Rise and Thrive with Science Teaching PK-5 Science and Engineering

About the Guide

Science and engineering education has transformed since the 2012 publication of the Framework for K–12 Science Education. This change is carried by the vision that children learn science best by engaging in the kinds of practices used by real scientists and engineers. By "doing" science and engineering, children develop and refine their understanding and feel empowered to apply science to questions and problems relevant to them. This approach can make learning more meaningful, equitable and lasting.

What's in the Guide?

This guide will aid practitioners in understanding and implementing evidence-based instructional approaches in kindergarten through fifth-grade classrooms. Through illustrative examples, the guide shows what high-quality science and engineering education can look for children.

Through analyses of these examples and summaries of research findings, the guide points out the key elements of a coherent, research grounded approach. This guide also discusses the kinds of supports that educators need to implement effective and equitable instruction for all children. The goal is to inspire practitioners at the preschool and elementary levels to try new strategies for science and engineering education, whatever their level of experience.

CHAPTER 1

Moving to “I Can Teach Like This

CHAPTER 2

Bringing out the Brilliance of All Children

CHAPTER 3

Starting Strong with Investigation and Design

CHAPTER 4

Letting Children Lead During Investigation and Design

CHAPTER 5

All Together Now: Supporting Communication and Collaboration

CHAPTER 6

Revealing Learning through Assessments

CHAPTER 7

Everything Is Connected: Integrating Science and Engineering with Instruction in Other Subjects

CHAPTER OVERVIEWHow is the Guide Organized?

CHAPTER OVERVIEWHow is the Guide Organized?

CHAPTER 1

The chapter provides a broad picture of the possibilities and promise of new approaches to teaching science and engineering in preschool through grade 5. It introduces the principles that underlie these approaches and the key elements of effective instruction. The chapter also emphasizes the benefits of these approaches for children and the assets that preschool and elementary educators bring to this work.

CHAPTER 2

Even very young children can learn science and engineering. Learning is a dynamic cultural and social process that occurs in many different contexts. Educators can bring out the proficiencies of all children weaving attention to equity and justice throughout instruction and fostering a caring classroom community.

CHAPTER 3

This chapter explains the fundamentals of instruction anchored in investigating scientific phenomena and designing solutions to engineering problems. It introduces “sensemaking”—the active process children use to figure out how the natural and designed worlds work and to solve problems. It goes on to describe features of meaningful science phenomena and engineering design problems for learning.

  • “ I feel like elementary teachers are sometimes forgotten because we’re generalists, but it’s the most important time to really get kids pumped about science.

    —Nikki Tanako, a kindergarten teacher in a Washington State suburban district

  • “ To encourage student discussions, we practiced turn-and-talk—practicing with a partner. I also had them sitting at tables, so we would do table talks, where they would talk with their table, and then we would come back as a whole group to share. And we also worked on just the structure of discussion—having a student add on, or agree or disagree. We’re stating what another student has said to make sure that they’re listening and processing.

    —Ayelet Lederberg, first-grade teacher in a classroom composed largely of multilingual learners

  • “ Ultimately, to enact instruction aligned to the new standards, we must think about assessment differently. First, we need to think about assessment as ongoing rather than something that happens only at the end of instruction. When formative assessments are embedded throughout science instruction, teachers can use assessment information to improve teaching and learning.

    —Lorena Llosa, Scott Grapin, and Alison Haas

CHAPTER OVERVIEWHow is the Guide Organized?

CHAPTER OVERVIEWHow is the Guide Organized?

CHAPTER 4

Educators can deepen students’ sensemaking through guiding children as they plan investigations and design tasks, analyze and interpret data, develop and use models, construct explanations, and argue from evidence.

CHAPTER 5

Children’s talk and other forms of discourse are critical in helping teachers elicit and refine students’ ideas and advance their sensemaking. Engaging children in productive discourse begins with strategies for creating a positive environment so that children feel comfortable, safe, and willing to interact and learn with their peers.

CHAPTER 6

Assessment is an integral part of instruction. In a classroom centered on actively engaging students in scientific investigation and engineering design, opportunities for assessment are plenty – often, so closely intertwined with effective instructional strategies as to be inseparable. Noticing and taking advantage of these assessment opportunities is an essential part of effective science instruction.

CHAPTER 7

Instruction in science and engineering can be intentionally integrated with teaching of other content areas, such as language arts and mathematics, in ways that reinforce learning, make efficient use of classroom time, and maintain the integrity of targeted learning goals.

EPILOGUEFinding Your Own Sources of Support

Everyone involved in writing and producing this practitioners’ guide, including the educators who have shared their experiences in its pages, has done so in hopes of inspiring and empowering you to try something new—or validating what you’re already doing. Whether you’re relatively new to the instructional approaches in this guide or are already putting some of them into action, you may still, at times, find this work to be challenging. The strategies described in this guide may call for different ways of interacting with students than what you’re accustomed to. Remember, you don’t have to do everything at once, and you can choose or adapt the strategies you think will work best for you and your students.

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