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    of 8
    Searching the Heavens with Children’s Literature: A Design for Teaching Science a ers open op and coaie the see ead of ‘astronomy in elementary classrooms? Kaser describes one class that included cross-cultural perspectives, hard science, and a lass visit by science fiction novelist Seymor Simon. LANGUAGE ARTS, VOL. 78, NO. 4, MARCH 2001 SANDY KASER ‘The study of astronomy that took place in my clastoom is representative ofan integrated study within the focus area of science. The use of literature extended the study and sup- ported and enhanced the scientific concepts. The broad range of books we chose and the waysin which we used those books encouraged the students to think about astronomy from many perspectives, including these of the scientist, the artist, the poet, the historian, and the mathematician. Through oral as, wel as writen Iterature, we were able to ins a respect for diversity of thought and culture, form a picture of the world- view of astronomy. and give students a “eal life” (Eisner, 1994) connection to bodies of knowledge. Meaningful text flowed through a learning environment in which we incorporated various hands-on investigations. In this article, I will review ‘my personal thinking and exploration that led to bringing si ence and literarure together in powerful ways, and I will dis cuss how scientific principles can be embedded in a rich foundation of herature and student inquiry. THE SEARCH FOR PERSONAL UNDERSTANDINGS A frequent complaint among elementary teachers is the s- sumption that we have to be good at teaching everything, Although I felt my abilities were strong in language arts and social studies, felt keenly my lack inthe fields of math and science. | used the support of predesigned science les son books available at educational supply stores to teach units or add enrichment to the material in the science text- ‘book. Iwas generally absorbed with covering the information and I hoped other teachers along the way would ignite the ‘math and science fire in my students. ‘With the onset of multiage classrooms, however, twas pos sible that I could have the same children for two ot even three years. needed to figare ou how tobe a more effective science ‘eacher. Tha meant reading, studying, talking to people, and visiting other classrooms in order to develop new perspectives om the teaching of mathematics and science, and then deter- ‘mining what that coald mean for my lassroom. Overtime, | ‘came to view science and math not asa school-driven cur- riculum, but asa way of viewing and erating meaning inthe world, I realized, however. that | needed to firm up my un- ‘derstandings of the principles and processes of science that should be emphasized in an integrated focus study. Tegan reading about the study of science. Project 2061, is- ‘sued by the American Association forthe Advancement of cence (AAAS, 1986), states that in the past, new technologies were ised on accumilated practical knowledge, but today they are more often based ona scientific understanding ofthe prin- ‘ciples that underlie how things behave. Tismade sense. Maybe instead ofa“hot ar balloon” unit and a separate “weather” uit, there were some principles of science that applied to both of these areas. Inherent in those principles would be mathemati cal language and mathematical tools of analysis to develop un- sdersandings. Rather than teaching more, one could actually teach less while providing a foundation for learning more. Somewhat more dated than Project 2061 (AAAS, 1989), sill relevant, were the Science Process Skllsas pat forth by the ‘American Association forthe Advancement of Science Com: ‘mission on Science Education (1967), These skills include in- fering, interpreting, observing, predicting, questioning, and ‘using space and time. The National Center for improving Sci cence Education published a list of “Central Organizing Con- ‘cepts” (Bybee, 1989) including ideas such as organization, ‘cause and effect, systems, change, and diversity. In this samme publication, | discovered what was to me a most significant lst ‘of “Attudes of Science” including desiring knowledge, being skeptical, accepting ambiguity, and respecting reason. This was ‘beginning to sound like much of what | had emphasized inthe area of social tudes, Lazar Goldberg (1991) emphasizes that science isa humane endeavor. How could one possibly teach science without also teaching socal issues? 