THE TEACHING OF

SCIENCE IN THE
ELEMENTARY
GRADES
LESSON OBJECTIVES:
1. Demonstrate the different skills in the
process approach (AAAs) from basic to
integrated.
2. Identify the strategies and teaching
methods appropriate in elementary science
3. Use other strategies and methods in
teaching science
 TEACHING OF SCIENCE IN THE ELEMENTARY
GRADES

A. The Science Process Skills- first introduced by the

American Association for the Advancement of Science (
AAAS)
There are 2 important elements that are needed in learning
science.

1.The content or body of knowledge (facts, concepts,

theories)
2.The process of science which are the ways of thinking and
doing that scientist used to arrive at the body of
knowledge.
 Science Processes and Higher Order
Thinking Skills
Higher Order Thinking
Skills
Critical Thinking
Integrated Process Creative Thinking
Skills
Problem Solving (in real
Formulating Hyphotesis life context)
Basic Process Skills Controlling Variables
Observing Defining Operationally
Classifying Experimenting
Communicating Interpreting data
Measuring Formulating Models
Infering
Predicting
 BASIC SCIENCE PROCESS
SKILLS
1.OBSERVING
It is using the senses to gather information about the object or
event. This also involves exploring looks (color, shape, and size),
sounds, texture, temperature, pressure, tastes and smells or
odors

S e e i ng
p l e :
Exam v es a s
h e le a
t
green
 TASK 1: USING THE SENSE OF
SIGHT
1. What did you see on your way to school?
2. What do you see on your way to school that has
always been there but never noticed before?
3. What did you see on your way to school that made
you wonder?

NOTE: If you ask your future students about this

question everyday, they can improve their skill of
observing using their sight.
 TASK 2: USING THE SENSE
OF SMELL
1.Give cotton balls or pieces of tissue paper
soaked in some substances and placed in
identical-looking containers. Then, identify
different smells, given the matching choices
with labels.
2.Explore the smell of different flavourings
used in cooking oil or baking like cinnamon,
vanilla, pineapple juice, soy sauce, vinegar,
orange peels, and other foods.
 TASK 3: USING THE SENSE
OF HEARING
1.Listen and identify the sound of things that
fall on a tabletop like coins, keys, sticks,
books, or others.
2.With blindfolded eye, guess what sounds are
in the environment.
3.Given a set of pairs of bells, find a pair of
bells with the same pitch.
4.Given some opaque containers, identify
objects inside the containers like beans,
paper, or clips among others.
 TASK 4: USING THE SENSE
OF TOUCH
1. Touch objects of different textures and
temperatures.
2. Given the mystery bag, find a pair of objects
with the same texture.
 TASK 5: USING THE SENSE
OF TASTE
1. Given the collection of different foods,
identify and classify which are sweet, salty,
spicy, and bitter.
 QUESTION 

What precautionary measures

should a teacher consider when
making little children do
observation activities like these?
 INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS:
1. Create a mystery bags with different kinds of cloth to teach
about textures.
2. Create a small canisters for different kinds of smell
3. Set up a taste test booth for different kinds of taste (sweet,
sour, salty, spicy, and bitter) where students can identify
and classify different tastes.
4. Create a weather chart integrated with a calendar, which
also allow students to use several senses for observing the
weather. There can be questions like: “What do you smell?,
What do you feel?, What do you see?, What do you hear?”
Add some pictures of people wearing clothes for different
kinds of weather. Add pictures of how the leaves and
branches are moving in different kinds of weather. Also
provide a pinwheel to observe how windy it is outdoors.
 2. CLASSIFYING
When there are so many objects, events, and living
things around us, it is easier to study these when we
classify them based on similarities, differences, and
interrelationships that we observe. Grouping objects or
objects in categories based on the properties or criteria.
To classify is what has been observed.

m p l e : How to classify?
Exa
la ci n g 1. By rank or order
P s
e c t s a 2. Binary classification or multistage classification
obj o r
n t s
to Pla ls 3. Kingdoms
Anima 4. Classes
5. Family
 Task 1:
Do some classification activities:

1.Sort out a collection of rocks, shells, leaves,

flowers, or other objects.
2.Classify objects according to “magnetic” or
“nonmagnetic”.
3.Classify pictures of things and creatures
according to living and non-living
4.Classify pieces of paper according to shape,
size and color.
 INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS:

