Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies
The Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies domain tests the big ideas and inquiry practices young children need in PK–3, plus your ability to choose hands-on tasks that build conceptual understanding rather than rote performance.
Mathematics
- Counting principles: stable order, one-to-one correspondence, cardinality (the last number tells how many), abstraction, and order irrelevance.
- Number sense: subitizing (recognizing small quantities without counting), composing and decomposing numbers, comparing quantities, and using numerals.
- Geometry and measurement: naming and describing 2-D and 3-D shapes, spatial language, nonstandard units, and comparing length, weight, and capacity.
- Patterns, sorting, and data: repeating patterns, classification by attribute, and simple graphs.
Science
Children learn through inquiry: observe, ask questions, predict, investigate, record, and explain. Content includes needs of living things, life cycles, weather and seasons, properties of matter, pushes and pulls, and simple engineering design. Safety rules (goggles, handwashing, no tasting) are part of the lesson.
Social studies
The sequence moves from self and family to classroom, community, state, and nation: rules and citizenship, maps and globes, needs and wants, goods and services, chronology, and culture.
Worked example
A child counts six bears, but when asked 'How many?' counts them again from one. The child has one-to-one correspondence but not yet cardinality. The teacher should play count-and-tell games-count a set, then say the total without recounting-rather than drill numerals.
Traps
Treating counting to 20 as number sense; turning science into teacher demonstrations or crafts; reducing social studies to holiday coloring; using worksheets before children have concrete experiences.