Can we talk about science philosophies?

[lewelma]

 I am just not a science experiment person.   Nor can I imagine devoting that much time to any single subject for any single child.   I live in a different reality being pulled in a lot of different directions by different children for far less intense studies.  ;)   My kids have to take their passions and deal with them on their own.   :)

 

Sigh, my kids never deal with their passions on their own.  I have found that kids from large families are often more independent and self-driven by necessity.  So they learn great life skills just because mom can't always be available.  Your kids are clearly awesome!

 

As for our 2 month investigations, I will clarify for others reading, that these are unit studies/project based learning, meaning that I fold in language arts (research, writing, presentations, layout, public speaking) and math (data collection, table making, graphing, other math as required), and drop all other subjects except Mandarin and Violin. I find that these large projects help my students learn time management, organization, persistance, etc.  So way more than just science for us.  But that's another thread to be sure.

[lewelma]

ScoutTN, I finally found what I was looking for.  There was a thread from a mom who seems similar to you.  As she states in her first post "I'll be honest. I just don't think scientifically. I am not a dummy and it's probably a mental block. But there it is. And I don't want to pass down my failure to my children."

 

We spent some time discussing how you can facilitate science without *teaching* it.  The thread was about middle school science, but I thought it would help you see how much you can offer your students when they get to the logic stage:

 

 

 

How do you see your role in his science education? Clearly, you are not going to teach him. But what level of involvement can you provide? Cheerleader? Shopper? Facilitator? Record keeper? Scheduler? Monitor? You definitely have a role to play and I think you need to define it.

What transferable skills can you teach your child that will help him in science? Can you teach him research skills using history and then have him practice it with science questions? Can you teach him how to really read a question and answer what is actually asked? Can you teach him to outline a text/ take notes? Can you teach him how to study? etc. I definitely think you are underrating your ability to help him in science, and I think you need to think long and hard about what you can provide. There is absolutely nothing wrong with saying 'I'm going to teach you how to outline using this history text because that is my true love, and now I want you to go try it on your science text because that is your true love.' What will you teach?

 

The whole thread seems very similar to your situation, and I think it would be worth your time to read it.  http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/469818-science-curriculum-choices-trying-not-to-cry-or-fall-asleep/

 

Ruth in NZ

 

 

[ScoutTN]

Thanks, Ruth! I am reading and thinking and will post back when I can put some coherent thoughts together. 

You are a star to help me think through these things!  :hurray:  :hurray:  :hurray:

[ScoutTN]

Below is my personal opinion about what the goals of elementary and middle school science should be.  Which pieces specifically do you think you will struggle with as the teacher?  Because once you can narrow down what you *can* teach already and what you need to learn how to teach, your worry will be reduced because you can make a plan.

 

Elementary level goals

 

Content: Interest driven. There are no requirements for content in elementary

 

Skills

1) Reading: able to read nonfiction at increased difficulty over time

2) Output: able to summarize what has been learned, verbally or in writing

3) Observation: ability to see what is actually there, not what you expect to see

4) Math: at grade level

 

Attitudes

1) Curiosity: "wanting to understand the world"(Regentrude). Including the desire to find answers either through books, observation, or tinkering

2) Enthusiasm towards science (or at least a positive attitude)

 

Middle School level goals

 

Content: Broad overview of biology, earth science, chemistry, physics (this can be systematic or interest driven). High school science is easier if it is not the first time the material has been encountered.

 

Skills (students who already possess these skills by 9th grade will be set to succeed in high school science):

1) Reading: Ability to read difficult text. Ability to interpret graphs, charts, and diagrams.

2) Writing: Ability to write succinct answers to "short-answer" questions including evaluate, interpret, integrate, compare and contrast, critique, etc.

3) Math: at grade level. Including the ability to identify and draw appropriate graphs for the data

4) Logical thinking and problem solving capability

5) Study skills, reading a textbook, organization skills, time management, note taking

6) Scientific Method: general understanding of how experiments are replicated and controlled, how hypotheses are are accepted or rejected (this does not need to be a detailed understanding, although it could be if you want to spend the time doing it in middle school to save some time in highschool)

 

Ruth, your posts are so thought-provoking and inspiring!

 

I think a plan is taking shape here for me.

The questions in some of the threads about why a current program isn't working are very helpful.

I think ours isn't working because it is too much hands-on which feels like busywork to me and becomes a sinkhole that I don't want to go near. I dread having to gather up stuff and do it and I'm not convinced my kids really learn much from it. We need to just read lots and discuss and watch a few videos and just do one or two good hand-on things. I need to have my dd do a good bit of independent reading (30 minutes, 3x a week) and also schedule some time for all of us to read together or for me to read with ds. We need to take advantage of our love for reading and a very good library. I need some structure - just interest led would feel too haphazard to me and dd would only choose books on horses, dolphins and dogs!

 

I can do the things on the elementary goal list! We do the 4 year history cycle, but are off by a year on the science because we spent two years doing Life science (not very well). So for Earth science we've done some weather and meteorology this fall and have geology and astronomy to go. I'm not sure if the order matters? The sky is darker earlier now, but it is cold. 

I think we'll do 8 weeks of each, with just one or two hand-on things for each. I'll use the curriculum I have as a guideline, but we will just get lots of library books and a few videos and do some narrations and drawings. We can go to the planetarium for a field trip and track the phases of the moon for astronomy - ds already asked about the moon phases marked on his new 2014 Hobbit calendar. I have a rocks and minerals kit and a streak plate, so we can do that and grow crystals for geology. And it's enough. 

 

We do a good bit of random nature study - birds and gardening especially and we do have nice nature and science things in our city and state to do and I need to be more proactive, making sure we continue to take advantage of these. We don't watch much tv at all, but my kids do like Wid Kratts and Nature on PBS. Amazing to me how much ds remembers from those!

 

Next year we will be on year 4 of the history cycle ( I hope! We are moving slowly thorugh SOTW 3, enjoying some rabbit trails on American history) and dd will be 4th grade. Should I skip chemistry and do physics or just keep moving though the material? How do I choose topics within the larger discipline? 

 

The middle school goals are more challenging for me, but I think I can be ready for them by the time we get there. No troubles teaching the the reading, writing or study skills areas. And I think we are good with the logical thinking/problem solving too. Math will be outsourced after pre-algebra and I don't think that dd will have any trouble working on grade level, though I doubt she'll ever love it.

#6 I'll have to work on, because I've just not done any real scientific experiments. All my high school labs were definitely demos and I took the "science for English majors classes" in college. I would like to prepare myself to try a real experiment each year with my kids by the time DD is in logic stage. 

 

 

Bucolic, I know I've hijacked your thread here for a few posts. Thanks for starting it! Have you come to any new conclusions about what will work best for your family from reading all these ideas?

[KSinNS]

I had the same problem last year, trying to figure out how to get science done painlessly. What has worked for us is using nature study as our primary science curriculum (my kids are a bit older than yours, but still early elementary). Ambleside online has some great suggestions as to how to implement this. Pick a "subject" for 3-4 months-birds, mammals, rocks, bugs, stars, space, plants, etc. Get your kids to pick. Then take 1/2 hour outside once/week to look for something related to your subject (if you pick something specific, the kids will look harder). You probably won't see what you are looking for, but you will see something interesting. Then, when you go home, look up the "something interesting" in your books or on the internet (good opportunity to talk about reliable sources). Read or talk about it. I keep a stack of library books related to our "topic". They can do a nature journal, too. We do this from time to time, not weekly. You get a surprising amount of fun, age appropriate science done and you have things to write/draw. If you need to keep records, take a picture with your phone.