Science: An Elementary Teacher’s Guide

Young students are naturally curious and easily drawn to science.

Science: An Elementary Teacher's Guide was written by, and for, elementary education majors. The primary goal is to improve science education for hundreds of children by helping prepare ourselves better as their future teachers. The goal of each chapter is to provide adequate background explanations so we, the teachers of tomorrow, can understand the fundamentals of the topic for ourselves, as well as provide our future selves with specific ideas and resources for teaching the concepts to different elementary age groups.

This book is an ongoing project of Sul Ross Rio Grande College students that began in April 2016. We believe that teaching science to children will help them build a strong foundation of learning that will serve them well as they grow older and gain more knowledge. If they learn the processes involved with learning science and doing science, such as observation, hypothesis testing, and critical thinking, they will be positioned to enjoy a greater amount of success in life and contribute to solving future problems. All who read this book are invited to help us reach our goals by taking the time to improve any section. A few of our current needs include consistent formatting, more photos or illustrations, clearly stated objectives for each chapter, and well-written quiz questions that will help us test our knowledge of the concepts.

Philosophy of Science and Teaching

1. Educational Psychology and Science Teaching
2. Challenges to teaching science in elementary schools
3. Observing, questioning, measuring, presenting
4. How do students learn?
5. Diverse Populations in the Classroom
6. History and methods of Western science
7. Hypothesis testing, data collection, analysis, and publication
8. Philosophy of Science and Teaching Quiz

Physics

Physics Objectives

1. Mass, Weight, and Inertia
2. Objects in motion
3. Energy, work, power, heat
4. Air and Water
5. Simple machines
6. Light
7. Sound
8. Electricity and magnetism
9. Kinematics
10. Physics Quiz

Chemistry

1. Chemistry Objectives
2. Building Blocks of Matter
3. Chemical Reactions
4. Water, Solutions, and pH
5. Organic Molecules
6. Chemistry Classroom Experiments
7. Chemistry Quiz

Earth Sciences

1. A History of Planet Earth
2. Rocks, earthquakes, and erosion
3. Minerals
4. Water Cycle
5. Oceans
6. Earth's Atmosphere
7. Weather, seasons, and climate
8. Food Chain
9. Environmental stewardship
10. Beyond the Earth
11. Earth Science Quiz

Biology

1. Cells
2. Genetics and Inheritance
3. Microbes
4. Plants
5. Animals
6. Tissues in the Body
7. The Human Body: Muscles
8. The Human Body: The Skeletal System
9. The Human Body: The Circulatory System
10. The Human Body: Brain and Nervous System
11. Biology Quiz

Additional Resources

1. Additional Readings & Activities
2. Preparing for the TExES exam
3. Contributors
4. Sandbox