Engagement in Science Instruction in a First-Grade Classroom

Too often, science is pushed toward the bottom of the priority list when it comes to teaching in elementary schools. Focusing on student and teacher perceptions, the researcher of this study wanted to know how this theme or attitude would shift if science became a higher priority in the classroom, for both students and teachers. What do students see as the most important when it comes to engagement and construction of their own learning in science instruction using the Science by Month curriculum? Data was collected for five weeks through student and teacher surveys, interviews, and observations. The constant comparative method was used to analyze the data, along with level I and level II coding. The findings pointed toward the importance of connections, community, intentional time, access to real things, and opportunities for student ownership. There was an overall attitude of positivity found toward the engagement and mastery of content by both students and teacher