Using art paper, colored paper or cardboard,

cut out shapes of different sizes and colors.
You will have three small triangles (red,
yellow, and blue), three medium triangles
(red, yellow, blue) and 3 large triangles (red,
yellow blue). Do the same for the rest of the
shapes (circles, squares, and rectangles). Use
these for classifying according to different
categories
3. COMMUNICATING
It is a process of letting other people know
what we are doing and thinking. We
communicate in science by speaking, reading
and writing. Observing and communicating
go hand in hand. This is because a person
must communicate in order to share one’s
observations. It is important to use clear,
accurate and complete descriptions in
communicating, it includes descriptions of
color, size, temperature, texture and others.
 TASK
 Work by pairs in this activity. Collect some
rocks. Describe to your partner which rock is
your favorite. Be very clear in your description.
Try to make your partner pick out which rock
you are describing.
 Describe two different buttons
 Describe the growth of a monggo bean seed
 Describe what you see when you use a
magnifying lens.
4. MEASURING
When you measure things, you are actually being precise
in observing and communicating. We measure height,
weight, length, volume and temperature and density. How
tall is tall? How heavy is heavy? How far is far? How much
is in a certain container? Remember that in measuring, it
is important not just to mention the number that tells us
how long, how heavy, how big, how much, or how many,
but we should always include the unit of measure that we
used like meters, pounds, kilos, grams, ounces, cups,
spoons, liters, inches, feet, and so on.
ISOLATION OF STIMULUS

When teaching very young learners about measurement, it is

enough to talk about "big and small" or "heavy and light."
However, we should consider using the same material, same
object and/or same color of an object, so that the only thing
changing is its size, if we are comparing "big and small." In the
same way, if we are talking about "heavy and light,"
everything else should remain the same. This is known as
isolation of stimulus. This is to make sure we do not confuse
the little children about size, weight, or length with other
properties such as color, texture, or kind of material or object.
REMEMBER! 
We must realize that not all big and bulky items
are heavier than small items, just like a big
balloon can be lighter than a small marble, or a
huge beach ball can be lighter than a smaller
basketball. We must teach this to children as
well.
UNCONVENTIONAL WAYS OF MEASURING

Children can use unconventional ways of

measuring, also known as "nonstandard
measurement," like measuring something
by using one's hand, one's feet, or any
object such as coins, paper clips, or a
piece of string for measuring.
CONVENTIONAL WAYS OF MEASURING
Children can start with using "inch blocks" when learning how to
measure how long an object is as a concrete representation of
what "one inch" really is. Older children can start learning about
the use of inch rulers. Other units of measurement can be
introduced to children as they get older. Other instruments such
as metersticks, measuring cups, measuring spoons, weighing
scales, and platform balances can eventually be introduced to
children by doing activities using these instruments that range
from simple to complex, like when measuring ingredients for
baking or cooking, or when measuring shoulder length in order
to buy a shirt among others.
 INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS

1. Using a regular recipe from a recipe book, create a

picture-recipe, showing little children how to measure
the number of cups or teaspoons needed of a certain
ingredient.
2. Create a measuring instrument to teach the "light" and
"heavy" concepts to little kids. Use a hanger, two cups,
and string or yarn to hang the cups on both ends of the
hanger. Tie one cup on each end of the hanger. You can
put any object in the cups to find out which is heavier.
The heavier object will be lower than the lighter one.
5. INFERRING
We infer when we try to figure out why and how an event
happened, but were not able to observe the event directly as
it happened in the past. Just like in a crime investigation, we
try to examine evidence or clues that we find in a crime scene
and try to figure out how the crime happened, who did it, and
why.

When we make inferences, we are trying to offer explanations

or interpretations of what pieces of evidence we see, but we
did not really observe the event as it was happening.
TASK

1. You saw a boy wearing a cast around his right

arm. What can you infer?
2. You saw an old coin with a dent at one part.
What can you infer?
3. You found a pair of broken eyeglasses on the
ground.
INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS

Set up a scenario where you create a mystery case for

children to solve. Imagine that you have a rabbit that visits a
certain area in the classroom for several days, but no one has
seen it. In fact, no one knows what kind of animal it is that
keeps littering the place with pieces of carrot and kangkong
leaves (which you scattered in secret), some strands of white
fur (or hair from a white dog), and some paw footprints
(printed out in paper). Also, create a chart where you and the
children can record the pieces of evidence you gathered for
several days. On the last day, you can bring a rabbit to class
and continue the discussion of this solved mystery case.
6. PREDICTING
When we predict, we offer our best guess on what
might happen in the future or pieces of evidence. We
are making a forecast of what we might observe in
the future.

For example, meteorologists who predict weather use

maps and data from weather instruments. The
meteorologist applies his/her current knowledge to
predict the effect of a variable, either independent or
dependent.
A prediction is stated in an If/then manner. If we hypothesize that the
amount of water affects plant growth, we can have a prediction like: "If I
water the plants in the garden daily, then they will grow healthy." Or, if
our hypothesis is the amount of fertilizer affects the yield of rice plants,
then our prediction can be: "If I increase the amount of fertilizer I use for
rice plants, then the rice plants will have more yield." Of course, these
statements should be testable. Recall that when talked about the scientific
method, we create predictions based on the hypothesis.

