4-8 generalist book

4-8 GeneralistStudy Guide

Texas Examinations of Educator Standards

Disclaimer

TExES MANUAL

The instructional materials prepared in this module are an accumulation of strategies and content to provide suggested methods in preparation for the Texas Examination of Educator Standards (TExES). There is no guarantee that studying this module will completely prepare the examinee for the questions asked on the exam. The examinee is ultimately responsible for mastery of content in all subject areas presented on the exam. The examinee should allow a minimum of 6-8 weeks to adequately prepare for the exam. It is recommended that 1 1/2 hours a day studying a combination of this module, graphic organizers developed, and other resources should be planned to completely cover the content. The examinee must know content prior to the exam date in order to be successful on the exam. Everything in this module has been copied only for the purpose of those who have purchased this module. Making copies of this document violates copyrights received by Region 4.

4-8 Generalist 3© Region 4 Education Service Center 4/03/06

Study Guide for Understanding the TExES Exam

This Study Guide is designed to prepare TExES examinees in the thought processes and application of content required on the TExES. Understanding these processes is necessary for selection of the most appropriate response to each question. The TExES is a certification exam designed to ensure that Texas certified teachers are prepared to instruct Texas children to succeed in Texas schools.

The TExES is divided into two major parts: strategy and content. The strategy part of this exam and study guide will assist the examinee in applying Benjamin Bloom’s Taxonomy as a way to process questions. Creating mind-maps and locating information stored will be addressed. Application of higher order thinking skills with the content areas will be stressed. The Content part of the exam focuses on specific grade level content in subject areas such as Math, Science, Language Arts, Fine Arts, Health and Physical Education and/or other specific areas. The content and grade level of material included in this study guide will depend on the specific certificate being sought.

There are 10 Basic Steps for the examinee to take in developing a test-taking strategy:

Step 1

The first step is to identify your own learning style. The two kinds of learning preferences for this exam are: concrete sequential learners and random, abstract, global learners.

Some of the characteristics of these two learning styles are as follows:

Concrete sequential learners and thinkers prefer to have everything in sequential order and have difficulty jumping around from one subject to another, but pay closer attention to detail and are more likely to not overlook an important piece of information.

Random abstract learners and thinkers prefer not following steps in a specific order and have difficulty staying on one task at a time, but are able to imagine the big picture.In order to be successful on this exam, the examinee must balance both of these traits. Understanding and practicing when to be a global thinker and when to be a concrete thinker is beneficial for this exam. Concrete sequential thinking is useful when reading the passage and identifying key pieces of information in order to clearly understand what is taking place in the scenario. Random, abstract, global thinking helps when retrieving information effortlessly and quickly. Following a process for eliminating inappropriate answers will require the examinee to return to concrete sequential thing.


STUDY GUIDE

Study Guide

Step 2

The second step for success on this exam is to download and study the test framework for the TExES. Test items have been aligned with the state’s required curriculum known as the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). The work of Jean Piaget in stages of Cognitive Development and Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning are critical theories employed in development of the TEKS. These TEKS define what subject areas of curriculum, or domains teachers need to master. Domains contain competencies, also known as standards. Mastery of these components is measured on the exam by introducing a scenario followed by a question response set.

These test frameworks may be found by going to the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) website www.sbec.state.tx.us. To locate the frameworks follow these steps:

Step 1 Go to www.sbec.state.tx.us Step 2 Click on Standards &Testing Step 3 Click on Study Guides & Preparation ManualsStep 4 Click on TExES Texas Examination of Educator StandardsStep 5 Click on the appropriate testStep 6 Click on test framework

Step 3

The third step is to become familiar with Jean Piaget’s philosophy. This will enable the examinee to identify what response is grade level and developmentally appropriate.

This is illustrated on the following chart.

Grade Pre K Kinder First Second Third FourthAge 3&4 5 6 7 8 9

Do the following:

1st Read the scenario and identify the domain that is being tested.2nd Underline the key information.3rd Recall the information and where you studied and how you graphically organized it.4th Use your criteria to reach your best conclusion.


http://www.sbec.state.tx.us/


Study Guide

Steps 4-9 are illustrated on the following chart.

Level of Thinking Processes

Apply these skills during the test.

Apply while processing through the test.

Step 4

Knowledge

Takes place before the test.

Arranging, defining, recalling, listing, recognizing, and naming.

Keep moving while studying.

Keep as active as you can.

Spend time organizing the information in a meaningful way. Be sure to use different colors for each domain.

Study before the test while using graphic organizers such as webs and charts to graphically organize information.

Step 5

Comprehension


Explaining, identifying, describing, reporting, and discussing.

Explain it to someone else.

Study before the test and while reviewing explain to someone. Use paraphrasing to make sure you understand the content.

Step 6

Application


Practicing, illustrating, using, writing, demonstrating, and applying.

Use the strategies while taking the practice test.

Practicing strategies on practice questions found on the SBEC website or at the end of this study guide.


Study Guide




Step 7

Analysis

Takes place during the test.

Comparing and contrasting, criticizing, differentiating, discriminating, examining, experimenting, and questioning.

Underline while identifying:

Who is doing the action, what is the grade level of the child?

What objective is the teacher trying to teach or accomplish?

When does this action take place?

Why refers to the objective being taught?

Where is this action taking place?

What activity is the teacher using?

This happens during the test while reading the scenario and identifying the key pieces of information. This involves taking the scenario apart by asking.

Step 8

Synthesis


Arranging, creating, designing, developing, preparing, planning, and organizing.

Paraphrasing what was read and understood.

This happens after reading the scenario, understanding the question and reflecting while mind mapping back to the content information and connecting it with what is being asked. Attempt to recall the information and where you studied the information as well as how it was graphically illustrated.


Study Guide




Step 9

Evaluation


Argue, assess, defend, rank, choose, estimate, judge, value, prioritize and select.

Criteria to be used:

Developmentally appropriate. Age level appropriate.Does it answer the question?

This final step happens while justifying the most appropriate answer based on the most developmentally appropriate response.

HELPFUL HINTS

REMEMBER TO:

Read the scenario and identify the domain that is being tested. Underline the key information. Recall the information and where you studied and how you graphically organized it. Use your criteria to reach your best conclusion.

Step 10

The final step is to apply during the test would be to pace oneself by making sure that the examinee budgets sufficient time to complete the entire test. The test itself is budgeted at five hours with a little over 2 and ½ minutes per question. Be sure to skim and underline the key information. The examinee is not penalized for answering incorrectly and therefore it is encouraged that the examinee attempt to answer every question. The goal is to accumulate 240 points. The examinee should also be aware that there will be between 15-20 questions that will be piloted and will not be counted one way or another.

Benjamin Bloom’s philosophy enables the examinee to process the question and connect the details found in the scenario at the same level of higher order thinking. Adapted from his original work in Bloom, Benjamin: All Our Children Learning. McGraw-Hill. New York, 1981.


Domain I English Language Arts and ReadingDomain II MathematicsDomain III Social StudiesDomain IV Science

A Complete explanation of domains and competencies may be found by going to the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) website www.sbec.state.tx.us. To locate the frameworks follow these steps:

Step 1 Go to www.sbec.state.tx.us Step 2 Click on Standards &Testing Step 3 Click on Study Guides & Preparation Manuals Step 4 Click on TExES Texas Examination of Educator StandardsStep 5 Click on the appropriate testStep 6 Click on test framework

Domain I English Language Arts and Reading (approximately 31% of the test)

Domain II Mathematics (approximately 23% of the test)

Domain III Social Studies (approximately 23% of the test)

Domain IV Science (approximately 23% of the test)


DOMAIN AND COMPETENCY OVERVIEW



In 1956, Benjamin Bloom headed a group of educational psychologists who developed a classification of levels of intellectual behavior important in learning. Bloom found that over 95% of the test questions students encounter require them to think only at the lowest possible level, which is the recall of information.

Bloom identified six levels within the cognitive domain, from the simple recall or recognition of facts, as the lowest level, through increasingly more complex and abstract mental levels, to the highest order which is classified as evaluation. Verb examples that represent intellectual activity on each level are listed here.

KnowledgeThis level provides the child with an opportunity to acquire information by way of listening or doing the following: arrange, define, duplicate, label, list, memorize, name, order, recognize, relate, recall, repeat, and reproduce state.

Comprehension This level provides the child with an opportunity to demonstrate a basic understanding of the content that is being shared by asking students to: classify, describe, discuss, explain, express, identify, indicate, locate, recognize, report, restate, review, select, and translate.

Application This level provides the child with an opportunity to use information and applying it to gain practice asking children to: apply, choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate, interpret, operate, practice, schedule, sketch, solve, use, and write.

AnalysisThis level provides the child with an opportunity to use information gained by taking things apart and by selecting key pieces of information. To increase analysis skills children are asked to: analyze, appraise, calculate, categorize, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, examine, experiment, question, and test.

SynthesisThis level provides the child with an opportunity to put parts from the story together in a new way. Verbs that help students to acquire this skill are: arrange, assemble, collect, compose, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, manage, organize, plan, prepare, propose, set up, and write.

Evaluation This level provides the child with an opportunity to form and present an opinion backed up by sound reasoning. Examples of this level are when students are able to: appraise, argue, assess, attach, choose compare, defend estimate, judge, predict, rate, core, select, support, value, and evaluate.


BLOOM’S TAXONOMY

Constructivism and LearningToday most educators are constructivists, at least to a degree. Constructivists believe that learning is:

a construction or building process, not a retrieval process; a highly active endeavor on the part of the learner.

Students learn through mental interaction with the physical and social worker; they do not merely take knowledge from that world; that constructing and understanding a new idea involves making connections between old ideas and new ideas; that learning is affected by the context in which an idea is taught as well as by students’ beliefs and attitudes.

What students learn is organized into schemata, networks of information and knowledge. Some of a student’s schema are data, information organized in patterns, structures, and networks, while other schema are ways of processing and organizing information, that is, skills and procedures. What students know differs from what students can do. These are two different things in our brains.

The schemata of each individual student are unique. They are based on the individual’s experiences and previous learning opportunities. These schemata in turn affect the student’s ability to perceive, understand, attach meaning to events, comprehend and construct meaning (learn).

What students learn is a function of what they already know (their schemata); schemata influence the input of information (perception), the processing of the input (comprehension) and the recall of the input (learning).

Learning, then, can be thought of as making connections between old ideas and prior understandings (existing schemata) and new ideas. This can take several forms.

Some learning requires the creation of entirely new schema (accommodation). Babies and toddlers do this as they build their basic understandings of the world, language skills, social skills, etc. When students are asked to learn an entirely new way of thinking or subject, e.g., geometry, they may be engaged in this process.

In school, most learning involves adding details, fine-tuning, or refining existing schemata (assimilation).

As new information becomes increasingly difficult or at odds with what a student already believes (existing schemata), total restructuring of their understandings may be required. This is very difficult and requires a great deal of a student’s effort.


LEARNING THEORIES AND STRATEGIES

Learning Theories and Strategies

The processes that help students to make connections or to build new schemata are termed cognitive strategies, known ways of learning.

What are the take home messages? Better learning will not come from better ways for the teacher to instruct but from

giving the learner better opportunities to construct. Teachers designing instruction need to emphasize the internal representations that are

part of instruction and the active intellectual processing that must occur if learning is to take place.

The following are strategies one can use to better understand the philosophy of the TExES exam.

Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences Logical mathematical intelligence: an individual’s ability to understand logical and

numerical patterns and relations Linguistic intelligence: the ability to acquire and use a large, elaborate vocabulary Musical intelligence: the ability to create and enjoy music Spatial intelligence: the ability to recognize visual-spatial relationships, think three-

dimensionally, and use imagery Bodily kinesthetic intelligence: the ability to move skillfully and smoothly, to use the

sense of touch and feel to perceive the world Interpersonal intelligence: the ability to cooperate well with others, to read their

motivations, and to deal with their moods Intrapersonal intelligence: ability to be aware of his or her own feelings and inner

world, to reflect on their own experience in life and to identify their own strengths, desires, and weaknesses

Naturalist intelligence: the ability to use objects and forces in the natural environment to solve problems and draws on abilities to observe.

Cognitive StrategiesWe can help students learn if we plan instruction so that students use one or more appropriate cognitive strategies to learn material, that is, to actively process the content. There are four families of cognitive strategies. Each is explained briefly below.

Chunking StrategiesChunking strategies are the most often used learning strategies in the social studies. However, they are not memorable strategies. They must be supplemented by more powerful strategies, e.g., framing, mapping, rehearsal, but they are good preparation for them. Emphasize the most appropriate chunking strategy in the design of your activities. Then, combine it with other strategies.

