Science Current Events Lessons
You can use current events to increase student understanding of both science concepts and language arts skills.
By Jennifer Sinsel
Understanding current events in our world is an important part of being an educated, scientifically-literate citizen. For students to become life-long learners, they must also learn to use expository text to gain background knowledge, analyze issues, and make informed decisions. A one-page assignment is a way for students to combine current events in science and technology with the skills necessary to understand and apply these skills to their own lives.
In my classroom, one-pagers are weekly assignments that discuss something current in the world of science. Examples of possible topics include global warming, earthquakes, the H1N1 epidemic, or anything else that relates to a current event. Students can find information in magazine articles, newspapers, online magazines, or another credible source. Most of the time, students locate their own articles, but sometimes I choose an article that relates to a topic we are studying. This allows me to modify the assignment and require that certain vocabulary terms be included in the summary.
Teachers can use one-pagers to supplement science content in their classrooms, as well as develop important reading skills such as summarizing, questioning, and predicting. The example below asks students to formulate inferences from an article, but teachers could also require children to find examples of fact/opinion, cause/effect, or any number of other reading comprehension skills.
Instructions For Completing A One-Pager:
- Find an article that interests you in a magazine or newspaper.
- Write down the article’s title, author, date, and source.
- Read the article and summarize it in your own words (three to five sentences).
- Write down one observation that is discussed in the article. Then, state an inference (either the author’s or your own) about the observation. If you forget what these terms mean, check your journal.
- Ask a question about something you read in the article.
- Draw or insert a picture from ClipArt that symbolizes what the article is about.
- Present your one-pager to the class.
Here is an example of this type of report.
On the Edge: Is Mount St. Helens Ready to Blow Again?
By Beth Geiger
Current Science Magazine
March 18, 2005
Summary: Mount St. Helens may be getting ready to erupt again! Small explosions have already been taking place, but scientists are worried that they might be leading up to a huge eruption like the one that happened in 1980. They are using special instruments to study the volcano in hopes of learning more.
Observation: Before the volcano erupted in 1980, animals could be seen fleeing the area.
Inference: The animals sensed that the eruption was about to happen!
Question: What kinds of instruments do scientists use to find out when a volcano will erupt? How do they work?
**Student drawings will vary, but could include anything from an erupting volcano to fleeing animals.
For more ideas on utilizing current events in your science classes, check out these lesson plans.
Current Events Lesson Plans:
In this lesson students begin a current events journal that they can use all year. They also work on a news report that they present to the class. While the lesson plan focuses on philanthropy, it could easily be modified to focus on science or any other subject.
In this lesson has students conduct research on a current event, and write an article in newspaper format. Students also read opinion pages from different magazines and compare their formats.
In this lesson students learn about life systems. They create their own magazine after analyzing the layout of various newspapers and magazines. They write articles about life systems, nutrition, and health. Students work in cooperative groups to work on the project.
20 Ideas for Teaching Science Using the Newspaper
Students learn about different scientific subjects using newspapers. They use current science news to learn about different topics.
