Overview Guide for Teachers
1. INTRODUCTION TO K-3 STEM FOUNDATIONS PROJECT
1.1. STEM and Science Learning
The acronym, STEM, stands for “science, technology, engineering and mathematics.” It often refers to any educational program, teaching activity or curriculum that includes at least one of the four component subject areas. However, STEM, also can be thought of as an interdisciplinary approach to teaching and learning in which science and other skills are presented or taught holistically, without separating discipline-specific content, and make connections among individuals, school, community and the world through authentic problems or topics.[1]
Early STEM experiences develop students’ interest and knowledge, and contribute to later success in science-related careers.[2] Yet, many students to do not have access to authentic science learning practices that encourage them to persist in STEM-related coursework or to envision themselves in the roles of STEM professionals.
Being able to read, write, listen and speak using the language of science and the other STEM fields is a key contributor to students’ success in these areas. This project weaves hands-on science learning with English language arts, so that students develop skills and habits of mind that reflect how scientists communicate and solve problems in the real world.
1.2. Communities of Practice
In many ways, language can be the gateway to membership in a particular group. For example, scientists make new words to represent complex ideas, ask questions to guide their work and pay attention to details. By learning to use language as practicing scientists do, students become fluent with the discipline of science. In other words, they develop disciplinary literacy. Using language as a scientist is an important step toward becoming a member of the scientific community.
The K-3 STEM Foundations project seeks to facilitate student participation in the community of scientists by embedding authentic use of language in lessons focused on both the “literacy” and “science” teaching aspects of a typical school day. The project enables teachers to engage students seamlessly in science learning through authentic use of science language. At the same time, by empowering students to communicate as scientists, we hope to help them envision themselves in science or STEM-related career pathways.
1.3. Organization and How to Use This Approach
The K-3 STEM Foundations project provides a bridge for teachers to connect English language arts (ELA) teaching and learning—with particular focus on use of expository texts and research—to science inquiry. In the process, we expect students to develop literacy skills related to science as a discipline. We have built the program around a daily schedule, with each day consisting of an ELA mini-lesson designed to support student group work on a text-based research question, followed by a hands-on guided inquiry experience on related science topics.
The model for each day has the following three sections.
- Whole group mini-lesson that focuses on a reading strategy;
- Small, guided inquiry circle groups in which learners apply and practice their reading strategies to their own research; and
- Whole class science inquiry activity, in which the teacher facilitates and guides students, who work in small groups on a hands-on science exploration.
The three, daily sections are connected by the unit’s overarching topic. You may teach the literacy and science lessons separately throughout the day or back-to-back during a large block of time. For example, the mini lesson and inquiry circle groups can be conducted in the morning during the reading and language arts block, while the science inquiry activity can occur in the afternoon.
How to use this guide
This guide is suggestive, not prescriptive. We believe teachers know their learners best and are experts in the field. Therefore, while we provide phrases to suggest language you might use, we emphasize the freedom to employ language that works best in your classroom for your learners. You will see the phrase, “Say something like…” throughout the lessons as an invitation to adapt the language of the lesson to meet your needs.
Teacher background sections
Each of the whole group activities contains a section entitled “Background Information,” with details and guidance to aid in your understanding of the concepts covered. These sections are intended for teachers only, and should not be used during instruction with the learners.
Additional online resources
To provide learners with a variety of media with which to do their research, we have included links to websites, videos, e-books, virtual tours, and interviews with experts. Please be advised, some of the websites have ads. Consider using websites like SafeShare.TV and ViewPure to remove ads. If you are using websites for research, we recommend checking in advance to ensure that the websites work within your school/district firewall. We have also included YouTube videos. You can find the suggested e-books on Epic! and sign up for a free account with learner access codes. You can access links to virtual tours for some organisms, as well as the names of experts who can be interviewed via the Skype A Scientist website. Additionally, we encourage you to use the resources already available through your district, such as Encyclopedia Britannica, PebbleGo, or BrainPOP.
2. THE CYCLE OF INQUIRY
2.1. Inquiry as a Process
As noted in the National Science Education Standards, learning science is best accomplished by active participation in scientific inquiry.[3] Even very young children can build knowledge by asking and seeking answers to questions about the world around them. The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) explicitly acknowledge the curiosity of all children and the importance of leveraging that curiosity to promote science learning.[4] The guiding principles of the NGSS are listed below.
