|Type of Product:||e-Book (our e-books are in PDF format and can be viewed on your computer or any compatible reading device) (also see print version of this book)
|ISBN:||Everyday Science Mysteries Series
|Grade Level:||Elementary School, Middle School
In the fourth book of this award-winning series, author Richard Konicek-Moran explores 15 new mysteries children and adults encounter in their daily lives. Relating the mysteries to experiences familiar to elementary and middle school students—Party Meltdown examines ice cubes melting at different rates; Baking Bread explores the importance of yeast; Stuck! uses a playground sliding board to explore properties of friction—the stories show how science is part of everyday life and initiate inquiry-based learning by leaving each mystery without an ending. Students identify the problem to be solved, formulate questions, form hypotheses, test their ideas, and come up with possible explanations. The mysteries cover science concepts such as periodic motion, thermodynamics, temperature and energy, and sound and sound transmission. Students may read and discuss the stories in small groups or take turns reading the stories aloud for whole-class discussions. Each story also includes strategies for teaching the lessons to younger students, lists of related ideas from the National Science Education Standards, and related books and journals that can be used to continue the discussion. The author also includes a chapter on using the stories to emphasize the importance of both science and literacy.
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Scientific habits of mind
|Intended User Role:||Curriculum Supervisor, Elementary-Level Educator, Middle-Level Educator, Teacher
|Educational Issues:||Assessment of students, Classroom management, Curriculum, Inquiry learning, Interdisciplinary, Professional development, Teacher content knowledge, Teacher preparation, Teaching strategies
Introduction: Case Studies on How to Use the Stories in the Classroom
Chapter 1: Theory Behind the Book
Chapter 2: Using the Book and the Stories
Chapter 3: Using the Book in Different Ways
Chapter 4: Science and Literacy
The Stories and Background Materials for Teachers
Matrix for Earth Systems Science and Technology
Chapter 5: The Coldest Time
Climate: (Temperature fluctuations during a 24 hour period)
Chapter 6: Is the Earth Getting Heavier?
Decomposition: (Recycling the Earth’s materials)
Chapter 7: What’s the Moon Like Around the World?
Astronomy: (The Moon’s shape around the world)
Chapter 8: Sunrise, Sunset
Astronomy: (How do the sunrise and sunset directions change over the year?)
Matrix for Biological Sciences
Chapter 9: Lookin’ at Lichens
Biology: (Introducing the lichens in the environment)
Chapter 10: Baking Bread
Yeasts: (Exploring the importance of leavening agents in baking)
Chapter 11: Springtime in the Greenhouse: Planting Season
Botany: (A family experiments on the needs for seed germinating)
Chapter 12: Reaction Time
Physiology: (How fast do you normally react?)
Chapter 13: Seedlings in a Jar
Botany: (Explorations in plant physiology)
Matrix for Physical Sciences
Chapter 14: Sweet Talk
(Exploring the differences between melting and dissolving)
Chapter 15: Cooling Off
(Mixing different temperatures of substances)
Chapter 16: Party Meltdown
(Finding the explanations for differential cooling)
Chapter 17: The Crooked Swing
(Solving a mystery and using engineering skills to remedy a problem)
Chapter 18: The Cookie Dilemma
(Using chemical tests to identify cookie ingredients)
Chapter 19: Stuck!
(Exploring aspects of friction and other forces)
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National Standards Correlation
This resource has 35 correlations with the National Standards.
- Physical Science
- Properties of objects and materials
- Materials can exist in different states--solid, liquid, and gas. (K-4)
- Properties and changes of properties in matter
- A substance has characteristic properties, such as density, a boiling point, and solubility. (5-8)
- Position and motion of objects
- Sound is produced by vibrating objects. (K-4)
- The pitch of the sound can be varied by changing the rate of vibration. (K-4)
- Light, heat, electricity, and magnetism
- Heat can be produced in many ways, such as burning, rubbing, or mixing one substance with another. (K-4)
- Transfer of Energy
- Energy is a property of many substances and is associated with heat, light, electricity, mechanical motion, sound, nuclei, and the nature of a chemical. (5-8)
- Energy is transferred in many ways. (5-8)
- Heat moves in predictable ways, flowing from warmer objects to cooler ones, until both reach the same temperature. (5-8)
- Life Science
- The characteristics of organisms
- Organisms have basic needs. For example, animals need air, water, and food; plants require air, water, nutrients, and light. (K-4)
- Each plant or animal has different structures that serve different functions in growth, survival, and reproduction. For example, humans have distinct body structures for walking, holding, seeing, and talking. (K-4)
- Structure and function in living systems
- Living systems at all levels of organization demonstrate the complementary nature of structure and function (5-8)
- Reproduction and heredity
- Plants also reproduce sexually--the egg and sperm are produced in the flowers of flowering plants. (5-8)
- Populations and ecosystems
- Plants and some micro-organisms are producers--they make their own food. (5-8)
- Energy entering ecosystems as sunlight is transferred by producers into chemical energy through photosynthesis. (5-8)
- Biotic parts of an ecosystem include animals, plants, and microorganisms. (5-8)
- Earth Science
- Properties of earth materials
- Earth materials are solid rocks and soils, water, and the gases of the atmosphere.
- Earth materials provide many of the resources that humans use.
- Changes in earth and sky
- The sun appears to move across the sky in the same way every day, but its path changes slowly over the seasons.
- Earth in the solar system
- The sun is the major source of energy for phenomena on the earth's surface, such as growth of plants, winds, ocean currents, and the water cycle. (5-8)
- Seasons result from variations in the amount of the sun's energy hitting the surface, due to the tilt of the earth's rotation on its axis and the length of the day. (5-8)
- Science as Inquiry
- Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
- Ask a question about objects, organisms, and events in the environment. (K-4)
- Use data to construct a reasonable explanation.
- Communicate investigations and explanations.
- Use appropriate tools and techniques to gather, analyze, and interpret data.
- Think critically and logically to make the relationships between evidence and explanations.
- Understandings about scientific inquiry
- Types of investigations include describing objects, events, and organisms; classifying them; and doing a fair test (experimenting).
- Scientists develop explanations using observations (evidence) and what they already know about the world (scientific knowledge). Good explanations are based on evidence from investigations. (K-4)
- Process Standards for Professional Development
- Introduce teachers to scientific literature, media, and technological resources that expand their science knowledge and their ability to access further knowledge. (NSES)
- Uses learning strategies appropriate to the intended goal. (NSDC)
- Teaching Standards
- Teachers of science plan an inquiry-based science program for their students.
- Select science content and adapt and design curricula to meet the interests, knowledge, understanding, abilities, and experiences of students.
- Select teaching and assessment strategies that support the development of student understanding and nurture a community of science learners.
- Teachers of science guide and facilitate learning. In doing this, teachers
- Encourage and model the skills of scientific inquiry, as well as the curiosity, openness to new ideas and data, and skepticism that characterize science.
- Focus and support inquiries while interacting with students.
- Orchestrate discourse among students about scientific ideas.
- Teachers provide students with the time, space, and resources needed to learn science.
- Create a setting for student work that is flexible and supportive of science inquiry.
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