Teaching Science

Pagador, Sittie Aina S.
EdSci112B

INTRODUCTION
 The biggest challenge before a teacher is how to teach Science
lessons.
 If this teaching – learning activities are effective, students can reach
the goals of life by acquisition of knowledge, skills and values in
Science.

As defined by Dr. Rosalyn Yalon, a Nobel Laureate in Medicine,
science is… “… not simply a collection of facts. It is a discipline of
thinking about rational solutions to problems after establishing the basic
facts derived from observations. It is hypothesizing from what is known to
what might be and then attempting to test the hypothesis….logical thinking
must come first; the facts can come later.

Knowledge, Process Skills and
Attitudes.
Knowledge is sometimes labeled as the products of science.
It generally refers to facts, concepts, principles, laws, and
theories.

Process skills are the empirical and analytic procedures used
by scientists in solving problems.
Scientific attitudes refer to the general predispositions that
characterize the work of scientists.

Curiosity Perseverance
Honesty Skepticism
Objectivity Withholding
Openness Judgment.
Some of the important attitudes students will
have to learn and demonstrate in science include

Characteristics of Learners which are relevant to
Science Teaching.
1. Learners learn and develop as a whole person.
The learners’ cognitive, affective, physical, social and emotional
areas are intricately intertwined. Learners cannot grow in one area
without affecting the other areas.

2. Learners grow through the same predictable stages but at different
rates.
This means that children of the same age group may not exhibit
uniform characteristics. Some may be more intellectually or socially
advanced than the others in the same age group.
3. Learners learn best through active involvement with concrete
experiences.
Research studies show that the use of hands-on activities can result in
significant improvements in academic performance and attitude of
students towards science.

4. Learners are curious and eager to learn.
When the teacher fits the learning environment to learners’
interests, needs and their levels of maturity, they become highly
motivated.

5. Learners have different learning styles.
Learning styles are preferred ways that different individuals
have for processing and responding to environmental stimulus
(Kuchuck and Eggen, 1997). Learning styles are also referred to
as cognitive styles.

STRATEGY: - Strategy is the art and science of directing and
controlling the movements and activities of the army. If strategy is
good, we can get victory over our enemies. In teaching this term is
meant those procedures and methods by which objectives of
teaching are realized in the class.
“Teaching Strategies”

A major goal of parents and teachers is to produce educated and
concerned citizens, and scientific literacy is a critical component of
this endeavor. Scientific literacy is more than just knowledge of
scientific concepts; it is the ability to apply scientific knowledge to
everyday problem-solving situations that impact health, safety, and the
environment.

1.Enhanced context strategies
- The science curriculum must be made relevant to students by framing
lessons in contexts that give facts meaning, teach concepts that matter
in students’ lives, and provide opportunities for solving complex
problems.
- Relating learning to students’ previous experiences or knowledge
and engaging students’ interest by linking learning to the
students’/school’s environment or setting are ways to encourage
students to make connections.

1. Look at the big picture – unifying concepts such as systems, form &
function, models & their limits
2. Use problem-based learning
3. Begin and end a lesson or unit with KWL (What I Know, What I Want
to Know, and What I Learned) – use to determine students’
preconceptions, generate questions for inquiry, and summarize findings
4. Incorporate real-life situations/data as contexts for problem solving
Examples of Enhance Strategies:

5. Integrate current events, such as using a:
 Hurricane to illustrate
 Effects of energy conversions and heat transfer
 Effects on animal life
 Weather patterns
 Effects of oceans on land

2. Collaborative grouping strategies
 Collaborative grouping occurs when teachers arrange students in flexible
groups to work on various tasks such as exploring significant problems
or creating meaningful projects.
 The ability to collaborate is a necessary skill for success in the real
world and requires working with others rather than competing with
them.
a. Laboratory exercises
b. Inquiry projects
c. Learning/instructional games
d. Kinesthetic activities; for example, small groups modeling a concept such as
movement of earth/moon/sun system or behavior of atoms/molecules in the
states of matter

3. Questioning strategies
- The teacher’s use of a variety of questioning strategies can facilitate the
development of critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making skills
in students.
- Questioning is interactive and engages students by allowing them to share
their ideas and thoughts.
1. Vary timing, positioning, or cognitive levels of questions
2. Ask more open-ended questions
3. Increase wait time for student responses and, after incorrect
responses, allow time for reprocessing
4. Allow students to take risks and be wrong without feeling censured

4. Inquiry strategies
- most science teachers would agree that it involves exploration,
asking questions and constructing explanations about natural
phenomena.
- According to the National Science Education Standards, “Scientific
inquiry refers to the diverse ways in which scientists study the natural
world and propose explanations based on the evidence derived from
their work.

