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?