Integration Of Social Studies And/Or Science Within Your Literacy Workshop Model: A Professional Development Presentation

The research question examined for this capstone was “How does the integration of science and/or social studies standards with language arts standards impact the reading comprehension of upper elementary students? Topics explored in the literature review were different models of integration, such as CORI - Concept of Oriented Reading Instruction; Science IDEAs - In-Depth Expanded Application of Science; Dr. Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences; and project-based learning. Additional literature was examined on how background knowledge and vocabulary impact reading comprehension. A teacher professional development workshop was developed as the project to educate teachers about the benefits of integrated instruction. The workshop also included examination of reasons adults read and how teachers currently teach reading in the upper elementary classroom. Combined elements of the Science IDEAs and project-based integration models of teaching provided the structure to a redesigned upper elementary school day along with components in a lesson plan template. The second half of the teacher professional development workshop was a modeled integrated science and language arts lesson plan, where teachers became the students. Research on background knowledge and vocabulary were interspersed throughout the modeled lesson plan. The goal of this project was to persuade upper elementary teachers to use integrated curriculum of content and language arts standards as much as they can to increase opportunities for students to acquire new background knowledge and vocabulary knowledge which has demonstrated to have a positive impact on reading comprehension

Environmental Stewardship: Protecting Our Planet’s Future

The research question addressed in this project was how can Understanding by Design be used to create a curriculum that can be used to teach upper elementary students the basis of environmental stewardship? The motivating factor behind this project was a noticeable lack of outdoor exploration in public elementary schools, combined with limited science instruction in the classroom. Designing the curriculum using and Understanding by Design framework, the unit includes lessons on habitats, food webs, natural resources, and interdependence. Methods of teaching include hands-on and multimedia lessons, and time for free outdoors exploration. The unit culminates in a group presentation about a chosen species. The overall goal of the unit is to introduce the basics of environmental awareness to students and increase their knowledge of environmental issues. Included with this curriculum are copies of assessments, games, and handouts

How Can Science and Literacy be Integrated in a Fifth Grade Cirriculum?

The research question addressed in this capstone was, How can science and literacy be integrated in a fifth grade curriculum? This capstone describes current research in science education, reading motivation and engagement, and the science and literacy connection. The goal of this capstone was to create a unit that would captivate students’ interests in science and use that interest as a catalyst to grow their literacy skills. This unit is designed to be used in a 5th grade Spanish immersion classroom centered on the themes of life science and non-fiction reading. The accompanying curriculum utilizes the Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction (CORI) Framework of John T. Guthrie (2004) to teach the two content areas of science and literacy in tandem. This capstone provides a 7-week unit which details the use of the CORI framework, links these strategies to research, and describes how this approach leads to greater reading motivation and achievement in science

Preparing California Public Middle School Students For Scientific Inquiry into Environmental Issues

Skilled scientists in all fields of study are critically needed to begin resolving ecological problems resulting from human impact. Time is an essential element in creating a proper conceptual foundation and training should begin early in a student’s education. As of 2010, the California State Standards for Science for grades six through eight do not sufficiently address the importance of inquiry-based studies, limiting the scope of possibilities in public education. Studies show that middle school students build a deeper understanding of conceptual science and its application if they have opportunities to apply their knowledge through empirical activities. Multiple benefits, both academic and social, arise when lab activities reinforce scientific principles. A student survey in a Marin County, California public middle school revealed that students learn science concepts best, and prefer experiential activities, to other teaching methods

Experiential Learning in the Middle School Living Environment Classroom

Experiential learning teaches students through concrete experiences, often occurring outdoors or outside of the classroom. (Scogin, Kruger, Jekkals, & Steinfeldt, 2017). Outdoor experiential learning provides higher level thinking opportunities as well as opportunities to build a range of non-cognitive skills such as cooperation, collaboration, independence and responsibility. Additionally, experiential learning is a key tool for creating interest in science and in connecting science contexts from the classroom to real world applications that students can experience firsthand (James & Williams, 2016). This project begins with a comprehensive literature review discussing different forms of experiential learning and benefits of this form of instruction as well as obstacles that have been found in the literature. Previous research is used to inform best practices of how to structure these types of learning experiences for use in the classroom. A template is provided for creating experiential learning lessons, followed by six completed experiential learning example lessons that use this template. A final summary provides a rationale that links the template and provided examples to best practices from the literature review. The template and example lessons act as a guide for any teacher who wishes to implement experiential learning in their own living environment classroom

An elementary habitat curriculum for the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve

