Spink Master’s Portfolio 1

Standards #4 & #5: Science

Candidates demonstrate and apply understandings and integration of the three dimensions of
science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts - practices, cross cutting concepts
(differentiation and technology), and major disciplinary core ideas - within the selected content
area(s) of science. (See NGSS Standards)

Sometimes in school, students learn about science as opposed to learning through doing
science. The difference is largely a pedagogical approach, with the former relying on
memorization and an explanation of the major discoveries in science so far and the latter
emphasizing exploration and inquiry based learning through student led questions and
investigations. The National Science Teaching Association (2018), abbreviated as NSTA, largely
sides with the latter approach, stating that “effective elementary education recognizes and
capitalizes on children’s intrinsic interest in science and engineering, builds upon the initial
concepts and strategies children have acquired, and provides an educational environment that
allows those concepts and strategies to expand and deepen” (para. 2). This student-centered
approach focused on curiosity based skill building is reflected in my magnetic forces science
center, and the ensuing summary, in which individuals practice questions and predictions in
four interactive stations and an Alaskan rock and mineral sort.
The first important element in creating an effective elementary education in science, as
laid out by the NSTA (2018), is to promote and utilize students’ natural interest in science and
engineering. Three important ways in which this can be done in the classroom include
“leveraging the wonder and joy students experience as they ask questions, investigating real-
world phenomena, and designing solutions to problems that matter to them” (Pullen, 2022,
para. 1). Within the magnetic forces science center, students practiced asking questions and
using predictions, investigated magnetism in several different centers, and collaborating on a
rock and mineral study, utilizing these three traits throughout the process.
Using curiosity and capitalizing on the natural wonders of the world is a great entry
point for science instruction and learning. Koechlin and Zwaan (2014) note that one way to
create this atmosphere and encourage exploration is to have the teacher “facilitate several
exploratory activities. Students will use a rubric to guide them as they create their individual
inquiry questions” (p. 72). In the science centers I set up four stations that allowed students to
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explore magnetism in different activities. The four activities included a sorting station in which
students tested several different materials and whether they had magnetic properties, a
north/south attract and repel station, a magnetic strength station in which students used
magnets with objects in the middle, and an engineering station that allowed students to build
structures with different types of magnets. These four exploratory activities introduced
magnetism to the students in an interactive way with space for creativity and open inquiry.
This inquiry was not merely a side project, but one of the main focuses of the science center. In
the beginning of the class I reintroduced the skill of questioning, which we had been working
on, and used a rubric to guide a practice session on creating questions in a scientific format. As
students went through each station in partners, they came up with a suitable question for the
activity at hand. For example, in the sorting activity many students asked the question, “which
objects will be magnetic?” This process helped scaffold the basis for inquiry investigations in a
straightforward manner that was still open ended enough to encourage authentic thinking.
The next important way in which teachers can leverage students’ curiosity is by
exploring real world phenomena. As Jennifer Self (2021) points out, “overall, we’re preparing
students to be able to figure out the world around them. It’s a world we observe either directly
through our senses or indirectly through data, so it makes sense to do both” (para. 2).
Magnetism in itself is certainly a real-world phenomena and incites curiosity in the different
ways that it can be used and tested. As students experiment with the strength of different
magnets and start to develop an understanding of magnetism as a whole, their view of this
phenomena in the real world, such as magnetic tools and different magnetic objects found in
their homes, starts to have a scientific context behind it. Data collection consisted of students
filling out their own rock sorting sheet in the follow up activity, sorting rocks into igneous,
sedimentary, and metamorphic categories and testing whether the different rocks were
magnetic or not. All of the rocks in the collection could be found in Alaska and many were
recognizable in the region that the students live.
Promoting natural curiosity and investigating real life phenomena are two great steps to
capitalizing on students’ interest. The third element is to design solutions to problems that
matter to the students. In terms of the academic application of this principle, Fisher et al.
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(2018) point out that the “challenge lies in finding solutions to situations that are complex, yet
developmentally appropriate” (p. 113). In the engineering station within the science center the
challenge set forth to students, detailed in the instructions put at each station, was to construct
a structure with two points touching the ground. The task itself was relatively easy but touched
on a subject, engineering and building, that most of my students had been involved in and were
very much aware of. The activity was then made more developmentally appropriate with the
required question that each group of partners had to come up with before-hand, such as “how
high can the house go” in one students’ case, and a written prediction in each students’ science
journal. In designing challenges that students were familiar with in the real world, such as
building and hands on work, creating solutions to these engineering problems was more
impactful and promoted more participation and creativity in the activity.
This leads to the second main category outlined by the NSTA (2018) in effective science
education, building upon initial concepts and strategies children have acquired (para. 2).
Alexandra Hoisington (2018), from the Promoting Children’s Science Learning One Step at a
Time organization, points out two key factors in building upon initial concepts; shifting the
focus from just concept building to facilitating science inquiry and taking advantage of everyday
materials in conjunction with high quality stem resources in instruction (para. 6, 7, 8). Both of
these strategies, transitioning from concepts to science inquiry and using everyday items with
high quality stem resources, are utilized throughout the science center and rock sort to aid in
students understanding of the material at hand.
The first strategy, shifting from concepts to facilitating science inquiry, is important in
building a more student-oriented experience for scientific endeavors. As Bass (2009) points
out, this is important because “research indicates further that students exposed to inquiry
methods in science typically perform better than their peers in more traditional classes on
measures of general science achievement, process skills, analytical skills, and related skills such
as language arts and mathematics” (p. 106). The main goal of the science center was to put the
concept of magnetism, which students were familiar with, into a more exploratory atmosphere.
Students were able to examine, ask questions, and make predictions throughout the process
while actually manipulating different types of magnets in different situations, such as the case
Spink Master’s Portfolio 4

