Nature at Your Doorstep

Nature at Your Doorstep: Real World Investigations for Primary Students For grades K-6 $25.00 (+ tax) Carole G. Basile, Jennifer Gillespie-Malone, and Fred Collins Teacher Ideas Press, A Division of Libraries Unlimited, Inc. Englewood, Colorado, 1997. Third Printing 2001. The book is available from the Nature Discovery Center, 7112 Newcastle Bellaire, TX 77401 713-667-6550 Or on the web from amazon.com ISBN Number 1-56308-455-4

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Educators can share the wonder of nature with young learners while building scientific knowledge and skill with this resource. Using the scientific method as a path to discovery, these engaging, child-testing activities guide learning about birds, habitats, biodiversity, and other topics into the study of all major area of ecology. Students can perform the simple projects right in their own backyards or schoolyards.

Participants investigate, formulate hypotheses, collect and analyze data, and draw conclusions just as scientists do. Opportunities for language arts, visual arts, social studies, parent involvement, and authentic assessment have been integrated for further development of skills. Background information and reproducibles are just some of the other features that help make this book a complete and highly effective resource.

Comments from Reviewers

?Nature at Your Doorstep: Real World Investigations for Primary Students is an outgrowth of a successful environmental education program at the Hana and Arthur Ginzbarg Nature Discovery Center in Bellaire, Texas. As a result of school field trips beginning in 1990, the authors, Carole F. Basile, Jennifer Gillespie-Malone, and Fred Collins, discovered that even young children can grasp the basics of biology, understand the concepts of behavior and function, and become aware of a plant or animal?s place in the environment. As logic and structure were added to the outdoor experience, the staff helped students develop their own hypotheses, collect and record data, and draw conclusions.

This book was created to help teachers open up a world of discovery in their own schoolyards. Each unit is designed to guide students through the discovery of basic biological concepts using the scientific method. Among the ten units, each of which offers opportunities for curricular integration, are the senses, tress, birds, insects, ants, biodiversity, and habitats. Each unit consists of two components. The first includes background material, activities, and extensions for further study. The second component consists of reproducible data sheets.?

Dana McDougald, Library Talk, Vol. II, No. 1, January/February 1998

?Nature at Your Doorstep: Real World Investigations for Primary Students? is a program designed to provide ways for teachers to share nature with their students. . .Each unit begins with background material and activities to introduce the topic, continues with suggestions for teaching, and concludes with extension. . .All the units are integratied with experiences in science, mathematics, and language arts. Each unit also gives a list of children?s literature that is appropriate for the topic of study.

The book is well organized and easy to follow. Some background information is given, but other information will vary in different parts of the country. The data sheets are informative and interesting to the students. . .The activities are appropriate for schools with large woodland areas as well as those with just small grassy areas. My students were interested in the investigations and enjoyed collecting the data.

This book would be a useful addition to any resource room. The activities strongly support the standards in science, mathematics, language arts, and social studies. The materials needed to teach the lessons are easy to obtain and are available in most classrooms. A sample ten-day lesson plan is provided for those teachers who want more direction.?

Teaching Children Mathematics, Jan. 1998, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Inc.

?This teacher?s manual descirbes the role of a teacher as a coach and provides valuable tips for outdoor teaching. Each unit of the investigation integrates the other content areas of mathematics, language arts, and social atudies in a manner consistent with the suggestions in the National Science Education Standards. The book will alleviate any fears about taking classroom instruction outdoors. There are 10 areas of investigation, each designed to take 10 days to complete at one hour per day; however, the lessons are flexible. . .The unit on trees offers a creative way for students to act out life cycle, which is described in wonderful detail. The student sheets include an overview that explains what is happening and presents a schoolyard challenge. Students collect data and graph and compare results. At the end of each unit, student create their own investigation. All copy masters are included with and without answers. Nature at Your Doorstep provides a way to tap into children?s curiosity, wonder and upper level thinking skills.?

Teri Consetino, Science and Children, April 1998

Abstract: ?. . .As part of their investigations, student . . Analyze their data using a variety of mathematical representations. Sample activities include determinig the general form of trees, distinguishing birds by color and location, and determining food preferences of ants, and well as exploring the kinds of living organisms in the schoolyard and recording animal and plant interactions. . .Activity sheets and references for related children?s literature are also included.?

(Author/RA)
Eisenhower National Clearinghouse. (2002). Mathematics and Science Across the Cirriculum.
ENC Focus, 9(2).