This place-based curriculum, developed to address the alienation that children often feel from the natural environment around them, is an inquiry-based, hands-on teaching module for third and fourth grade children. It is designed around a one-day field trip to vernal pool habitat at the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve. Three pre-visit and three post-visit lessons are included. The lessons enable students to acquire required California academic content standards, and also incorporate education principles stated in California\u27s Education and the Environment Initiative

Misconceptions in middle school life science and strategies teachers can use to change them

Misconceptions and alternative conceptions refer to students\u27 conceptions that are different from those held by the scientific community (Sungur, Tekkaya, & Geban, 2001, p. 91). All students have misconceptions due to prior experiences they have had. Students\u27 alternative conceptions are problems for educators because they can block new learning (Sewell, 2002). Therefore, teachers play a crucial role in helping students construct new knowledge upon whatever foundation that already exists. This review of literature examines the findings of research regarding misconceptions, common misconceptions that students have in life science, and how teachers can teach difficult concepts so students are more likely to truly understand what they have learned. The author discusses recommendations for teachers and their school district

Are the Oceans in Trouble? (8th Grade)

The goal of this unit is to equip students to explore how environmental changes affect organisms in an ecosystem and use that skill to defend an argument for or against the crisis in the ocean ecosystems. Additionally, students will determine the consequences of the role they play in global ecosystems and ways they could modify their behavior for more favorable global conditions. Students begin their exploration by manipulating kelp forest ecosystem food webs and creating stable ecosystems that can best withstand crisis. From there students explore how changes in single organisms (specifically ecosystem engineers) affect the entire system, as well as how changes in the environment affect an ocean’s ecosystems. The final project focuses on how human activities specifically affect the ocean. Students must answer the question “Are the oceans in trouble?” and defend their conclusion in a class presentation. After the defense, students must reveal an ad campaign that advocates ways the average student could respond to their conclusions

Developing Learning Progressions in Support of the New Science Standards: A RAPID Workshop Series

The hypothetical learning progressions presented here are the products of the deliberations of two working groups of science education researchers, each group also including a state science curriculum supervisor, organized by the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE),with support from the National Science Foundation. Their charge was to produce hypothetical learning progressions describing the pathways students might be expected to follow as they acquire deep understanding of two of the core learning goals set by the National Research Council’s (NRC) Committee on a Conceptual Framework for the New K-12 Science Education Standards. The goals in question address students’ understanding of the structure, properties, and transformations of matter in the physical sciences and of the flow of matter and energy in ecosystems in the life sciences. These two core goals were chosen because a good bit of research has been done on children’s learning in these areas, some of it carried out by members of our working groups. These hypothetical learning progressions are intended to inform those who are working on the new national science standards, to serve as tools for those charged with developing curriculum and assessments to implement the new standards, and to encourage others to undertake the theoretical and empirical work needed to fill important gaps in our knowledge about learning progressions

Exploration of Student Biodiversity Knowledge and Decision-making for a Wildlife Conservation Socioscientific Issue

Global biodiversity, a foundation for ecosystem function, is diminishing at a rate unprecedented in the last 50 years. Biodiversity loss and ecosystem services deterioration is linked to increased food insecurity, reduced water quality and availability, decreased energy security, higher economic losses and human suffering (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005). Consequently, educators should invest in supporting students in their development of ecological understanding and formal decision-making skills so they are equipped with meaningful tools they can use as scientifically literate citizens. To contribute to that mission, this study seeks to explore student 1) comprehension and explanation of biodiversity concepts and 2) decision-making in the face of a conservation issue. Past research shows that students at all levels of education have difficulty explaining genetic variability, which is a key concept underlying biodiversity, natural selection, and species conservation. In the first part of the study, I explore middle school, high school, and undergraduate student understanding of genetic variability in the context of a captive breeding program for wildlife conservation. Results suggest that several alternative conceptions of genetic variability persist across all grade levels. In the second part of the study, I explore how undergraduate students make decisions in unstructured and structured decision-making settings when posed with a question relating to mountain lion conservation in Nebraska. Some variables (e.g., value orientations, demographic information, or ecology knowledge) are predictive of students’ management decisions depending on the context of the question. Findings suggest that student decision-making may be more closely linked to students’ value orientations, social identity and conservation knowledge than to students\u27 stated objectives and evaluation criteria related to mountain lion hunting. This study also suggests that a structured decision-making framework can be an effective tool to support students’ examination of value tradeoffs among options for solving complex problems. I provide teaching implications for using these tools in supporting students to make formal, holistic decisions for complex socioscientific issues that transfer to real-world contexts. Advisor: Jenny M. Daue