ERIC Number: EJ1296773
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021
Pages: 5
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0036-8148
EISSN: N/A
Animated Learning: Integrating ELA and Coding into Environmental Science
Robertson, Laura; Lamie, Catherine; Moran, Renee; Tai, Chih-Che
Science and Children, v58 n5 p30-34 May-Jun 2021
This article describes a project that integrates English Language Arts (ELA) and coding into environmental science. For this project, students researched science content about human impact on the environment, communicated their findings through a traditionally formatted narrative story, and then used a coding program called Scratch to create an animation. Students had to use critical thinking to design an animation that effectively used text and visuals to communicate science concepts in an engaging and coherent way. The purpose of this interdisciplinary project on human impacts on the environment was threefold. First, it sought to deepen students' three-dimensional science learning by purposefully integrating related ELA standards. The reading and writing standards reinforced the science and engineering practice of obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information and the crosscutting concept of cause and effect (NRC 2012) within the context of Earth science. Second, it broadens students' understanding of human impacts on the environment; this is important not only from an academic learning standpoint but also from a global citizenship standpoint. Finally, it engages students in an opportunity to use coding to demonstrate their science and ELA learning. This lesson is aligned to fifth-grade Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and Common Core State Standards (CCSS) ELA standards; however, it was implemented in a fourth-grade classroom. The discrepancy exists because of slight differences between state and national standards.
Descriptors: Environmental Education, Science Instruction, Language Arts, Coding, Ecology, Animation, Critical Thinking, Interdisciplinary Approach, Earth Science, Grade 5, Elementary School Science, Grade 4, Writing (Composition), Educational Technology, Technology Uses in Education
National Science Teaching Association. 1840 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22201-3000. Tel: 800-722-6782; Fax: 703-243-3924; e-mail: membership@nsta.org; Web site: https://www.nsta.org/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Guides - Classroom - Teacher
Education Level: Elementary Education; Grade 5; Intermediate Grades; Middle Schools; Grade 4
Audience: Teachers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A