1-+Teaching+Science

Science Teaching

Finding what interests the children in an Elementary science classroom is easy; just ask the kids. The children will not disappoint you, they will come up with lists and lists of interests and that is where you can start to develop your science units... And that is where it stops being easy. The most challenging part of teaching is maintaining the children's interest when planning units.

Throughout my years as a homeroom teacher, I have been through teaching strictly from a text with a timeline, to hands-on teaching from modules, to project based units of interest, to a combination of hands-on/textbook learning. I watched my students regurgitate information from texts to pass paper pencil assessments with no retention of concepts after a short period of time, and any interest they may have had was wiped out because of the pressures to perform to certain criteria.

I also watched them enjoy activities and "play" around to explore with no reasoning or questioning, for they were to develop their own understanding and form their own knowledge. Yet they could not connect their "play" and I could not assess... for how can one assess exploration with no end result.

I watched, listened, and facilitated interest based projects where they would ask questions, explore with activities, write down findings and research information, but I also listened to and heard an uproar from parents and science teachers concerning long science units that did not add to the students "content knowledge" and henceforth does not allow them to do well on standardized tests (that measure general knowledge).

Most probably the easiest to plan for teachers and the least interesting for students is the strictly text based instruction. The most difficult to plan are the project based units, they require a great deal of general knowledge in science on the teachers part (facilitating and guiding is necessary especially with the younger ones, who might lose focus of their initial inquiry) and resources. Without training and the willingness to change old ways, it becomes a showcase of a teacher's input (and fumbling) under the guise of student work.

With time restraints, content determined by administration and coordinators, parent influence, and student need, the science lessons became a mix of hands on and text. The text became a resource that guided and complemented our learning but it did not limit us. We took every opportunity to get out of the classroom, to experiment, and to discuss and share experiences. It was a good balance that served us well and maintained student interest. It was not the ideal inquiry method, but a good balance.