Teaching Science for Understanding: A Practical Guide for Middle and High School Teachers

Teaching Middle and High School Science for Understanding: A Practical Guide for Teachers provides a theoretical and practical introduction to teaching science for understanding and application. The book is grounded in a new paradigm for science education that is consistent with the Project 2061, National Science Education Standards and reform programs in many states. It is based on formal research and on experiences of teachers who have been successful in transforming their classrooms from traditional forms of instruction to an environment where students learn to understand science and apply it in their own lives. The author's experience in classrooms, and with practicing teachers in the U.S. and in several other nations, add richness to this book as a resource for helping teachers improve their professional effectiveness.

 

The author demonstrates science teaching through three different levels of learning activities:

• building students’ base of information
• developing understanding
• applying knowledge

Each chapter guides you through the type of planning and instruction you will need to create a constructivist environment in your classroom, providing you with specific activities and examples to illustrate how you can teach science for understanding. 

1. Why Should We Teach Science For Understanding?

 

2. What Does It Mean To Understand Science?

 

3. Learning and Teaching For Understanding: Messages For Teachers (And Their Students).

 

4. Models of Teaching Science For Understanding Through Inquiry.

 

5. Examining Food For Plants.

 

6. Teaching Strategies That Foster Understanding.

 

7. Why Is Formative Assessment Essential?

 

8. Criteria to Guide Planning and Teaching Science For Understanding.

 

9. A Plan For Planning: Using Criteria to Select Resources and Plan Instruction Using Modified Criteria to Select Instructional Materials.

 

10. Planning a Lesson Sequence on Newton’s Second Law for Grade 8.

 

11. Planning a Lesson Sequence on Stoichiometry for High School Chemistry.

 

12. Planning a Lesson Sequence on Cells for High School Biology.

 

13. Planning a Lesson Sequence on Refraction for High School Physics.

 

14. Continuing Growth for You and Your Students.