Online Courses » Open for Enrollment
Middle Grades Science Learning
Begins March 22
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.
Materials required
You will need access to a middle school science classroom in order to conduct a student survey and teach one lesson designed during the course.
Take this course!
This course is scheduled to be taught beginning March 22.
It will be open for enrollment until March 22 or until maximum enrollment has been met.