in one activity where students tested magnetism through different objects in the room and
made predictions on what materials two opposing magnets could cross through.
The second component in line with building upon initial strategies and concepts
students have acquired is to use everyday materials and high quality stem resources. As
Hoisington (2018) points out, “we often don’t recognize the potential that everyday materials
like blocks and water offer for science inquiry and learning” (para. 7). In the science center I try
to use as many everyday materials as I can to complement the students’ learning process
revolving around magnetism. Wooden blocks, paper clips, a cork, screws, a chain link, hair
clips, and of course magnets of various shapes and sizes are present through the sorting and
magnetic strength centers while the rocks in the mineral sort can all be found in Alaska with
many prevalent in the region. In terms of finding high quality stem resources, Schmuck and
Schmuck (2001) make an interesting addition, noting that a good learning “experience provided
opportunity for taking both initiative and responsibility in planning a research design” (p. 219).
Most of the science center materials were obtained from the school’s high school science
teacher who recommended these resources due to their interactive nature. Instead of
worksheets or explaining concepts, she recommended that students actually live their science
and experience it in action when possible. Although students didn’t create a full research
design in this science center, they actively asked questions and made predictions within each
phase of the process and the stem resources helped students take initiative in their exploration.
The last important element outlined by the NSTA (2018), is that a science classroom
provides an educational environment that deepens and expands students’ understandings of
concepts and strategies (para. 2). McGraw Hill (2017), a major educational publisher, states
that “with so many opportunities for hands-on, interactive, and visual learning experiences,
each science classroom has the potential to stand apart from every other room a student
enters that day” (para. 2). Within my science center I tried to create this positive educational
environment through interactive stations involving hands-on activities and a strong visual
learning experience through the process including a mini-powerpoint presentation and an
introductory picture book.
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The first part of creating this strong educational environment was to utilize hands on
stations that were interactive within the instruction. Fisher et al. (2018) take it a step further
when they state that “thoughtful educators have used project- and problem-based learning for
decades to provide their students with time to investigate and grapple with challenges” (p.
113). I based my science center around the idea of interactive stations but I tried to add critical
thinking skills into the process by introducing problem solving through student led questioning
and predictions to each station. The entire experience might not have been a project in the
traditional academic sense but the way in which students studied magnetism from multiple
different angles and built up their understanding through an inquiry approach provided a multi-
angle view of the subject and added in deeper level thinking through the questioning and
prediction strategies that we practiced within each activity.
After creating this hands-on environment through interactive stations, the next part of
creating a strong scientific area of study was to create a visual learning experience. McGraw
Hill (2017) recommends that teachers “use decorations, management systems, student
artwork, and technology to make your space the ultimate learning environment” (para. 2). In
the science center I used a powerpoint presentation and a book, What Makes a Magnet?
(Branley & Kelley, 1996), in order to introduce the idea of magnetism to the class. The book
helped scaffold students through the different properties that magnets had, preparing them for
the science center activities, while the power point served more as a reference for the rock
study, showing students where different types of rocks were predominantly located in the
region. Both the book and the geological powerpoint presentation introduced the basic
concepts that we would be studying within the science center and helped students branch off
into their own scientific inquiries during the station activities.
Although most subjects should be taught in an interactive manner, science by its very
nature lends itself to a dynamic approach and can hook students into actively learning in a
hands-on manner. The three main keys to creating this effective science instruction lies in
utilizing students’ intrinsic interest, building upon concepts and strategies students’ have
already acquired, and providing a strong educational environment that deepens those
strategies and concepts. In my science center I capitalized on students’ intrinsic interest
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through the use of interactive stations with magnets, built upon initial concepts and strategies
by using everyday materials that students were familiar with supplemented by the Alaskan
rocks in the sort, and then expanded these concepts and strategies through visual
presentations of the materials and the hands on learning that followed in collaboration with the
questioning and reading strategies that we had been working on as a class. As a teacher,
science has so much potential for drawing in students that have difficulty connecting with
traditional academic exercises and can seamlessly blend writing, inquiry, math, history, through
exploratory work making it an invaluable asset to a classroom curriculum. Utilizing science
throughout the year in order to encourage participation and strengthen skills taught in other
subjects, as well as providing students with a more knowledgeable view of the world in general,
will remain a key tenant in my teaching practice and continue to develop with time.