If what we find out agrees with our initial guess, then our thinking must
be valid. If results turn out to be different from our initial guess, then
perhaps we should change our thinking.
TASK

 What would happen if you leave a bowl of sugar (or salt)

out in the open for several hours or several days?
 What would happen if you want to blow some bubbles
and you use a square-shaped rod? What would be the
shape of the bubbles?
 What would happen if you line up some dominoes end on
end, half an inch apart, and you push the first one down?
 Before you left the house, you noticed that the clouds
were dark and it was windy. What can you predict? What
should you do?
INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS
Sink or Float Setup: The materials needed for this setup are the
following: chart for predicting if objects will sink or float, some objects
that will sink or float, cut out pictures or drawings of the objects you
have at hand, clear tub of water, and some tape. Make sure that when
you use this setup, you allow students to predict first if an object will
sink or float, stick the picture or drawing that represents that object to
put the column of sink or the column of float, then let the student try
to the object in the tub of water. If the prediction is not correct, then
the student is allowed transfer the drawing or picture to the correct
column. After all objects have been done, discuss what happened and
try to explain why some predictions were not correct.
LESSON SUMMARY:
This lesson presented the different basic science process skills that one
needs to develop when studying about the world around us. These are
observation, communication, measurement, classification, inference, and
prediction. These skills can be enhanced even at a very early age. When a
teacher creates a lesson plan, the teacher should include opportunities
for students to use and harness the science process skills. The teacher
should add to the lesson plan some activities that can make the students:
observe, use the different senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch),
describe what they observe, share the questions that they have, and
explain what they did in their experiments and the results; activities that
give students opportunity to measure things (weight, volume,
temperature, etc.); activities that allow students to classify things and
reason out why they make such classifications; and activities that allow
students to make inferences and predictions before, during, and after
doing experiments.
INTEGRATED PROCESS
1. IDENTIFYING AND CONTROLLING VARIABLES
If, for example, someone gets sick, people who care about that sick
person would give advice. Someone might advise: "Take this medicine
(tablet/pill/capsule)." Another person would say, "Take this cough
syrup." Another would say, "Use these herbs." Yet another would say,
"Drink plenty of water." And another person would suggest to "rest in
bed." If the sick person did all of that at the same time and he/she gets
well, would that person know which one really helped him/her get well?
Of course not. The different suggestions given above are like variables
that one tests to check the effect on something. So when we want to
know how something affects another thing, we have to do things
systematically. We have to test them one by one.
When making experiments, we try to identify
variables, control variables, and check the effect
of changing certain variables one by one. This
way, we will know which one works and which
one does not. We try to brainstorm ideas about
what might affect how something happens or
what could affect some phenomena, testing
factors one by one while keeping everything else
constant.
TASK
1.Create an instructional material to test how fast sand
flows through funnels of different sizes.
2.Set up three cups of the same size with the same
amount of water and the same amount of sugar to
be dissolved in each cup. The only thing that is
changing is the temperature of the water. One cup
has cold water, one cup has room temperature
water, and one has warm water. The speed of stirring
will also be the same.
3. Variables that influence whether egg floats or sinks
in water. Make an with two fresh eggs, two glasses of
water of the same amount and temperature, and add
salt to only one of the glasses.
4. Variables that affect the growth of plants: amount
of water, sun, fertilizer, and air. These variables have
to be tested one by one while keeping the others
constant. How will you set up these experiments?
Write down on your science journal how you will do
these.
2. FORMULATING AND TESTING
HYPOTHESES
In formulating and testing hypotheses, you must keep in mind
that a hypothesis is only like pieces of scaffolding, which are
put around a building while it is being constructed. These are
taken away once the building has been completed.

Formulating a hypothesis means you predict or make a guess of

what might happen if you manipulate one variable. In other
words, you might think, "If I change this, perhaps this might
happen
Then, you test the hypothesis to see if the results
would show that your guess is valid. Your guess
is not just a wild guess out of nowhere. First, you
might observe something around you. Let us say
that you had the experience of tasting a green
apple, which happened to be sour. If you tasted
another green apple, which was also sour, you
might ask yourself if there is a pattern in what
you observed.
Using inductive reasoning, you might make a
generalization that all green apples are sour. Your
hypothesis might be, "All green apples are sour."
Using deductive reasoning, when you see another
green apple in another store, you might predict that
that green apple will have a sour taste also. Using
inductive reasoning, you will test your hypothesis and
start tasting more green apples from different stores.
Using statistical analysis, you either accept, modify, or
reject your hypothesis.
3. DEFINING OPERATIONALLY

When you define variables operationally, you give a precise

meaning or a specific procedure for measuring the variable.
This is to make sure that our investigation is consistent. This
also makes communicating with other people more accurate.
So, before you make any measurements when you do an
experiment, you must decide how exactly you will measure
each variable. For example, when investigating the effects of
vitamin E on the endurance of a person, what do you mean by
"endurance"? Your operational definition can be any of the
following: the number of hours a person can stay awake; the
distance a person can run without stopping; or the number of
jumping jacks a person can take before getting tired and
stopping