I'm a big fan on integrating maths, reading and writing with science. I'm always looking for opportunities where I can subvert the activity and put science at the front (I'm a science guerilla!), thinking about ways to develop that science thinking in the students.
The Figure-It-Outs do have some resources that are directly science based -for example the "Energy" book but there are other possibilities too... As children carry out some activities from "Under the Sea", could you add some science ideas? The capabilities are a start -for example the "Hot or Cold activity (p. 22) has children adding cold and hot water together and measuring capacity and temperatures. Could you add some food colouring to the hot water so children can observe diffusion in action? Could children predict what might happen and why? Could they have the chance to investigate a little further themselves? What would happen if we added the hot to the cold rather than the other way around? What would happen if we stirred the water or left it alone? By the way, here's the link to the resource: https://nzmaths.co.nz/figure-it-out.
In terms of Reading, there are plenty of good Journal and Connected articles on science. Try to add a few questions in there around the idea of children exploring how the natural physical world and science itself works (Science essence statement)... how do scientists observe in the article? Are there some predictions, inferences and explanations the students can unpack? Are there some diagrams that children can learn about the function of? Could they critique the article or illustrations? Could they investigate a little further or make connections to their own lives? What are children learning about the work of scientists from this article?
Besides the good ol' Journals and Ready to Reads (found a really good one about shags the other day!), we also have the internet. I tend to prefer to copy the article into a google doc rather than let the children explore, for example, stuff.co.nz, themselves as there can be some rather 'interesting' articles on topics that you might prefer the students to read at home with their parents rather than in the classroom! The nzherald site is another good place but there are also some excellent websites out there already set up for children to use that are science-based. Geographic for kids is one: https://www.natgeokids.com/nz/ but there are plenty of others -rather than me do all the sharing, how about sharing your favourites in the comments section?
I tend to 'squirrel' very well and will bounce off articles or facebook posts to read a bit more... I tend to like astronomy so read lots about space exploration -Mahia rockets, NASA probes around Saturn and Jupiter, etc. I also have my favourite animals so like to read about the octopus (and this aritcle is really neat: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/01/what-the-octopus-knows/508745/). I also see the relevance of getting our children involved in sustainability and being responsible so like to read articles around this area like: http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/south-pacific/92663471/Remote-uninhabited-South-Pacific-island-becomes-a-plastic-wasteland? And I even read wikipedia! I tend to be a bit sceptical so I might end up reading around a bit to check the authenticity of claims... I do try to stay within New Zealand primarily but can digress to BBC, etc if it's a good article!
Of course if we want children to write well in science, we need to share with them some good examples of diagrams, explanations, procedures, observations, etc. I really like the idea of science heading into creative worlds too (if you'll excuse the pun). I've read some excellent sci-fi novels with really well-researched science information in (and I know because I checked!) -why can't students do the same?
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| http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2017/05/26/nasas-juno-probe-spots-earth-sized-cyclones-jupiter/ |
Instead of a report on the planet Jupiter, why don't the children write a story about the first explorers to the planet... you'd need to know about the moons, the rings and lots of information too! Oh, and some ideas around space vehicles too (which is about scientists!) -how do they explore and live in space? Can we land on Jupiter? On the moons? We could even do some art -of all the planets, Jupiter's clouds are just the best and always remind me of a painting! Could we write a poem about the journey of my weetbix mouthful or the life of a caterpillar?!?
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| Temenis laothoe, Nymphalidae, https://www.flickr.com/photos/artour_a/6030452731 |
And I almost forgot about a lovely free resource that most schools receive weekly: the local rag! When I have been visiting lovely schools in Opotiki, I'm always having a scan through their newspaper to see what science is in there. Sometimes I'd like to lift the article straight out to discuss with the children -what's this about? What's fact and what's opinion and how do we know? Is it a good 'science article' and what's the criteria for it being 'good'? Where could we go next? Who could we ask for further information? Does this affect us (for example a river's pollution level)? Could it in the future? What science do I need to know as the reader to be able to understand this article? Using local contexts can be a great way of engaging students further in science. It might just be a photo (and local community websites and news websites is a one way of finding pictures) that you'll use for a quick language activity...
As a teacher there were days I despaired of finding writing topics and reading materials that would engage some of my children (and normally my boys and those particularly struggling) and help grow some enthusiasm for school work! I think that science has an opportunity to help engage the students in exciting and new ways and through authentic contexts. I love the idea of a writing session totally taken up with science experiments because we're learning about how to draw diagrams and charts or writing an explanation the next day or setting up the children to investigate further so they'll need to write up some experiments to try out... I know class-life is never quite as simple as let's do science and see everyone engaged and loving it... but I'd like to think it might help!
Keep on science-ing!
Paul
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