Jump to content

Menu

lewelma (and anyone else!), can you help me with science, please?


dorothythomas
 Share

Recommended Posts

Even though I am new, I have spent a lot of time here reading and not posting and have been inspired, intrigued, and challenged by lewelma's posts. Also I fully support the idea of a book and maybe a consulting service. I have had questions but have hesitated to ask because it seems like you must be so busy and I felt bad. I think I am over that. ;)

 

So here's the deal. I have a 9.5 year old boy and a 7.5 year old girl. They are both science crazy though we've never really done a formal science curriculum with them. My son is CRAZY about astronomy. He watches documentaries, looks at (his reading is weak) astronomy books and knows more about space (i.e. faculae on the sun, black holes, the Hubble telescope) than most grown ups. He also really loves botany - loves to identify plants and what they are used for. He knows some about that but would love learning more, I think. Also he has a rock collection. He knows nothing about rocks but is always wondering about them.

 

My daughter loves mechanical stuff. She is forever taking apart vacuum cleaners or printers or whatever we can get her hands on. She doesn't know what to do with it but I think there's something there. She has a snap circuits which she loves even though it's a bit above her head. She says she wants to be a mechanic when she grows up. And she also loves learning about animals and plants.

 

Clearly my kids are sciencey kids. We are not doing formal science right now and I would like to be. There are two things I am thinking of and I would love your advice and wisdom. One thing is that I can't decide if we should delve deeper into what they already love or if I should be working to expose them to new things, which I am also sure they would love. And how to combine them! Yikes. Also I think, because they both love science, but are somewhat reluctant writers and readers that I could really base everything around science, for example, having my son make a book about the solar system - reading, writing, spelling all right there and I think he would love it. I wonder if there is a way to do that. Or math! How I wish I could integrate that into science. Both my kids seem mathy a bit but hate workbooks and drills. If it were connected to science somehow, I think they would love it. I've never heard of anything like that though.

 

So as I go about thinking about what to do with them, I would be so grateful for your advice. Thanks to you and anyone else who wants to help!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Glad you bumped as I definitely missed it earlier. I am on school holidays for 10 more days, so I have time to help you develop a plan. But at first, I just need to let it percolate for a couple of hours while I am doing something else and ideas start to form. So I just thought I would let you know that I am thinking...... and will get back to you in a few hours.

 

Ruth in NZ

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Or math! How I wish I could integrate that into science. Both my kids seem mathy a bit but hate workbooks and drills. If it were connected to science somehow, I think they would love it. I've never heard of anything like that though.

 

Both my kids have weird science interest which is costing me time, money and lots of coffee :)

For your son

Space Math @NASA as well as other NASA math books in my thread http://forums.welltr...pace-math-nasa/

NOVA The Elegant Universe

NOVA The Fabric of the Cosmos

NOVA Hunting the Edge of Space (about Telescopes)

For botany and geology check if there is any junior park rangers program in your area

Which state/country are you in? There is usually botany books in pdf for specific areas.

 

I was like your daughter except that I tag along for jumpstarting cars too. Download the product manuals for whatever she is tearing apart and let her dismantle and fixed it back again. Just make sure if she is tearing apart things like old DVD players, VHS players or whatever that the area is well ventilated.

 

ETA

Rock and Mineral Identification pdf http://www.fhwa.dot....fhwahi91205.pdf

The book my kids like The Complete Guide to Rocks and Minerals

Rock collection kit identification notes pdf (Elementary Science Olympiad Workshop for the Rockhound Event)

 

For your daughter

Girl Scout Engineering page (information) http://www.girlscout...ineengineering/

How to reverse engineer a single use camera http://teachers.egfi...ngineer-camera/

Virtual dismantling and fixing back of an electric drill http://gicl.cs.drexe...ng_Case_Studies

Dissection Labs resources K-12 http://www-adl.stanford.edu/labs.html

Taking things apart https://sites.google...ng-things-apart

 

ETA:

About breath versus depth. My kids are public schooled so the state's science standards already cover a decent amount of breath. My kids go in depth in whatever catch their fancy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am so excited that your kids are having such a good experience. Let's make sure that any "formal" program that you introduce does not change this passion!

