Chapter 9 Reflection

I never realized how seamlessly other subjects can be integrated with science and appreciate what he authors propose. Not surprisingly, mathematics and science are inextricably linked, mathematics being called the “language of science.” The International System of Units (SI) for the metric system, p. 235 is something that I suppose one of these days America will adopt. It is interesting that they say programs should de-emphasis converting the American system of measurement with the metric system. Growing up, it was always “1 liter is about 2 pints” and still is a little that way.

With one of my classes, I used a bar graph to show a representational view of the weather in a given month. The vertical axis showed the number of days, and the horizontal axis showed the type of weather, e.g., sunny, rainy, partly cloudy, mostly cloudy, etc. The data can then be compared to other parts of the world. This idea can be integrated with social studies as the authors suggest, p. 248. How is our weather similar to other continents or other areas of the world? I also like how the authors show how to use a line graph to help with making predictions, one of the pillars of science processes.

Keeping a journal is one of the best easy to integrate writing into the science lesson. It makes kids have to think about what they have done or witnessed and put their experience into their own words. I like the Comprehension questions on p. 246 and a K-W-L chart is the perfect device to measure a student’s prior knowledge. A shoebox “midden” is something new to me but like how the teacher used it as a time capsule.

All in all, I would want to be in communication with the all other teachers who are involved with my students and keep a through line for the thematic unit. Can all the subjects in the curriculum be connected with one another? I’d like to try to have some relatable quality between subjects. Combining different topics leads to the ultimate in “higher level” thinking.