Strategies and IdeasSchema Theory and Classroom Instruction (from “Using Schema Theory to Teach American History” by Mac Duis, Social Education, March 1996)



As a major theory of learning, schema theory has tremendous implications for school classrooms. It is crucial for teachers to realize that students can remember substantial amounts of new information only if they are able to cluster it with their related existing ideas. People forget information if they do not work to integrate it into their existing mental frameworks. Teachers must also realize that the schemata of each student are distinct from those of others, even of the teacher himself/herself. In this ever-changing, information-based society, history teachers must design instructional methods that are solidly rooted in these realizations.

For students to develop meaningful understandings of complex historical events, they must have the appropriate schemata. Teachers can help them develop these cognitive strategies by challenging students to think as the historical figures in question actually thought.

Strategies to activate students’ existing schema: advance organizers, concept maps, teacher’s questions (see Cognitive Strategies).

What can you do if students have no existing schemata on which to attach new information? Teachers must help students develop the appropriate new schemata. Only with their cognitive effort and the appropriate “coaching” from their teacher will true understanding and skill acquisition arrive.

Reconstruction ExamplePlace students in the schema-developing role of policy planner. Present students with information about the effects of Civil War, e.g., statistics on the devastation of the South, casualties on both sides, number of newly freed African Americans. See the American Civil War website or United States Civil War Center for information.

Organize students into groups of three. Ask them to design a general plan to rebuild the nation and to make it whole again, based on these basic questions:

1. What were the most pressing problems after the War?2. What groups of people need help most?3. What can the government do to meet these needs?

Once this task is complete and students have a better developed understanding of the issues (preliminary schemata), they are ready to learn about the real Reconstruction. Prepare a structured lecture on the original Reconstruction plans of Lincoln, Johnson, and the Radical Republicans, stating at each juncture what was officially adopted.

Urge students to take notes using some note-taking format. Lead students to compare their plans with the actual events.

Finally, ask students to compare events during the Reconstruction with general responsibilities of government in taking care of needy segments of society. Analyze different viewpoints toward welfare today and government policies during Reconstruction.



Schema theory emphasizes the mental connections humans make between bits of information. People naturally remember new information by relating it to what they already know. History teachers must take advantage of this fact in designing their lessons.

Map Concepts and Multiple Intelligences(From “Overview of Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences” by Sr. Madeleine Gregg)

To illustrate the intelligences, below are two sets of multiple intelligences tasks that can be used to teach children about two map concepts:

Symbols are abstract. On different maps different symbols can stand for the same information. A dot or a box can represent a town. On different maps, the same symbol can stand for different information. A triangle can represent a mountain peak or a historical marker.

Symbols represent real objects, whether tangible or intangible. Some objects can actually be seen on the surface of Earth. These are tangible objects. Other objects are intangible. They cannot be seen on the surface of Earth.

Try to generate ideas of your own!

Intelligence Tasks, Map Concept 1 Logical Mathematical

Find two maps that use different symbols to represent the same piece of information. Find two different maps that use the same symbol to represent different pieces of information.

LinguisticPlay this game with a classmate: Sit back to back on the floor. Each person needs a pencil and a piece of paper divided into four sections. Each player designs a symbol in the top left hand section of the paper. Then one player describes his/her symbol as accurately as possible. The other player tries to reproduce the symbol in one box on his/her paper. Switch players. Then look at the original symbols and the copies you made.

MusicalPlay this game with a classmate: Let one person read from the map. The reader chooses two different kinds of symbols shown on the map and reads

examples of them aloud. The other person has to represent each type of symbol with a particular rhythm on

the tambour. After 10 rounds, switch players.

Spatial Choose a map with many symbols. Look at the map upside down. Practice drawing

several symbols right side up.



Bodily Kinesthetic Use your body to show a landform three ways. For example, you could make a

particular shape with your body to represent a particular landform. Or you could move in a certain pattern to represent the landform. Put your movements together to create a dance about that landform.

Interpersonal Be sure you play one of the games with a good friend and one of the games with

someone you do not ordinarily play with. Write a journal entry about how your experience of playing a game was different when the other player was a good friend.

Intrapersonal Draw a map of your inner self. What areas are in your inner self? What lines are in

your inner self? What points are in your inner self? What did you discover about your inner self? Write a paragraph about one of your discoveries in your journal.

Intelligence Tasks, Map Concept 2 Logical Mathematical

Choose a map that shows tangible and intangible objects on Earth’s surface. Make a chart with two columns, labeled tangible and intangible. List in each column at least five objects in each category. For example, in the tangible column, you may write the name of a landscape feature or a settlement. In the intangible column, you may write equator or a political boundary line.

LinguisticGo through the World Book Encyclopedia’s entry on Geography. Make a list of all the things that a geographer studies, which are tangible and all the things that are intangible. Which column is longer?

MusicalA lot of great musical instruments create a mood, an intangible feeling. Go to the listening center and take a headset and worksheet. Listen to the tape in the cassette player; describe the mood of each of the pieces of music listed on the sheet. Good examples of music to put in the listening center include Peter and the Wolf, Fantasia, and Carnival of the Animals.

SpatialCultural regions on maps are sometimes tangible and sometimes intangible. If you saw a part of a state in the United States where all the town names were French or German, you would have tangible evidence of cultural region. The boundary between Italy and France is an intangible line that divides Italian culture from French culture. Find three maps that show tangible objects and three maps that show intangible objects.

Bodily KinestheticCreate a group sculpture representing three tangible objects. Create a dance sequence that expresses the meaning of a border to the people who live on both sides of it. Write a paragraph about the differences between a tangible and an intangible object.

InterpersonalWork with a small group of classmates to prepare an oral presentation about how intangible objects are real even though they are invisible. For example, you may want



to focus a lesson in the kinds of intangible objects shown on maps, or you may want to do a presentation about an abstract idea like justice, peace, or beauty.

IntrapersonalWhat precious possessions do you have that are tangible? What precious possessions do you have that are intangible? Create a two-column chart on which you list both kinds of possessions, called My Precious Possessions.

ResourcesThere are a number of excellent resources on the web dedicated to educational research. Not much has an explicit social studies focus, but it can provide good information on new ideas in teaching and learning in general.

Pathways to School Improvement is one of the best single sites on the web for teachers interested in new ideas in education. It provides background information on a number of topics including teaching strategies, professional development, learning theories and so on. It is operated by the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory.

The Theory into Practice Database provides an easy-to-understand review of all the key concepts and theories in education today. Read here and reflect on your own classroom experience and practice. One thing this site can do is to keep you up-to-date with current trends.

The Learning Theory Funhouse is another great site. It has good links to other sites, including Ed-Web and a page with many resources entitled Learning Theory and Research.

A site related to research and social studies/social science is the ERIC Clearinghouse. It also contains a list of curriculum resources. Let us know your favorite sites and we can post them here!


Teachers must be aware of normal language development in order to provide students appropriate literary materials and learning strategies. Language development is the key to students’ cognitive development. Language development begins with the child’s inner language and the receptive and expressive areas of language they develop as the child interacts with the environment, people, and other stimuli. Receptive language begins with listening, and then the expressive language develops with oral (speaking) by imitating the sounds they have heard. Later, as literacy begins to develop further, another receptive skill is developed, reading, and finally the most complex of expressive language skills, writing, is developed. If anyone of these skills is not developed normally, then all of the child’s normal development is affected, cognitive, social, motor, and affective. An example of normal language development is shown on the charts below.

Teachers must also be knowledgeable about the five subsystems for language: phonology (sounds), morphology (word forms), syntax (word order and sentence structure), semantics (word and sentence meaning), and pragmatics (social use of language).

The knowledge of language development and subsystems will facilitate the teacher in the on-going assessment process as the student develops literary skills. It is possible for all students at varying developmental levels to engage in a discovery process which clarifies thinking, increases knowledge and strengthens their understanding of the real world through using literature as a vehicle to learn.


LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT AND LITERARY SKILLS


LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT AND LITERARY SKILLS SAMPLES

Language Development and Literary Skills Samples


Change: Who Needs It? We Do!

Riding in an airplane one day, I began thinking about my first plane ride. I cannot remember how long ago that was and I probably would not tell you if I could. That first ride took about an hour. I traveled about 250 miles on a small plane that seemed to skim the treetops. In fact, we jokingly called the airline, Tree Top Airlines. The trip I was on would take about 5½ hours was over 2,000 miles on a huge jet at 35,000 feet and I would not even be able to see the trees. How things change! Thank goodness they do. The airline I flew that day actually developed from that Tree Top Airline Company, today it is called Southwest Airlines. Things change and usually for the better. Do you remember your first job and the salary at which you were hired? Yes, thank goodness things change.

Teaching has changed substantially in the last 40 years. Even in the last 10 years we have seen dramatic changes. The publication, Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics in 1989 has changed the way we looked at teaching mathematics in the 90’s. This document was the first attempt of a national teachers’ organization to define what curriculum could be across the country. These standards set forth the idea that mathematics teaching involves problem solving, communication, reasoning, and connections. The second set, Professional Teaching Standards, published in 1991, outlines how mathematics could be taught suggesting mathematical tasks, teaching strategies, and questioning techniques.

The third set, Assessment Standards for School Mathematics, published in 1995, addresses assessment for programs and alternative methods of assessing student learning in the mathematics classroom. I am convinced that these three documents outline the direction that mathematics teaching should take now and in the future. Actually, the content in these three documents is a collection of things that good teachers of mathematics have always done. NCTM has collected and published them for us to use as a model to develop their own curriculum.

Since the Curriculum Standards have been available to school districts for years and are so great, why haven’t teachers changed so that they are all teaching exactly as the Standards suggest? There are a number of reasons why teachers haven’t bought into the ideas. Let me talk about a few of them and give you my feelings about the change.

1. They ask us to teach in an unfamiliar manner. When I was in school, students were taught to manipulate symbols and to apply algorithms rather that develop a conceptual, visual, or connected understanding of mathematics. The teacher worked examples on the chalkboard and gave us 20 to 30 problems exactly like the examples and we practiced our mathematics. We are now being asked to teach in distinctly different ways. How do we handle this challenge? We must learn new techniques and apply them in our classrooms. We must make the most of ongoing staff development


MATHEMATICS TODAY

Mathematics Today

opportunities. We should attend district and regional in-service programs and national, regional and local conferences.

A few of the professional conferences that you should consider attending are:

NCTM’s Annual Meeting

NCTM Regional Meetings

CAMT Conference for the Advancement of Mathematics Teaching

Teachers must read and study professional literature and put this new knowledge into practice. NCTM publishes three journals which address issues at the elementary, middle, and senior high school levels.

Teaching Children Mathematics (K-6)

Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School (6-8)

Mathematics Teacher (9-12)

The articles in these journals are generally written by teachers for teachers. The journals also include pull-out pages with activities that can be used with students. We must try something new, adjust it if necessary and try it again.

One new and unfamiliar teaching strategy for those of you new to mathematics teaching is the use of manipulatives. I do not remember ever using manipulatives as a student. Now we know that students learn better if they can not only hear instructions but also see, feel, and manipulate objects that illustrate the concepts. We don’t use manipulatives just for fun. We use manipulatives that illustrate a mathematical concept clearly and make it more understandable. Many commercial manipulatives are available. Choose wisely so that each can be used for more than one concept.

Unifix cubes which are cubes that snap together, can be used to count, sort, pattern, and even solve equations.

Base-ten blocks which have a unit’s block, a ten’s block, and a hundred’s block are used to illustrate whole numbers and their operations. They can also be used to teach decimals, if the flat is declared to be one, the long then becomes tenths and the small cube hundredths.

Pattern blocks can be used to make patterns and illustrate geometric shapes. The sizes are compatible so they can be used for fractions. For example the hexagonal shape can be made using 6 triangles, 3 rhombuses, or two trapezoids. If the hexagon is one then one triangle is 1/6, one rhombus is 1/3, and one trapezoid is 1/2.

Fraction bars are used to teach equivalent fractions and to do addition and subtraction of fractions. If the fraction notations are covered with a sticker and the appropriate decimal or percent equivalent is placed on the sticker, the bars become very useful. We could then have ¼, 0.25 and 25% all represented by the same bar.

Cuisenaire rods, one of the best known manipulatives, were developed in England and are widely used there. They are used to operate with whole numbers, fractions, and decimals. The rods can also be used to represent square roots.


