The seventh edition of Teaching Children Science provides comprehensive coverage of elementary science methods focusing on “what to teach” and “how to teach it.” Using Abruscato's well known “discovery approach”, the book includes all three major components of teaching science-methods, content, and activities-organized in a format that allows teachers ultimate flexibility. The text has also been updated to include the 5 Es Learning Cycle and the Universal Design for Learning.
Organized in four parts, the first nine chapters of the book deal with the major topics that shape what teachers will teach and how they will teach it (the methods.) Parts II, III, and IV deal with the content and the activities for the different fields of science: The Earth and Space Sciences, The Life Sciences, The Physical Sciences, and (new to this edition) The Technological Sciences. The content chapters of each part are followed by a separate chapter of activities. With a renewed focus on the National Science Education Content Standards, Teaching Children Science provides clear direction for science content teachers and their elementary school students need to know while aligning the chapter content with the standards. The authors also emphasize the importance of solid, valid assessment strategies over “teaching to the test.”
This edition also has an increased emphasis on using technology and multimedia in the classroom. The “webquests” of the previous edition have been expanded into a full chapter on Using Technology to Enhance Science Learning. (Chapter 8.) The authors provide a framework for understanding a meaningful application of computers in education as a way to deepen one's descriptive model of a phenomenon. They also encourage the use of computers to move beyond description to explanation. The assessments section in this chapter has been updated to be more explicit.
Part 1 Strategies and Techniques
Part 2 The Earth/Space Sciences
Part 3 The Life Sciences
Part 4 The Physical Sciences