In my previous blogs I have been talking about how we can get students to stay motivated in science class. The biggest part about keeping students motvivated in the classroom is being able to let the students explore hands on. Using the most concrete ideas will help students stay engaged and have fun with science.
My question now is what happens with the students who dislike science? Or how do we engage the students in science that like a different subject better. I got this idea from a peer in class. Using a cross-curricular approach can help those students who are better or who prefer other subjects over science to be more engaged in science class. If students aren't interested in science but are interested in other subjects like math and writing then you can implement some activities you did in those subjects into your science class. That way those students will be engaged more because they feel more comfortable and can talk about the subject more since they've been introduced to it in other subjects. By showing these students that science can be involved with other subjects, it will help them be engaged and motivated to do more science. I also think students will begin to like and get more out of science when they can apply what they've learned in other subjects into their science classroom.
There are lots of ideas out there that show you how you can use a cross-cirricular approach with science and other subjects. I found this website that shows teachers how to do a cross-cirricular approach with math and science. website The teachers seemed really engaged with the actvitites and wanted to try it out in their own classroom. The ideas they gave were geared more toward high school students but there are a lot of activites for cross-cirricular approach for elementary students also.
Alisa,
ReplyDeleteStudents NOT interested in science. Come on....every student is interested in science. Just kidding. The great thing about science is that it should be interesting for everyone. There are so many hands-on types of activities students can engage in, and great demos teachers can use. But in the rare case of the student that simply can't stand science, the cross-curricular approach can work. If a student loves history, how about having them do a project on the history of a particular scientific event or breakthrough. If a student is interested in literature they could read a novel with a science theme (Michael Crighton???). How about a student with a passion for art doing a series of botanical illustrations or creating the graphics for class handouts or study guides. There are all kinds of things we can do to help students connect to science, it just takes some creativity.
I think this is a great idea! Not every student is going to love every subject and this is always going to be a constant issue. Therefore, by incorporating other subjects into science, you can reach every type of learner. This is an idea that I feel that many teachers forget about. They assume that when it's the science block, only science can be done. But by incorporating other content areas, students will be provided an opportunity to expand their knowledge and really enjoy science!
ReplyDeleteGreat ideas! I had a hard time in science growing up until a teacher made the lessons relate to our everyday lives. Science is all around us every day, and by showing students that, it is a great way to get them to want to learn more about science and how things work. Incorporating other subjects is always a plus too, no matter what subject you are teaching.
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