- Children are born investigators. Children naturally seek to understand and influence the world around them, and their early ideas about how things work can be used as foundation for teaching science.
- Focusing on core ideas and practices. A framework for science learning should focus on key (or, core) ideas, and on the basic practices and approaches used by scientists and engineers in the real world.
- Understanding develops over time. Core ideas should be developed over time through learning progressions, which provide instructional supports to help students progress toward mastery.
- Science and engineering require both knowledge and practice. Scientists use inquiry and problem-solving approaches to develop explanations and predict future outcomes. Engineers aim to solve problems related to a human problem or need.
- Connecting to students’ interest and experiences. Science learning should connect to students’ everyday lives, and link to future potential careers.
- Promoting equity. All students should have access to quality teaching, resources and time to learn science effectively, and engage in activities that inspire further participation in science.
Scientists use information from first-hand observations, experiments, and explanations and observations by other scientists. This information is contained in expository texts, graphs and tables, maps, photographs, video and other forms of media. The K-3 STEM Foundations project enables students to use resources such as these to extend and deepen their understanding in ways similar to those used by practicing scientists.
2.2. Teacher as Facilitator of Active Learners
The teacher’s role in guided inquiry is to model and facilitate learner-driven exploration, research, and discovery. Once you have piqued your learners’ interest, they must take an active role in their own learning. Inquiry groups should explore and learn through investigation, while the teacher guides them by asking open-ended questions and encouraging further exploration. Once the learners have concluded their investigations, teachers may extend student learning by providing relevant information and encouraging students to share and justify their findings.
2.3. Inquiry in Science Using the 5E Model
We employ a learning cycle approach to develop students’ science knowledge. This approach includes the following elements, referred to as the “5 E” model.[5]
- Engage — Students are presented with a question, an interesting example or a problem. This phase connects students’ past and present experiences, enables the teacher to estimate learners’ prior knowledge, identify misconceptions and stimulate interest in the learning experiences that will follow.
- Explore — Students participate in actual experiences with physical materials, representations of data or media. Students may do experiments, collect data, make observations and connections, and ask questions. Students usually work in groups, with the teacher acting as a coach or facilitator to guide students as they conduct the investigations themselves.
- Explain — Students begin to make sense of their data, describe their observations, and develop their own explanations. Students listen to other learners’ explanations and defend their own. The teacher’s role in this phase is to ask appropriate questions, guide students (to include addressing misconceptions), and direct them to helpful resources.
- Elaborate — Students use the information they have gathered to propose solutions and apply what they have learned to new and different situations. The teacher’s role is to help students extend their ideas to reach a much broader conclusion than the one they derived initially by conducting their investigation.
- Evaluate — Students judge their own learning progress. Teachers also may evaluate students’ knowledge or skills development. If necessary, teachers may need to develop alternate assessment strategies to help students focus on new information and understand the lesson in greater depth.
For more information about applying the 5E model of science inquiry, please watch the video, 5-E Model for Teaching Inquiry Science.
2.4. Texts that Support Science Learning
As noted above, scientists use language in a variety of ways. Written language is especially important for recording and reporting findings, and for learning from the work of other scientists. Below are three important ways in which young students employ texts in science learning.
- Science Notebooks — Science notebooks are “thinking tools.”[6] Students use their notebooks to record observations, notes, measurements, questions and information from additional sources. The notebooks encourage students to use writing to organize and document their ideas and reflections. As such, they also document student learning to the teacher. Classroom science notebooks replicate the work of scientists, who meticulously record their methods, data, observations and interpretations. Notebooks enable scientists to repeat their investigations and form the basis for communications about their findings. There are a number of ways to organize student science notebooks. Students will set up and use notebooks as part of their activities in this unit. More information can be found at the following California Academy of Sciences websites: Setting Up Your Science Notebooks, and How I Use My Science Notebook.
