Teaching Science in the Elementary School

Course Description

SCE3310 – Teaching Science in the Elementary School is a 3-credit upper-division methods course preparing elementary teacher candidates to teach science in grades K–6. Institutions also title it Elementary Science: Grades K-6 and Teaching Science in Elementary School.

Its practical problem is well documented: elementary science is frequently the subject that gets squeezed. Reading and mathematics carry accountability weight, instructional time is finite, and many elementary candidates arrive with limited science background and real anxiety about the subject. A good methods course addresses both the pedagogy and the confidence.

Content covers the nature of science and what distinguishes it from a body of facts; inquiry-based and phenomenon-driven instruction; the 5E instructional model — engage, explore, explain, elaborate, evaluate — which structures most elementary science lessons; science and engineering practices including argumentation from evidence; Florida's science standards and how to plan from them; lesson and unit planning; hands-on investigation and materials management in an elementary classroom; questioning and discourse; misconceptions — identifying and confronting the durable wrong ideas children (and adults) hold about the natural world; assessment of science learning, formative and summative; differentiation for exceptional students and English language learners; integration with literacy and mathematics, which is how science survives a crowded schedule; and safety.

Most versions require candidates to plan and teach science lessons, often in a field placement, and to reflect on the results.

Offered at approximately 14 Florida institutions with elementary education programs, including state colleges offering the B.S. in Elementary Education.

Learning Outcomes

Required Outcomes

• Describe the nature of science and distinguish scientific knowledge from other ways of knowing.
• Locate and interpret Florida's K-6 science standards and plan instruction aligned to them.
• Design inquiry-based science lessons using the 5E instructional model.
• Select and sequence phenomena and investigations appropriate to a standard.
• Facilitate hands-on investigations safely and manage materials in an elementary classroom.
• Engage students in science and engineering practices including explanation and argument from evidence.
• Use questioning and discourse strategies that elicit student thinking.
• Identify common student misconceptions and design instruction that confronts them.
• Design formative and summative assessments of science learning.
• Interpret science assessment data and adjust instruction accordingly.
• Differentiate science instruction for exceptional students and English language learners.
• Integrate science with literacy and mathematics instruction.
• Apply elementary science safety practices and describe teacher responsibilities.
• Select and evaluate instructional materials, technology, and community resources.
• Teach and reflect on science lessons in a field or clinical setting.
• Describe strategies for building teacher confidence and student interest in science.

Optional Outcomes

• Describe STEM and STEAM integration approaches.
• Describe engineering design in the elementary classroom.
• Describe outdoor, place-based, and environmental education.
• Describe culturally responsive science teaching.
• Describe science fair and inquiry project supervision.
• Describe the statewide science assessment and its reporting.

Major Topics

Required Topics

• Nature of science — evidence, explanation, revision, and scientific habits of mind.
• How children learn science — constructivism, prior knowledge, and conceptual change.
• Florida science standards — structure, big ideas, and benchmark interpretation.
• The 5E model — each phase and its instructional purpose.
• Inquiry and phenomena — levels of inquiry and anchoring phenomena.
• Science and engineering practices — questioning, modeling, investigating, arguing from evidence.
• Lesson and unit planning — objectives, sequence, and coherence.
• Investigations — setup, materials, grouping, and classroom management during hands-on work.
• Questioning and discourse — wait time, talk moves, and productive discussion.
• Misconceptions — eliciting, confronting, and resolving them.
• Assessment — science notebooks, performance tasks, and item design.
• Differentiation — ESE accommodations and ELL supports in science.
• Literacy and mathematics integration — science texts, writing, and quantitative reasoning.
• Safety — chemicals, living organisms, heat sources, eye protection, and supervision.
• Resources — kits, technology, simulations, and community and informal science partners.
• Field application — planning, teaching, and reflecting on lessons.

Optional Topics

• STEM and STEAM integration.
• Engineering design challenges.
• Outdoor and environmental education.
• Culturally responsive science teaching.
• Science fair supervision.
• Statewide science assessment.

Resources & Tools

• Teaching Science for All Children: An Inquiry Approach (Martin et al.), Pearson.
• Teaching Children Science: A Discovery Approach (Abruscato & DeRosa), Pearson.
• Uncovering Student Ideas in Science (Keeley), NSTA Press — formative assessment probes; unusually practical and popular with elementary teachers.
• Florida Department of Education — the science standards, course descriptions, and statewide assessment information; see the standards note below.
• CPALMS — Florida's official standards and instructional resource repository, with vetted lesson plans aligned to Florida benchmarks; free and the single most Florida-specific tool for this course.
• National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) — position statements, safety guidance, and journals; student membership is inexpensive.
• PhET Interactive Simulations and NASA, NOAA, and USGS education resources — free.
• Florida informal science partners — MOSI (Tampa), Orlando Science Center, Museum of Discovery and Science (Fort Lauderdale), Kennedy Space Center, and Florida springs and state parks.
• FTCE test information guides — free from FLDOE, including the Elementary Education K-6 science subtest.

Career Pathways

• Elementary School Teacher (SOC 25-2021) — the direct destination; requires Florida Professional Educator Certification.
• Exceptional Student Education Teacher (SOC 25-2059) — where science methods still apply.
• Science or STEM Coach — school and district instructional support roles.
• Curriculum Specialist — district science curriculum positions.
• Informal Science Educator — museums, science centers, zoos, aquariums, and state parks; Florida has a large sector.
• Middle Grades Science Teacher — with the appropriate subject area certification.
• Educational Publisher or Curriculum Developer.

Special Information

⚠ Florida's science standards are not B.E.S.T. — a precise distinction

This trips up candidates and course materials alike. Florida's B.E.S.T. Standards (Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking) cover English Language Arts and Mathematics. Science is governed by the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards for Science, a separate and older framework organized around Big Ideas and benchmarks. Florida has not adopted the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) used in many other states, so national textbooks and online lesson banks organized around NGSS performance expectations do not align directly to Florida benchmarks — they need translating. Candidates should plan from the Florida benchmarks themselves and use CPALMS, which is aligned to them.

Florida assesses science at grades 5 and 8

Florida administers a statewide science assessment at grade 5 and grade 8 (and Biology end-of-course in high school). The grade 5 assessment is cumulative — it covers benchmarks from grades 3 through 5 — which has a direct instructional consequence: science taught in third and fourth grade matters to the fifth-grade result, and schools that defer science until fifth grade disadvantage their students. Elementary candidates should understand this, because it is the argument for protecting science instructional time in the earlier grades.

Science time is the thing you will have to defend

Reading and mathematics carry the heaviest accountability weight in Florida elementary schools, and science is frequently reduced accordingly. The practical response the course teaches is integration: science texts and writing serve literacy standards, measurement and data analysis in investigations serve mathematics standards, and a well-designed science lesson can legitimately do all three. Candidates who can articulate that to an administrator protect their science block.

Certification

Florida Elementary Education (K-6) certification requires passing the FTCE General Knowledge Test, the Professional Education Test, and the Elementary Education K-6 Subject Area Examination, which contains a science subtest. That subtest is content, not methods, and candidates with weak science backgrounds should prepare for it separately — a methods course teaches how to teach science, not the full content the examination samples. The FLDOE test information guides are free.

Confront your own misconceptions first

Research on elementary teacher preparation is consistent on this: many candidates hold the same durable misconceptions their students will — about seasons, phases of the moon, force and motion, and electricity. A teacher who has not resolved these transmits them. The course generally surfaces this deliberately, and candidates should treat being wrong about something as the expected starting point rather than an embarrassment. Science anxiety among elementary candidates is common, well documented, and treatable by exactly the hands-on experience the course provides.

Upper-division standing and field placement

The 3000-level number means junior or senior standing and normally admission to the teacher preparation program. Many versions carry a field experience requirement — hours in a K-6 classroom — which requires district clearance and background screening, so start that paperwork before the term begins. Verify prerequisites and field requirements locally.