In my opinion
scientific inquiry is not fully learned if the student is taught the science
before they get to do a hands-on experiment and think about what has
occurred. After all would the science
book lie?
How can we expect our students to come up with new thoughts if we feed them everything before they get to the experiment?
Science in our household is going to be a mess of experiments, with theories abounding (and messes I guess!) and then information about the known facts shared in small snippets as I see them trying to come up with theories of their own.
So, have you thought about science?
Best wishes
Jen
If you are Christian Jen Dr Jay Wile has a Science curriculum that works exactly this way. Every single lesson starts with an activity that demonstrates the concept being taught. The activities are all pretty easy and manageable and usually have a pretty decent wow factor too. We love his curriculum. It hasn't been published yet though. But his pilot books have been available for free. So far there are two books and hopefully they'll be published soon.
ReplyDeleteI have been thinking about this a lot recently. I have something of a disdain for what I call 'tricks' which are demonstrations or so-called experiments where the teacher has already worked out what the results should be. I really believe that children (or anyone learning about science) should have a good understanding of the scientific method and how to apply it to their own investigations. However, I have had difficulty putting this belief into practice in my own small science groups. I hope to write about it on my own blog sometime soon (if the boys allow me long enough on the shared computer). Sam
ReplyDeleteSam, I found this one a few years ago but they won't ship to Australia. It is very much the experience first then the theory. If you get a chance to check it out, tell me your opinion.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cornerstonecurriculum.com/Curriculum/Science/Science.htm
Best wishes
Jen