References
Bass, J. E., Contant, T. L., & Carin, A. A. (2009). Teaching science as inquiry. (11th ed.). Pearson.
Fossel, M.
Branley, F. M., & Kelley, T. (1996). What makes a magnet? Harper Collins Publishers.
Fisher, D., & Frey, N., Quaglia, R. J., Smith, D., Lande, L. L. (2018). Engagement by design:
Creating learning environments where students thrive. (J. Nemar, Ed.) Corwin: Fisher &
Frey.
Hoisington, A. A. C. (2018). Promoting children’s science learning one step at a time. National
Association for the Education of Young Children.
https://www.naeyc.org/resources/blog/promoting-childrens-science-learning
Koechlin, C., & Zwaan, S. (2014). Q tasks: How to empower students to ask questions and care
about the answers. (2nd ed.). Pembroke Publishers Limited. Mototsune, K.
McGraw Hill. (2017). New year’s resolution: How to have the coolest science classroom in your
school. McGraw Hill. https://medium.com/inspired-ideas-prek-12/new-years-resolution-
how-to-have-the-coolest-science-classroom-in-your-school-cf11e4ef5608
National Science Teaching Association. (2018). Position statement: Elementary school science.
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National Science Teaching Association.

https://www.nsta.org/nstas-official-positions/elementary-school-science
Pullen, R. K. (2022). Uncovering the brilliance of children: Science in elementary. Stem Teacher
Leadership Network. https://stemtlnet.org/theme/june2022-introblog
Schmuck, R. A., & Schmuck, P. A. (2001). Group processes in the classroom. (8th ed.) McGraw
Hill.
Self, J. C. (2021). How realistic should phenomena and problems be? NextGenScience: WestEd.
https://ngs.wested.org/nemo/