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After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
Articulate your understandings of a biology-focused primary science curriculum;
Use instructional structures, such as the 5E model, to develop units of work;
Make links between biology-based science concepts and daily life; and
Understand the importance of the local environment in the learning and teaching of biology in a primary school setting.
Introduction
While previous chapters have acknowledged that science as a learning area is often minimally taught or avoided in primary school classrooms (see chapter 2 for an explanation of the barriers to teaching science), biology is an area of science that is widely covered. It is considered that this area may be a particular focus because primary school teachers can more easily relate to the science content, find themes that generate curiosity and interest amongst their students, and create links to daily life. The Australian Curriculum refers to this area as Biological Sciences (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), 2012), while the New Zealand Curriculum uses the term Living World (Ministry of Education (MoE), 2007). Throughout this chapter, the more generic term ‘biology’ will be used. This chapter will explore the science curriculum requirements for learning and teaching biology at a primary school level. It will also outline a learning journey, which uses the 5E instructional model (Bybee, 1997) as an approach to biology-focused science learning and teaching in primary school classrooms.
After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
Explain the impact of digital technologies on the nature of representation in primary science;
Identify and construct multimodal learning opportunities for primary science students; and
Develop effective strategies and questioning skills for establishing and facilitating a representational challenge with primary science students.
Introduction
Learning and teaching in primary science can be enhanced through the use, construction and interpretation of a variety of representations of science phenomena. Introducing students to both multiple and multimodal representations of scientific concepts can assist with their understanding and integration of ideas as part of their science learning journey. This chapter explores a variety of representational forms in terms of how they can support you the teacher to teach science and your students to learn science. It provides strategies and approaches that teachers can adopt to help students to learn, by using talk, to share, question and express their understanding of science ideas.
After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
Introduce high-quality, effective Earth and space sciences learning and teaching opportunities in the primary classroom;
Address any concerns about content knowledge and pedagogical confidence when implementing an Earth and space sciences program;
Ensure that scientific integrity is not compromised when learning and teaching Earth and space sciences in socially relevant contexts; and
Enhance primary school students’ and teachers’ scientific critical inquiry skills and scientific literacy regarding Earth and space sciences.
Introduction
When we first start learning how to teach, it seems that confident primary school teachers have a bag of tricks that they dip into to help them teach specific aspects of science. It follows that if these teachers simply shared this bag of tricks with us, it would be easier for us to teach science too. Initially we feel that if we are confident, engaging, well-informed, and armed with a number of different strategies, then we can teach science well. It doesn’t take us long to realise that even if these teachers swamped us with resources we would be only marginally better prepared than we were before. This is because, even though we have a pivotal role in conceptualising, creating, coordinating, implementing, scaffolding, assessing and evaluating learning and teaching experiences, it is only when we focus on our students’ interests, desires and existing ideas and skills that we can figure out which approaches might actually work.
After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
Recognise ways in which primary teachers overcome common barriers to teaching science; and
Identify factors that limit students’ engagement and learning in science, and ways that these can be overcome.
Introduction
Modern curricula internationally promote science as an essential learning area that supports students in becoming scientifically literate. Scientific literacy enables citizens to participate knowledgeably in science-related debates and issues (see chapter 1). Science is an essential learning area in the Australian and New Zealand curricula, with scientific literacy promoted in both curriculum statements (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), 2012; Ministry of Education (MoE), 2007). There is considerable agreement amongst science educators that scientific literacy includes understandings of science concepts, the processes involved in scientific investigations, and the nature of science (Goodrum & Rennie, 2007; Hodson, 2009; Monk, 2006). However, scientific literacy is still a contested construct which is debated in the literature, with Roberts (2007) providing a useful summary of the various ways it has been defined (as discussed in chapter 1). The nature and importance of each of these aspects in relation to students’ learning are explored in chapter 6, and have also been debated in the literature (Abrahams & Millar, 2008; Wellington, 1998).
After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
Discuss the implications of science curricula, and teaching practices, that give (or do not give) consideration to the backgrounds of diverse students, especially those from Indigenous backgrounds;
Conceptualise what science education might look like when authentically embedded within students’ lived and everyday experiences;
Identify how presented examples of science teaching embody a culture-based approach to science education;
Discuss the value of a planning framework that can be used to plan and teach in a manner responsive to the cultural backgrounds of students and their communities; and
Apply your understanding to critiquing science lessons you have taught or in developing lessons of study for your current or future teaching context.
Introduction
In addressing the decline in student engagement and differences in student achievement, especially for students from Indigenous, minority and lower socio-economic groups, school science needs to be better connected with students’ lives out of school. This suggests that instruction should emerge out of everyday experiences. At a time when classrooms are characterised by diversity, this raises questions about the ways in which primary school teachers can ensure that all students develop the science knowledge and skills they need to be active participants in society. This chapter will uncover strategies and approaches for engaging students who have a variety of cultural backgrounds, learning styles, needs and interests in learning science.
After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
Discuss and debate existing literature and theoretical works on primary school students’ everyday worlds and contexts;
Identify and discuss the concept of everyday science in the context of students’ lives;
Understand the concept of sustainability as a socio-scientific reality in students’ learning of primary science;
Discuss and critique literature on student-framed participatory learning in the context of learning and teaching socio-scientific issues such as sustainability; and
Understand, apply and consider the implications of socio-scientific learning (specifically sustainability) utilising student-framed participation learning models.
Introduction
We have all been children once but this does not mean we understand what it is to be a child in the first decade of the twenty-first century. The mechanics of growing up, of negotiating rites of passage may bear some similarities but the contexts are entirely different. A driver of a Morris minor in the 1950s could not immediately jump into a Toyota Yaris … and manoeuvre his or her way around the M1 – there might be two cars involved but the road conditions are entirely different. Perhaps the first thing we have to do, therefore, when rethinking what it means to be a child in the twenty-first century is to acknowledge that we have much to learn
(Kellett, 2010, p. 5).
