Who can teach Science?
- Someone who is able to maintain classroom atmosphere.
- Someone that have postive attitudes.
- Someone who can nurture and willing to participates in various activities.
Teacher roles
- Choose a focus for inquiry and ensure it’s age appropriate.
- Prepare for the activities.
- Ensure suitable environment for the activities.
- Observe and assess the children engagement in the activities.
Teaching roles
- Be a facilitator.
- Be a catalyst.
- Be a consultant.
- Be a model.
Environmental roles
- The family:
- Respond positively to the child’s excitements
- Encourage and motivate the child
- Provide continuous support
- The communities:
- Provide resources and facilities
Science can help children in various areas of developments:
- Build self-confidence
- Gain first hand experiences
- Develop basic concepts
- Increase observation skills
- Receive opportunities to use tools, equipments and familiar materials
- Receive aid in problem solving
- Stimulate curiosity
- Develop language skills
Skill children learn in Science:
- Observation
- Sequencing
- Patterning
- Counting
- Measuring
- Defining/Inference
- Comparing and contrasting
- Communicating
- Classifying
- Hypothesizing
- Predicting
- Testing/Recording
- Experimenting/Planning investigation
Planning Science lesson:
- Goals
- Science ideas
- Engage (ensure it can grab their attention)
- Explore
- Materials
- Explain
- Elaborate (how to real life)
- Evaluate
Incorporating Science processes in classroom:
- Set up Science center
- Teach what you know
- Use the surroundings
- Be a good observer
- Introduce new items and concepts to the group
- Answer question honestly
Just for your information, these are just very brief notes for my own reference purpose, if you are thinking of getting elaborate details, I don’t think you can find it here.
Science is:
- A process
- A body of knowledge and associated to the world in which we live
- Sets of ideas
- Sets of attitude
Early years science:
- Cognitive development – knowledge and understanding
- Conative development – practical aspects of the development of scientific skills
- Affective development – emotional, social, cultural, and moral development
How children learn about science
- Curiosity
- Anxiety about the unexplained
- Pleasure in discovering
- Self-efficacy and learning
Multiple learning pathway
- Conscious thinking – aware of doing, use of language and information
- Unconscious thinking/implicit learning – no language involved, imagining, “pattern seeking”, usage of metaphor
Multiple Intelligences Theory
- Logical-mathematical
- Linguistic
- Musical/rhythmic
- Spatial/visual
- Bodily kinesthetics
- Interpersonal
- Intrapersonal
- Naturalist
