EDUC 415

I. Course Title: Methods for Elementary Science Instruction

II. Course Number: EDUC 415

III. Credit Hours: 3 credits

IV. Prerequisites: 2.5 GPA

V. Course Description: 

This course is designed for prospective early childhood, elementary, and special education teachers to acquire the needed knowledge for teaching the skills, practices, and crosscutting concepts common to the natural and physical sciences in the diverse pk-6 classroom. Content from the four disciplines of science - Earth science, biology, chemistry, and physics will be used as vehicles for learning about teaching science to diverse groups of pk-6 children.

VI. Detailed Description of Content of the Course:

In this course, students will learn how to facilitate and engage children in the pursuit of science knowledge by creating learning experiences that model in important ways how scientists “do” science. Topics include the fundamental principles and interrelationships among various areas of science (life, physical, environmental, earth and space), the nature of science and the scientific method, science investigations, and how to create inquiry-based science experiences that promote curiosity and actively engage all learners in science. Students will be actively engaged in doing science through investigations, experiments, collaborations, and inquiry learning opportunities, both inside and outside the classroom. The Next Generation Science Standards and the Virginia Standards of Learning will be used as frameworks for the knowledge, skills, and crosscutting concepts that students will use to plan, teach, and assess inquiry-based science experiences in in the pk-6 classroom.

VII. Detailed Description of Conduct of Course:

This is a hands-on workshop-oriented experience in which students explore the teaching of science. Students will participate in scientific investigations, small-group learning activities, whole-class discussions, demonstrations, and outside-of-school activities as models of best teaching practices in science. Outside-of-class experiences may include working with small groups of children, taking field trips, and attending professional learning opportunities. 

VIII. Goals and Objectives of the Course:

Goals, objectives, and assignments address the Virginia Department of Education regulations for preparing early/primary and elementary educators and the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) and National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) standards. Students successfully completing this course will demonstrate their knowledge, skills, and dispositions to:

1. Align instruction to Virginia’s Foundation Blocks for Early Learning: Comprehensive Standards for Four-Year Olds, the Virginia Standards of Learning, and national and global standards appropriate to the elementary school curriculum. 
2. Demonstrate an understanding of the nature of science and the unifying concepts of science, such as: scale and model, form and function, organization, interactions, change and conservation. 
3. Demonstrate how the four core scientific disciplines – Earth science, biology, chemistry, and physics, are integral to an integrated understanding the systems of our natural world. 
4. Plan and conduct active learning experiences, (experiments, systematic field investigations, and research projects) based on the Virginia’s Foundation Blocks for Early Learning and VA Science SOL and which include the appropriate science process skills of prediction, data collection, analysist, modeling, experimentation, constructing explanations and graphical representations. 
5. Implement classroom, field, and laboratory safety rules and procedures. 
6. Participate in critical evaluation of science materials, technologies and resources (school, community, region) to engage and meet the individual needs of children, including children with disabilities, gifted children, children with limited proficiency in English, and children with diverse cultural needs. 
7. Plan formative and summative assessments for learners at different stages of development, ability, and achievement to determine children’s competence in Science.  
8. Understand how historical contributions and current advancements of science concepts and scientific reasoning have impacted social, cultural, environmental, and economic developments in our natural and physical worlds. 
9. Design Science learning experiences that integrate literacy and highlight the relationship between science, technology, engineering, math.  

IX. Assessment Measures:

Assessments of student learning include, but are not limited to:

• Planning and microteaching of inquiry-based plans that reflect cultural and/or global competence; integrate math, technology or other content areas
• Journal entries, reading annotations, and/or other informal writings
• Presentations or micro-teaching exercises
• Quizzes, tests, or formal writing assignments
• Class participation and discussion
• Participation and utilization of community expertise and resources for field trips
• Task analysis 

Other Course Information:

Co-list with EDUC 515

Review and Approval

August 2020