Teaching Science : A Important Part Of The New Zealand Curriculum Essay

Science is a great way to begin encouraging children to learn observational skills because one needs to be focused. Getting our youth exposed earlier in the education process could potentially open up minds to a greater understanding. Critical thinking is important in all aspects of life. It is critical to science because science only progresses, in the simplest terms, by uncovering the patterns underlying the materials and processes of nature. Loosely speaking, critical thinking requires one to drop biases, prejudices and assumptions for the simple reason that these can all lead one to the wrong conclusion. If a wrong conclusion is reached it is more difficult to face reality. Acquiring these critical thinking skills will allow students to see our society from a variety of perspectives which is how we begin to make change.

The process skills approach to teaching is defined as the educator helping children develop science skills and processes to confidently undertake their own investigations (Campbell, 2012). These skills are developed through: communicating, science language, asking questions, making sense of phenomena, predicting, modelling, conducting investigations, planning, testing, observing, reasoning, and drawing conclusions of science concepts (Campbell, 2012). When the educator assist children’s learning, it is important to put the emphasis on the nature of science and scientific concepts. Guided discovery approach to teaching requires the educator to ask effective questions that encourage children to explore and extend their investigations throughout science learning (Campbell, 2012). This can be developed through play experiences as children explore their world around them. An interactive approach to teaching children is based on questions that lead explorations and the educators to provide essential resources to guide these explorations (Campbell, 2012). It is the educators’ responsibility to support children’s development, ideas, questions, ways of thinking, and develop scientific thinking. Furthermore, an inquiry approach to teaching relates to children investigating the answers to their own

Study Guide Week 22 Science today and for the future Howe, A., Davies, D., McMahon, K., Towler, L., Collier, C. and Scott, T. (2009) Science 5–11: A Guide for Teachers (2nd edn), London, Routledge

When teaching natural sciences and technology, teachers need to promote an understanding of seeing these subjects as activities to promote curiosity and enjoyment about the world and that what we encounter around us. The history of science and technology should also be integrated with other subjects. Science and technology should be seen as a contribution to social justice and societal development (Motshekga, 2011). A growing need of discovery in science and technology needs to be promoted in order to form interest in ourselves, society and

This way I can be a source of knowledge rather than a teacher who fills the students head with knowledge. This technique should also be able to direct students’ enquiries as well as allow them to ask their own questions and follow what directions their enquiries about Science might take them. My next key learning element would be the value of group work and the peer collaboration between students to enable better understanding about the topic being investigated or the experiment being conducted. My other key learning experience that was gained from this lesson was the determination of what prior learning had the students done on a particular subject so that their constructs can be added to or modified to achieve better scientific results. My thoughts are that, even more careful planning has to go into a design and make (discovery learning) lesson than into a mere investigation through books and the internet. These tasks increase student motivation and the willingness to accept Science as practical, necessary and important in today’s modern

Zangori, L. & Forbes, C. T., (2014). Scientific practices in elementary classrooms: Third-grade students’ scientific explanations for seed structure and function. Science Education, 98, 614-639.

During the course of the year, we learned about the Investigation-Colloquium Method (I-CM) of the teaching science which emphasizes that children learn more by interacting with their peers, sharing their thoughts and collaborate information among themselves. As the word colloquium suggests, it is an informal gathering of peers during a discussion, it is during this discussion children expand on their learning experiences. This method is similar to what Vygotsky would have considered as the “Zone of Proximal Development.” His theory suggested that during a colloquium children tend to sharpen their perception which will, in turn, promote mental growth. As a future teacher of science, my goal is to base my lesson plans on the I-CM method by using it as a benchmark for my instructional practices. Some of these approaches would include concepts, materials, investigations, use of data charts, creative dramatics, and closure to name a few. Each of these subcategories of I-CM further enhances the concept of this method which will be discussed later in further detail. However, in my opinion, the role of a teacher is the pinnacle entity for a successful colloquium among children and an even more successful pedagogy of science.