Types of scientific inquiry for K-12 students
1. Descriptive research design or descriptive study - “Uses descriptive
statistics: frequency, mean, median, mode, range; display of data in
frequency table and bar chart or graphs(as appropriate for grade
level/student skills) “
Used to describe a natural phenomenon that not much is known about
Ex.
What kinds and how many of each kind of plants are in a 1 m2
representative sample in a given site?

2. Comparative research design (or comparative data analysis study) - Used
to identify statistically significant linkages between factors (e.g., health issues)
Ex.
Does blood pressure increase as a person ages?
3. Experimental research design or experimental study - Used to determine
causation
Ex.
At what salinity do lettuce seeds germinate the fastest?

5. Assessment strategies
- The role of assessment in effective teaching has broadened from primarily
evaluating student achievement to include diagnosing student needs, advising
instructional decisions, and auditing student progress.
Examples of Assessment Strategies
1. Diagnostic assessments – before instruction to inform unit and lesson
planning; enable teacher to build
a. Science journals (entries guided by questions about upcoming lessons)
b. Interviewing/questioning
c. Pretests

2. Formative assessments – during instruction, enable prompt individual
feedback to guide learners and inform instruction
Ex.
a.Checks for understanding
b.Homework
c.Self-assessment
d.Quizzes
3. Summative assessments – after instruction of lesson or unit, used to
measure student understanding for scoring or grading, generally not used
for instructional purposes
a.Traditional paper & pencil posttests
b.Performance tasks

2 Approaches in Teaching
Science:

1. Inquiry-based learning
 An old adage states: "Tell me and I forget, show me and I remember,
involve me and I understand." The last part of this statement is the
essence of inquiry-based learning
 "Inquiry" is defined as "a seeking for truth, information, or knowledge --
seeking information by questioning."

Figure 1. Inquiry – based Learning diagram

2. Problem/issue solving – based learning
 Working in groups, students identify what they already know, what they
need to know, and how and where to access new information that may
lead to the resolution of the problem.
 In PBL, your teacher acts as facilitator and mentor, rather than a
source of "solutions."
 teacher presents you with a problem, not lectures or assignments or
exercises.

1. Explore the issues
 Your teacher introduces an "ill-structured" problem to you.
2. List “What do we Know”
 What do you know to solve the problem?
3. Develop, and write out, the problem statement in your own words
 a written statement, the agreement of your group on the
statement
4. List out possible solutions
 List them all, then order them from strongest to weakest
 Choose the best one, or most likely the successed

6. List "What do we need to know?"
 Research the knowledge and data that will support your solution
 You will need to information to fill in missing gaps.
7. Write up your solution with its supporting documentation, and submit it.
 You may need to present your findings and/or recommendations to a
group or your classmates.
8. Review your performance
This debriefing exercise applies both to individuals and the group.
5. List actions to be taken with a timeline
 What do we have to know and do to solve the problem?

METHODS IN TEACHING:
1.Lecturing
2.Demonstrating
3.Collaborating
4.Debriefing
5.Laboratories

1. Lecturing
 The lecture method is convenient and usually makes the most sense,
especially with larger classroom sizes
 lecture method gives the instructor or teacher chances to expose
students to unpublished or not readily available material
 lecturer must make constant and conscious effort to become aware of
student problems and engage the students to give verbal feedback

 Demonstrating is the process of teaching through examples or
experiments.
 Demonstrations are similar to written storytelling and examples in
that they allow students to personally relate to the presented
information.
2. Demonstrating

3. Collaborating
Collaboration allows students to actively participate in the learning process
by talking with each other and listening to other points of view
Collaboration establishes a personal connection between students and the
topic of study and it helps students think in a less personally biased way
a. Classroom discussion
It is also a democratic way of handling a class, where each student is
given equal opportunity to interact and put forth their views
A discussion could also follow a presentation or a demonstration

5. Debriefing
The term “debriefing” refers to conversational sessions that revolve
around the sharing and examining of information after a specific event
has taken place.
It takes into consideration the experiences and facilitates reflection and
feedback.
3. Debriefing

References:
 http://www.studygs.net/pbl.htm
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inquiry-based_learning
 Instruction Elements of Research-based Science Education (Timothy P. S. Ph.D.,
Carolyn S., Ph.D., et al)

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