Liston Masters Portfolio

Science Statement

Teacher demonstrates and applies understanding 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. Common Core Standard: RI.5.1 Quote accurately from
text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the
text.
Science is a way for students to connect and gain an understanding of the universe

through different observation based evidence. Science can be an engaging way for students to

have an authentic interaction with the material and gain hands on experiences to build their

knowledge base and understanding of how the universe and all its diverse systems work and

coexist. Students in my 3rd grade class were given the opportunity to learn basic science terms

and how to use those terms in their own studies. Students learned about the scientific method, to

observe, to hypothesize, predict what they thought was going to happen, and to experiment.

What do you think will happen, and what is that called when you predict what will happen in an

experiment? For students, learning what a hypothesis is a key part of science, but using a

hypothesis is not synonymous with just science, creating a hypothesis happens in everyday life

too. Teaching students how to be critical thinkers, question things they don’t understand, and to

back up content with facts are all valuable aspects of science that carry over to a student’s

everyday life. Peer to peer discussion takes practice and science is a great medium for

promoting healthy discussion in the classroom. Discussions can be productive and enjoyable by

normalizing a set of ground rules or “habits” that allow discussion to be more effectively

cohesive and connected (Lemov, 2015), I do this through sentence starters like “I think that

_______ will happen because____________. Some students really need that extra step to get the

discussion going.
Liston Masters Portfolio

Science has taught me the importance of preparation for lessons and how important it is

to the success of the lesson and even more important, for each and every one of the students. In

this lesson, the essential question “What makes a seed grow?”. Using Alaska content standard

SA3.1 observing local conditions that determine which plants and/or animals survive, I created a

lesson that the student’s objective was to identify how to grow plants in the harsh Alaskan

climate, and what job each part of the plant performs. Using phrases such as “Please tell me how

you figured that out, and I wonder what would happen if you tried helped promote students

individual thinking and promoted discussion (Schwartz, 1996). After the lesson, students are

able to identify different parts of plants, their jobs, and how roots can help a plant survive.

Students learn best when it is something they are interested in. In this case, some students were

interested in how roots work, but more importantly they were able to put their hands on different

things and interact with the experiment (Smith & Jones, 2020). To check for understanding,

students made a hypothesis before engaging in the experiment and reflected on their experience

post lesson. After the experiment, students looked back at their individual hypothesis on their

initial worksheet and reflected on the experiment and as a class we reflected on the experiment

also. To check for understanding, students illustrated how roots work and hypothesized what

they thought their roots were doing in the plant they were actively growing.

The more I teach science, the more I understand that students need to be able to interact

and engage with what they are learning and utilize inquiry-based exercises to promote discussion

and interaction (Brown & Alder, 2008).

Liston Masters Portfolio

References

Brown, J. S., & Alder, R. P. (2008). Minds on fire: Open education, the long tail, and learning
2.0. EDUCAUSE Review, 43(1), 16-32.

Lemov, D. (2015). Teach like a champion 2.0: 62 techniques that put students on the path to
college. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, a Wiley brand.

Schwartz, S. L. (1996). Early childhood corner: Hidden messages in teacher talk: Praise and
empowerment. Teaching Children Mathematics, 2(7), 396-401. doi:10.5951/tcm.2.7.0396

Smith , A., & Jones, B. (2020). The effectiveness of hands-on learning in student retention of
material. Journal of Educational Psychology, 112(3), 456-467.
http://doi.org/101037/edu0000123