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Building Process And
Problem-Solving Skills
While it may seem like rocket science at times, exploring science topics with young children is no different than applying the same fundamentals you normally would in developing any topic or class lesson. The
"science story" approach assists you in developing meaningful
science content that incorporates convergent levels of thinking using
familiar activities, including:
In addition, content that promotes both critical and creative thinking
as well as problem solving skills can be incorporated by positing evaluative
and divergent-type questions within your exploration, including:
In
applying and using the above elements to develop your science story you
will, by default, provide your students with deeper insights into a variety of Key Concepts in nature and science, including: diversity, patterns, cause and effect, interactions. change, growth and cycles. Ask Questions. Who,
what, where, when, why, do, how, can, are… | ||
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Choose a subject, then ask questions about the
subject. BIRDS
What is a bird? What makes a bird a bird? What features define a bird? What do all birds have in common? How many different kinds of birds are
there? Are all birds the same? What kind of birds have you seen? Do all birds have feathers?
Are all feathers the same?
How are feathers different from one another (shape, color and function)?
How do birds differ from one another? Do all birds fly? Where do you see birds? Where do birds live? Do all birds build or live in the same
kind of nest? How many different
kinds of nests are there? Why does a
bird build a nest? What do birds
eat? Do all birds eat the same kind
of food? What can we tell from a
bird’s beak or from the kind of legs it has?
A key question to always ask about any subject is: why is “X” important or, what if there
weren’t any X’s? There are a
dozen more questions you can ask about birds. Derivative questions provide richness and a deeper understanding
of the subject. The question asking
format helps you define key concepts and distill these into smaller
meaningful informational “bites.” What if Scenarios… In the course of performing some
experiments it may be useful to explore variables in both theory and
practice. For example, in exploring
how plants grow and what conditions are necessary, you can posit purely
theoretical questions or follow up your “what if…” questions with an
experiment. What if there weren’t any
plants? What if we didn’t water our
plants, what do you think would happen to them? What if we kept our plants in the dark and didn’t give them any
sunlight? Do you think they would
grow? |
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