[Teacher-talklife] Session 8 Guided Channel-TalkLife Posting

Session 8 Guided Channel-TalkLife Posting
Energy and matter are often considered to be difficult subjects to integrate into elementary school science.  Why do you think this is? Do you agree or disagree? How can some of the ideas presented about energy and matter in Life Science be introduced in an appropriate way at the grade level you teach? Discuss this with your colleagues in
your final Channel-TalkLife posting.
 
With my kindergarten students we just studied (according to our district curriculum) the six characteristics of living things:
Living things:

grow and develop/change
get and use/need energy
reproduce
are made of cells
respond to their environment
adapt to their environment
Our read aloud materials included the information that
“Living things get and use energy.
Energy comes from the Sun.
Plants use the Sun’s energy to make food.
People get energy by eating plants or by eating animals that eat plants.”
And
“Living things need energy. 
Plants get energy from light (from the sun).
Plants are food.
Animals are food.
Food makes energy.
Animals get energy from food.
People get energy from food.
Insects need food.”
 
This is a good introduction to energy cycles for young students.  For me the energy cycle seems simpler to understand than material cycles.  I think kindergartners can understand food webs.

      
_______________________________________________
Teacher-talklife mailing list
Teacher-talklife_at_learner.org
http://www.learner.org/mailman/listinfo/teacher-talklife

You may un-subscribe from this email list at any time by using the online form at the above URL. If you have difficulty using this form, please send email to Teacher-Teacher-talklife@learner.org and our mailing list administrator will assist you. Our privacy policy is posted online at: http://www.learner.org/about/privacy_policy.html
Received on Tue Dec 21 2010 - 21:59:03 EST