advanced for students in the younger grades to complete themselves. It seems to take a lot of work on the teachers’ part to do experiments that students can understand. Teachers must have to know how to make the most advanced steps into baby steps that any student can comprehend.
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The question of age appropriateness is a great one. Frequently, we defer to our own experiences when making judgments about when certain topics, processes, concepts, or skills should be taught.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet I have found that kids can often be introduced to many of these things at an earlier age--and it is often good to do so--as long as there is sufficient scaffolding (support) provided by the teacher.
I think the second part of the chapter, devoted to the three types of inquiries, is a good attempt on the part of the authors to make these developmental distinctions. Descriptive inquiries are more appropriate for the younger children and experimental inquiries for the older, with classificatory somewhere in between.
Finally, it's good to note that we often play loose and fast with science process words. This should be avoided. For example, young teachers will often use the word "experiment" to describe any and every hands-on activity. However, an "experiment" is a very specific type of process, one that involves a question and hypothesis, the identification of variables and controls, and the drawing of specific conclusions. It would be better to use the words "hands-on" activity or "inquiry activity" rather than "experiment," unless of course the students are actually conducting an experimental study.