Mathematics Today

Geoboards or pegboards are widely used to teach geometric concepts but can be used to teach fraction concepts such as equivalent fractions and multiplication.

Tangrams consist of congruent and similar triangles making them useful for geometric concepts, but they can also be used to illustrate fractional relationships.

Be creative! If you can’t find a commercial manipulative that fits your needs, develop a teacher made one. It could be as complicated as a trig-tracker to study the trig functions on a unit circle or it might only involve simply using grid paper to study sequences. The idea is to help students develop strong mathematical concepts.

2. They ask us to embrace new technology. We learned mathematics using the old curriculum, we think that today’s students should be able to also. The traditional curriculum to which we are accustomed was designed to meet societal needs that no longer exist. When I was in college, I worked in a grocery store to help pay my expenses. At the store, we often figured a customer’s bill on the brown paper sack which was used to carry the purchase home. I needed my mental mathematics to add those long columns of figures. Now, I carry a calculator in my purse. I still use my estimation skills, but I use the calculator when I need to be exact. I am a lot more accurate now, with a lot less effort. The Standards do not suggest that you neglect teaching the basic skills and teach only using the calculator; they suggest that you teach problem solving using the calculator so that students can concentrate on the problem solving and not be hampered by the arithmetic. The Standards also suggest that you teach students to make decisions about when it is more efficient to use their calculator. I do not get out my calculator to add two numbers and the students should not either. Computer technology is changing the way the world communicates. Most of us did not learn to communicate using a computer, but I sure would put up a fight if you tried to take away the one I have now. It serves me well as I plan curriculum, write student activities, outline teacher staff development and write materials for a new algebra program. As a matter of fact I created all the transparencies I am using with my talk on my Macintosh with its ink jet printer. Calculators and computers can provide the students with experience using spreadsheets, scatter plots, matrices, box-and-whiskers plots, and many other forms of data analysis. New technology is changing not only how we teach mathematics, but also what should be taught and what no longer needs to be included in the curriculum. Educators must move forward with the times.

3. They ask us to see a bigger picture. Concepts that are introduced in the early years are reinforced and refilled as a student moves through the grades. The concepts begun in kindergarten evolve through the primary, intermediate, middle grades to become full-blown mathematical concepts before a student graduates. We must make sure that we do not neglect the portion of the concept development assigned to our level. If we do, the student’s background will be full of holes. Unfortunately the holes will not fill themselves. They become giant black holes in a student’s universe of knowledge. Let’s look at a few of the concepts that are carried throughout the grades.

All grade levels study the weather. Weather lends itself to the introduction of signed numbers. I have a friend whose son is stationed in Fairbanks, Alaska.


Mathematics Today

She is a kindergarten teacher. I am sure that one group of five year olds is getting real lessons in negative numbers this year as they talk about how cold it is where her son lives. Actually, this past winter has provided teachers in most of the country with opportunities to talk about negative numbers with all their students. The concepts of negative numbers are further developed in middle school using two color counters to model positive and negative numbers and are refilled in high school when the students learn to solve equations involving integers

Equations begin at the early grades with the number balance. Deciding what number to add to the bar to make it balance is the first stage of solving equations. Soon the students are using an empty box to represent a variable. The empty box is a good model for a variable, at this level, since it can be filled with any value. In the intermediate and middle grades they begin using letters as variables and progress through many varieties of variables to trigonometric representation in equations in their senior mathematics courses.

Another concept that begins early and continues through the grades is multiplication. When students begin to multiply using the area model in the early grades saying, “3 sets of 2 and 4 sets of 3”, they are developing a concept that will carry them from multiplication of whole numbers, through fractions “⅓ of a set of ½”, decimals “0.4 of a set of 0.6”, and even algebraic binomials “x + 2 of a set of x -3”. Each product is represented by an area.

Patterning begins early, in kindergarten, as it should. The students build patterns with manipulatives and learn to identify what comes next in the set. Much of mathematics is about seeing patterns. These concepts develop through the intermediate and middle grades with patterns involving exponents and become extremely important in higher mathematics with functions and their inverses.

One form of patterning is skip-counting. This important form of patterning leads students through sequences in the middle grades to sums of series in high school. Notice that the grid represents the sequence 4, 7, 10, 13 which is a form of skip counting. My friend, the kindergarten teacher, was asked to pilot some alternative test questions with her little ones. One of the questions asked that the teacher give the students the numbers 65, 66, 67 and ask the question, “What comes next and how do you know what comes next?” Adrian, one of her students responded with, “68, ‘cause 8 comes after 7 - you know, like 5, 6, 7,8 and all the others have 6 in front of them so this one must too.” Would you say that she had been teaching patterns? Did it every pay off! This insightful answer came from a kindergarten child in a large inner city school.

These concepts of connections from one grade level to the next are one of the primary theses of the Standards. Connections made between mathematics and other disciplines are also essential ideas. Students can easily see the connections between mathematics and science (formulas), mathematics and social studies (graphing), but will need help with other disciplines.

4. They ask us to change our teaching style. The students we have in our classrooms are not like those we had twenty, ten, or even five years ago. Students today are so visual. They grow up watching television Sesame Street, Barney, and the Power


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Rangers. In their spare time, they work at computers or play video games. We cannot continue traditional modes of instruction for this new generation. Fortunately students do bring to the classroom knowledge and experiences that can be used to introduce and develop new material more effectively. An approach to instruction that places students in meaningful and interesting real life situations and provides opportunities for students to invent their own methods should be at the heart of all classroom instruction. Research has suggested that this approach will better address the needs of all students, especially female and minority students, and provide each student with a better opportunity to develop the talent that he or she possesses.

We have a tendency to teach using the style which best suits our own learning style. Most of us were taught by the Listen, Watch, and Do Method. That meant: Listen to your teacher, Watch what he/she is doing, and Do likewise. If this was not your learning style, you had real problems. In some classes as many as 40% of the students failed and no one really worried about it. We cannot afford that today. There is a wider range of student learning styles today than in the past. Inclusion has brought more special students into the regular classroom and teachers must be prepared to teach to meet a greater variety of learning styles. Let’s try an activity that a friend of mine uses with her students each year. The activity is designed to determine which their best learning style is. You will need scratch paper and the pencil you were given. Please perform the tasks exactly as they are presented. What you are trying to do is determine your own learning style.

The test is in 4 phases. Everyone should do a1l four phases. Keep a record of your responses for each phase. Please, do each phase exactly as directed.

Phase 1: Study these ten digits for 20 seconds. Just look at then and try to remember the digits and their order. (Cover the digits) Write down, in order, as many as you remember.

Phase 2: Listen to these ten digits. I will repeat them 3 times. Write down, in order, as many as you remember.

Phase 3: Copy these ten digits three times on the back of your scratch paper. (Cover the digits) Turn your paper over and write down, in order, as many as you remember.

Phase 4: Say these digits out loud softly. Say them three times. (Cover the digits) Write down, in order, as many as you remember.

Check your results (uncover all) and determine which phase enabled you to write the most digits.


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Each phase represents a different learning style:

Phase 1: Visual

Phase 2: Auditory

Phase 3: Kinesthetic

Phase 4: Verbal

This test can be used with students and will help you determine how each student learns best. You can also use it to determine the classroom management style that would be most appropriate for a given group. Opportunities should be provided in your classroom for each style of learning on a regular basis

5. They ask us to change what we teach. We were a little afraid to embrace the Standards, since they asked us to put less emphasis computation and put more emphasis on problem solving, reasoning, and communication. We had a tendency to think, “What will we teach if we cannot teach computation and symbol manipulation?” Think about this. What good is computation? What do we use computation for besides problem solving? What good is it to be great at number sense, if I cannot solve problems? Industry does not need people who can only compute. They have machines that do that. Industry does not need people who can manipulate symbols; they have developed a new calculator that can do that. Industry needs people who can solve problems and people who can communicate what they know, what they understand, and what they have learned. Teaching students to communicate in mathematics is a must. Insist that they use correct mathematics vocabulary. To do that, you must use it too. Have the students read and write about mathematics and concepts they have studied. Have them work in groups and communicate with each other and with you. Don’t be afraid to listen to your students you might be surprised how much they really know. Remember: You want to know what they know, not what they don’t know. To find out what they really know you will have to develop alternative methods of assessment such as tests with new types of questions, projects, journal entries, and student portfolios.

Changes are occurring in mathematics education across the nation. Change is not being made just for the sake of change, but because our teaching environment has evolved. Teachers are being asked to change not only what they teach but also the way they teach. Elementary and middle school teachers are being challenged to include Algebra skills in their curriculum. High school teachers must now teach algebra to everyone. Technological advances are demanding change. All of us are being asked to try alternate forms of assessment of student progress. The same techniques and materials that we have been using for many years are no longer as effective as they once were. We must all be willing to try new methods and approaches, but we should not feel alone in our efforts. We can work together with other teachers to effectively alter our teaching strategies and methods of assessment.

Steve Leinwand in the September 1994 issue of The Mathematics Teacher has a great quote about change, “It is unreasonable to ask a professional to change more than 10% a year, but it is unprofessional to change by much less than 10%.“ Who will benefit from our changes? Teachers, parents, and administrators, but most of all the students benefit. After all, isn’t that what teaching is all about?”


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NCTM Standards

Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics

Professional Teaching Standards

Assessment Standards for School Mathematics

Developing Mathematical Power

learning to value mathematics

becoming confident in one’s own ability

becoming a mathematical problem solver

learning to communicate mathematically

learning to reason mathematically

Manipulatives

commercial

teacher made

student made

Problem Solving

act it out

make a picture or a diagram make a table

make an organized list guess and test

look for a pattern

work backwards

use logical reasoning

make a simpler problem

brainstorm

Technology

calculators

computers

compact disks

laser disks

Communication

journals

oral reports

written reports

portfolios

class discussion

group interaction


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Lesson Plans

NCTM Standards

state curriculum (TEKS)

district curriculum

special needs

Testing

teacher made

departmental made

standardized

state mandated

district mandated

Teaching/Learning Model

Taxonomy Classification Curriculum Content


Evaluation Predicting6

Synthesis Creating5

Analysis Breaking down4

Application Illuminating3

Comprehension Confirming2

Knowledge Information gathering1

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Methods of Grouping

Early in the school year, before you know your students you can randomly group the students using a number of methods:

1. Use a standard deck of cards and select the cards ace through six (for six groups) in all four suits. Randomly hand out the cards to the students. Form the groups by asking all of the same numbers to group together, i.e., a group would consist of ________.

2. Make four each of six different geometric shapes (triangles, squares, trapezoid, parallelogram that is not a square, pentagon, and hexagon) out of cardboard and have the students pick one out of a dish. All students with the same shape form a group.

3. Use the month of the student’s birthday. You may have to split a group, if you want the groups to all be the same size.

4. Put different kinds of stickers on test or homework papers being returned. Have the students group by sticker kind. This method would allow you to group students who understand the concept with those who do not. This is a good method for grouping for review and re-teaching.

Problem Solving Strategies

act it out

make a picture or a diagram

make a table

make an organized list

guess and test

look for a pattern

work backwards

use logical reasoning

make a simpler problem

brainstorm

Suggestions for Problem Solving

Develop an atmosphere in which the students feel comfortable expressing themselves.

Let them know it is OK to make mistakes.

Remind them that it is more important for them to take an active role in solving the problem, and enjoy doing it, than it is to respond with the right answer.

Encourage students to use methods that are best for them. When they can demonstrate a legitimate solution process with another strategy, praise their work.

The goal is to equip the students with techniques for approaching future problems, but you want them to be flexible in applying them.

Encourage the students to verbalize their thought processes as they choose strategies.


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Some students may discover additional strategies and use them to solve the problems. Encourage them to design new symbols for these strategies.

Assessment

Encourages students to…

Think more creatively about problems

Listen more carefully to others

Find alternative methods for solving problems

Gain better understanding of mathematical concepts

Put less emphasis on finding the answer

Focus their energy on exploring mathematical relationships

Take more responsibility for judging their work

Take more responsibility for selection of strategies

Gain self-confidence and self-esteem

Tips on Testing

Set goals for your teaching and revise them often.

Test what has been taught

Let the students know what will be on the test

Find out what the students know, not what they do not know

Use good mathematical language

Use a variety of types of questions

Ask how and why frequently

Vary the value of the questions, but make sure the students know the value of each

Check your key against your best student’s test before you grade the other tests

Remember we all make mistakes, I do and so do you

Give partial credit

Remember we all make mistakes

Expect perfection

But remember we all make mistakes

Monitor the testing situation from the back of the classroom

If the grades are high, praise your students for their diligence

If the grades are low, look at yourself and your teaching strategies


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Ideas for QuestionsHow did you get your answer?

