Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding

Book excerpt: Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding (BFSU) - BFSU is for teachers, homeschoolers, and other educators to deliver a first-rate science education to K-8 students and older beginning-science learners. Vol. I (here) is for grades K-2 and older beginning-science learners. Volumes II and III are for grades 3-5, and 6-8, and older progressing science learners. BFSU provides both teaching methodologies and detailed lesson plans embracing and integrating all the major areas of science. BFSU lessons follow structured learning progressions that build knowledge and develop understanding in systematic incremental steps. BFSU lessons all center around hands-on experience and real-world observations. In turn, they draw students to exercise their minds in thinking and drawing rational conclusions from what they observe/experience. Therefore, in following BFSU, students will be guided toward conceptual understanding of crosscutting concepts and ideas of science, as well as factual knowledge, and they will develop mind skills of scientific thinking and logical reasoning in the process. Implementing BFSU requires no particular background in either science or teaching. Teachers/parents can learn along with their children and be excellent role models in doing so. Already widely used and acclaimed in its 1st edition form, this second edition of BFSU contains added elements that will make it more useful in bringing students to master the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).