Investigative science for middle school teachers
The online course "Middle Grades Science Learning" requires participants to think about the scientific process and how it applies to teaching science in the middle school classroom.
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Course description
How do your students define science? Do they see science everywhere in their lives, or is it something that only happens at school? This course will help you apply scientific investigation in your classroom, creating a culture of curiosity, inquiry, and experimentation to keep your students engaged.
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.
Each week we will conduct 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.
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
Course information
- Syllabus
- You can view full the course syllabus here.
- Audience
- This course is only appropriate for teachers of grades 6-8.
- 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 Essential Standards for Science.
- Duration
- Six weeks
- Credits
- 3.0 CEUs
Standards alignment
North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards (2009)
- Goal 3: Teachers know the content they teach.
- Objective 3.01: Teachers align their instruction with the North Carolina Standard Course of Study.
- Objective 3.02: Teachers know the content appropriate to their teaching specialty.
- Goal 4: Teachers facilitate learning for their students.
- Objective 4.03: Teachers use a variety of instructional methods.
- Objective 4.04: Teachers integrate and utilize technology in their instruction.
- Objective 4.05: Teachers help students develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
- Goal 5: Teachers reflect on their practice.
- Objective 5.01: Teachers analyze student learning.
