Science-Savvy Students, Part I
A librarian suggests titles to support primary-grade science standards
By Janet Dawson Hamiliton -- School Library Journal, 3/1/2000
What should children know about science? How can teachers be sure that all kids are learning what they will need to know about science to be successful adults? How can students' educations be assessed?
In December, 1995, a document was published to help science educators answer these questions. The National Science Education Standards (National Academy Press, 1995) was the culmination of work among many education organizations including the National Science Teachers' Association, the National Research Council, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and has since become an important part of science education.
At first (and even second) glance, the standards are a bit intimidating. Separate sets have been outlined for three age groups: K-Gr 4, Gr 5-8, and Gr 9-12 and, within each one, there are six areas covered: teaching, professional development, assessment, content, programs, and systems. Wading through the document, which is not always written in plain language, can be daunting.
Why should librarians be concerned? Well, teachers all across the country are using the standards to guide their science teaching. They'll be looking to libraries to provide the materials that can support this endeavor.
When you look at the standards, you'll see that they cover a wide range of topics. This article covers four of the content standards for primary grades: life sciences, earth and space sciences, physical sciences, and technology. Although there are many great activity books that would work for teaching these subjects, I've focused on informational books, many of which could be used as read-alouds.
The life-sciences standard for k-4 states that students should develop an understanding of the characteristics of organisms, their life cycles, and their habitats. Kids of this age are just beginning to understand what living things are. One of my favorite books for introducing the concept is Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld's What's Alive? (HarperCollins, 1995). This unique picture book describes the characteristics that define a living organism in a way that is understandable even to the youngest students.
What's Alive?
is part of the "Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science Book" series, which is a great set of books for this audience. Three other titles from it, Wendy Pfeffer's From Tadpole to Frog (1994), Deborah Heiligman's From Caterpillar to Butterfly (1996), and Helene Jordan's How a Seed Grows (1992, all HarperCollins), also offer good introductions to life cycles. Linda Martin's Watch Them Grow (DK, 1994) also provides a look at a variety of animals and their life cycles. Finally, for an interesting hands-on introduction to the concept that is easy to replicate at home and in the classroom, try Adrienne Mason's Mealworms: Raise Them, Watch Them, See Them Change (Kids Can Press, 1998).There are many books for this age on specific environments such as the rain forest, the arctic, and wetlands. It's more difficult to find titles that tie them all together to introduce the concept of an environment or habitat. Jim Arnosky's Crinkleroot's Guide to Knowing Animal Habitats (S & S, 1997) looks at the kinds of creatures that live in different areas and why. Barbara Taylor's Animal Homes (DK, 1996) shows large models of the insides of several dwellings. Paul Bennett's Making a Nest (Thomson Learning, 1994) has high-quality photos of a variety of bird, insect, reptile, fish, and mammal nests.
The earth-sciences standards state that students should develop an understanding of properties of earth materials, objects in the sky, and changes in the earth and sky. Earth materials include rocks, soil, air, and water, things about which young children have a natural curiosity. Once again, the "Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science Book" series has several titles that are right on target, including Franklyn Branley's Air Is All Around You (Crowell, 1986), Roma Gans's Let's Go Rock Collecting (1997), and Arthur Dorros's Follow the Water from Brook to Ocean (1991, all HarperCollins). Another good pair of books for slightly older kids is Meredith Hooper's The Drop in My Drink (1998) and The Pebble in My Pocket (1996, both Viking). These start with an every day item--a glass of water and a stone--and look at how each one was created. Walter Wick's A Drop of Water (Scholastic, 1997) is also geared for older kids, but the beautiful photographs of different forms of water will impress all ages.
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At first (and even second) glance, the national science standards are a bit intimidating. |
Joanna Cole's "The Magic School Bus" books are always favorites with this audience, and three of them fit well with the earth-science standards. The Magic School Bus Inside the Earth (1987) and The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks (1996) cover earth materials, while The Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System (1990, all Scholastic) takes a look at objects in the sky. Gail Gibbons's The Planets, (1993), The Moon (1997), and Stargazers (1992, all Holiday); Joan Sweeney's Me and My Place in Space (Crown, 1998); and Jacqueline Mitton's The Zoo in the Sky: A Book of Animal Constellations (National Geographic, 1998) are also solid titles.
