Overview
This curriculum unit is designed to create an introductory science unit for a seventh grade classroom using the elements in detective fiction stories. It will be an appropriate unit for any middle school science classroom and most parts of the unit could be adjusted to suit upper elementary students. The North Carolina middle school science curriculum is an integrated curriculum covering various topics in life, physical, and earth sciences throughout the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade years. However, no matter what the specific science discipline being taught at each grade level, most science teachers will spend at least some time introducing basic process skills in science. As a means of introducing and/or improving those basic process skills, I will be using a combination of science activities and short detective fiction to reinforce concepts and skills needed at all levels of science learning.
The students at my school come from a very wide range of backgrounds. Our students are about 60% Caucasian, 30% African-American, and 10% Hispanic and other minorities. There are a few students in my classes who come in speaking no English at all, so for those students, I will need to make alternate plans for the actual literature portion of this unit. I see few problems with the observation activities. I always group the students so that there are English learners with the English speakers who can guide them through the activities.
This is a unit meant to integrate the science and language arts curriculum as well. I always aim to show students that the different classes they take are not meant to be separate cubbyholes of knowledge, but that all of their classes do have connections to each other. This unit will help students to see those connections and hopefully help them have a better understanding overall.
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