1 seemed to me thatthe goals and objectives put forth by science education committees were in reality opening up a way ‘of thinking critically that would include not only the teaching, of information but an emphasis on student inquiry, with all areas ofthe curriculum relating as needed to suppor students in creating meaning, Shor and Burke (1991) suggest that in stead of studying topics to get bts and pieces of information, we should be asking questions that matter to us. They state, “The function of curriculum isto support usin the inquiry pro- cess of searching for questions and ways of looking at those uestions™ (Shor & Burke, 1991, p. 55). Without this vital process, asense of purpose and meaning in learnings lost and ‘our natural ngutstiveness is deadened. Significant othe study ‘ofastronomy, therefore, would be the finding of questions. The way the questions were considered and researched would be as important to the leaming as was the knowledge acquired. Despite feeling more confident and purposeful with the idea of teaching science, I still was not certain how literature ‘could be foundational to this kind study: How would litera ture encourage students to not only lesm about astronomy bbut develop the skills and attinades ofa scientist? I visited class rooms wit an integrated curricular focus on science topics. ‘wanted to see how hterature“fitin.” Most often, the iteratare was used only as an informational resource. Mos often st- SEARCHING THE HEAVENS dents were assigned topics to report on, Research is impor- tant and looking up facts is necessary, but there had to be ‘more. Manning and Manning (1995) state chat literature should revitalize the content areas and that it isnot enough to ‘supplant or supplement the content area textbook with iter- ature. Easily said, butt suspected it was not easly done. How could erature “revitalize” my science focus on astronomy? To answer this question, I chose to organize the study around student inquiry and to use literature in ways that made sense in developing broader understandings inthe study of space ‘The year ofthe astronomy study, the students spanned three gvade levels. 1 taught fourth and fifth graders, and 1 teamed ‘wth my colleague, Jud, who taught hid grade. Our “together” class was representative of four ethnic groups, kad a higher percentage of boys, and inclided students with special needs, such as cerebral palsy and autism, and had representation from all socioeconomic groups including students fromnearby shel- ters where they were awaiting legal proceedings. Anne Frank’s story encouraged ‘the class to think more broadly about what we mean by “space.” As my class and | eventually worked through the atron- comy study over the course of year, erature became im- portant in several areas: oral storying the use of literature for possibilty thinking and questioning; creating the ro- rmance of science through literature; looking closely a the author Seymour Simon; and comparing themesand authors inthe gente of science fiction. As I discuss each of these strategies, the reader wall see how the literature supported personal inquiry into scientific concepts and encouraged sti- ents to think like sciemtist LITERATURE AS A WAY TO CONNECT ‘Our study of astronomy did not begin with the moon or the stars. The class began thinking about space by visitng the ‘Anne Frank Exhibit that was touring the United States and by reading aloud Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Gir (Frank, 1967), Though, traditionally, such a book would be used in social studies, Anne Frank’ story encouraged the dass to think, more broadly about what we mean by “spac.” There was the ‘hidden space forthe Frank family. There was space for rescue and goociness in the midst of war. There are the spaces within courselves where we like Anne, can think and dream ourselves beyond the realities of our present lives The class also shared poems from Charlotte Huck’ Secret Places (1993) including a poem about the empty space left when someone dies. We read All he Places co Love by Patricia ‘MacLachlin (1994) and we could identify with each member LANGUAGE ARTS, VOL. 78, NO. 4, MARCH 2001 ‘ofthe family who had a special place on the farm. Evan’ Cor- rer by Elizabeth Starr Hill (1991) is about a young child who designs a corner for himself in a crowded apartment because cof his need for" personal space” It was through the discussions surrounding these books and experiences that the idea of space became less remote. When learners are faced with new ideas they “search their memories for principles or generaliza- tions that might apply to the new event” (Goodman, Smith, Meredith, &¢ Goodman, 1976, p. 340), thus building dialogue ‘between personal knowledge and established knowledge, We became comfortable sitting on the rug each day reading end: drawing closer to our chosen focus. Other books becare help fol asthe class began the transition to thinking about “outer space.” most notably My Place in Space (Hirst &¢ Hirst, 1988). In this book, a child getting on a bus gives his address, start- ‘ng with his street and town, and he continues to add on until his entire address includes the Milky Way Galaxy. ‘These books and conversations pulled us together as acom- munity ofeamers Peterson, 1992). By sharing stones of places they loved and life experiences they had had, the students also made connections berween home and school. Their stores then became a gateway into our exploration of oral tradition. THE ROOTS OF ASTRONOMY CURRICULUM: ORAL STORYING ‘Ona iterature both constructs and preserves the memories of «culture and can be called the collective inventions ofa people (Livo 6 Reitz, 1986). It was the “curriculum” ofan earlier ime. lamaware that most students today have litle exposure to oral literature. Rosen (1982) coraments thatthe ultimate goal forthe teaching of composition appears to be academic pose, objec- Live expesition, or “some such “No