The Essentials of Science, Grades K-6: Effective Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment (Priorities in Practice)

The Essentials of Science Grades K-6: Effective Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment is a no-nonsense guide especially for elementary school teachers. Chapters include interviews with award-winning elementary science teachers and science education experts, guides to planning a curriculum of essentials, how to motivate students in science, assessment tools, current trends in elementary science education and much more. "When devising a science curriculum, schools should focus on getting all students to understand the big ideas for the topic studied. Curriculum designers can use backward design to align assessment and instruction with those big ideas. Because big ideas often rest on other big ideas and prior knowledge, outlining a progression of required prior understanding can also help teachers keep moving toward an important concept without getting bogged down by secondary factoids that may divert students from essential learning." A handful of black-and-white photographs and illustrations round out this practical-minded resource.