Using Children's Literature to Teach Science

I previously thought that any book that merely incorporated a scientific topic, and was well written  would be acceptable to include in a science lesson.  Researching science education and children's literature has led me to understand that it goes much deeper than my previous notion. I found that according to experts in the field of science education and literature for children, many books contain misconceptions about science. In order to present accurate information to students, teachers should be more selective and careful when deciding which books to incorporate. 

Through research on the topic of teaching science that includes children's literature and considering how the research fits into what I have learned about the methods of teaching science at Drake University, I have begun to develop criteria on which to evaluate literature for use in science lessons. 




1.  Is it developmentally appropriate?  

 According to developmental learning theory, the concepts presented, language and illustrations should fit into the students' developmental abilities.  The book's science content can be cross referenced with a resource such as the Science Literacy Maps published by the National Science Digital Library and/or the national and state standards for science education.  The book's language, themes, and illustrations can be referenced with a guideline such as that laid out in the Guide to Book Selection (figure 12.1) found in Galda, Cullinan and Sipe's textbook Literature and the Child (2009).  The guidelines by Galda et al. match the characteristics of children in age groups, features of books and some favorite titles of literature for the following age groups: birth-2 years, 2-4 year olds, 5-8 year olds, 9-12 year olds and 12 years and up. 


2.  Does the author have scientific knowledge/background or is there a consultant involved?

According to Sackes, Trundle and Flevares (2009), books written with the aid of a science consultant were less likely to present inaccurate illustrations and misconceptions about scientific content. You can usually find this information within the book itself, or by doing a simple internet search.


3.  Has the book been previously evaluated for use by researchers in the field of science education and literature for its content accuracy?

There are some book lists out there, such as the one provided in the article by Sackes et al. (2009), by Pringle and Lamme (2005), or Trundle, Troland and Pritchard (2008) by that have evaluated books for use in the science classroom.  Many science methods and children's literature specialists have collaborated to evaluate and create similar book reviews.

4.  Does the book present accurate information on the nature of science? 

 Along with representing accurate content information, if one is concerned with teaching the nature of science, it should be represented in children's literature included in the classroom. The Nature of Science is a construct of ideas about how science is "done" and how scientists behave when they are doing their work.  

 If books are doing the following they are likely promoting an accurate representation of the nature of science (these are only some of the ideas of the nature of science):


*The book portrays scientists working in diverse locations such as a space shuttle, the natural world, at a pond, on a boat, in a cave, etc. and not only in a lab.


*The book portrays scientists collaborating together in groups or teams.


*The book portrays the ideas that scientists collect and interpreting data or evidence. 


*The book portrays scientists as creative problem solvers and critical thinkers, rather than individuals following a step by step scientific method.

More on teaching the nature of science can be found at the links below:


http://www.springerlink.com/content/w7u32016l775k728/
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/how-to-teach-students-to-think-like-scientists
http://www.nsta.org/publications/news/story.aspx?id=49929


 




References:  
Galda, L., Cullinan, B., & Sipe, L. (2009). Literature and the child. (7 ed.). Wadsworth Publishing.


Pringle, R. M., & Lamme, L. L. (2005). Using picture story books to
support young children’s science learning. Reading Horizons,
46(1), 1–15.


Trundle, K. C., Troland, T. H., & Pritchard, T. G. (2008). Representations of the moon in children’s literature: An analysis of written and visual text. Journal of Elementary Science Education, 20(1), 17–28.


Sackes, M., Trundle, K., & Flevares, L. (2009). Using Children’s Literature to Teach
Standard-Based Science Concepts in Early Years. Early Childhood Education Journal, 36(5), 415-422.

My lesson plan on circuits: Part I. Best Laid Plans.

My lesson plan has changed dramatically since my cooperating teacher gave me 2 these two things to work with:

a little kit of circuits

a basic, boring explanation of how they work with a "3b" question

My cooperating teacher told me I could do something involving electricity and I initially thought I would be doing something about static electricity since it is very observable. Then she gave me this kit and when I started experimenting with the circuits in the kit, I was inspired to write my lesson including the pulse game (where students join hands and wait to feel their neighbor squeeze their hand as a signal to squeeze the hand of their other neighbor) as an introduction to the concept of a circuit.  