This framework builds on previous high quality works in science education: Science for All Americans (1989), Benchmarks for Science Literacy (1993), and NSES (1996). Unlike these previous standards, the importance of having the scientific and educational research communities was taken into the process for developing the framework. Thus, the most current research on science and science learning was grounded when identifying the science that all K-12 students should know, which increased its scientific validity and accuracy. The second step was facilitated by Achieve, Inc. with the recognition of the importance of state and educator leadership in the development of the actual standards. Thus, state policy leaders, higher education, K–12 teachers, and the science and business community were involved when developing Next Generation of Science Standards

Based on the NSTA Position statement, the curriculum of science from kindergarten through 12 grades has kept changing during the century of rapid development of science. Those changes increase the complexity of teaching and learning science. Teachers are required to design the science class that provides sufficient and effective activities of science to students. In addition, students are expected to complete the task by following the instruction and to adopt the factual knowledge replacing the superficial information or isolated facts. The importance of science programs is to assist students to adapt the community of the well-developed science, and develop student’s self-assessment skills.

Science is the process of observing, thinking, and reflecting on actions and events, for young children science involves constructing the relationship within which the factual information can be organized into meaningful concepts ( Brewer, J.A,2007)Therefore, engaged in the science and discovery centre children will firstly, gain the knowledge the basic science concepts and show the familiarity with the terminology. Secondly, children would adopt the scientific skills for observing, communicating, comparing, classifying, organizing , measuring and experimenting. Thirdly, being involved in the science and discovery centre children will develop dispositions, and show interest to investigate unusual objects and events. Likewise, children will

This assignment will discuss the challenges and benefits for pupil’s learning when Mathematics is connected to Science. This cross-curricular link has been chosen as I wish to further deepen my understanding of Science and its cross-curricular links to Mathematics. The essay will explain what role Mathematics and Science play within the National curriculum, what cross-curricularity means followed by the discussion of the challenges and benefits including examples of how these are applied in work-based practice at primary school within upper key stage 2.

The earth is a web of complex interdependent relationships in ecosystems. For example, in order for plants to survive, they rely heavily on other parts of their environment for their energy and food sources. They also rely on the wind, water, and animals to help disperse their seeds so that they can grow in many different areas. All of this occurs in the ecosystems and habitats that are here on earth. Within each habitat, there is a great diversity of the species of plants and animals that live there. At a young age, children become curious about how all of these things occur. The Next Generation Science Standards have compiled this information into three performance expectations for second graders. The first expectation, 2-LS2-1, is that they must “Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow” (NGSS). The second is 2-LS2-2 which states that students must “Develop a simple model that mimics the function of an animal in dispersing seeds or pollinating plants” (NGSS). And the final one is 2-LS4-1, which states that students must “Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats” (NGSS). Educators of these students must familiarize themselves with the performance expectations and all of the concepts that go

This assignment is a case study of a child’s engagement, inquiry skills and understanding of physical or chemical understandings. There are two parts to the assignment that build to the final case study report. Part A is to design a science inquiry activity suitable for engaging a child at junior primary with physical or chemical science understandings that uses materials like water, sand, ball or tubes. At the next, it is needed to figure out how the planned inquiry activity links to the Australian Curriculum and the early Years Learning Framework. This report also needs to explain and justify the learning theory that underpins the activity and the proposed teaching and learning approach. At the last

The National Curriculum for Science (2013), anticipates to advance all pupils’ scientific knowledge and conceptualise understanding through the segmented scientific approaches; biology, chemistry and physics. In addition, pupils should have an awareness of the nature, processes and approaches used within science, through the various scientific enquires that enable pupils to answer questions related to the world and life. Finally, the aims of the science curriculum also consider that children must have the resources to fund the knowledge that is necessary to use science in the, present and future tense states the Department of Education (2013).

Science is, by its nature, inquiry based and science knowledge is built through processes in which discoveries of the natural world are made (Abruscato, 2000). It utilizes discovery and scientific thinking process to explore and learn knowledge and skills. Learning by doing is the new efficient method in teaching science. For kindergarten, this method leads to better understanding of science concepts and builds skills that children will use in future life .What a child can do with assistance now, they can later do on their own (Vygotsky, 1978). John Dewey (1916) stated that children must be engaged in an active quest for learning and new ideas. Inquiry is important in educating kindergarteners because it not only keeps them interested in lessons but also helps them retain more information when performing exploration and investigation. Children are naturally motivated to learn and actively seek out information to help their understanding (Piaget, 1950).The success of students who participate in hands- on inquiry activities suggests that if students have first hands experience with science, concepts are easier to understand and apply and students are generally more favorable to science and have better understanding of the nature of science .Within a conceptual framework, inquiry learning and active learner involvement can lead to important outcomes in the classroom. In kindergarten, students who are actively making observations, collecting results and drawing