Elementary Science Methods

An Assets-Based Approach to Teaching, Learning, and Advocacy, Grades K-6

By: Lauren Madden

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eText | 5 February 2026 | Edition Number 2

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Teachers and parents often remark that children make the world's best scientists. Skillful science teachers understand how to tune in and connect to children's interests and observations to create engaging and effective lessons. This focus on the innate curiosity of children, or humans overall is celebrated and used to justify and support efforts around STEM teaching and learning. Yet, when we discuss elementary school teachers, we often hear many voices from inside and outside the classroom report that these teachers dislike, fear, and feel uncomfortable with science. This is exactly the opposite approach from what is universally recommended by science education scholars.

The second edition of this textbook offers an up-to-date and practical guide to support excellent science teaching with even more ideas and tools to bring real-life authentic science into elementary classrooms.. This text meets the immediate, contextual needs of future and current elementary teachers by using an assets-based approach to science teaching, showing how to create inquiry-based lessons, differentiate instruction and lesson design based on children's developmental ages and needs, and providing easy-to-use tools to advocate for scientific teaching and learning guided by the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Updates in this book include strategies for addressing complex and sometimes controversial scientific issues such as vaccine hesitancy and climate change to ensure teachers are well prepared to support a scientifically literate populace.