Many of the views that students hold about science centre on the lack of relevance that science has to their everyday lives. In learning and teaching primary science, opportunities are opened up for students to be supported in the exploration of scientific phenomena that occur in their daily lives and as part of their world. Teachers need to be mindful of these connections and develop strategies that make links not only with their students’ prior learning but also with their everyday contexts.
After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
Understand the concept of curriculum integration, including intradisciplinary and interdisciplinary integration;
Design and implement approaches to integrating teaching across several learning areas in the curriculum; and
Recognise the benefits and issues pertaining to integration in science teaching.
Introduction
Primary school teachers raise concerns that a lack of time and space to deliver science within an already overcrowded curriculum impacts on their willingness to teach science. In resolving this concern, teachers may consider working with the curriculum in more creative ways. Science is well positioned as a learning area because its topics provide a context into which different learning areas can be integrated, such as literacy, numeracy and the Arts. This chapter will bring to life some innovative and interesting ways in which science can be taught in an integrative way to enrich learning across several discipline areas. It will discuss the concept of the integrated curriculum, approaches to its implementation and the benefits and drawbacks associated with it.
After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
Articulate a sound rationale for the inclusion of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in your approach to primary science teaching;
Identify the types of ICTs you can incorporate into your teaching;
Recognise elements of different ICTs in the shared examples, which are transferable to other science teaching contexts; and
Develop some ways of engaging your students in authentic science inquiry using ICTs.
Introduction
Today’s digitally aware learners are confident and competent in engaging with and exploring different information and communication technologies (ICTs). While students gravitate to gadgets and digital social media, the challenge lies in harnessing these innovations to support and enrich student learning in science. Science education in primary schools provides numerous opportunities for teachers to integrate technology into the learning environment. This chapter will examine some of the ways online and digital tools can enhance the teaching of science as well as maximise opportunities for students’ learning of science.
After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
Clarify the purpose and intention of the primary science curriculum and of science teaching;
Outline existing primary teacher expertise in teaching primary science; and
Identify the conditions which enhance effective science learning in primary school education.
Introduction
At a recent professional learning program, the question, ‘What is science?’ was posed to a group of primary teachers. The teachers asked for clarification: ‘science’ as in ‘school science’ or ‘science’ in the ‘real world’? The facilitator’s response was to ask: ‘Is there a difference, and should there be a difference?’ This conversation is interesting because it captures some important considerations for understanding science education in primary school settings. Firstly, a range of opinions, assumptions and understandings may shape teachers’ thinking about science, and these have potential implications for student learning. Secondly, school science often does not mirror how we see, experience or use science in the world around us.
It is often said the only place you see Bunsen burners is in schools. The only place you write up a prac (sic) report is in schools. The only place you wear white lab coats, memorise the periodic table, mix bi-carb and vinegar, or make a volcano, is in schools; just in case you ever need to – which most of us don’t. Somehow we’ve remained stuck representing to students an outmoded, irrelevant, and possibly inaccurate perspective of science
(Lindsay, 2011, p.3).
These considerations resonate with primary teachers who openly express specific concerns about their science teaching – in particular, their sense of having an inadequate personal knowledge of science content and the influence of this when they teach science. This tension unnecessarily suggests that because primary teachers are generalist teachers, they may be less effective science educators. This is far from the truth, because as generalist teachers they bring a range of pedagogical strengths to science education which are often not recognised. They understand how to successfully contextualise the nature of science as a human endeavour by creating classroom conditions which value student-centred learning, nurture curiosity and creativity, and support the social construction of knowledge.
When I first started the development of this book, my intent was to deliver a ‘good news story’ about primary science learning and teaching. The focus was to tap into what primary school teachers characteristically do really well – that is, create conditions for meaningful learning – and apply this lens to the science learning area. This, in fact, is not a difficult job. Science sits comfortably in primary classrooms because as a discipline it requires a sense of curiosity and creativity; it promotes questioning and invites critical examination; it has the potential to spark the interest of an individual, but also requires a collaborative approach. Essentially, the learning of science is perfectly suited to the ways in which primary school teachers already approach their practice and nurture student learning. However, such rich approaches have been continually challenged by age-old traditions which perpetuate the idea that school-based science learning and teaching should be about a teacher delivering content as a series of indisputable facts for students to memorise and regurgitate. As a result, teachers have been lead to believe, particularly through their own educational experiences, that this teacher-directed model is how science should be learnt and taught. Unfortunately, compliance with this thinking has produced a version of school science that is largely out of step with the ways scientists actually practise science, and with the ways in which we best learn.
This book aims to open up and challenge primary school teachers to rethink such traditional approaches to science learning and teaching. Whether they are at the start of their journey to becoming a teacher or towards the end of their career, the book encourages all primary teachers to reconnect with pedagogy that enhances effective learning in science. At the heart of the stories presented here is a belief that primary teachers can move beyond traditional notions about what science in schools should be, to recognising that what they currently value in their teaching practices is applicable and relevant to what science learning and teaching could be.
Based on the new and much acclaimed two-volume Cambridge edition of The Philosophical Writings of Descartes by Cottingham, Stoothoff and Murdoch, this anthology of essential texts contains the most important and widely studied of those writings, including the Discourse and Meditations and substantial extracts from the Regulae, Optics, Principles, Objectives and Replies, Comments on a Broadsheet, and Passions of the Soul. In clear, readable, modern English, with a full text and running references to the standard Franco-Latin edition of Descartes, this book is planned as the definitive one-volume reader for all English-speaking students of Descartes.