K-12 Science Education

Getting comfortable with discomfort

jerridkruse — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 14:35:28 +0000

My education courses often discuss the importance of student thinking and using student thinking to guide instruction. In a recent conversation we discussed how exciting it is when students start to head down the right track and how tempting it is to resolve the conceptual tension they are feeling. As a basic example, I was once holding two beakers (one with water, one with oil) and had my middle school students predict what would happen when I poured one into the other. This is not very exciting, but because they had made predictions, kids were invested in the outcome and really wanted to know. Many had predicted that the two would separate and even had some reasonable ideas as to why the oil would be on top of the water. As I was about to pour them together, I paused and the whole class collective sighed in frustration….they craved resolution.

Instead, I asked another question. By holding the students in that space of wanting to know, but not knowing, they are experiencing uncertainty for just a little longer, they are building a tolerance for cognitive discomfort. The more comfortable people are with uncertainty and sustained cognitive discomfort, the less likely they are to fall for charlatans selling easy answers to complex problems.

Full units for ALL fifth-grade standards + Socioscientific issues

jerridkruse — Fri, 29 Aug 2025 18:51:08 +0000

As part of a National Science Foundation funded project, a team of 11 fifth-grade teachers and 3 science education graduate students have generated full units for all fifth-grade Next Generation Science Standards. These units go beyond just the science content to make real-world connections by integrating socioscientific issues into each unit. Through engaging with socioscientific issues, students gain a broader scientific literacy to prepare them for whatever lies ahead.

All units are available via a google folder located here. The folders are not in a particular order and are labeled with each NGSS code. Each folder has files labeled “unit” for the full units. Other files are labeled “SSI Activity”. These files are for short single-lesson activities you can add to any curriculum to make connections to socioscientific issues. These are free to use and I hope you’ll share with a fifth-grade teacher you know!

MS-ESS2-4 & MS-PS1-2: Media Literacy, Water Cycle, Farm Runoff, and Water Contaminant Testing

jerridkruse — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 16:47:03 +0000

In this middle school science unit, students engage in a variety of hands-on activities to construct ideas about the water cycle and farm runoff. In addition, students analyze properties to identify substances and determine if pollutants are present in water sources. Throughout the unit, students are engaged in media literacy by analyzing science news articles and headlines. Students apply their learning to Iowa specifically and the impact of pollutants in Iowa’s waterways. Finally, students consider several perspectives related to farm runoff and pollution, brainstorming ways to test for and mitigate pollution.

Funding for this unit was generously provided by the William G. Stowe Foundation.

3-LS3-1: Should we breed animals?

jerridkruse — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 16:03:49 +0000

This five-lesson unit for third-grade introduces students to issues around animal breeding for human purposes. Students make observations of various animals and their offspring to understand that traits are inherited and then use their knowledge to plan and critique breeding efforts. Students also engage with nature of science and media literacy concepts.

HS-PS1-5: Salinity, Density, and Ocean Currents*

jerridkruse — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 16:11:18 +0000

These lesson plans for a series of activities first ask students to determine the order of concentration of a set of unknown salt water solutions. This open ended task helps students problem solve and develop deeper understanding of concentration, preparing them for future learning related to HS-PS1-5. Then, to consider the implications of salt water concentration, students read and discuss an article related to shifting ocean currents.

Through the activities, students are engaged with conversations about how scientists work (nature of science), media literacy, and socioscientific reasoning (skepticism, complexity).

*This project/material is based upon work supported by the Iowa Space Grant Consortium under NASA Award No. 80NSSC20M0107.

K-ESS3-3: Reduce, Reuse, or Recycle?

jerridkruse — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 17:03:44 +0000

This five-lesson kindergarten unit begins by having students consider whether to reduce paper usage. Then, students develop and carry out investigations related to reusing sticky notes, reducing paper towel use, and recycling paper. From these investigations, students make claims about the merits for each approach to reduce human impact on the environment. Students also learn how to design investigations as well as how to collect and analyze data from those investigations to make claims. They also discuss why scientists use observations in their work.

*This project/material is based upon work supported by the Iowa Space Grant Consortium under NASA Award No. 80NSSC20M0107.

K-LS1-1: Should we have zoos?

jerridkruse — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 16:57:39 +0000

This five-lesson kindergarten unit begins by having students consider two headlines to launch discussion around the socioscientific issue question, “Should we have zoos?”. Students then use pictures to explore various habitats of various animals and plants to explore plant and animal needs for survival while modifying their own designs for a zoo habitat for an animal of their choice. After these explorations, students return to the zoo question for further discussion.

In addition to science content, the unit includes broad aspects of scientific literacy. Students are engaged with questions about the importance of considering multiple perspectives (socioscientific reasoning), how technology shapes our thinking (nature of technology), the value of continued learning (growth mindset), and why scientists collaborate and share with other scientists (nature of science).

*This project/material is based upon work supported by the Iowa Space Grant Consortium under NASA Award No. 80NSSC20M0107.

Changing the Environment & Technology Impact (K-ESS2-2; K-ESS3-3)

jerridkruse — Sun, 04 Aug 2024 02:44:14 +0000

This short lesson engages kindergarten students in first exploring how we as humans change our environment to meet our needs by exploring a satellite image of the local metro area. We then apply that thinking to the ways beavers change the environment by comparing pictures of an area over several decades. The lesson ends by asking students to consider the long-range impacts of technology. Deeply understanding the nature of technology requires recognition that their are always negative consequences of technology and sometimes those consequences affect those who are not even benefiting from the technology.

Habitats – Videos as Concrete Experiences

jerridkruse — Sun, 04 Aug 2024 02:19:04 +0000

Using more concrete representations helps students engage with difficult concepts. Through sight, sound, and touch, students gain rich experience on which to base new learning. Importantly, these experiences have to be coupled with careful scaffolding and guidance of student thinking and consistently encouraging students to reflect and make-sense of what they are experiencing.

Unfortunately, some concepts are hard to experience. In this set of lessons, videos and pictures are used to provide more concrete representations of habitats to begin instruction and help students generate accurate conceptions. While visiting various habitats would be ideal, time and resources are limited. Be careful with videos though. Sometimes they aren’t very concrete and just turn into lectures. The best videos for concrete representations are those you could show with no sound and still have a similar impact on student learning.

Cleaning water with dirt and rocks?

jerridkruse — Sat, 03 Aug 2024 03:37:30 +0000

If you are coming here from the Science & Children article, please find the presentations here.

This 14-lesson (25-minute lessons) unit developed and implemented in fifth-grade classrooms engages students in puzzle solving and exploring the ways natural materials can be used to clean water. By engaging in scientific investigations and through explicit questions students are encouraged to develop a rich scientific literacy well beyond simply reading about science. As someone once told me, “science is a verb” and this unit gets students doing science. After conducting their own investigations and thinking about how scientists work, the unit explores the unique way the Des Moines Water Works begins the water treatment process. The next time your walking through Water Works Park, remember your sitting on top of a giant filter! The unit closes with an optional trip to Des Moines Water Works and its a trip kids won’t soon forget.