Using Core Science Ideas to Teach Aspects of Nature of Science in the Elementary Grades

An integrated approach to learning content, practices, and nature of science (NOS) is needed in elementary classrooms in order to provide a critical foundation for students’ science learning in the years to come. In this chapter, we share a detailed lesson on how to approach this need through contextualizing the teaching of NOS with the teaching of science content (gravity) and practices (forming evidence-based explanations). Framing the instruction for this approach is Zembal-Saul et al.’s (What’s your evidence: engaging K-5 students in constructing explanations in science. Pearson, Boston, 2013) science explanation framework: Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning (CER). For this activity, this framework helps to articulate the NOS ideas that science is empirically based and scientific laws are formed from generalized patterns used to explain phenomenon that is repeatedly observed.