Editors' Note
Denise Jarrett Weeks & Jennifer Stepanek nwteacher@nwrel.org
Walter wicks drop of water seems to hang in the air with the luminosity and weight of mercury. Beneath it lies a crystalline- like crown, its points arcing outward with abandon as it sits upon a watery cushion.
This image is the opening photograph in Wicks stunningly beautiful and scientifically precise childrens book, A Drop of Water, published by Scholastic Press. Wick used stop-action photography to capture this image of the short but glorious journey of drops into a glass of water, the wave action sending up tiny jets that look like the crown of some whimsical monarch.
Its easy to see why, after the book was released in 1997, the National Science Teachers Association and Childrens Book Council selected it as an outstanding science trade book for children. The photographs are not only wondrous, powerfully illustrating the transformative properties of water, the text is simple and engaging, explaining to young readers how water can take so many forms, from these lubricious drops to solid ice, from vapor to snowflakes.
In fact, writes Jennifer Stepanek in the opening article of this issue of Northwest Teacher, "The boundaries between science, mathematics, and language arts are much more fluid than they appear in most school schedules." By integrating these disciplines, teachers can create learning experiences for students, of all grade levels, that transcend the power of any one of them taught in isolation. Picture books, fiction, and nonfiction trade books can lift the imaginations of young learners, stirring their curiosity and will to explore important ideas and master key skills.
With todays national spotlight on improving students reading and math skills, the potential for cross-disciplinary teaching of these subjects may be readily apparent. But science, too often nudged to the hinterlands of the curriculum when state standards and testing dont mandate it, is a particularly rich territory for applying math and language arts.
And when a cross-disciplinarian approach is taught through real-world situations, learning is propelled even farther.
In Living the Story Problem, Tillamook Junior High teacher Jill Sumerlin and her students pound nails into the frame of a new house, a project of Habitat for Humanity learning essential skills in measurement and geometry.
Up in Seattle, teacher Brenda Higa, featured in Curriculum Connections: Revealing the Many Facets of Science, has her students describein writing and by talking to each otherthe phenomena they observe during their science investigations.
We hope to propel your own thinking about the natural confluence of math and science with other areas of learning, helping you and your students to launch into deeper waters.
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