LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

Online Courses » Course Catalog

Middle Grades Science Learning

This course is part of LEARN NC's catalog of online courses for teachers. Please see the current offerings at the bottom of this page for information about when it may next be taught.

About this course

  • Audience: teachers (grades 6–8)

Teach this course

This course is available to the public schools of North Carolina and may be offered locally or statewide. Learn more

Science is fundamentally about the process of making sense of phenomena in the natural and social world. In this course you will think about the scientific process and how it applies to teaching science in the middle school classroom.

This course heavily relies on the frequent participation and active discussion of all participants. Each week we will participate in a variety of activities that provoke discussion about science, science teaching, and learning to think scientifically. We will also become a community of scientists as we practice using current scientifically accepted methods to interpret and analyze field data. Lastly, we will integrate similar methods into our classes to develop a community of student scientists.

Prerequisites

You must be actively teaching in the middle school classroom during the course. You will also need to be familiar with the North Carolina Standard Course of Study.

Course objectives

This course has two broad goals. First, to provide a framework for understanding the nature of science, scientific inquiry, as well as how and why scientists know the things they know. Second, to help you engage your students in authentic classroom scientific inquiry.

You will address these goals through the following objectives:

  • Investigate experiences of learning science and your own students' conceptions of science
  • Discuss and elaborate on data concepts and patterns used to explain phenomena in the natural and social world
  • Experience using data to develop new understandings of natural phenomena
  • Develop and teach classroom lessons focused on interpreting data of phenomena

Audience

This course is only appropriate for teachers of grades 6-8.

Standards Alignment

This course addresses the following North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards:

  • Standard III: Teachers know the content they teach
    • a. Teachers align their instruction with the North Carolina Standard Course of Study.
    • b. Teachers know the content appropriate to their teaching specialty.
  • Standard IV: Teachers facilitate learning for their students
    • c. Teachers use a variety of instructional methods.
    • d. Teachers integrate and utilize technology in their instruction.
    • e. Teachers help students develop critical-thinking and problem-solving skills.
  • Standard V: Teachers reflect on their practice
    • a. Teachers analyze student learning.

Current offerings

Begins March 22.

This course is open for enrollment. Enroll in this course

Begins September 22.

This course is open for enrollment. Enroll in this course