one,”he says, “tells us why language development should not include as @ central com- ‘ponent geting better at telling and responding to stories of ‘many diferent kinds. We should have been warmed” (p. 1. ‘The abundance of myths, legends, and folktales relating to the sky and stars gave Judi and me the opportunity to intro- duce the language of oral literature. This literature is an art form that connects children to other cultures through meta- phor and universal truths. Avi (1993) tells the story of a par~ ent who came to the school objecting toa book on astronomy because some ofthe constellations were named after pagan gods thus violating the person's perception of true religion. ‘Avi (1993) states, “Ofcourse, whereas stars are real, the visual arrangement of stars into constellations is arficial. That arrangement is~if you will—ant (p. 45). Out venture into oral storytelling intertwined with our study of science constructs in a way that allowed fora respect for diversity of thought and culure, and, as Avi (1993) states, an. It was interesting for our students to realize that the con- stellations were a thought phenomenon that originated in oral stories. Constellations were just “accepted” as the names of star configurations without any question as to why we view them the way we do, Opening students up to looking at com- ‘monly accepted phenomena through different eyes or from 2 diferent perspective is doing the same thing as scientists do intheir work. Once the students understood the stories, they could more readily recognize the postions of stars in the sky, and they spent more time looking in the night sky. As they thought about why these stories might have been create, their Understandings ofthe connections between scence, culture, and story deepened. Stories can also help us understand dificult concepts. “The [Never-Ending Bear Story” isan orl legend that explains why Canis Major (the Big Dipper) appears to change position in the sky during different seasons. After the storytelling expe- ‘ence, Judi and I glued paper stars onto an the underside of an umbrelia to demonstrate how the stars in the Northern Hemisphere appear to rotate around the North Star. Students were then able to bring together the storying andthe scientific understanding. When observing the sky, however, the stu- dents would describe the postion of Canis Major as relating tothe story. saying, ‘Did you lookin the sky? The bea is stat- {ng to die" Remembering the story developed an awareness of the movement of the stars, Parents reported hearing the story at home and I suspect that this piece of teature and the underlying sclentific concept will be told to the children of my students on some starry night in the future, though they may leave out the umbrella demonstration ‘One of the students’ favorite oral literacy events was a [Nigerian folktale cha explained Why the Shy Is Far Away (Ger- son, 1992). Although this story i available ina picture book, Jual and I thought it would only truly ive im oral language, the medium of ts invention (Livo & Ritz, 1986). We told the story intact, and did net add projects or use it asa vehicle for other kinds of language arts instruction. There were no ques- tions to answer or assignments to complete. We did use fl board pieces during the retelling experience asa way to give the story to the audience. Students could then repeat the story to themselves, or tell the story to each other oto their ead- ing buddies in the younger grades by using the felt board for interest and support. In addition tothe retellings, students began thinking and making observations about issues within the stories. Why the ‘Sy 1s Far Away, (Gerson, 1992) emphasized greed and the abuse of our earths resources. Students related to the univer- sal truths. They also made observational comments about the sky based on the story, such as, ‘Where DOES the sky stat and stop?" and “How does the sky become a color like gray or blue?" There was the sense among these students that they had lived with certain phenomena all their lives without un- derstanding ther. The story was not actually meant to gen- crate such comments or questions. However, because the students were able to pat thensselves inthe place of the an- lent people, they found themselves asking similar questions and wondering about the “scientific” explanation. This sup- ports Rutherford (1991) contention that literature inthe field of science should not be the end of curiosity but it starting point, leading readersintoa personal interaction with nature. ‘Although Judi and { were teaching mini-lessons related tothe concepts in these stories, we decided it was time to create the ‘opportunity to explore more broadly: We wanted to move to- ward a focus study tha his particular group of children would find new and interesting, We brought in the books THINKING LIKE A SCIENTIST: USING LITERATURE TO GENERATE QUESTIONS ‘To think hike a scientist is to notice the world and to wonder about that world. Scientist study what has gone on before in ‘their areas of interest and they ask questions about the current understandings and what ts not yet known, From that foun

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