How many answers could this problem have? Find two (three).

How could you show …

Give several reasons why you think …

List all the possibilities for …

Use manipulatives to show …

Write a paragraph about …

List the strategies that you think might work…

Classify … in … (number) … different ways…

Draw a diagram that would …

Tell what you know about …

Explain the relationship between …

Explain what you did to come to this conclusion...

Other Ways to Ask the Same Questions:

For middle schools

o Traditional: Solve 3x + 9 = 24

o A different approach: discuss the sequence of steps that you would take to solve the equation: 3x + 9 = 24is there another sequence of steps that could be used? Explain.

For senior high school

o Traditional: Graph: y = x2 + 6x + 8

o A different approach:

describe the graph of y = x2 = 6x + 8 (shape, relation to the axes, and orientation)


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Looking at Student Responses for Critical ThinkingFocus on the reasonableness of the answers. Does the answer in the problem make sense according to

the problem facts? Explain why or why not.

1. Focus on the selection of the strategy. Was the strategy used in the problem a good one? Why do you think it was or was not?Focus on alternatives. Can the problem be solved in another way? Explain how to do so.

2. Focus on the adequacy of the representation. Did the solver of the problem overlook any problem condition? If so, explain which one was disregarded.

3. Focus on the correctness of the implementation of the strategy. Did the solver of the problem make any mistakes? If so, explain any mistakes.

4. Focus on the goal of the problem, including the units. Is the statement of the answer complete? Does it contain the proper units?

Types of Alternative Assessment

Open-ended questions

Non-routine problems

Webs

Storybook

Self-assessment

Journals

Portfolios

Projects

Observations

Interviews


Why

Teach Science?Science, energetically pursued, can provide humanity with the knowledge of the biophysical environment and of social behavior needed to develop effective solutions to its global and local problems; without that knowledge, progress toward a safe world will be unnecessarily handicapped. By emphasizing and explaining the dependency of living things on each other and on the physical environment, science fosters the kind of intelligent respect for nature that should inform decisions on the uses of technology; without that respect, we are in danger of recklessly destroying our life support system. Scientific habits of mind can help people in every walk of life to deal sensibly with problems that often involve evidence, quantitative considerations, logical arguments, and uncertainty; without the ability to think critically and independently, citizens are easy prey to dogmatists, flimflam artists, and purveyors of simple solutions to complex problems. Technological principles relating to such topics as the nature of systems, the importance of feedback and control, the cost-benefit-risk relationship, and the inevitability of side effects give people a sound basis for assessing the use of new technologies and their implications for the environment and culture; without an understanding of those principles, people are unlikely to move beyond consideration of their own immediate self-interest. Although many pressing global and local problems have technological origins, technology provides the tools for dealing with such problems, and the instruments for generating, through science, crucial new knowledge. Without the continuous development and creative use of new technologies, society may limit its capacity for survival and for working toward a world in which the human species is at peace with itself and its environment. The life-enhancing potential of science and technology cannot be realized unless the public in general comes to understand science, mathematics, and technology and to acquire scientific habits of mind. Without a science-literate population, the outlook for a better world is not promising. American Association for the Advancement of Science. (1989). Science for All Americans. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. xiv-xv.


SCIENCE

Science

The Need for Science Literacy Education has no higher purpose than preparing people to lead personally fulfilling and responsible lives. For its part, science education (meaning education in science, mathematics, and technology) should help students to develop the understandings and habits of mind they need to become compassionate human beings able to think for themselves and to face life head on. It should equip them also to participate thoughtfully with fellow citizens in building and protecting a society that is open, decent, and vital. America’s future ability to create a truly just society, to sustain its economic vitality, and to remain secure in a world torn by hostilities depends more than ever on the character and quality of the education that the nation provides for all of its children. There is more at stake, however, than individual self-fulfillment and the immediate national interest of the United States. The most serious problems that humans now face are global: unchecked population growth in many parts of the world, acid rain, the shrinking of tropical rain forests and other great sources of species diversity, the pollution of the environment, disease, social strife, the extreme inequities in the distribution of the earth’s wealth, the huge investment of human intellect and scarce resources in preparing for and conducting war, the ominous shadow of nuclear holocaust the list is long, and it is alarming. What the future holds in store for individual human beings, the nation, and the world depends largely on the wisdom with which humans use science and technology. And that, in turn, depends on the character, distribution, and effectiveness of the education that people receive. American Association for the Advancement of Science. (1989). Science for All Americans. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. xiii-xiv. Science Process Skills Scientists engage in procedures of investigation to gain knowledge of natural phenomena. These tactics and strategies, the skills scientists use in their pursuit of understanding, are summarized below: Observation Science begins with observations of objects and events; these observations lead to the asking of questions. Crucial to the method of science is the ability to ask the right question and to make selected observations relevant to that question. Observations are influenced by past experience, often involve instruments (microscopes, telescopes, oscilloscopes, etc.), and require careful recording and description. Surprising or unexpected observations occasionally contribute new and important knowledge.

MeasurementMeasurement involves assigning numbers to objects or events that may be arranged in a continuum according to a set of values. Expression of observations in quantitative terms adds precision and permits more accurate descriptions.

Experimentation An experiment is a series of observations carried out under special conditions. The distinction between observation and experimentation is slight. An experiment always consists of observations, but it is more than that because the observers usually interfere to some extent with nature. Experimentation is the hallmark of good science whether it comes at the beginning as a gathering of facts or at the end in the final test of a hypothesis.

Communication A scientist is obligated to make the information from observation and experimentation available to the scientific community for independent confirmation and testing. Discussion and critical analysis of findings are the key means by which science advances. Scientists disseminate their results in journals, at professional meetings, seminars, and through informal networks. This dissemination contributes to the common core of knowledge of the past and provides the vehicle for continuous review


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of this body of knowledge. Communication is the means by which purpose and usefulness are given to scientific investigation.

Critical Thinking Skill

Although the boundaries are hazy, it appears that certain thought processes are part of the common pattern of scientific investigation. These include inductive reasoning, formulation of hypotheses, deductive reasoning, and a variety of mental skills such as analogy, extrapolation, synthesis, and evaluation. In addition to these traditional processes, scientific inquiry abounds with approaches described variously as speculation, guess, intuition, hunches, or insight.

The exact mechanisms by which these processes function are unknown but they are commonly cited in the autobiographies of the great scientists. Reading and activity-oriented science emphasizes the same intellectual skills and are both concerned with thinking processes. When a teacher helps students develop scientific processes, reading processes are simultaneously being developed.

What the Research Says About Science Process Skills

(by Dr. Karen Ostlund The University of Texas at Austin) Research indicates that a strong experienced-based science program, one in which students directly manipulate materials, can facilitate the development of language arts skills (Wellman, 1978).

Reading and activity-oriented science emphasizes the same intellectual skills and are both concerned with thinking processes. When a teacher helps students develop science process skills, reading processes are simultaneously being developed (Mechling & Oliver, 1983 and Simon & Zimmerman, 1980).

The hands-on manipulative experiences science provides are the key to the relationship between process skills in both science and reading (Lucas & Burlando, 1975).

Science process skills have reading counterparts. For example, when a teacher is working on describing in science, students are learning to isolate important characteristics, enumerate characteristics, use appropriate terminology, and use synonyms which are important reading skills (Carter & Simpson, 1978).

When students have used the process skills of observing, identifying, and classifying, they are better able to discriminate between vowels and consonants and to learn the sounds represented by letters, letter blends, and syllables (Murray & Pikulski, 1978).

Children’s involvement with process skills enables them to recognize more easily the contextual and structural clues in attacking new words and better equips them to interpret data in a paragraph. Science process skills are essential to logical thinking, as well as to forming the basic skills for learning to read (Barufaldi & Swift, 1977).


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Science instruction provides an alternative teaching strategy that motivates students who may have reading difficulties (Wellman, 1978).

Teaching Science Process Skills Enhances Reading Readiness Guszak defines reading readiness as a skill-complex. Of the three areas within the skill-complex, two can be directly enhanced by science process skills:

(1) physical factors (health, auditory, visual, speech, and motor); and(2) understanding factors (concepts, processes).

When students see, hear, and talk about science experiences, their understanding, perception, and comprehension of concepts and processes may improve (Barufaldi & Swift, 1977 and Bethel, 1974).

Evidence suggests that early experiences in science help children of all socioeconomic levels in language and logic development (Thelen, 1976).

Science activities provide opportunities for manipulating large quantities of multisensory materials which promotes perceptual skills, i.e., tactile, kinesthetic, auditory, and visual (Neuman, 1969). These skills then contribute to the development of the concepts, vocabulary, and oral language skills (listening and speaking) necessary for learning to read (Wellman, 1978).

Science programs that emphasis hands-on manipulative experiences, enhance the development of process skills in young children. The attainment of process skills developed by such science experiences are positively correlated with the development of reading readiness (Nicodemus, 1968; Ritz, 1969; Rowe, 1968; and Stafford, 1969).

Studies viewed cumulatively suggest that science instruction at the intermediate and upper elementary grades does improve the attainment of reading skills. The findings reveal that students have derived benefits in the areas of vocabulary enrichment, increased verbal fluency, enhanced ability to think logically, and improved concept formation and communication skills (Campbell, 1972; Kraft, 1961; Olson, 1971; Quinn & Kessler, 1976).

As with all process skills, only through actual practice does competence in oral and written communication develop. Involvement in activity-based science programs provides learners with a multitude of experiences to draw from when they think and write (Simon & Zimmerman, 1980).

A study of the relationship between creative writing and science experiences indicates that when children write their own reading materials, their writing scores improve significantly (Jenkins, 1981).

Work with children from inner-city schools found significant gains in children’s oral communication skills when they participated in Science Curriculum Improvement Study and Science A Process Approach activities. Children who were exposed to Science A Process Approach out-performed students who were not tested on their language output, vocabulary, sentence structure, and classifying, transmitting, and receiving oral communication skills. (Bethel, 1974 and Huff & Languis, 1973).


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Research has shown that science can enhance the language development of children of limited English proficiency, of children from different ethnic backgrounds, and of physically handicapped children (Kral).

Bilingual students who participated in hands-on inquiry activities scored significantly higher on the Test of Oral Communication Skills than students who did not participate in science process skills (Roderiquez, I. & Bethel, L.J.).

The relationships between mathematics and science skills are integrally related. Mathematics, to a great extent, is the language of science. The development of skills in logical mathematical reasoning and problem-solving is a goal of both science and mathematics instruction (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 1980 and National Science Teachers Association, 1964 & 1983).

Science and mathematics reinforce each other, thereby facilitating better cognitive development (Almy, 1966). Teaching Science Process Skills Enhances Achievement in Mathematics Research has demonstrated that a variety of science experiences can facilitate the transition of students from one level of cognitive development to the next. A relationship between science and mathematics is suggested by the fact that one’s achievement in mathematics is related to one’s level of cognitive development (Almy, 1966; Ayes & Ayers, 1973; Ayers & Mason; Froit, 1976; Renner, 1971; and Stafford & Renner, 1976).

Involving students in hands-on activities, where they count and manipulate objects, provides experiences that contribute to their understanding of number. In addition, science experiences contribute to the development of other operations basic to the study of mathematics. Some of these operations are: conserving substance and length, one-to-one correspondence, ordering, seriating, and classifying (Campbell, 1972).

The contribution of science experiences to the development of operations basic to the study of mathematics is substantiated by research. In studying the relationship between students’ ability to conserve number and quantity and mathematical performance, it was found that students having the ability to conserve experience greater success in learning mathematical skills and concepts.

Students who had mathematics-science programs performed better on conservation and transitivity tasks than did those who received only mathematics instruction (Almy, 1966).

Research further indicates that science experiences not only enhance the operational abilities of kindergarten and first grade students, but also facilitate the transition from one level of cognitive development to the next among older students (Froit, 1976 and Tipps, 1982).

Research has shown that science can be used to broaden the current approach to teaching problem solving in mathematics. Replacing contrived problems with real-world science problems has the potential to enhance the problem-solving abilities of students, while promoting a greater appreciation of the usefulness of problem solving in a multitude of circumstances (Coffia, 1971 and Shann, 1977).

Through science experiences, students can apply mathematics to real-world problems. At the elementary level, the teacher can provide hands-on science activities that facilitate the 4-8 Generalist 75© Region 4 Education Service Center 4/03/06

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learning of abstract arithmetic concepts such as number sequencing, regrouping, and fractions (Mechling & Oliver, 1983).

