Simple Problems and Integrated Technology: Making Connections Beyond the Curriculum

Last year, the Centennial Ave. Elementary School in Roosevelt, New York received a new shipment of the New York State Science 21 kits. The new science program from the previous year was out, and the new science program for this year was in. As consulting university professors, the authors' task was to help the third grade teachers bring Science 21 alive in their classrooms. In this article, the authors describe what they have learned. They found that while engaging the students in inquiry based science lessons, the children themselves would bring all the other subjects into the lessons. They saw groups of children studying a clock, trying to pinpoint the exact minute that they put their ice cube into their newly designed "ice cube keeper." Some children were studying their thermometers, counting by two's to determine the accurate temperature of the water melting away from their shrinking ice cube. Some children were pointing to the thermometer arguing that one line could not mean two degrees. The children's own thinking and interaction brought them to use and develop their expressive language, mathematical reasoning, and technological skills into the problem-solving task in which they were engaged. The authors also describe how the adults helped the children along. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)