The Science
Activities Manual: K - 8 has been written to
aid in the adaptation of the "Touch Science
Concept" to the elementary/middle school
classroom. Each terminal/content objective has
been organized into a classroom connector which
begins with a Set and ends with a Closure.
Through the revisions that were made to the
original Science Activities Manual: K - 8
as it was transformed into the World Wide Web
Edition (1997) a significant content
relationship was drawn with the
National Science Education Standards.
Specifically, the National Science Education
Standards were used to define the selected
content topics. In addition each classroom
connector addresses one of Tennessee's Four
Components for Science Education as identified
in the
1997 and
2003 edtions of the state framework.
The Science
Activities Manual: K-8 classroom connectors
address content with an activity approach while
incorporating the themes necessary to raise the
activity to a higher cognition level. This
emphasis on both the physical and mental aspects
of teaching and learning science is best
described as "touch science" or "hands-on
science." The major motivation is to employ
instructional strategies that bring the students
physically and mentally into touch with the
science they are studying.
The first edition of
SAM was available for use in the fall of
1986 for kindergarten through fourth grade.
Grades five and six were released in January of
1987. SAM for grades seven and eight were
added in 1990. SAM, second edition, was
available for kindergarten through grade six in
1992. All grade level entries have been
converted for the World Wide Web Edition (1997)
and include classroom connectors as well as the
associated concepts and content objectives.
Additional classroom connectors will be added as
they become available and will be announced with
a "new" tag.
Science
Activities
Manual:
K-8
Curricular
Emphasis
By
Grade
Level
Curricular
Emphasis
By
Grade
Level
And
Content
Topic
In addition to being
arranged by grade level, the classroom
connectors for grades K-8 have also been
arranged according to the content topics. Thus,
all of the classroom connectors for a particular
content topic can be viewed while also having
available the grade level where the classroom
connectors have been assigned. Since grades K-5
and 6-8 have different content topics, two
content topic presentations are necessary. Click
on the button which represents the grade level
grouping you are interested in researching.
Curricular
Emphasis
By
Grade
Level
And
Theme
The four components and
24 themes included in the Science Activities
Manual: K-8 are identical to those
identified by Tennessee teachers as
Tennessee's Four Components of Science Education
for
1997 and
2003. The grade level distribution of the
components and themes for grades K-8 can be
viewed by clicking on the button below.
The University of Tennessee at Martin is
not responsible for the information or views
expressed here.