Science Course Description

Science Course Description by Grade Level can be found by visiting the Texas Education Agency TEA website: www.tea.state.tx.us

To locate this document go to the website above and type inChapter 112. Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Science Subchapter A.

Elementary in the search box.

Statutory Authority: The provisions of this Subchapter A issued under the Texas Education Code, §28.002, unless otherwise noted.

§112.1. Implementation of Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Science, Elementary.

The provisions of this subchapter shall be implemented by school districts beginning September 1, 1998, and at that time shall supersede §75.28(a) - (f) of this title (relating to Science).

Source: The provisions of this §112.1 adopted to be effective September 1, 1998, 22 TexReg 7647.

Chapter 112. Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for ScienceSubchapter B. Middle School

Statutory Authority: The provisions of this Subchapter B issued under the Texas Education Code, §28.002, unless otherwise noted.

§112.21. Implementation of Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Science, Middle School.

The provisions of this subchapter shall be implemented by school districts beginning September 1, 1998, and at that time shall supersede §75.28(g) and §75.44 of this title (relating to Science).


http://www.tea.state.tx.us/

Science

Source: The provisions of this §112.21 adopted to be effective September 1, 1998, 22 TexReg 7647.

National Science Education Standards

SCIENCE CONTENT STANDARDS: 4-8

SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY

CONTENT STANDARD A

Students in grades 5-8 should be provided opportunities to engage in full and in partial inquiries. In a full inquiry students begin with a question, design an investigation, gather evidence, formulate an answer to the original question, and communicate the investigative process and results. In partial inquiries, they develop abilities and understanding of selected aspects of the inquiry process. Students might, for instance, describe how they would design an investigation, develop explanations based on scientific information and evidence provided through a classroom activity, or recognize and analyze several alternative explanations for a natural phenomenon presented in a teacher-led demonstration.

Students in grades 4-8 can begin to recognize the relationship between explanation and evidence. They can understand that background knowledge and theories guide the design of investigations, the types of observations made, and the interpretations of data. In turn, the experiments and investigations students conduct become experiences that shape and modify their background knowledge.

With an appropriate curriculum and adequate instruction, middle-school students can develop the skills of investigation and the understanding that scientific inquiry is guided by knowledge, observations, ideas, and questions. Middle-school students might have trouble identifying variables and controlling more than one variable in an experiment. Students also might have difficulties understanding the influence of different variables in an experiment for example, variables that have no effect, marginal effect, or opposite effects on an outcome.

Teachers of science for middle-school students should note that students tend to center on evidence that confirms their current beliefs and concepts (i.e., personal explanations), and ignore or fail to perceive evidence that does not agree with their current concepts. It is important for teachers of science to challenge current beliefs and concepts and provide scientific explanations as alternatives.

Several factors of this standard should be highlighted. The instructional activities of a scientific inquiry should engage students in identifying and shaping an understanding of the question under inquiry. Students should know what the question is asking, what background knowledge is being used to frame the question, and what they will have to do to answer the question. The students' questions should be relevant and meaningful for them. To help focus investigations, students should frame questions, such as what do we want to find out about,


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how can we make the most accurate observations, is this the best way to answer our questions, and if we do this, then what do we expect will happen?

Students in grades 4-8 can begin to recognize the relationship between explanation and evidence.

The instructional activities of a scientific inquiry should involve students in establishing and refining the methods, materials, and data they will collect. As students conduct investigations and make observations, they should consider questions such as what data will answer the question or what are the best observations or measurements to make? Students should be encouraged to repeat data-collection procedures and to share data among groups.

In middle schools, students produce oral or written reports that present the results of their inquiries. Such reports and discussions should be a frequent occurrence in science programs. Students' discussions should center on questions, such as how should we organize the data to present the clearest answer to our question or how should we organize the evidence to present the strongest explanation? Out of the discussions about the range of ideas, the background knowledge claims, and the data, the opportunity arises for learners to shape their experiences about the practice of science and the rules of scientific thinking and knowing.

The language and practices evident in the classroom are an important element of doing inquiries. Students need opportunities to present their abilities and understanding and to use the knowledge and language of science to communicate scientific explanations and ideas. Writing, labeling drawings, completing concept maps, developing spreadsheets, and designing computer graphics should be a part of the science education. These should be presented in a way that allows students to receive constructive feedback on the quality of thought and expression and the accuracy of scientific explanations.

This standard should not be interpreted as advocating a scientific method. The conceptual and procedural abilities suggest a logical progression, but they do not imply a rigid approach to scientific inquiry. On the contrary, they imply co-development of the skills of students in acquiring science knowledge, in using high-level reasoning, in applying their existing understanding of scientific ideas, and in communicating scientific information. This standard cannot be met by having the students memorize the abilities and understandings. It can be met only when students frequently engage in active inquiries.

GUIDE TO THE CONTENT STANDARD

Fundamental abilities and concepts that underlie this standard include:

ABILITIES NECESSARY TO DO SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY

IDENTIFY QUESTIONS THAT CAN BE ANSWERED THROUGH SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATIONS. Students should develop the ability to refine and refocus broad and ill-defined questions. An important aspect of this ability consists of students' ability to clarify questions and inquiries and direct them toward objects and phenomena that can be described, explained, or predicted by scientific investigations. Students should develop the


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ability to identify their questions with scientific ideas, concepts, and quantitative relationships that guide investigation.

DESIGN AND CONDUCT A SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION. Students should develop general abilities, such as systematic observation, making accurate measurements, and identifying and controlling variables. They should also develop the ability to clarify their ideas that are influencing and guiding the inquiry, and to understand how those ideas compare with current scientific knowledge. Students can learn to formulate questions, design investigations, execute investigations, interpret data, use evidence to generate explanations, propose alternative explanations, and critique explanations and procedures.

USE APPROPRIATE TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES TO GATHER, ANALYZE, AND INTERPRET DATA. The use of tools and techniques, including mathematics, will be guided by the question asked and the investigations students design. The use of computers for the collection, summary, and display of evidence is part of this standard. Students should be able to access, gather, store, retrieve, and organize data, using hardware and software designed for these purposes.

DEVELOP DESCRIPTIONS, EXPLANATIONS, PREDICTIONS, AND MODELS USING EVIDENCE. Students should base their explanation on what they observed, and as they develop cognitive skills, they should be able to differentiate explanation from description providing causes for effects and establishing relationships based on evidence and logical argument. This standard requires a subject matter knowledge base so the students can effectively conduct investigations, because developing explanations establishes connections between the content of science and the contexts within which students develop new knowledge.

THINK CRITICALLY AND LOGICALLY TO MAKE THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN EVIDENCE AND EXPLANATIONS. Thinking critically about evidence includes deciding what evidence should be used and accounting for anomalous data. Specifically, students should be able to review data from a simple experiment, summarize the data, and form a logical argument about the cause-and-effect relationships in the experiment. Students should begin to state some explanations in terms of the relationship between two or more variables.

RECOGNIZE AND ANALYZE ALTERNATIVE EXPLANATIONS AND PREDICTIONS. Students should develop the ability to listen to and respect the explanations proposed by other students. They should remain open to and acknowledge different ideas and explanations, be able to accept the skepticism of others, and consider alternative explanations.

COMMUNICATE SCIENTIFIC PROCEDURES AND EXPLANATIONS. With practice, students should become competent at communicating experimental methods, following instructions, describing observations, summarizing the results of other groups, and telling other students about investigations and explanations.

USE MATHEMATICS IN ALL ASPECTS OF SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY. Mathematics is essential to asking and answering questions about the natural world. Mathematics can be used to ask questions; to gather, organize, and present data; and to structure convincing explanations.


Science

UNDERSTANDINGS ABOUT SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY

Different kinds of questions suggest different kinds of scientific investigations. Some investigations involve observing and describing objects, organisms, or events; some involve collecting specimens; some involve experiments; some involve seeking more information; some involve discovery of new objects and phenomena; and some involve making models.

Current scientific knowledge and understanding guide scientific investigations. Different scientific domains employ different methods, core theories, and standards to advance scientific knowledge and understanding.

Mathematics is important in all aspects of scientific inquiry. Technology used to gather data enhances accuracy and allows scientists to analyze

and quantify results of investigations. Scientific explanations emphasize evidence, have logically consistent arguments, and

use scientific principles, models, and theories. The scientific community accepts and uses such explanations until displaced by better scientific ones. When such displacement occurs, science advances.

Science advances through legitimate skepticism. Asking questions and querying other scientists' explanations is part of scientific inquiry. Scientists evaluate the explanations proposed by other scientists by examining evidence, comparing evidence, identifying faulty reasoning, pointing out statements that go beyond the evidence, and suggesting alternative explanations for the same observations.

Scientific investigations sometimes result in new ideas and phenomena for study, generate new methods or procedures for an investigation, or develop new technologies to improve the collection of data. All of these results can lead to new investigations.


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PHYSICAL SCIENCE

CONTENT STANDARD BAs a result of their activities in grades 4-8, all students should develop an understanding of the:

Properties and changes of properties in matter Motions and forces Transfer of energy

DEVELOPING STUDENT UNDERSTANDING

In grades 4-8, the focus on student understanding shifts from properties of objects and materials to the characteristic properties of the substances from which the materials are made. In the K-4 years, students learned that objects and materials can be sorted and ordered in terms of their properties. During that process, they learned that some properties, such as size, weight, and shape, can be assigned only to the object while other properties, such as color, texture, and hardness, describe the materials from which objects are made. In grades 4-8, students observe and measure characteristic properties, such as boiling points, melting points, solubility, and simple chemical changes of pure substances and use those properties to distinguish and separate one substance from another.

Students usually bring some vocabulary and primitive notions of atomicity to the science class but often lack understanding of the evidence and the logical arguments that support the particulate model of matter. Their early ideas are that the particles have the same properties as the parent material; that is, they are a tiny piece of the substance. It can be tempting to introduce atoms and molecules or improve students' understanding of them so that particles can be used as an explanation for the properties of elements and compounds. However, use of such terminology is premature for these students and can distract from the understanding that can be gained from focusing on the observation and description of macroscopic features of substances and of physical and chemical reactions. At this level, elements and compounds can be defined operationally from their chemical characteristics, but few students can comprehend the idea of atomic and molecular particles.

In grades 5-8, students observe and measure characteristic properties, such as boiling and melting points, solubility, and simple chemical changes of pure substances, and use those properties to distinguish and separate one substance from another.

The study of motions and the forces causing motion provide concrete experiences on which a more comprehensive understanding of force can be based in grades 9-12. By using simple objects, such as rolling balls and mechanical toys, students can move from qualitative to quantitative descriptions of moving objects and begin to describe the forces acting on the objects. Students' everyday experience is that friction causes all moving objects to slow down and stop. Through experiences in which friction is reduced, students can begin to see that a moving object with no friction would continue to move indefinitely, but most students believe that the force is still acting if the object is moving or that it is used up if the motion stops. Students also think that friction, not inertia, is the principle reason objects remain at rest or require a force to move. Students in grades 4-8 associate force with motion and have


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difficulty understanding balanced forces in equilibrium, especially if the force is associated with static, inanimate objects, such as a book resting on the desk.

The understanding of energy in grades 4-8 will build on the K-4 experiences with light, heat, sound, electricity, magnetism, and the motion of objects. In 4-8, students begin to see the connections among those phenomena and to become familiar with the idea that energy is an important property of substances and that most change involves energy transfer. Students might have some of the same views of energy as they do of force, which it is associated with animate objects and is linked to motion. In addition, students view energy as a fuel or something that is stored, ready to use, and gets used up. The intent at this level is for students to improve their understanding of energy by experiencing many kinds of energy transfer.


Fundamental concepts and principles that underlie this standard include:

PROPERTIES AND CHANGES OF PROPERTIES IN MATTER

A substance has characteristic properties, such as density, a boiling point, and solubility, all of which are independent of the amount of the sample. A mixture of substances often can be separated into the original substances using one or more of the characteristic properties.

Substances react chemically in characteristic ways with other substances to form new substances (compounds) with different characteristic properties. In chemical reactions, the total mass is conserved. Substances often are placed in categories or groups if they react in similar ways; metals are an example of such a group.

Chemical elements do not break down during normal laboratory reactions involving such treatments as heating, exposure to electric current, or reaction with acids. There are more than 100 known elements that combine in a multitude of ways to produce compounds, which account for the living and nonliving substances that we encounter.