Mitton's book and Franklyn Branley's What Makes Day and Night? (HarperCollins, 1986) can also be used to observe changes in the sky and those that account for the seasons and differences in the length of days. Michael Emberley's Welcome Back, Sun (Little, Brown, 1993; o.p.) is an intriguing story about a little girl living in a small Norwegian village that doesn't see the sun from September until March. It would be a fine lead-in for talking about what causes changes in the lengths of days.
There are slower changes, such as those caused by erosion and weathering, and very fast ones, like weather changes, volcanoes, and earthquakes. Bruce Hiscock's The Big Rock (1988) follows a rock's history from prehistoric times, while The Big Storm (1992, both Atheneum) tracks the much briefer history of a storm that moved across the U.S. in 1982. Lisa Westberg Peters's The Sun, The Wind, and the Rain (Holt, 1988) looks at a little girl making a mountain of sand at the beach, and compares her work to a mountain forming over many centuries. Another child carries on a lively correspondence with her geologist grandmother in Jean Craighead George's Dear Katie, The Volcano Is a Girl (Hyperion, 1998), as they debate whether a volcano is a geophysical phenomenon or a Hawaiian goddess. Several of Seymour Simon's books, such as Mountains (1994), Weather (1993), and Tornadoes (1999, all Morrow), do a fine job of covering these areas as well.
The next set of standards deals with physical sciences. It states that all students should develop an understanding of properties of objects and materials, position and motion of objects, and light, heat, electricity, and magnetism. There isn't a lot available to introduce youngsters to the properties of objects. Much of this is done through observation and sorting and classifying. One property that is easy to observe in any object is its state of matter. Katherine Weidner Zoehfeld's What Is the World Made Of? (HarperCollins, 1998) is an effective introduction to solids, liquids, and gases. Vicki Cobb takes a slightly more advanced approach in Why Can't You Unscramble an Egg? And Other Not So Dumb Questions About Matter (Lodestar, 1990; o.p.).
Cobb's Why Doesn't the Sun Burn Out? And Other Not So Dumb Questions About Energy (Lodestar, 1990; o.p.) could be used to implement the second part of this standard, since it deals with energy, forces, and motion. This area of study includes the motion of sound waves, which is well explained in Wendy Pfeffer's Sounds All Around (1999). In Paul Showers's The Listening Walk (1991), a little girl and her father take a walk to hear different sounds. Franklyn Branley's Gravity Is a Mystery (1986; o.p., all HarperCollins) gives a solid introduction to that force.
There are quite a few titles that touch on the final physical-science standard, teaching about light, heat, electricity, and magnetism. Shadows are easily observable phenomena about light, and Stephen Swinburne's Guess Whose Shadow?(Boyds Mills, 1999) makes an interesting introduction to different shadows and how they were created. Branley's Day Light, Night Light (HarperCollins, 1998) is a good general book about light and his What Makes a Magnet? (HarperCollins, 1996) updates his classic Mickey's Magnet (Crowell, 1956; o.p.). Wendy Pfeffer's Marta's Magnets (Silver Press, 1995) is another useful title. Melvin Berger's Switch on, Switch Off (Crowell, 1989) and Joanna Cole's The Magic School Bus and the Electric Field Trip (Scholastic, 1997) are two excellent choices for electricity.
The last set of standards I'll look at are those covering science and technology. These state that students should develop "abilities of technological design," understand about science and technology, and be able to distinguish between natural objects and objects made by humans. Technological design for this age includes identifying simple problems, coming up with possible solutions, and implementing one of them. Examples of this would be figuring out the best way to store classroom supplies or building several different types of bridges and testing to find out which is strongest.
There are several suitable titles to introduce young engineers to the wonders of technological accomplishments, from simple machines to skyscrapers. Ryan Ann Hunter's Cross a Bridge (1998) and Dig a Tunnel (1999, both Holiday) are basic introductions and have interesting illustrations. Philemon Sturges's Bridges Are to Cross (Putnam, 1998) and Ken Robbins's Bridges (Dial, 1991; o.p.) are also useful. For a look at how a building goes up, try Sue Tarsky's The Busy Building Book (Putnam, 1998). E. L. Konigsburg's Samuel Todd's Book of Great Inventions (Macmillan, 1991) gives a humorous introduction to the inventions around us.
For a complete bibliography covering these standards, including teacher resources and videos, e-mail me at jhamilton@mos.org. I will be addressing books to support the Gr 5-8 standards in an upcoming article. Make sure that your library has the materials you need to support this important part of science education reform.
Janet Dawson Hamilton is a librarian at the Museum of Science in Boston, MA. This is the first of a series of articles on
The National Science Education Standards.
