LEARNING
Teaching Scientific Enquiry
Objectives:
To provide the department with some
useful strategies for delivering Scientific
Enquiry/Ideas and Evidence.
To work out a plan of action as a result of
this meeting.
LEARNING
Scientific Enquiry includes:
1. Ideas and Evidence
• Understanding the meaning of science.
• Understanding that scientific ideas need to be supported by
evidence and new evidence may lead to scientists
changing their ideas.
• How religious views, political intervention, complexity of
ideas or poor communication channels can affect scientific
developments.
• The importance of argument and controversy to test ideas.
LEARNING
2. Enquiry skills
•
Surveys and correlations.
•
Identifying and classifying.
•
Predictions with Scientific reasoning.
•
Devising and carrying out fair tests.
•
Analysis of results and devising conclusions.
•
Evaluating the tests taking into consideration
reliability, accuracy, improvements.
LEARNING
Why teach Ideas and Evidence / Enquiry skills?
• helps to motivate students because it brings out the human
aspects of science.
• Students are motivated by carrying out practical work which
provides the evidence to ‘re-discover’ ideas.
• Teaching these skills explicitly helps to arm pupils with skills
which can be applied to a variety of situations and in adult
life.
• Improves thinking skills so that pupils become better learners.
• Greater proportion of test marks are derived from I & E.
National tests show there is room for improvement.
• Much higher priority in KS4 2006 science POS.
LEARNING
How can we teach Ideas & Evidence?
• Tell stories about scientists to bring in the human
element.
• Devise spider diagram with a key question in the
centre linking to evidence statements.
eg. Smoking is bad for you because ….evidence.
• Use evidence cards to explore what constitutes
‘Evidence’.
• I & E past questions (see ‘Improving pupil
responses to exam questions’ sheet)
LEARNING
Evidence cards
Exercise is good for you
Exercise speeds up your
heart rate
Exercise makes you
breathe faster
People who exercise
regularly have a lower
resting heart rate
Exercise strengthens the
heart muscle
Overweight people are
more likely to have heart
attacks
My games teacher says it
is
Exercise makes you feel
better
People who exercise daily
live longer, on average
Most athletics are slim
Joggers can suffer heart
attacks when they are
running
People who exercise have
greater muscle mass
Exercise reduces your
chances of heart disease
LEARNING
Evidence cards
The Earth rotates on its axis
The Moon moves across
the sky
It’s cold at night
Daylight hours are shorter
in the winter
Hong Kong has dawn 8
hours before the UK
It’s warmer at the equator
than at the poles
It takes 365 ¼ days for the
Earth to orbit the Sun
The Sun rises in the East
and sets in the West
Water goes down the
plughole clockwise in the
Northern hemisphere but
anti-clockwise in the
Southern Hemisphere
A day is 24 hours long
Stars move across the
night sky in a circular
path
Some birds fly south in
winter
On a midsummer’s day
there are 12 hours of day
and 12 hours of night
LEARNING
Evidence cards
Matter is made of particles
Atoms have been seen
very powerful scanning
tunnelling microscopes
Smoke particles move
around in a random way
when you watch them
under a microscope
Balloons will pop if they
get too hot
Gases can be squashed
into smaller volumes
Most materials expand
when heated
Balloons inflate when you
blow air into them
You can see air particles in
bright sunlight
I’ve seen a picture of
particles in my science
book
Air resistance increases
when you go faster
Salt dissolves in water
All matter can be
separated into smaller bits
Sand is matter and sand is
made of particles
LEARNING
How can we teach Enquiry Skills?
• Enquiries should be about something that students don’t know
the answer to. Following rigid instructions in order to arrive at
a desired result doesn’t develop enquiry skills.
• Using the large‘Enquiry posters’ to scaffold investigations
helps to develop enquiry skills.
• Relate learning objectives to the Scientific Enquiry YTO’s
rather than to knowledge and understanding.
eg. LO: to recognise the difference between the reliability of
evidence/results and accuracy of equipment
LEARNING
Use the Enquiry cycle
• Ice in a beaker
• Bungee!!
Next visit
• Ice and butter
• Tea bag rocket
• Lavoissier’s work on burning
LEARNING
What do
you think?
Do you still
think that
now?
Scientific
enquiry
How could
you find out?
Why do
you think that?
LEARNING
Put the Ice in a beaker!
Watch and write a sentence about
what you see on the outside of the
beaker.
LEARNING
Where has the water come from?
What do you think?
Write a sentence.
LEARNING
Why do think that?
Write a sentence or two.
Try to use the key ideas.
LEARNING
What do other people think?
In the class?
LEARNING
What do other people think?
Further afield?
LEARNING
I think that the
water from the air
around the jar has
condensed on the
jar.
The melted
water has
diffused
through the
jar.
The water
vapour from
the air has
condensed
on the jar
LEARNING
Which idea do you think is correct?
Write a sentence to explain why.
LEARNING
How could you find out?
Briefly decide on a plan to test your
idea using the equipment that you
can see in the lab.
LEARNING
Do you still think the same?
Say why your idea has been proved or
disproved.
What could you do differently?
LEARNING
•Bungee!!
LEARNING
• To ensure that all aspects are covered, map the
skills into schemes of work using ‘Moving Forward
with teaching scientific enquiry and intervention’
CD ROM.
• Be aware of ‘Procedural demands Vs. Conceptual
demands’
• Scaffold investigations and use writing frames
where appropriate.
LEARNING
• Lessons 13-18 from Booster Kit pack
• The Little Giant book of Science Experiments
ISBN 0-8069-9715-X
• Faber book of science
ISBN 0-5711-7901-0
• Concept Cartoons in Science Education
ISBN 0-9527-5602-7
• Horrible Science - suffering scientists
ISBN 0-439-01211-2
• Science for Public Understanding textbook.
ISBN 0-435-65466-7
• Science Investigations on CD ROM ( Focus Ed.)
LEARNING
What next?
Any other questions?
Discuss plans and agree action points.
Arrange review meeting to discuss
progress.