- Informational Texts — Written materials, such as nonfiction trade books or science websites, support students’ science learning and develop their language skills and vocabulary development. Scientists rely on informational texts to learn from the findings and experiences of other scientists. Similarly, informational texts provide background for the open-ended research projects that students will carry out in in their Inquiry Circles. The informational text resources provided with this unit are appropriate for students in grade 2 and have been evaluated favorably for accuracy and quality by our team.
- Interdisciplinary Texts — Scientists use a variety of visual strategies to make sense of their observations. Sometimes, it is sufficient to organize information in the form of a table. In other cases, a graph or a more complex diagram is needed elucidate relationships among different kinds of variables. A bar graph, which uses columns to compare measurements or counts, can make it much easier to interpret information. A good resource, NASA Climate Kids, provides basic information about using the information in graphs.
2.5. Logistics—Guided Inquiry in the Science Classroom
Assigning Students to Small Groups for Cooperative Work — It is recommended that students work together in groups of four for their guided science inquiry activities. Usually, heterogeneous groups are most effective. However, working in groups does not necessarily imply that students will cooperate effectively to achieve their individual or collective goals. Even the process by which members are assigned to groups can affect many aspects of a team project. Here are some general factors to keep in mind when deciding how to configure groups.
- Students’ shared interest in a topic
- Students’ prior knowledge or experience with a topic
- Students’ motivation to work independently
- The diversity of perspectives brought by students.
Student Roles within Groups — The four members of each group will rotate among the following four roles. Consider having students rotate jobs once per week. Job badges and wall posters are included with unit materials. Once a cooperative model for learning has been established in the classroom, students are able to conduct science explorations in an organized and effective manner.
- Lead Scientist
• Asks the questions and builds consensus related to the wording of the questions.
• Guides the work of the team by reading directions.
• Keeps the group focused on the investigation.
• Checks the work of the team. - Lab Director
• Gathers materials for the group.
• Reminds the team to follow safety rules.
• Leads the discussion about the observations and the results.
• Encourages the group members to participate in the research. - Data Scientist
• Records observations and data gathered.
• Leads the team in making charts or posters.
• Tells teacher when the group is finished.
• Explains the results to the class. - Equipment Director
• Picks up the materials.
• Operates or helps other team members use the equipment.
• Asks the teacher any questions of the team.
• Returns the materials and directs clean-up.
For more tips on setting up cooperative student groups, watch the video, Cooperative Grouping: Ideas for Effective Classroom Practice.
Live Animals in the Classroom — Studying living organisms in the classroom inspires students and allows them to develop skills related to stewardship, appreciation of the natural world and observation. Students also should be instructed in the humane care of animals, and should observe care in making observations or transferring organisms. Directions for care of painted lady butterflies are included in individual activities within this unit. Classroom animals should not be released into the wild. They can be kept in the classroom, donated to a nature center or given to a responsible student with parental permission.
Products to Communicate and Celebrate Learning —- Scientists communicate their work and findings to peers and the general public through outlets such as written scientific articles or papers, articles for general audiences, letters, books, verbal presentations, 3–5 minute “lightning talks,” video, posters, blogs and television, newspaper or radio interviews. Consider conducting a class scientific poster session to enable students to demonstrate their science learning and project findings. During the session, students from each group will explain their poster to other students, who circulate around the room. Allow half of each team to stand with their posters, while the other members circulate. Then, have students switch roles so that all students are able to view the posters of other groups.
3. READING AND WRITING STRATEGIES TO SUPPORT SCIENCE INQUIRY
3.1. Reading/writing strategies to support science inquiry
Several reading and writing strategies are unique to reading and writing like a scientist. There also are also generic reading and writing strategies that transcend various disciplines, including ELA/R and science. The model we describe in the this guide capitalizes on both types of strategies and addresses several ELA/R strategies that support science learning. The reading strategies presented in this model support word identification/knowledge strategies, ongoing comprehension strategies, and fix-up strategies. These strategies support the three cueing systems that readers use when they read.
3.2. Mini-lessons: Metacognition and metalanguage toward strategic reading (declarative, conditional, procedural)
Research on improving reading comprehension has shown that children (even young children) can learn to be more strategic in their reading through intentional instruction.[7] Through intentional instruction (providing opportunities for readers to engage in reading strategies and think-alouds of teachers’ processing use of metalanguage to support the development metacognition), children become more strategic in their reading. The mini-lessons in the model are written in a way that directly teaches children the three ways of information that strategic readers hold about reading comprehension: declarative (what the reading strategy is and the name for it); conditional (when to employ the strategy and why the strategy is important to comprehension); and procedural (the cognitive processing behind the strategy). All three are important in the processing of texts.
