Books in the CMC are classified in the Library of Congress Classification Scheme. All call numbers will start with "Curric" to indicate that it is an item in the CMC followed by one or two letters then numbers.
“Q” is the letter for the main class of materials for science. Call numbers that start with the letter “Q” will be for general science materials (such as K-6 science textbooks and books that mix science and math). Then the “Q” class is broken into 11 subclasses seen to the left below. You will notice that the subclasses have two letters. These subclasses get broken down as well, but this happens through numbers rather than additional letters. The chart to the right below shows Dewey Decimal and Library of Congress classifications. This is very helpful for pulling both CMC and Library Science Collection (children's literature) books for your lessons.
QA Mathematics QB Astronomy QC Physics QD Chemistry QE Geology QH Natural History - Biology QK Botany QL Zoology QM Human Anatomy QP Physiology QR Microbiology
Some exceptions for science-related topics:
Oceanography and Environmental Science topics are classified under Geography in the “G” subclasses: Environmental Science: GE and GF Oceans and Rivers: GB and GC
Health topics are located at:
Preschool: LB1140.5.H4 Other levels: LB1587+
Science for young children is also separated in the Library of Congress system. These materials can be found at:
Early Childhood: LB1139.5.S35 Preschool: LB1140.5.S35
Once you find the right call number for items that interest you, you can use that call number in the CMC’s areas (books, kits, & posters) as well as in other collections of the library – or in any library that also has Library of Congress Classification!
AIMS Activities are one group of resources available to you for this course. You find many inquiry-based activities in the AIMS books, which are located on the CMC book shelves at Q182. Some of the books are focused specifically on math topics and others are specifically science topics, but many of the books would be great for interdisciplinary math/science lessons. While the AIMS folks are no longer selling these books, they do have some other activities on their website at: https://aimscenter.org/resources.
KITS: Don't forget to check out all the science-related kits we have as well. The kit room and poster collection are part of the Curriculum Materials Center, which means that the same "Q" subclasses and call numbers will apply. Use the online catalog to find the kits and posters or ask a librarian for help if you need it.
Learn from the professionals with tested inquiry lessons. Teachers have published articles detailing inquiry lessons and units that have worked well for them. Some Journals that work well for these articles are:
