Designing Effective Science Instruction

What Works in Science Classrooms

Science teachers, like all teachers, start each school year with high hopes and expectations for students to succeed. They plan their lessons, scramble to get the necessary equipment, and work hard to engage their students. However, despite good intentions and best-laid plans, not all students do well in science classes, and even fewer achieve mastery. Student performance on national and international assessments is poor, and/or more adults are unable to understand the scientific issues that affect their lives and society. Something must be done now to help science teachers put power behind their hopes and expectations for student achievement.

Designing Effective Science Instruction helps you reflect on what is working well with your current approach to designing lessons and provides recommendations for improving existing lessons or creating effective new ones, all while exploring the characteristics of high-quality science lessons. Whether you are a novice or veteran teacher, the self assessments and suggestions in this book offer guidance that encourages you to refine what you do to become a more effective science teacher.

Author Anne Tweed recommends a C-U-E framework—Content, Understanding, and Environment—demonstrating to teachers that all three elements must be part of lesson design and implementation to successfully achieve high-quality science instruction. Providing a review of the research related to each element, strategies to be incorporated into the lesson, and tools that assess teachers' practices, this book is also of value to principals and department heads, curriculum specialists, science mentors, professional development providers, and science education professors—anyone concerned with improving science education and nurturing effective teaching.