 

The depth vs breadth question is always tricky. I am of the opinion that breadth for young kids is really important as it allows them to create a big picture outline in their head that they can then slowly fill in. Connections are made more easily, and enthusiasm can be developed just by exposure to an unknown topic. How can kids really know what they love if they are not exposed to a wide variety of material? However, breadth can sometimes be misinterpreted as surface learning. When you just skim the surface of many topics, often the material is only studied at only the lowest level of thinking (memory rather than analysis), and this typically leads to poor retention. So in my house we do depth within a broad list of topics.

 

There are many ways to organize a broad list of topics. Some people like to divide a year into 4 terms and pick one topic in bio, on in earth sci, 1 in chem, and 1 in physics each year. I prefer to spend a year studying each scientific field. So a full year on bio, and a year on earth sci, a year on chem, and a year on physics. It really depends on what you and your children like. But once that is determined, then I choose a broad range of subfields within each scientific field. I don't choose something like ecology, environmental science, zoology, and marine bio -- they are just too similar. Instead I choose something like human anatamy, ecology, genetics, and cell bio (obviously depends on the age). Once I have the breadth of topics, then we have a chance to go into depth within each. If a child is studying ecology and they love antarctica, why not just use that passion to understand ecological systems. You don't really need to study the tropics, temperate, arctic, antarctic, deep sea, choral reefs, swamps, etc. You *could* do that if that is what your child wants to do. Perhaps even a comparison of all of them on a big poster, but if a child has a passion within a subfield, I just go with it.

 

If you are interested in this approach, I am happy to help you lay out a few years worth of topics.

 

Also, although we are studying 1 topic as a family, my kids typically have some other science topic they are reading about that is not related. This year is chemistry for us, and my younger is currently reading a book on Dinosaurs, and my older is reading an article on cosmology in Scientific American. So just because you have a science plan, it does not limit their passions during reading time.

 

As for big projects, I say go for it. My kids love unit studies, and we do one a year in the form of a science fair investigation. You will have to think long and hard as to whether having them write about science will kill their love for it or inspire their writing. It really could go either way. I think that the main problem people have when they have their kids do an experiment and then write it up, or read a book and then write a narration is the repetitiveness of it. If you know you will have to do your least favorite thing (writing) every time you read a science book, you might just decide to not like reading science books. But I am guessing this is more of a problem if it is a daily activity, rather than organized into a unit study.

 

So what I would do is rotate through a bunch of different output types like presentations, posters, reports, models/diagrams, and lab reports. Given their ages, I think that 1 per week could be good if science writing is a replacement for all language arts (but you could do 1 finished project every 2 weeks as long as they are working on it every day). I am of the opinion that kids need to do language arts and math every day, so I would make sure to design a routine that includes it all, culminating in a finished product on Friday. I also think that you need a math text book to systematically work through the material, you are just not going to hit every single bit of math in context. So, instead I would recommend a combination of textbook math learning and in context learning. Here is just some ideas to get you thinking:

 

Weekly Science Unit Study: incorporating Language Arts and Math

 

Monday: Library day

Math: textbook day #1 (do first because it is disliked)

Library day: choose science books to read that will be used for the whole week, ending in a report/poster/presentation on Friday

Reading: sit with each child one at a time and teach them how to read the books

Independent reading while you work with other child

Spelling and vocabulary: choose words child likes from science reading and copy into notebook

Writing instruction: teach 1 new thing on mondays - intro sentence, or organizing ideas, or taking notes, or writing citations, etc

Writing: copy a favorite science quote into a commonplace book, do dictation from science reading, outline a paragraph from reading, etc (very classical: copy work, dictation, outlining)

 

Tuesday: Experimenting day

Math: textbook day #2

Experimenting day #1: work on kit, experiment, observation outside etc

Reading: sit with each child one at a time and teach them how to read the books

Independent reading while you work with other child

Spelling and vocabulary: drill

Grammar instruction: evaluate grammatical structure of sentence in reading, diagram it

Writing: take notes to prepare for assignment

 

Wednesday: Experimenting day

Math: textbook day #3

Experimenting day #2: work on kit, experiment, observation outside etc

Reading: sit with each child one at a time and teach them how to read the books

Independent reading while you work with other child

Spelling and vocabulary: drill

Research instruction: how to use computer to find info needed for report, or poster etc

Writing: begin drafting science report, or captions for poster, or outlining presentation

 

Thursday: Documentary day

Math: teach or study math that has been found in this week's science reading. Study graphs/diagrams, look up statistics, teach graphing, recalculate numbers, teach estimation of population size, or study how far apart stars are etc.

