What ideas do children hold about the natural world? How do these ideas affect their learning of science? Young learners bring to the classroom knowledge and ideas about many aspects of the natural world constructed from their experiences of education and from outside school. These ideas contribute to subsequent learning, and research has shown that teaching of science is unlikely to be effective unless it takes learners’ perspectives into account. Making Sense of Secondary Science provides a concise, accessible summary of international research into learners’ ideas about science, presenting evidence-based insight into the conceptions that learners hold, before and even despite teaching. With expert summaries from across the science domains, it covers research findings from life and living processes, materials and their properties and physical processes This classic text is essential reading for all trainee secondary, elementary and primary school science teachers, as well as those researching the science curriculum and science methods, who want to deepen their understanding of how learners think and to use these insights to inform teaching strategies. It also provides a baseline for researchers wishing to investigate contemporary influences on children’s ideas and to study the persistence of these conceptions. Both components of Making Sense of Secondary Science – this book and the accompanying teacher’s resource file, Making Sense of Secondary Science: Support materials for teachers - were developed as a result of a collaborative project between Leeds City Council Department of Education and the Children’s Learning in Science Research Group at the University of Leeds, UK.

What ideas do children hold about the naturl world? How do these ideas affect their learning of science? When children begin secondary school they already have knowledge and ideas about many aspects of the natural world from their experiences both in primary classes and outside school. These ideas contribute to subsequent learning and research has shown that teaching is unlikely to be effective unless it takes learners' perspectives into account. Making Sense of Secondary Science: Research into Children's Ideas provides a concise, accessible summary of the research that has been done internationally in this area. The research findings are arranged in three main sections: life and living processes; materials and their properties; and physical processes. Much of this material has hitherto been difficult to access and its publication in this convenient form will be welcomed by all science teachers, both in initial training and in schools, who want to deepen their understanding of how their children think.

When children begin secondary school they already have knowledge and ideas about many aspects of the natural world from their experiences both in primary classes and outside school. These ideas, right or wrong, form the basis of all they subsequently learn. Research has shown that teaching is unlikely to be effective unless it takes into account the position from which the learner starts. Making Sense of Secondary Science provides a concise and accessible summary of the research that has been done internationally in this area. The research findings are arranged in three main sections: * life and living processes * materials and their properties * physical processes. Full bibliographies in each section allow interested readers to pursue the themes further. Much of this material has hitherto been available only in limited circulation specialist journals or in unpublished research. Its publication in this convenient form will be welcomed by all researchers in science education and by practicing science teachers continuing their professional development, who want to deepen their understanding of how their children think and learn.

Secondary Science Teaching for English Learners: Developing Supportive and Responsive Learning Context for Sense-making and Language Development provides a resource for multiple audiences, including pre- and in-service secondary science teachers, science teacher educators, instructional coaches, curriculum specialists, and administrators, to learn about a research-based approach to teaching science that responds to the growing population of English learners in the United States. The book offers clear definitions of pedagogical practices supported by classroom examples and a cohesive framework for teaching science in linguistically diverse classrooms. The Secondary Science Teaching with English Language and Literacy Acquisition (or SSTELLA) Framework addresses how learning science is enhanced through meaningful and relevant learning experiences that integrate discipline-specific literacy. In particular, four core science teaching practices are described: (1) contextualized science activity, (2) scientific sense-making through scientific and engineering practices, (3) scientific discourse, and (4) English language and disciplinary literacy development. These four core practices are supported by sound theory and research based on unscripted guidelines and flexible modifications of science lessons. Moreover, the four interrelated practices promote students’ use of core science ideas while reading, writing, talking, and doing science, thus reflecting principles from Next Generation Science Standards, Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts, and English language proficiency standards. Secondary Science Teaching provides readers with a historical and theoretical basis for integrating language, literacy, and science in multilingual science classrooms, and well as explicit models and guided support teachers in enacting effective teaching practices in the classroom, including comparative vignettes to distinguish between different types of classroom practice.

The authors of Making Sense of Science and Religion believe that addressing interactions between science and religion is part of all science educators' collective job-- and that this is the book that will help you facilitate discussion when the topic of religion comes up. Designed for teachers at all grade levels, the book will help you anticipate and respond to students' questions-- and help students reconcile their religious beliefs even as you delve into topics such as evolution, geochronology, genetics, the origin of the universe, and climate change. The book is divided into three parts: 1.Historical and cultural context, plus a framework for addressing science-religion issues in a legal, constitutional manner. 2.Guidance on teaching specific scientific concepts at every grade level: elementary, middle, and high school science, as well as college and informal science settings. 3.Advice for engaging families, administrators, school boards, legislators and policy makers, and faith communities. The book' s authors are all personally and professionally invested in the subject. They are a mix of K- 12 teachers, college professors, and experts from organizations such as the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. They know that teaching about the interaction between science and religion is not easy. But they also know that educators have an ethical obligation to minimize the perceived conflict between science and religion. As the authors write, " When students hear a consistent message during science instruction-- that they can learn science while maintaining their religious beliefs-- they are much more willing to learn regardless of messages to the contrary that they might hear outside of your classroom."