How to Incorporate Science Process Skills in Your Classroom
- 1). Choose an object that will be hidden "in plain view" in the classroom each morning. As students enter and sit at their desk, have them use the science skill of observing to visually locate the object and write on a piece of paper where it is. In addition, announce on the blackboard each morning what the "word of the day" will be. Each time you incorporate that word into your speech have the students tally it on a piece of paper. You use a clicker to do the same. At the end of each day, ask students how many times they heard you use the word of the day. Those who get the correct number should be rewarded with a small token, such as five minutes of extra computer time to be used by the end of the week.
- 2). Fill a jar each Monday with small pieces of candy such as jelly beans, sticks of gum or hard candies. Ask the students to examine the jar without counting or touching it and use their previously gathered math information to infer the number of items in the jar. They can use multiplication, division, percentages, fractions or any other method they desire to make an educated guess. Have them write the number down and give it to you. This uses the inferring process skill. On Friday announce how many pieces were in the jar and award the jar of candy to the student who had the closest correct number.
- 3). Incorporate the measuring process skill by having students move their desks and chairs around the room each month with a different distance between each one. For example, telling the students to place the desks 18 inches apart one month and 2 feet apart the next will allow them to use their yardsticks and problem-solving skills to design a new desk pattern for that month.
- 4). Introduce the communicating science process skill by having the students produce a graph each week of their grades. Have students keep track of each graded paper they receive and mark its percentage on a graph. At the end of the week ask them to color it, decorate it and turn it into you.