Documentary or youtube day: find some good science stuff and enjoy!

Reading: sit with each child one at a time and teach them how to read the books. Thursday and Friday's readings would be about related topics, but not the ones they are currently writing about.

Independent reading while you work with other child

Spelling and vocabulary: drill

grammar instruction: evaluating grammar of child's sentences he wrote yesterday or today. You can use this to help the older identify his own awkward sentences as he gets older.

Writing: finish drafting science report, or captions for poster, or designing presentation

 

Friday: Put-it-all-together day

Math: Draw own graph or work through additional calcuations from reading to put into report, poster, or presentation

Reading: sit with each child one at a time and teach them how to read the books

Independent reading while you work with other child.

Spelling and vocabulary: informal quiz

Editing instruction: teach them how to edit and have them do it

OR Presentation instruction: how to make a presentation

OR Layout instruction: how to design a poster for easy reading/viewing

Writing: edit report, or edit captions for poster, or improve presentation

Typing day/ presentation practice day/ poster put-it-all-together day: you need extra time for this

 

Well, that was fun. Kind of a new way of thinking for me! Maybe I will try it with my younger. :001_smile:

 

Ruth in NZ

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow. Amazing. That is what I was thinking of exactly. I think they would thrive on this. So my question is where I start? I do think, despite the fact that my son would be content doing nothing but astronomy for the next four years, that we need to get some breadth. I can easily split up biology and earth science into 3 or 4 categories but chemistry and physics intimidate the heck out of me, so I would be so grateful (even more grateful because I'm already pretty darn grateful) for some ideas there. Also I'm thinking that might should be where we start since that is where we're weakest.

 

I also love the idea of science fair projects and I think my kiddos would get so much out of them. But they are even more intimidating. I've been inspired and daunted reading your experiences with them. I guess all I can do is tackle them when it's time.

 

I saw somewhere else, I think, that you use IEW. Do you think TWSS would help me in teaching writing through science in this way? Just a thought.

 

This is just so great. I have a lot of thinking and planning to do!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow. Amazing. That is what I was thinking of exactly. I think they would thrive on this.

Great! I love adapting programs to what a child actually would thrive on.

 

So my question is where I start? I do think, despite the fact that my son would be content doing nothing but astronomy for the next four years, that we need to get some breadth. I can easily split up biology and earth science into 3 or 4 categories but chemistry and physics intimidate the heck out of me, so I would be so grateful (even more grateful because I'm already pretty darn grateful) for some ideas there. Also I'm thinking that might should be where we start since that is where we're weakest.

9.5 means 4th grade next year? I would lay out 5th through 8th grade, just to have a rough plan.

How many units will you do each year? (I do 4 10-week units for example)

Are you going to rotate through each science each year, or one per year?

 

Chemistry is really tough to split up and library books often don't do it justice. I have found that The Elements by McHenry is just an excellent introduction. Tack on a few library books and you are done for a half year, which is probably enough for most elementary aged kids

 

As for Physics, your main unit choices are:

Forces, Motion and energy

Electricity and Magnitism

Sound and Light

 

and then some extras:

Quantum mechanics (obviously just fun for a kid b/c they won't really understand it)

flight

machines and engineering

 

I also love the idea of science fair projects and I think my kiddos would get so much out of them. But they are even more intimidating. I've been inspired and daunted reading your experiences with them. I guess all I can do is tackle them when it's time.

My kids have a habbit of doing large projects. But they can be much smaller. There was a kid last year who tested which cooking spray was best for getting sticky muffins out of trays. And I have seen projects on how quickly different types of bread get mouldy. Small is equally fun.

 

I saw somewhere else, I think, that you use IEW. Do you think TWSS would help me in teaching writing through science in this way? Just a thought.

It taught me the basics of what I should teach. I only got the TWSS and never used any materials designed for the student to use.

 

HTH,

 

Ruth in NZ

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...