Questions on Nature of Science:

1. What makes science different from other subjects you take in school?

2. Do you think that it is important to learn science?  Why or why not?

3. What do scientists do? Do you do anything similar to what scientists do?

 

Questions about Science Practices:

1. Do all living things have a life cycle? (Cross Cutting Concept-Patterns)

   1. Why do you think living things do/don’t have life cycles?

   2. How do life cycles in nature work?

2. What do you know about the life cycle of an insect? (DCI- LS2B-Cycles of Matter and Energy Transfer in Ecosystems)

   1. What does it mean when you hear life cycle?

   2. Do all insects start the same way?

   3. How are insects life cycles different from each other?

3. What are the parts of an insect? (Science Practices- Developing and Using Models)

   1. Are they the same as other animals? Why/why not?

   2. How are they the same/different from other animals?

 

Interview Group:

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I interviewed 5 students. All of the students were 7 years old and at all levels for second grade, including some above and below grade level. I was trying to find a broad spectrum of understanding. My students all are African-American at-risk youth that come from a low-income family.

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What make science different from other subjects you take in school?

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When I asked my group this question I wasn’t sure what to expect. In my school we have had an ever-changing science curriculum so I didn’t know which one they would refer to answer this question. One thing that seemed to be a universal response was the use of “potions” or chemicals in science. I found this interesting because they have not used any chemicals in science in their schooling yet. One of my students said, “Science is just like making potions and stuff.” He didn’t have the vocabulary of chemicals. This made me think that he was really drawing on what he has seen in pictures or on TV for his science thoughts. This theme stemmed across the whole interview group.

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Do you think it is important to learn science? Why or why not?

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When the group was asked this question they all agreed that it was important to learn science and when I asked why there were a few different and interesting answers. One scholar said, “It is important to learn science, if you never read science then you can’t learn to do science.” I thought this was interesting because of the last part of his response “learn to do science” this made me think that he had an idea that science is something that you do and learn from. This made me feel that he must have made a connection between learning and doing science.

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What do scientists do? Do you do anything similar to what scientists do?

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When I asked the students this question I was very interested in their responses. They all understood that scientists do something, but had a hard time thinking about what they do that a scientist also does. One girl said, “Scientists learn and make cool things like fake solar systems and help make a book to help other people learn.” I thought this response was great and alluded to the fact that scientists use models and also help people by teaching them new things. I was really curious about how she could do the same thing, so I asked her if she had done any of these things and her response was no. I again was thinking that she must have been thinking of something she had seen before from another source.

 

Do all living things have a life cycle?

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Starting with this question I knew that they had some knowledge of life cycles from first grade. One student said, “Yes. A hen has a life cycle. Humans have a life cycle. Why wouldn’t all living things have a life cycle?” I was really surprised with this response because not only did he know about different life cycles, but to ask the question “why wouldn’t all living things have a life cycle?” was something that was really profound to me. He knew that all living things have a life cycle.

Another student responded with, “Yes. Plants have a life cycle, cars have a life cycle, too. They move so they have  a life cycle. They are made, they can break, and then they die.” This response took me back because of how this student started the response. I was thinking that they knew about life cycles and living things, but was surprised by the car analogy. I thought back to one of our readings when a student said a bike was alive because it moved and it made me think that the two students had the same thought process that if something moves then it is alive and thus has a life cycle.

 

What do you know about the life cycle of an insect?

 

The students I interviewed seemed to understand that there was a life cycle of an insect and that it can be seen in other living things. One student said, “I know insects have a life cycle because they are animals and all animals have a life cycle.” Immediately when he said that another students said, “He is right because if insects didn’t have a life cycle, they wouldn’t exist.” The students then talked about how life cycles are in all living things because if they didn’t have a life cycle they wouldn’t survive. I thought this response and discussion was amazing. They were making great connections to different animal life cycles like the hen, frog, and humans. They understood that living things, including insects, have life cycles, but they didn’t seem to understand that not everything that moves is a living thing. Another student said, “Insects have a life cycle and so does a house because people live in a house and then it can burn and the people wouldn’t have a place to live.” This showed me that they still were a little confused about the difference between living and non-living things.

 

What are the parts of an insect?

 

This was my final question to the students. They Responded based on comparison more than the actual parts of the insect, which was something I somewhat expected. I knew that they had a little exposure to insects in first grade, but didn’t know what they retained as far as the parts of the insect. One student said, “A giraffe has a long neck and their head is far away from their body. An insects head is connected to its stomach.”  I thought this was an interesting comparison between the body parts of a giraffe and an insect. They understood that an insect’s body is different because of the location of the head in relation to the rest of the insects body. Although the students didn’t know the name of the parts of an insect, they knew that insects look different from other animals in the world.

 

Final Thoughts

 

I think that the students I interviewed had a lot of personal connections to science practices, in that they knew that science is something that is used to learn. Students saying that “Science is used to invent things and help people learn” showed me that they had some understanding that science is a practice. As far science practices, I think they again related to science in a way they have been exposed to in other forums. “Scientists make cool things like rockets that go into space.” I know they didn’t do anything or have any exposure to the science behind making rockets, but they knew that scientists aren’t just stuck in one area. They were able to figure out that scientists aren’t just doing one thing, but they do a variety of things. Moving forward in my class, I want to focus their learning to the idea that science is everywhere and that science is more than just one thing. We can find science in everything we do and how asking questions leads to conducting science in many different ways.