MOTIONS AND FORCES The motion of an object can be described by its position, direction of motion, and

speed. That motion can be measured and represented on a graph. An object that is not being subjected to a force will continue to move at a constant

speed and in a straight line. If more than one force acts on an object along a straight line, then the forces will

reinforce or cancel one another, depending on their direction and magnitude. Unbalanced forces will cause changes in the speed or direction of an object's motion.

TRANSFER OF ENERGY Energy is a property of many substances and is associated with heat, light, electricity,

mechanical motion, sound, nuclei, and the nature of a chemical. Energy is transferred in many ways.

Heat moves in predictable ways, flowing from warmer objects to cooler ones, until both reach the same temperature.


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Light interacts with matter by transmission (including refraction), absorption, or scattering (including reflection). To see an object, light from that object either emitted by or scattered from it, must enter the eye.

Electrical circuits provide a means of transferring electrical energy when heat, light, sound, and chemical changes are produced.

In most chemical and nuclear reactions, energy is transferred into or out of a system. Heat, light, mechanical motion, or electricity might all be involved in such transfers.

The sun is a major source of energy for changes on the earth's surface. The sun loses energy by emitting light. A tiny fraction of that light reaches the earth, transferring energy from the sun to the earth. The sun's energy arrives as light with a range of wavelengths, consisting of visible light, infrared, and ultraviolet radiation.

LIFE SCIENCE

CONTENT STANDARD CAs a result of their activities in grades 4-8, all students should develop understanding of:

Structure and function in living systems Reproduction and heredity Regulation and behavior Populations and ecosystems Diversity and adaptations of organisms


In the middle-school years, students should progress from studying life science from the point of view of individual organisms to recognizing patterns in ecosystems and developing understandings about the cellular dimensions of living systems. For example, students should broaden their understanding from the way one species lives in its environment to populations and communities of species and the ways they interact with each other and with their environment. Students also should expand their investigations of living systems to include the study of cells. Observations and investigations should become increasingly quantitative, incorporating the use of computers and conceptual and mathematical models. Students in grades 4-8 also have the fine-motor skills to work with a light microscope and can interpret accurately what they see, enhancing their introduction to cells and microorganisms and establishing a foundation for developing understanding of molecular biology at the high school level.

Some aspects of middle-school student understanding should be noted. This period of development in youth lends itself to human biology. Middle-school students can develop the understanding that the body has organs that function together to maintain life. Teachers should introduce the general idea of structure-function in the context of human organ systems working together. Other, more specific and concrete examples, such as the hand, can be used to develop a specific understanding of structure-function in living systems. By middle-school, most students know about the basic process of sexual reproduction in humans. However, the student might have misconceptions about the role of sperm and eggs and about the sexual reproduction of flowering plants. Concerning heredity, younger middle-


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school students tend to focus on observable traits, and older students have some understanding that genetic material carries information.

Students understand ecosystems and the interactions between organisms and environments well enough by this stage to introduce ideas about nutrition and energy flow, although some students might be confused by charts and flow diagrams. If asked about common ecological concepts, such as community and competition between organisms, teachers are likely to hear responses based on everyday experiences rather than scientific explanations. Teachers should use the students' understanding as a basis to develop the scientific understanding.

Understanding adaptation can be particularly troublesome at this level. Many students think adaptation means that individuals change in major ways in response to environmental changes (that is, if the environment changes, individual organisms deliberately adapt).



STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION IN LIVING SYSTEMS

Living systems at all levels of organization demonstrate the complementary nature of structure and function. Important levels of organization for structure and function include cells, organs, tissues, organ systems, whole organisms, and ecosystems.

All organisms are composed of cells the fundamental unit of life. Most organisms are single cells; other organisms, including humans, are multicellular.

Cells carry on the many functions needed to sustain life. They grow and divide, thereby producing more cells. This requires that they take in nutrients, which they use to provide energy for the work that cells do and to make the materials that a cell or an organism needs.

Specialized cells perform specialized functions in multicellular organisms. Groups of specialized cells cooperate to form a tissue, such as a muscle. Different tissues are in turn grouped together to form larger functional units, called organs. Each type of cell, tissue, and organ has a distinct structure and set of functions that serve the organism as a whole.

The human organism has systems for digestion, respiration, reproduction, circulation, excretion, movement, control, and coordination, and for protection from disease. These systems interact with one another.

Disease is a breakdown in structures or functions of an organism. Some diseases are the result of intrinsic failures of the system. Others are the result of damage by infection by other organisms.

REPRODUCTION AND HEREDITY

Reproduction is a characteristic of all living systems; because no individual organism lives forever, reproduction is essential to the continuation of every species. Some organisms reproduce asexually. Other organisms reproduce sexually.

In many species, including humans, females produce eggs and males produce sperm. Plants also reproduce sexually the egg and sperm are produced in the flowers of


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flowering plants. An egg and sperm unite to begin development of a new individual. That new individual receives genetic information from its mother (via the egg) and its father (via the sperm). Sexually produced offspring never are identical to either of their parents.

Every organism requires a set of instructions for specifying its traits. Heredity is the passage of these instructions from one generation to another.

Hereditary information is contained in genes, located in the chromosomes of each cell. Each gene carries a single unit of information. An inherited trait of an individual can be determined by one or by many genes, and a single gene can influence more than one trait. A human cell contains many thousands of different genes.

The characteristics of an organism can be described in terms of a combination of traits. Some traits are inherited and others result from interactions with the environment.

REGULATION AND BEHAVIOR

All organisms must be able to obtain and use resources, grow, reproduce, and maintain stable internal conditions while living in a constantly changing external environment.

Regulation of an organism's internal environment involves sensing the internal environment and changing physiological activities to keep conditions within the range required to survive.

Behavior is one kind of response an organism can make to an internal or environmental stimulus. A behavioral response requires coordination and communication at many levels, including cells, organ systems, and whole organisms. Behavioral response is a set of actions determined in part by heredity and in part from experience.

An organism's behavior evolves through adaptation to its environment. How a species moves, obtains food, reproduces, and responds to danger is based in the species' evolutionary history.

POPULATIONS AND ECOSYSTEMS

A population consists of all individuals of a species that occur together at a given place and time. All populations living together and the physical factors with which they interact compose an ecosystem.

Populations of organisms can be categorized by the function they serve in an ecosystem. Plants and some micro-organisms are producers they make their own food. All animals, including humans, are consumers, which obtain food by eating other organisms. Decomposers, primarily bacteria and fungi, are consumers that use waste materials and dead organisms for food. Food webs identify the relationships among producers, consumers, and decomposers in an ecosystem.

For ecosystems, the major source of energy is sunlight. Energy entering ecosystems as sunlight is transferred by producers into chemical energy through photosynthesis. That energy then passes from organism to organism in food webs.

The number of organisms an ecosystem can support depends on the resources available and abiotic factors, such as quantity of light and water, range of temperatures, and soil composition. Given adequate biotic and abiotic resources and


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no disease or predators, populations (including humans) increase at rapid rates. Lack of resources and other factors, such as predation and climate, limit the growth of populations in specific niches in the ecosystem.

DIVERSITY AND ADAPTATIONS OF ORGANISMS

Millions of species of animals, plants, and microorganisms are alive today. Although different species might look dissimilar, the unity among organisms becomes apparent from an analysis of internal structures, the similarity of their chemical processes, and the evidence of common ancestry.

Biological evolution accounts for the diversity of species developed through gradual processes over many generations. Species acquire many of their unique characteristics through biological adaptation, which involves the selection of naturally occurring variations in populations. Biological adaptations include changes in structures, behaviors, or physiology that enhance survival and reproductive success in a particular environment.

Extinction of a species occurs when the environment changes and the adaptive characteristics of a species are insufficient to allow its survival. Fossils indicate that many organisms that lived long ago are extinct. Extinction of species is common; most of the species that have lived on the earth no longer exist.

EARTH AND SPACE SCIENCE

CONTENT STANDARD DAs a result of their activities in grades 4-8, all students should develop an understanding of the:

Structure of the earth system Earth's history Earth in the solar system


A major goal of science in the middle grades is for students to develop an understanding of earth and the solar system as a set of closely coupled systems. The idea of systems provides a framework in which students can investigate the four major interacting components of the earth system geosphere (crust, mantle, and core), hydro-sphere (water), atmosphere (air), and the biosphere (the realm of all living things). In this holistic approach to studying the planet, physical, chemical, and biological processes act within and among the four components on a wide range of time scales to change continuously earth's crust, oceans, atmosphere, and living organisms. Students can investigate the water and rock cycles as introductory examples of geophysical and geochemical cycles. Their study of earth's history provides some evidence about co-evolution of the planet's main features the distribution of land and sea, features of the crust, the composition of the atmosphere, global climate, and populations of living organisms in the biosphere.

By plotting the locations of volcanoes and earthquakes, students can see a pattern of geological activity. Earth has an outermost rigid shell called the lithosphere. It is made up of


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the crust and part of the upper mantle. It is broken into about a dozen rigid plates that move without deforming, except at boundaries where they collide. Those plates range in thickness from a few to more than 100 kilometers. Ocean floors are the tops of thin oceanic plates that spread outward from midocean rift zones; land surfaces are the tops of thicker, less-dense continental plates.

Because students do not have direct contact with most of these phenomena and the long-term nature of the processes, some explanations of moving plates and the evolution of life must be reserved for late in grades 4-8. As students mature, the concept of evaporation can be reasonably well understood as the conservation of matter combined with a primitive idea of particles and the idea that air is real. Condensation is less well understood and requires extensive observation and instruction to complete an understanding of the water cycle.

The understanding that students gain from their observations in grades K-4 provides the motivation and the basis from which they can begin to construct a model that explains the visual and physical relationships among earth, sun, moon, and the solar system. Direct observation and satellite data allow students to conclude that earth is a moving, spherical planet, having unique features that distinguish it from other planets in the solar system. From activities with trajectories and orbits and using the earth-sun-moon system as an example, students can develop the understanding that gravity is a ubiquitous force that holds all parts of the solar system together. Energy from the sun transferred by light and other radiation is the primary energy source for processes on earth's surface and in its hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere.

By grades 4-8, students have a clear notion about gravity, the shape of the earth, and the relative positions of the earth, sun, and moon. Nevertheless, more than half of the students will not be able to use these models to explain the phases of the moon, and correct explanations for the seasons will be even more difficult to achieve.



STRUCTURE OF THE EARTH SYSTEM

The solid earth is layered with a lithosphere; hot, convecting mantle; and dense, metallic core.

Lithospheric plates on the scales of continents and oceans constantly move at rates of centimeters per year in response to movements in the mantle. Major geological events, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and mountain building, result from these plate motions.

Land forms are the result of a combination of constructive and destructive forces. Constructive forces include crystal deformation, volcanic eruption, and deposition of sediment, while destructive forces include weathering and erosion.

Some changes in the solid earth can be described as the rock cycle. Old rocks at the earth's surface weather, forming sediments that are buried, then compacted, heated, and often re-crystallized into new rock. Eventually, those new rocks may be brought to the surface by the forces that drive plate motions, and the rock cycle continues.


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Soil consists of weathered rocks and decomposed organic material from dead plants, animals, and bacteria. Soils are often found in layers, with each having a different chemical composition and texture.

Water, which covers the majority of the earth's surface, circulates through the crust, oceans, and atmosphere in what is known as the water cycle. Water evaporates from the earth's surface, rises and cools as it moves to higher elevations, condenses as rain or snow, and falls to the surface where it collects in lakes, oceans, soil, and in rocks underground.

Water is a solvent. As it passes through the water cycle it dissolves minerals and gases and carries them to the oceans.

The atmosphere is a mixture of nitrogen, oxygen, and trace gases that include water vapor. The atmosphere has different properties at different elevations.

Clouds, formed by the condensation of water vapor, affect weather and climate. Global patterns of atmospheric movement influence local weather. Oceans have a

major effect on climate, because water in the oceans holds a large amount of heat. Living organisms have played many roles in the earth system, including affecting the

composition of the atmosphere, producing some types of rocks, and contributing to the weathering of rocks.

EARTH'S HISTORY The earth processes we see today, including erosion, movement of lithospheric plates,

and changes in atmospheric composition, are similar to those that occurred in the past. earth history is also influenced by occasional catastrophes, such as the impact of an asteroid or comet.

Fossils provide important evidence of how life and environmental conditions have changed.

EARTH IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM

The earth is the third planet from the sun in a system that includes the moon, the sun, eight other planets and their moons, and smaller objects, such as asteroids and comets. The sun, an average star, is the central and largest body in the solar system.