I was concerned when I looked on the NSDL Science Literacy Maps for electricity and magnetism, and found that appropriate content for K-2 is basic magnets and forces. However, I also found at Dr. Kruse's suggestion, that I could connect my electricity content to the idea of cycles and patterns...  

People can keep track of some things, seeing where they come from and where they go.      Found in the Forms of Energy map. (The National science digital library, 2007)

I wanted to consult the NSDL resources because they were a good way for me to connect my lesson to concepts that were appropriate for my students.  This draws on the developmental learning theory that states that students' developmental level/age affects their understandings of abstract concepts (Kruse, 2009). So I used the decontextualized approach of the game outlined below to introduce the concept that we can keep track of things and observe where they originate and where they go...

The pulse game: Ask students to stand in a circle and join hands.  Explain that I will squeeze the hand of one of the two people standing on my side.  If someone feels  a squeeze, they need to squeeze the hand of the person on the opposite side.   This is called a pulse.  Do this a few times until students get the hang of it.  As the pulse goes around, I will encourage students to observe and vocalize their observations.

Tell students that when the pulse reaches me, I am going to make a “beep”, but I’ll be the only one who beeps. Continue until  the pulse goes around the circle a few times.  

Then we will stop for a moment to talk.

I added the beep to introduce build a bridge that could lead us to the circuit.  That when the pulse travels, it is the cause of the beep.

Next, I focused my lesson on connecting the pulse game through strategic questioning that would allow students to think about the observable origin of the pulse and its effects on the circle of students.  When students are thinking and answering questions about what happened in the game, they are actively engaged, a component of the constructivist learning theory. 

What happened after I squeezed(name of the person next to me) hand?  
What do you think would happen to the pulse if we dropped hands?
Why do you think that?
What might happen if we stood in a line?

Based on the last question, what would happen if we dropped hands/stood in a line, the next step was to try this and compare our results.  This presented an opportunity to explore an idea that gets at some Nature of Science content such as the ideas that science is creative,  that scientists  come up with ideas and design tests.  Also that science is observational and experimental.

So we will try dropping hands followed by more questioning:

What was different about sending the pulse around the circle than in a line?
How did you know it was your turn to squeeze your neighbor’s hand?  
Why did or didn’t the pulse/squeeze stop?
What happened when we changed from a circle to a line?

What makes a circle different than a straight line?
Do other things in our world move around in circles?

Then I will explain how our pulse game and circuits are connected. 

Many things move in circles.  Electricity moves through wires in a shape like our circle.  We call that a circuit. A circuit is basically the same shape as our circle. It works in a similar way to when we sent the pulse around.   When electricity moves through the wires in a circuit, something happens.

I will introduce two objects from the kit. 

Hold up piece with battery pack and other circuit piece with light bulb. Hold them up in such a way as they are obvious half circles.

Ask students, what are these things?

I want you to think for a moment about how our pulse traveled, and what happened. How might these things behave like our circle?

Instead of telling the students what the things are, I want to gauge what their previous knowledge might be about each object.  This will let me know what I need to explain, if anything.

Next was the question that I hope will tie up the entire lesson in a bow.  I hope that everything leading up to this point would lead students to make a connection to the pulse game and these objects.  

How does this thing work?  

 And if students were not able to arrive at the answer on their own... 

What do you think will happen  when the wires touch the batteries?

I decided that I would be the one to try connecting the devices to make the light bulb work since there was only one battery pack.  From a classroom management perspective, I didn't want the students to lose focus on the task at hand and instead be concerned with who was going to get to experiment with the really cool science stuff.  I wanted to afford students with hands on time because then they can have the concrete experience of seeing the circuit work to build a more strong understanding.  However, since this is a Montessori classroom (and this could work in any other classroom if the teacher planned time for student to share and experiment with the device in a center or during free time) I had a hunch that the teacher would set the circuit out as  "work" that they would be able to handle during their open work time.  

Resources: 

The National science digital library. (2007). Nsdl science literacy maps. Retrieved from http://strandmaps.nsdl.org/ 

Kruse, J. (2009). Learning theories: Pillars of teacher decision-making. Iowa Science Teachers Journal, 36(2), 01-07. 

Kruse, J. (2012). Spring 2012-125 & 225 student created class notes. [Google Document]. Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eQJcPelt81LVsC66_NeCNxMytX7sMEMzlcczo9scVTM/edit.