Science IDEAS Elements

Hands-on science activities are an important part of Science IDEAS in-depth science instruction. In Science IDEAS, students engage in multiple hands-on science activities focusing on a science concept or group of related concepts. In Science IDEAS, hands-on activities may be used to introduce a concept to students, but, in most cases, hands-on activities are preceded and followed by other Science IDEAS elements (e.g., reading, writing/journaling, propositional concept mapping). As a result across multi-day instructional lessons, students are engaged into organizing, accessing, and integrating prior knowledge.

Reading comprehension is an important part of Science IDEAS in-depth science instruction. In Science IDEAS, students read multiple sources focusing on a science concept or group of related concepts. In Science IDEAS, reading activities may be used to introduce a concept to students, but in most cases reading activities are preceded and followed by other Science IDEAS elements (e.g., writing/journaling, hands-on activities, propositional concept mapping). As a result, across multi-day instructional lessons, students are always engaged into organizing, accessing, and integrating prior knowledge.

In Science IDEAS, a knowledge-based Reading Comprehension Strategy is followed by teachers to guide student access of prior knowledge when reading and, in a complementary fashion, student summarization of what is being read. The application of these two strategy components to content-area reading materials within a context of concept-focused, cumulative, meaningful learning is one of the most powerful components of Science IDEAS instruction.

This section is under construction, but, when completed, will show video demonstrations of how the Science IDEAS Reading Comprehension Strategy is taught in Science IDEAS.

Propositional Concept Mapping is an important part of Science IDEAS in-depth science instruction. An important aspect of building understanding of science is being able to organize concepts in a manner that is a coherent reprezsxentation of the relationships among them. Developing student capacity to construct and refere to propositional concept maps is an important means for supporting cumulative student learning in Science IDEAS. In addition, in Science IDEAS instruction, propositional concept maps serve as a guide for writing and as journal entries recording what has been learned.

Writing/journaling are an important part of Science IDEAS in-depth science instruction. In Science IDEAS, students engage in multiple activities (i.e., Science IDEAS elements) focusing on a science concept or group of related concepts. In Science IDEAS, student writing and journaling are used to guide student organization of science concepts taught.

Although students engage in multiple writing activities, the major writing emphasis in Science IDEAS is student journaling. Student journals provide an organized framework for major concepts learned and consists of a cumulative record of concept-focused student activities. Student journal entries include notes on materials read, summaries of hands-on experiments, and propositional concept maps. By guiding student review of student journals, teachers are able to use journals as a tool for cumulative review.

One aspect of student writing that is emphasized in Science IDEAS is the use of propositional concept maps as a guide for writing. The hierarchical structure and explicit links among concepts in propositional concept maps provide a strong organizational framework for student writing.

Projects/Applications are an important part of Science IDEAS in-depth science instruction. In Science IDEAS, students engage in multiple activities (i.e., Science IDEAS elements) focusing on a science concept or group of related concepts. In Science IDEAS, projects/applications provide an important means for engaging students in “learning more about what they are learning” and in linking science concepts to everyday events.

This section is under construction, but, when completed, will show video demonstrations of how projects/applications are taught in Science IDEAS.

An explicit emphasis on the activation of prior knowledge in learning and in the cumulative review of what has been learned. Prior knowledge activation and cumulative review important parts of Science IDEAS in-depth science instruction. In Science IDEAS, students engage in multiple activities (i.e., Science IDEAS elements) focusing on a science concept or group of related concepts that are implemented across multi-day lessons. Within the context of multi-day Science IDEAS lessons, prior knowledge activation and cumulative review occur implicitly across different concept-focused activities. This has been a major strength of Science IDEAS instruction (vs. the read, feel, forget model used in most basal reading series).

However, the Science IDEAS model enhances the implicit occurrence of prior knowledge activation and cumulative review with an explicit instructional strategy focusing on each. The Science IDEAS prior knowledge “strategy” consists of a set of rules teachers apply when assessing student prior knowledge. For a concept or set of concepts, teachers query students about what they know. In doing so, teachers write correct answers on a white board. However, when student answer a question incorrectly, teachers respond in terms of what question the student response answered. This strategy is informative and encourages student responses in a positive manner.

In Science IDEAS, cumulative review is scheduled to occur during a daily lesson every two or three weeks. In conducting a cumulative review, teachers identify the sequence of activities (i.e., different elements) that had been used to teach a concept or group of concepts across multi-day lessons. Then, to conduct cumulative review, teachers select representative activities (reading materials, hands-on activities, propositional concept maps, writing/journaling) to be referenced during the review. And, finally, in conducting the cumulative review, teachers remind students of the activities used to teach the concept(s) and question students about them.