Most objects in the solar system are in regular and predictable motion. Those motions explain such phenomena as the day, the year, phases of the moon, and eclipses.

Gravity is the force that keeps planets in orbit around the sun and governs the rest of the motion in the solar system. Gravity alone holds us to the earth's surface and explains the phenomena of the tides.

The sun is the major source of energy for phenomena on the earth's surface, such as growth of plants, winds, ocean currents, and the water cycle. Seasons result from variations in the amount of the sun's energy hitting the surface, due to the tilt of the earth's rotation on its axis and the length of the day.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

CONTENT STANDARD EAs a result of activities in grades 4-8, all students should develop:

Abilities of technological design


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Understandings about science and technology

DEVELOPING STUDENT ABILITIES AND UNDERSTANDING

Students in grades 5-8 can begin to differentiate between science and technology, although the distinction is not easy to make early in this level. One basis for understanding the similarities, differences, and relationships between science and technology should be experiences with design and problem solving in which students can further develop some of the abilities introduced in grades K-4. The understanding of technology can be developed by tasks in which students have to design something and also by studying technological products and systems.

In the middle-school years, students' work with scientific investigations can be complemented by activities in which the purpose is to meet a human need, solve a human problem, or develop a product rather than to explore ideas about the natural world. The tasks chosen should involve the use of science concepts already familiar to students or should motivate them to learn new concepts needed to use or understand the technology. Students should also, through the experience of trying to meet a need in the best possible way, begin to appreciate that technological design and problem solving involve many other factors besides the scientific issues.

In the middle-school years, students' work with scientific investigations can be complemented by activities that are meant to meet a human need, solve a human problem, or develop a product.

Suitable design tasks for students at these grades should be well-defined, so that the purposes of the tasks are not confusing. Tasks should be based on contexts that are immediately familiar in the homes, school, and immediate community of the students. The activities should be straightforward with only a few well-defined ways to solve the problems involved. The criteria for success and the constraints for design should be limited. Only one or two science ideas should be involved in any particular task. Any construction involved should be readily accomplished by the students and should not involve lengthy learning of new physical skills or time-consuming preparation and assembly operations.

During the middle-school years, the design tasks should cover a range of needs, materials, and aspects of science. Suitable experiences could include making electrical circuits for a warning device, designing a meal to meet nutritional criteria, choosing a material to combine strength with insulation, selecting plants for an area of a school, or designing a system to move dishes in a restaurant or in a production line.

Such work should be complemented by the study of technology in the students' everyday world. This could be achieved by investigating simple, familiar objects through which students can develop powers of observation and analysis for example, by comparing the various characteristics of competing consumer products, including cost, convenience, durability, and suitability for different modes of use. Regardless of the product used, students need to understand the science behind it. There should be a balance over the years, with the products studied coming from the areas of clothing, food, structures, and simple mechanical and electrical devices. The inclusion of some non-product oriented problems is important to


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help students understand that technological solutions include the design of systems and can involve communication, ideas, and rules.

The principles of design for grades 4-8 do not change from grades K-4. But the complexity of the problems addressed and the extended ways the principles are applied do change.


Fundamental abilities and concepts that underlie this standard include:

ABILITIES OF TECHNOLOGICAL DESIGN

IDENTIFY APPROPRIATE PROBLEMS FOR TECHNOLOGICAL DESIGN. Students should develop their abilities by identifying a specified need, considering its various aspects, and talking to different potential users or beneficiaries. They should appreciate that for some needs, the cultural backgrounds and beliefs of different groups can affect the criteria for a suitable product.

DESIGN A SOLUTION OR PRODUCT. Students should make and compare different proposals in the light of the criteria they have selected. They must consider constraints such as cost, time, trade-offs, materials needed and communicate ideas with drawings and simple models.

IMPLEMENT A PROPOSED DESIGN. Students should organize materials and other resources, plan their work, make good use of group collaboration where appropriate, choose suitable tools and techniques, and work with appropriate measurement methods to ensure adequate accuracy.

EVALUATE COMPLETED TECHNOLOGICAL DESIGNS OR PRODUCTS. Students should use criteria relevant to the original purpose or need, consider a variety of factors that might affect acceptability and suitability for intended users or beneficiaries, and develop measures of quality with respect to such criteria and factors; they should also suggest improvements and, for their own products, try proposed modifications.

COMMUNICATE THE PROCESS OF TECHNOLOGICAL DESIGN. Students should review and describe any completed piece of work and identify the stages of problem identification, solution design, implementation, and evaluation

UNDERSTANDINGS ABOUT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Scientific inquiry and technological design have similarities and differences. Scientists propose explanations for questions about the natural world, and engineers propose solutions relating to human problems, needs, and aspirations. Technological solutions are temporary; technologies exist within nature and so they cannot contravene physical or biological principles; technological solutions have side effects; and technologies cost, carry risks, and provide benefits. Many different people in different cultures have made and continue to make contributions to science and technology.


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Science and technology are reciprocal. Science helps drive technology, as it addresses questions that demand more sophisticated instruments and provides principles for better instrumentation and technique. Technology is essential to science, because it provides instruments and techniques that enable observations of objects and phenomena that are otherwise unobservable due to factors such as quantity, distance, location, size, and speed. Technology also provides tools for investigations, inquiry, and analysis.

Perfectly designed solutions do not exist. All technological solutions have trade-offs, such as safety, cost, efficiency, and appearance. Engineers often build in back-up systems to provide safety. Risk is part of living in a highly technological world. Reducing risk often results in new technology.

Technological designs have constraints. Some constraints are unavoidable, for example, properties of materials, or effects of weather and friction; other constraints limit choices in the design, for example, environmental protection, human safety, and aesthetics.

Technological solutions have intended benefits and unintended consequences. Some consequences can be predicted, others cannot.

SCIENCE IN PERSONAL AND SOCIAL PERSPECTIVES

CONTENT STANDARD FAs a result of activities in grades 4-8, all students should develop understanding of:

Personal health Populations, resources, and environments Natural hazards Risks and benefits Science and technology in society


Due to their developmental levels and expanded understanding, students in grades 5-8 can undertake sophisticated study of personal and societal challenges. Building on the foundation established in grades K-4, students can expand their study of health and establish linkages among populations, resources, and environments; they can develop an understanding of natural hazards, the role of technology in relation to personal and societal issues, and learn about risks and personal decisions. Challenges emerge from the knowledge that the products, processes, technologies and inventions of a society can result in pollution and environmental degradation and can involve some level of risk to human health or to the survival of other species.

The study of science-related personal and societal challenges is an important endeavor for science education at the middle level. By middle school, students begin to realize that illness can be caused by various factors, such as microorganisms, genetic predispositions, malfunctioning of organs and organ-systems, health habits, and environmental conditions. Students in grades 5-8 tend to focus on physical more than mental health. They associate health with food and fitness more than with other factors such as safety and substance use.


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One very important issue for teachers in grades 5-8 is overcoming students' perceptions that most factors related to health are beyond their control.

Students often have the vocabulary for many aspects of health, but they often do not understand the science related to the terminology. Developing a scientific understanding of health is a focus of this standard. Healthy behaviors and other aspects of health education are introduced in other parts of school programs.

By grades 5-8, students begin to develop a more conceptual understanding of ecological crises. For example, they begin to realize the cumulative ecological effects of pollution. By this age, students can study environmental issues of a large and abstract nature, for example, acid rain or global ozone depletion. However, teachers should challenge several important misconceptions, such as anything natural is not a pollutant, oceans are limitless resources, and humans are indestructible as a species.

Although students in grades 5-8 have some awareness of global issues, teachers should challenge misconceptions, such as anything natural is not a pollutant, oceans are limitless resources, and humans are indestructible as a species.

Little research is available on students' perceptions of risk and benefit in the context of science and technology. Students sometimes view social harm from technological failure as unacceptable. On the other hand, some believe if the risk is personal and voluntary, then it is part of life and should not be the concern of others (or society). Helping students develop an understanding of risks and benefits in the areas of health, natural hazards and science and technology in general presents a challenge to middle-school teachers.

Middle-school students are generally aware of science-technology-society issues from the media, but their awareness is fraught with misunderstandings. Teachers should begin developing student understanding with concrete and personal examples that avoid an exclusive focus on problems.



PERSONAL HEALTH

Regular exercise is important to the maintenance and improvement of health. The benefits of physical fitness include maintaining healthy weight, having energy and strength for routine activities, good muscle tone, bone strength, strong heart/lung systems, and improved mental health. Personal exercise, especially developing cardiovascular endurance, is the foundation of physical fitness.

The potential for accidents and the existence of hazards imposes the need for injury prevention. Safe living involves the development and use of safety precautions and the recognition of risk in personal decisions. Injury prevention has personal and social dimensions.


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The use of tobacco increases the risk of illness. Students should understand the influence of short-term social and psychological factors that lead to tobacco use, and the possible long-term detrimental effects of smoking and chewing tobacco.

Alcohol and other drugs are often abused substances. Such drugs change how the body functions and can lead to addiction.

Food provides energy and nutrients for growth and development. Nutrition requirements vary with body weight, age, sex, activity, and body functioning.

Sex drive is a natural human function that requires understanding. Sex is also a prominent means of transmitting diseases. The diseases can be prevented through a variety of precautions.

Natural environments may contain substances (for example, radon and lead) that are harmful to human beings. Maintaining environmental health involves establishing or monitoring quality standards related to use of soil, water, and air.

POPULATIONS, RESOURCES, AND ENVIRONMENTS When an area becomes overpopulated, the environment will become degraded due to

the increased use of resources. Causes of environmental degradation and resource depletion vary from region to

region and from country to country.

NATURAL HAZARDS Internal and external processes of the earth system cause natural hazards, events that

change or destroy human and wildlife habitats, damage property, and harm or kill humans. Natural hazards include earthquakes, landslides, wildfires, volcanic eruptions, floods, storms, and even possible impacts of asteroids.

Human activities also can induce hazards through resource acquisition, urban growth, land-use decisions, and waste disposal. Such activities can accelerate many natural changes.

Natural hazards can present personal and societal challenges because misidentifying the change or incorrectly estimating the rate and scale of change may result in either too little attention and significant human costs or too much cost for unneeded preventive measures.

RISKS AND BENEFITS Risk analysis considers the type of hazard and estimates the number of people that

might be exposed and the number likely to suffer consequences. The results are used to determine the options for reducing or eliminating risks.

Students should understand the risks associated with natural hazards (fires, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions), with chemical hazards (pollutants in air, water, soil, and food), with biological hazards (pollen, viruses, bacterial, and parasites), social hazards (occupational safety and transportation), and with personal hazards (smoking, dieting, and drinking).

Individuals can use a systematic approach to thinking critically about risks and benefits. Examples include applying probability estimates to risks and comparing them to estimated personal and social benefits.

Important personal and social decisions are made based on perceptions of benefits and risks.


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SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN SOCIETY Science influences society through its knowledge and world view. Scientific knowledge

and the procedures used by scientists influence the way many individuals in society think about themselves, others, and the environment. The effect of science on society is neither entirely beneficial nor entirely detrimental.

Societal challenges often inspire questions for scientific research, and social priorities often influence research priorities through the availability of funding for research.

Technology influences society through its products and processes. Technology influences the quality of life and the ways people act and interact. Technological changes are often accompanied by social, political, and economic changes that can be beneficial or detrimental to individuals and to society. Social needs, attitudes, and values influence the direction of technological development.

Science and technology have advanced through contributions of many different people, in different cultures, at different times in history. Science and technology have contributed enormously to economic growth and productivity among societies and groups within societies.

Scientists and engineers work in many different settings, including colleges and universities, businesses and industries, specific research institutes, and government agencies.

Scientists and engineers have ethical codes requiring that human subjects involved with research be fully informed about risks and benefits associated with the research before the individuals choose to participate. This ethic extends to potential risks to communities and property. In short, prior knowledge and consent are required for research involving human subjects or potential damage to property.

Science cannot answer all questions and technology cannot solve all human problems or meet all human needs. Students should understand the difference between scientific and other questions. They should appreciate what science and technology can reasonably contribute to society and what they cannot do. For example, new technologies often will decrease some risks and increase others.

Science and technology have advanced through the contributions of many different people in different cultures at different times in history.

