Non-Fiction Science Book Questionnaire

Wow! The Most Interesting Book You'll Ever Read About the Five Senses
By: Trudee Romanek

Questions for Students to Answer After Reading:
1) When we get older, what can happen to some of our senses? (pg. 5)
2) What do cats and some other animals have over their eyes to protect them? (pg. 6)
3) How does the position of eyes help protect certain animals? (pg. 11)
4) How do you pinpoint the source of a sound without your sight? (pg. 16)

Some of the questions I created are pretty basic, but can create more challenging and thought provoking ones by having the students conduct the experiments given in the book. Students will have to return to the book and use the book to search for the answers.

Questions for the Teacher to Ask While Reading:
1) Who is nearsighted or farsighted in this class? (pg. 9)
2) If you close your eyes and plug your ears, do I sound differently?  (pg. 15)
3) Do you listen to music at a high volume or at a low volume? (pg. 18)
4) Do your parents like some foods that you don't like? (pg. 20)
5) When you smell certain foods does it seem like your tasting them too? (pg. 25)
6) By looking at the table of contents, where can we find the topic of sight? (pg. 8)
7) In the glossary, can we find the definition for  nearsighted? (pg. 30)
8)What are the little bumps on your tongue called?  (pg. 20)
9) How do taste buds separate tastes? (pg. 20)
10)  What are the different parts of the ear, how do they help us hear sounds? (pg. 19)

The questions I would ask while I'm reading would be survey questions in order for the class to experiment as we read the book together.  This keeps the kids engaged and helps the teacher determine whether or not the students are interested in the topic of the book.

Sample Lesson with Connection to Science Skills

Grade 1: Daily and Seasonal Changes Lesson Plan

This lesson is an experiment showing students the effects of hibernation and how it helps some animals stay warm during the winter. This lesson starts by introducing the term and a list of materials that could be used to keep the animals warm. This activity must be meet the six science skills that are required for teaching and learning science. Those are: Prediction, Observation, Measurement, Classification, Communication, and Inference.

Predication occurs in this lesson at the introduction of the experiment.  Students are given a list of materials and they must than predict what materials would be best suited for hibernation.

Observation occurs in this activity by conducting a science inquiry and then observing the reaction of the gelatin in ice.

Measurement occurs when the students must measure out the amount of water and gelatin is needed for this experiment.

Classification occurs by classify which of the two bags of gelatin would be beneficial to animals in hibernation.

Communication could occur if you had the students example the evidence supported by their observations and what they concluded about animals and hibernation from this experiment.

Inference occurs when the students must determine which of the two bags of gelatin would keep an animal warm during winter months.

This lesson meets most of the skills required for science but could be expanded upon in order to fully examine each skill.

Nature of Science Profile

I found that most of the results of the questionnaire were true to my views an ideologies of science.  I am completely deductive and realistic in my logical thinking of science as a process driven subject.  I was surprised to discover that I was de-contextualized when it comes to connecting science to culture and social setting.  I believe that some scientists or scientific discoveries are motivated by the politics or social beliefs surrounding them, when they really shouldn't be.  But I believe that this questionnaire was a very indicative representation of my feelings of teaching science.

The statement I want to discuss is that "science proceeds by drawing generalizable conclusions (which later become theories) from available data."  Not all scientific inquiries result in generalized conclusions but instead result in specific, concrete facts that are meant to be taught.  In connection to the curriculum, A2 - recognize that scientific knowledge is based on evidence, models, and explanations, and evolves as new evidence appears and new conceptualizations develop - best describes the importance of evidence and explanations and that they are evolving.  A specific learning outcome that best demonstrates the value of evidence is 3-3-03, which discusses the concept of gravity.  I am a firm believer that scientific discoveries are concrete and are, upon discovery, fact.

My Positive Science Exprience

DNA Testing in Biology Class
When it comes to my class, I intend to promote the values of experimentation and adventurous attitudes toward science.  Allowing students to have the same hands-on experience that I have had with science, and encourage them to stretch the experiment beyond the curriculum expectations.  Science is meant to challenge the physical and chemical make up of the universe and experiments definitely demonstrate that.  Sometimes they work out as expected, but more often than not they result in something completely different from what knowledge you had previous to the experiment and what you expected.  Those missteps are the basis of scientific discovery.  I will promote that ideology in my science class and make sure the students understand that science is constantly changing and adapting to new discoveries.