Download - Exploring, investigating and identifying the scientific process (and the value of group work)
Exploring, investigating and identifying the scientific process
(and the value of group work)
School Direct Shepway Teaching Schools
Canterbury Christ Church University Primary 2013 – 2014
JUDITH RODEN CSciTeach
The Nature of ScienceTalk to someone next to you• What is ‘science’ in the real world?• share these with others around
you – are your ideas similar, or different?
• what do scientists do?Science is both a body of knowledge
and a way of working.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJOOowG7Cwo
• View the film
• Anything to add?
Share your experience of science in school
• What is primary school science like?
• Write down three key things about teaching science that you have learned from your work in school.
• Share these with people next to you.
What methods are appropriate?
Science should be enjoyed by learners:• What methods might be appropriate?• What methods have you seen?Let’s play a quick game!What does this approach offer to
children’s learning?
Scientists and Engineers
• Draw a picture to show what a scientist does.
• Draw another picture to show what an engineer does.
Share your drawings with colleaguesHow might children respond?
Attitudes Towards Science
• Write a few sentences to describe your feelings towards science.
• What factors affected your attitude towards science?
• See e.g. Silver, A, and Rushton, BS (2008) Primary School children’s attitudes towards science, engineering and technology and their images of scientists Education 3-13, 36:1, 51-67
‘The Squeeze’• Stand up• Form a circle• Join hands
Being Scientific Involves• Process Skills• Concepts• Attitudes
Process SkillsInvestigative Skills(National Curriculum)
Planning Obtaining and
presenting evidence Considering Evidence
Which includes Observing Questioning Hypothesising Measuring Recording Predicting Drawing conclusions
Early Years Foundation StageEarly Years Foundation Stage: Understanding the WorldIndicative behaviourShows curiosity and interest by exploring surroundings.Observes, selects and manipulates objects and materials.Identifies obvious similarities and differences when exploring and observing.Investigates...materials and living things by using all the senses as appropriate. Identifies some features and talks about the features.Asks questions about why things happen and how things work. Looks closely at similarities and differences patterns and change.
2014 National CurriculumThe nature, processes and methods of science
‘Working scientifically’ specifies the understanding of the nature, processes and methods of science…focusing on the key features of scientific enquiry, so that pupils learn to use a variety of approaches to answer relevant scientific questions. These types of scientific enquiry should include: observing over time; pattern seeking; identifying, classifying and grouping; comparative and fair testing (controlled investigations); and researching using secondary sources. (DfE Science programmes of study: key stages 1 and 2 - National curriculum in England, September 2013, p.4)
Science’s contribution to key skills and thinking
skillsThinking Skills Information
processing skills Reasoning skills Enquiry Skills Creative thinking
skills Evaluative skills
Key Skills Communication Application of Number Information
Technology Working with others Improving own
learning and performance
Problem solving
Concepts: the ‘ideas’ of science
• For example:
• Change• Electricity• Movement• Light• Etc.
AttitudesNot attitudes towards science but attitudes towards objects and events studied in science and the use of evidence in making sense of them
Attitudes Involved in Learning Science
Curiosity Respect for evidence
Willingness to tolerate uncertainty
Creativity and inventiveness
Open mindedness
Critical reflection
Cooperation with others
Sensitivity to living and non-living things
Perseverance
What methods can we use to find out what children know?
Discuss methods that you have seen or used in school
What other methods can you think of to elicit children’s understanding?
Concept Cartoons
KWHL grids• What do you know about the heart
and circulation system?K
• What questions do you have? W
• How will you find out? H
• What have you learned? L
What I know What I want to know How I will find out What I have learned
The heart pumps blood through the bodyThe brain pumps electrical vibrations to your spine
There are over 3000 bones in your body
You have 5 senses
You have brain, bones, bladder, blood, heart, lungs – they are for breathing and smoking burns your lungs
Pendix
The blood circulates to keep you alive
When you run fast and when you are exhausted the heart beats faster
When someone jumps out at you it beats faster
In the bones there is marrow. It stops the bones from rotting and is a bit like jelly
We have eardrums – they help us to ear
How do the kidneys work?Are there 3000 bones in your body?What do your bones do?Why does the heart beat?Do all animals have hearts?How do the lungs work?Are everybody’s lungs the same size?Is there a pipe between your lungs and your heart to pump the air round our body?What is an appendix for?Why does the blood circulate?How many times does the heart beat?Does the heart beat 106 times a minute?How do the lungs work?How does the bladder work?How can the heart keep us alive?Why do the veins stick out when you stretch?How do we grow at night?Why have we got eyebrows?Why is there marrow in the bones?Why does the blood go around?
Look in a bookUse skeletonInternet/CD-ROMInternet/CD-ROM(Practical work and use of models)Test itModels of torsos and secondary sourcesKinaesthetic activity in the hall. Test it/ investigateSurvey across the schoolVideos and booksVideos and booksObservationTest/look in books
There are 106 bones in the body they are not all the same size and some – like the ones in the ear are tiny
The heart is a muscle and it beats to push/pump blood around the body
Not everyone’s lungs are the same size but the tallest person did not have the biggest lungs.
Your lungs grow with you as our teachers’ lungs were bigger than ours.
In the hall we acted out what happens in the body.
The muscles need food and air to move, and the blood gets it to them. If the muscles are working hard they need more food and air so the heart has to work faster,
I like it, it was fun.
I still am not sure that we don’t grow at night. I think that we do although there were some books that said we grow
slowly all the time until the end of teenage years, but I don’t feel myself grow.
Children’s DrawingsLook at the examples of children’s
drawings from KS1 and KS2:• What do they tell us about the ideas that
children hold?• Where do you think these ideas came
from? • What misconceptions are represented?• What teaching have the children had so
far?
Practical Workshop: Survey Investigations
• Learning Outcome: To make comparative statements.
Undertake a survey of your professional studies group:
• Does the person with the widest span have the biggest grab?
• Is there a relationship between chest size and lung capacity?
• Can the person with the longest legs jump the furthest?
• Does the tallest person have the longest arms (or legs)?
Choose one then plan and carry out a simple survey to find out.• What equipment will you need?• How will you collect your information?• Hook – Video clip from www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/
‘How we change as we get older’
Reflect on and identify
the processes andThe group skills
involved in the activity
Group Work
• Was it useful to work in groups rather than alone?
• What advantages were there in working within a group?
• Be ready to report back
RISK ASSESSMENT• Think about the ‘risks’ i.e. hazards or dangers
associated with the activities undertaken• Would you undertake this activity in the primary
classroom?• What related tasks would you provide?• How would you minimise the risk involved in
these activities?• Be ready to report back!
Reflection
• What have you learned today?• How will this inform your future
practice in science?