Wow! Science

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File not writeable: /var/www/html/wowscience.co.uk/wp-content/plugins/special-recent-posts/cache/srpthumb-p2697-105x77-no.jpg The science would be there in the telling, there to visualise and retain as the story is memorised. But the science is not the star. A gripping read. A good key stage 2 example would be ‘The Northern Lights’ by Philip Pullman. Lyra’s friend Billy Costa goes missing. It appears that he has been stolen by the GOBblers but it is not clear why this organisation is taking children and hiding them away in the north. Lyra is determined to find out more so she can travel to the north and rescue Billy. This is a gripping story where we care about Lyra and she cares about Billy. We feel her pain and her frustration and we, as readers, put our hope in Lyra as she journeys north. That is the centre of a good story and it must be at the centre of a good science story. If it doesn’t move you –it is not a good story. Stories for science.

The children learn the story as they would learn a Greek myth. It is only when we make a model water cycle and start talking about evaporation and condensation that the children recognise Eva’s game from the story and realise it is the same as the processes in the water cycle. Again, the story stands alone: it is a good story. The science is the helper but it is not the star. Conclusion.

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Mary Anning is the classic example. A poor girl, who survived a lightning strike as a child, has to scrape a living selling curiosities found on the beach in Lyme Regis. One day she comes across an enormous fossilised ichthyosaur and she manages to excavate it and sells it for a large sum of money. She becomes a recognised name in palaeontology, although she is never given credit in her lifetime, as she is a woman.

If you want to really get the children to retain the story, teach them to tell the story themselves. Remember, if the story doesn’t grip you, it won’t grip the children so choose the books that you love. Resources. It was amazing how many different facts my class remembered, afterwards. We have lots of children for whom English is a second language. This worked really well for them, as it is all so visual. (Teacher) Problem detected on file:/var/www/html/wowscience.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Moles-rib-cage.jpg Another approach is to story tell the whole story in one go and then revisit aspects of the story as you progress through the science topic. I have written and collected some stories for science teaching which are designed to be told by the teacher and then the children (Science Through Stories, Smith and Pottle, Hawthorn, 2015). They are short stories which the children can learn themselves, using the Storytelling Schools method.The story stands alone: it is a good story. However, on this journey she travels by zeppelin, by boat, by sledge, by hot air balloon, by polar bear and on foot through snow and ice and treacherous conditions. All of those modes of transport involve forces. Each leg of the journey encounters difficulties, which can be better understood if the science is investigated – if the forces are felt. Ideally, I would recommend lining up your science lessons to follow the plot line of the story you are reading, stopping to investigate as you go. Sometimes, as teachers, we find it hard to read a whole novel to the class. It takes a long time and often the majority of our time is directed.