"What do you think would happen if...." A powerful question that can be answered orally or written. This changes the way I look at Science. Lots of prep...no time...no materials
I would add the question, Why? Why do you think that would happen? That is some higher level thinking that we can handle in first grade.
Is Lebanon looking into a new science curriculum? Maybe we should be going towards more textbook and less kits?
I use Scholastic news and non-fiction picture books to bring science into the classroom. We highlight, look for the main idea and sometimes, just enjoy these tools. I am going to try to add more discussion and writing activities as offshoots from these materials.
Asking why is a great idea. Purposing explanations for experimental results is a required part of the science inquiry work sample!
ReplyDelete"This is some higher level thinking that we can handle in first grade." haha... That made me laugh! We talk so much about higher level thinking, and I always start feeling like I'm not doing enough. But you're exactly right- Simply asking "Why?" is the perfect way to get kids' brains to that level. Even if they come up with all kids of wild explanations, they are thinking!
ReplyDeleteI read a great article about just setting up a "discovery" or "observation" station in the classroom where the students are able to just observe on their own time. You don't teach pre-knowledge you just let them look, touch and see for a week and then you talk about all the things they noticed. I thought that was an awesome way to get students thinking on their own instead of telling them all about it.
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