HISTORY AND NATURE OF SCIENCE

CONTENT STANDARD GAs a result of activities in grades 4-8, all students should develop understanding of:

Science as a human endeavor Nature of science History of science


Experiences in which students actually engage in scientific investigations provide the background for developing an understanding of the nature of scientific inquiry, and will also provide a foundation for appreciating the history of science described in this standard.4-8 Generalist 94© Region 4 Education Service Center 4/03/06

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The introduction of historical examples will help students see the scientific enterprise as more philosophical, social, and human. Middle-school students can thereby develop a better understanding of scientific inquiry and the interactions between science and society. In general, teachers of science should not assume that students have an accurate conception of the nature of science in either contemporary or historical contexts.

To develop understanding of the history and nature of science, teachers of science can use the actual experiences of student investigations, case studies, and historical vignettes. The intention of this standard is not to develop an overview of the complete history of science. Rather, historical examples are used to help students understand scientific inquiry, the nature of scientific knowledge, and the interactions between science and society.



SCIENCE AS A HUMAN ENDEAVOR

Women and men of various social and ethnic backgrounds and with diverse interests, talents, qualities, and motivations engage in the activities of science, engineering, and related fields such as the health professions. Some scientists work in teams, and some work alone, but all communicate extensively with others.

Science requires different abilities, depending on such factors as the field of study and type of inquiry. Science is very much a human endeavor, and the work of science relies on basic human qualities, such as reasoning, insight, energy, skill, and creativity as well as on scientific habits of mind, such as intellectual honesty, tolerance of ambiguity, skepticism, and openness to new ideas.

NATURE OF SCIENCE Scientists formulate and test their explanations of nature using observation,

experiments, and theoretical and mathematical models. Although all scientific ideas are tentative and subject to change and improvement in principle, for most major ideas in science, there is much experimental and observational confirmation. Those ideas are not likely to change greatly in the future. Scientists do and have changed their ideas about nature when they encounter new experimental evidence that does not match their existing explanations.

In areas where active research is being pursued and in which there is not a great deal of experimental or observational evidence and understanding, it is normal for scientists to differ with one another about the interpretation of the evidence or theory being considered. Different scientists might publish conflicting experimental results or might draw different conclusions from the same data. Ideally, scientists acknowledge such conflict and work towards finding evidence that will resolve their disagreement.

It is part of scientific inquiry to evaluate the results of scientific investigations, experiments, observations, theoretical models, and the explanations proposed by other scientists. Evaluation includes reviewing the experimental procedures, examining the evidence, identifying faulty reasoning, pointing out statements that go beyond the evidence, and suggesting alternative explanations for the same observations. Although scientists may disagree about explanations of phenomena,


Science

about interpretations of data, or about the value of rival theories, they do agree that questioning, response to criticism, and open communication are integral to the process of science. As scientific knowledge evolves, major disagreements are eventually resolved through such interactions between scientists.

Students should understand the difference between scientific and other questions and what science and technology can and cannot reasonably contribute to society.

HISTORY OF SCIENCE Many individuals have contributed to the traditions of science. Studying some of these

individuals provides further understanding of scientific inquiry, science as a human endeavor, the nature of science, and the relationships between science and society.

In historical perspective, science has been practiced by different individuals in different cultures. In looking at the history of many peoples, one finds that scientists and engineers of high achievement are considered to be among the most valued contributors to their culture.

Tracing the history of science can show how difficult it was for scientific innovators to break through the accepted ideas of their time to reach the conclusions that we currently take for granted.

Summary

The concepts, processes, and methods found in science are used in other disciplines. Many science-class activities are predicated on students’ reading and writing skills. Students read textbooks, read directions for conducting experiments, and write their own reports of observation. Science’s integration with mathematics also requires little effort since the development of logical mathematical reasoning and problem-solving skills is a goal of instruction in both disciplines.


Social Studies versus Separate Disciplines

What is social studies? We know social studies is an agglomeration of social science and humanities subject areas: history, geography, economics, political science/government, sociology, anthropology, and psychology. Each of these subject areas or disciplines emphasizes a different content, different and unique perspectives or ways of seeing the world, and different skills. Each discipline asks different questions about people, places, and events. In simple terms, we could say that

A historian asks: when and why then?

A geographer asks: where and why there?

An economist ponders issues related to production, consumption, and distribution

A sociologist focuses on the behavior of people in different contexts.

Each discipline asks students to think in a different way, with a different set of glasses on.

This fact has raised questions with some researchers about what it means to think historically, to think geographically, to think like an economist, or a political scientist. Some have concluded that it is difficult to teach social studies because there is no clear, well-defined discipline basis to this curriculum area.

Teaching History

Significant research in the realm of history has asked these questions:

What does it mean to think historically?

How do master history teachers negotiate the meaning of history with their students?

What skills and strategies are needed to represent, reason, and solve historical problems?

What is the nature of historical understanding (cognition)?

How does historical thinking develop?

The findings to the last questions are interesting, Booth (1988) found that the ability to think historically develops unevenly, in specific learning contexts. After studying two groups of students to measure the effectiveness of teaching methods on three course goals (1. the development of thinking processes; 2. concept attainment; and 3. development of positive attitudes toward history), Booth concluded that thinking historically was NOT associated with any age-related framework of stages or development. The ability to think historically was not set by cognitive factors such as age as much as by teaching in context the use of an accessible and problem based materials teaching style (active vs. passive), and the subject


SOCIAL STUDIES

Social Studies

matter knowledge of the teacher. Teachers who knew more history had better results than teachers with minimal preparation or understanding of the discipline.

Research

Here is a quick summary of some research-based findings especially relevant to elementary and middle school teachers.

Although many of these ideas were obtained from research conducted in history, they are significant to social studies teachers. For more details, see Teaching History in a Changing World, a special focus issue of Social Education (January 1997).

Contexts beyond the classroom shape children’s and adolescents’ historical thinking. Factors related to young people’s racial, ethnic, class, or national identities influence their thinking about historical concepts and methods. Differences between teachers’ and young people’s historical perspectives and interactional patterns shape what children learn to think historically (Epstein 1997). See notes on schema theory and constructivism.

Children and adolescents are capable of more sophisticated historical understanding than was once thought (Thornton 1997).

Elementary students have very little understanding of the way historians use evidence in order to create historical accounts. They may, in some cases, assume that historians’ knowledge of the past has been handed down orally over time (Barton 1997). Ask your students about this.

Children and adolescents can and ought to do the work of historians:

1. formulate historical problems

2. locate relevant information

3. grapple with evidence

4. weigh alternative explanations

5. reach conclusions on their own

Students doing history (and social studies) for themselves enhance their motivation and reflective powers beyond what is ordinarily obtained from passive textbook-based instruction (Thornton1997).

Children given the opportunity to engage in historical inquiry are more enthusiastic about history, recognize that historical stories can be told differently, and tend to think that history is something they need to know (Levstik 1997).

Explicit instruction is required if children are to understand how one thing causes another (Ashby, Lee, and Dickinson 1997).

Children enjoy history presented in the form of stories or narratives, especially narratives about people. But students do not necessarily approach narratives with a critical eye. If they encounter information in the form of a story, they may assume that it is true simply because they are so caught up in the story itself (Barton 1997).

Without guidance, students do not automatically recognize that many things occurred in the past simultaneously (Barton 1997).


Social Studies

Without guidance, students do not automatically recognize that different groups of people have had different experiences in history (Barton 1997).

Students have a limited sense of the scope of history and overemphasize the importance of abrupt transformations. Barton (1997) reports that typically students believe that all immigrants to the United States arrived on a single ship and that African Americans were treated differently after Martin Luther King gave a speech and suddenly changed people’s minds.

Children’s ideas about how things happen in history seem to change along the following lines:

1. Things happen because people want them to;

2. The more people want something to happen, the more likely they are to achieve it; and

3. What people want has some connection with what happens but it is not the first thing to look at to explain the outcome of actions (Ashby, LEE, and Dickinson 1997).

In most cases, because of the structure of the curriculum, students in intermediate grades tend to interpret political and economic developments such as the colonization of North America, solely in terms of the actions and desires of individuals and to misunderstand or ignore the role of geography, government, and economics in these processes (Barton 1997).

Students understand topics better when teachers cover fewer, in depth, than more a breadth (Barton 1997). Curriculum built around powerful ideas fosters a richer understanding of history (Van Sledright 1997).

Social Studies Grade Level Objectives

Grade 4In grade 4, students learn about the history of Texas from its early beginnings to the present.

Colonization, conditions leading to independence, battle, and annexation are examined. State government is also covered.

Grade 5

In grade 5, students learn about the history of the United States from its early beginnings to the present with a focus on colonial times through the 20th century. Students recite and explain the meaning of the pledge of Allegiance.

Students examine the importance of effective leadership in a democratic society and identify important leaders in the national government. Students examine fundamental rights guaranteed in The Bill of Rights. Students describe customs and celebrations of various racial, ethnic, and religious groups in the nation and identify the contributions of famous inventors and scientists. Students use critical-thinking skills, including sequencing, categorizing, and summarizing information and drawing inferences and conclusions.

Grade 6

In grade 6, students study people and places of the contemporary world. Societies selected for study are chosen from the following regions of the world: Europe, Russia and the Eurasian Republics, North America, Middle America, South America, Southwest Asia-North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia, and the Pacific 4-8 Generalist 99© Region 4 Education Service Center 4/03/06

Social Studies

Realm. Students describe the influence of individuals and groups on historical and contemporary events in those societies and identify the locations and geographic characteristics of selected societies. Students describe the nature of citizenship in various societies and identify different ways of organizing economic and governmental systems. The concepts of limited and unlimited government are introduced, and students describe the nature of citizenship in various societies. Students compare institutions common to al societies such as government, education, and religious institutions. Students explain how the level of technology affects the development of the selected societies and identify different points of view about selected events.

Grade 7

In grade 7, students study the history of Texas from early years to the present. Content is presented with more depth and breadth than in Grade 4. Students examine the full scope of Texas history, including the cultures of Native Americans living in Texas prior to European exploration and the Eras of mission-building, colonization, revolution, republic, and statehood. The focus in each era is on key individuals, events, and issues and their impact. Students identify regions of Texas and the distribution of population within and among the regions and explain the factors that caused Texas to change from an agrarian to an urban society. Students describe the structure and functions of municipal, county, and state governments, explain the influence of the U. S. Constitution on the Texas Constitution, and examine the rights and responsibilities of Texas citizens. Students use primary and secondary sources to examine the rich and diverse cultural background of Texas as they identify the different racial and ethnic groups that settled in Texas to build a republic and then a state.

Students analyze the impact of scientific discoveries and technological innovations such as barbed wire and the oil and gas industries on the development of Texas. Students use primary and secondary sources to acquire information about Texas.

Grade 8

In grade 8, students study the history of the United States from the early colonial period through Reconstruction. The knowledge and skills in subsection (b) of this section comprise the first part of a two-year study of U.S. history. The second part, comprising U.S. history since Reconstruction to the present, is provided in 113.32 of this title (relating to United States History Studies since Reconstruction {One Credit}). The content builds upon that from Grade 5 but provides more depth and breadth. Historical content focuses on the political, economic, and social events and issues related to the colonial and revolutionary eras, the creation and ratification of the U.S. Constitution, challenges of the early Republic, westward expansion, sectionalism, Civil War, and Reconstruction. Students describe the physical characteristics of the United States and their impact on population distribution and settlement patterns in the past and present. Students analyze the various economic factors that influenced the development of colonial America and the early years of the Republic and identify the origins of the free enterprise system. Students examine American beliefs and principles, including limited government, checks and balances, federalism, separation of powers, and individual rights reflected in the U.S. Constitution and other historical documents. Students evaluate the impact of Supreme Court cases and major reform movements of the 19th century and examine the rights and responsibilities of citizens of the


Social Studies

United States as well as the importance of effective leadership in a democratic society. Students evaluate the impact of scientific discoveries and technological innovations on the development of the United States.

Students use critical-thinking skills, including identifying bias in written, oral, and visual material.

Research Based in Cognitive Science

Much of the research in social studies/separate disciplines has been conducted from the perspective of cognitive science, that is, from an interest in how students think and learn.


Fine/ArtsWhen discussing fine arts it will be important for one to remember to instill in students an appreciation of creativity. This expression of creativity should include all forms of art such as painting, dance, drama, and music. It should reflect an appreciation of diverse cultures.

Health The main objective of teaching health is to promote a healthy lifestyle. This would include teaching students to eat nutritiously, rest when ever possible and to participate in exercise activities.

Physical Education

The important thing to remember then dealing with physical education is to encourage students to team build and that it is not about competition.


FINE/ARTS, HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION

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