Starting with Science: Strategies for Introducing Young Children to Inquiry - Softcover

Talhelm Edson, Marcia

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1571108076 ISBN 13: 9781571108074

Publisher: Routledge, 2013

Synopsis

Young children arrive at school with unrestrained curiosity and wonder about the world. A fact-based, hands-on activity approach to teaching science, however, is not enough to help them deepen their scientific thinking or discoveries. In Starting with Science: Strategies for Introducing Young Children to Inquiry, Marcia Talhelm Edson explores the big ideas surrounding inquiry-based science; she helps teachers thoughtfully plan for and implement a conceptual approach to teaching and learning science so students can engage in observation, questioning, predictions, collaboration, data collection, and a deeper understanding of topics important to their lives.

Through numerous examples from classroom discussions, teacher commentary, and children's work samples, Starting with Science provides practical suggestions and models for beginning teachers as well as those who are fine-tuning their practice. Four key questions underlie the book:

• What is inquiry-based science?
• How can pre-K, kindergarten, and primary-grade teachers incorporate inquiry-based science when faced with limited science background, insufficient time, and lack of resources?
• What roles do the children, the teacher, and the environment play in an inquiry-based science program?
• What instructional strategies are effective in implementing inquiry-based science?

In answering these questions, Edson provides a framework from which teachers can devise their own in-depth inquiry investigations based on district requirements and students' own interests. She also integrates literacy opportunities as well as explicit suggestions for effective assessment of inquiry-based science.

Starting with Science shows us what inquiry looks like in an early childhood classroom and introduces strategies teachers can employ to confidently and competently teach science to students in grades pre-K–2. Children will gain skills for problem solving and an attitude about learning that they will carry with them not just to the next grade but throughout their lives.

About this title

About the Author

Marcia Talhelm Edson is a clinical assistant profession in the School of Education at Boston University, USA. She focuses on inquiry-based science in early childhood education.Marcia grew up in Binghamton, NY, and after graduation from college she returned there to each fourth grade. After living in Boston during her graduate studies, she decided that New England was where she wanted to live. ""I enjoy the seacoast, the history, and the museums of Boston,"" she says.""One of the things I love most about teaching is the learning that goes along with it -- learning about my students and learning about the subject matter I am teaching,"" Marcia says. ""It is an amazing endeavour with so many moving parts, so many creative possibilities, and so much responsibility.""Marcia has taught preschool, elementary, undergraduate, and graduate students. ""At each of these levels I've been challenged by how the brain works, how learners learn, and how I can use that information to teach,"" she explains. She believes that teachers must also be life-long learners. ""There are so many elements that are part of teaching and research is continuously providing information about how children think, how to refine instruction and assessment, how to support the social and emotional needs of children, how to engage productively with parents, and how to deal with changing social issues. Teachers need to have time to participate in well-planned, comprehensive professional development opportunities that will expand their knowledge base, fuel their curiosity, and give them a chance to collaborate and share ideas and questions with colleagues.

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1571108076
• ISBN 13: 9781571108074
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 160