3.3. Texts that support learning: Anchor charts
Teachers use anchor charts during the modeling of strategic reading mini lessons. We have provided sample anchor charts for each lesson that visually represent metacognitive learning. We encourage you to recreate these charts with your learners to anchor their learning. The more involved learners are in creating these anchor charts, the greater ownership they will take in using the strategy. We advise you to place anchor charts in a visible location within the classroom so learners can use them often. Each day’s anchor chart should remain visible throughout the unit. We encourage you to model the strategy with the anchor chart during the whole class activity so learners can then apply the same strategy(ies) within their inquiry circle groups.
3.4. Texts that support learning: Inquiry charts
Inquiry charts support research that is text-based and is a way to organize information. Each small group makes its own inquiry chart, organized around the research questions (see suggested questions at the top of the sample chart) and the sources that scientists use in their inquiry. As children find answers to their questions, they populate the inquiry chart. The information on the inquiry chart is summarized, synthesized and presented in the culminating project.
3.5. Texts that support learning: Portal texts
Portal texts are fictional texts designed to grab learners’ attention and engage them in the subject matter. Learners can use the texts to build connections and generate research questions. We have provided sample portal texts, but you may choose others, based on needs and availability. Choose texts that will be engaging and spark the interest of your learners. We recommend that you choose one portal text per group, to be read by learners within the inquiry circle groups. Ideally, portal texts would be used prior to starting the research, but some texts may be difficult for second graders to read without teacher assistance. Therefore, you may elect to read one portal text aloud each day during class read aloud time.
3.6. Selecting appropriate informational texts
We have provided a list of possible expository texts, websites, and online books. You may choose to use other books, based on availability. We encourage you to provide each group with numerous and varied sources. Look for expository texts with a variety of text features (e.g. table of contents, headings and subheadings, diagrams, captions, index, glossary, etc.); an appropriate reading level; current and accurate information; and colorful photos or scientific illustrations.
3.6. Logistics: Inquiry in small groups
Assigning groups
You may use a variety of methods to assign groups. Naturally occurring groups may already be in place in your classroom (e.g., table groups, reading groups, etc.), or groups may be formed based on learner interest in the organisms. You may choose to keep learners in the same groups during both the science inquiry lesson and inquiry circles, or may choose to reassign groups. We recommend forming heterogenous groups while providing learners with the opportunity to choose their animals of interest.
Teacher organization will help to ensure learner success. The daily lesson plan lists the materials needed for each day. We have compiled pictures of organizational methods teachers have used successfully.
3.7. Products to celebrate learning
At the end of an inquiry project, scientists frequently make a product (e.g., scholarly papers or presentations) to share what they learned. Similarly, you might allow your learners to share their findings in a variety of ways. Inquiry circle groups should choose one product to create as a team. The product should show what learners discovered about their organism’s physical traits in adults and offspring. On the last day of the project, all groups should present their findings during a scientific symposium.
[1] Moreno N. 2018. Strengthening Environmental Health Literacy through Precollege STEM and Environmental Health Education. In Finn S, O’Fallon L (Eds.), Environmental Health Literacy. New York: Springer. pp. 165-193.
[2] Maltese A, Tai R. 2010. Eyeballs in the Fridge: Sources of early interest in science. International Journal of Science Education. 32(5): 669-685.
[3] National Research Council. 1996. National Science Education Standards. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
[4] NGSS Lead States. 2013. Next Generation Science Standards: For States, By States. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
[5] Bybee R. 2010. The Teaching of Science: 21st Century Perspectives. Arlington, VA: NSTA Press.
[6] Gilbert, J, Koteman M. 2005. Five Good Reasons to Use Science Notebooks.
[7] Sailors M, Price L. 2015. Support for Improvement of Practices through Intensive Coaching (SIPIC): A model of coaching for improving reading instruction and reading achievement, Teaching and Teacher Education, 45, 115-127.