Even More Everyday Science Mysteries: Stories for Inquiry-based Science Teaching

I have just borrowed another good book on Science from Read@Academy. Here is the one.

I will just write about the theories in the book as I mentioned in my earlier post, I want to document my learning process so that I can always refer to it in my later years of my profession. We too can come out with stories or mystery tales, focused on a particular conceptual area. It can be our day to day activities or phenomena.  This book inspires me to  write my own stories one of these days!

Development of Mental Models
Research has shown that in almost every circumstance, learners have developed models in their mind to explain many of the everyday experiences that they have encountered ( Bransford, Brown, and Cocking 1999; Watson and Konicek 1990; Osborne and Fryberg 1985). According to the learning theory , constructivism, all of life's experiences are integrated into the person's mind; they are accepted or rejected or even modified to fit existing models residing in that person's mind.Then, these models are used and tested for their usefulness in predicting outcomes experienced in the environment. If a model works, it is accepted as a plausible explanation; if not, it is modified until it does fit the situations one experiences. Regardless, these models are present in everyone's mind and brought to consciousness when new ideas are encountered. Rarely, they may be in tune with current scientific thinking, but more often they are "common sense science" and not clearly consistent with current scientific beliefs. One of the reasons for this is that scientific ideas are often counterintuitive to everyday thinking. These ideas can be referred to as prior conceptions, children's thinking or common sense ideas. They are usually firmly embedded in the mind and they are highly resistant to change. If these ideas are allowed to remain unchallenged, they will dominate pupils' thinking to the point that the scientific explanation will be rejected completely regardless of the method by which it is presented. These misconceptions are useful since they are the precursors of new thoughts and should be modified slowly toward the accepted scientific thinking. New ideas will replace old ideas only when the learner becomes dissatisfied with the old ideas and realises that a new idea works better than the old. It is our role to challenge these preconceptions and move learners to consider new ways of looking at their explanations.

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In pedagogical terms, there are differences between scientific literacy and the curricular combination of science and literacy.

Scientific literacy is the ability to understand scientific concepts so that they have a personal meaning in everyday life. In other words, a scientifically literate population can use its knowledge of scientific principles in situations other than those in which it learned them. For example, the author considers people scientifically literate if they were able to use their understanding of ecosystems and ecology to make informed decision about saving wetlands in their community. I have learnt something about " Scientific Literacy".

Currently, there is  strong effort to combine Science and literacy. One reason is that there is a growing body of research that stresses the importance of language in learning Science. Hands-on science is nothing without its mind-on counterpart. The understanding of scientific principles is not embedded in the materials themselves or in the manipulation of these materials. Discussion, argumentation, discourse of all kinds and social interaction - all forms of commuunication are necessary for pupils to make meaning out of the activities in which they have engaged. And these require language in the form of writng, reading and particularly speaking. They require pupils to think about their own thinking, hear their own and others' thoughts and ideas spoken out loud, and that they eventually see these ideas in writing to make sense of what they have been doing and the results they have been getting in their activities. This is the often forgotten" minds-on" part of the " hands-on, minds-on" couplet.

As teachers, we need to help pupils to be aware of their thinking or practise metacognition as they read and investigate . We need to model for our pupils by thinking out loud as we view a phenomenon. Help them understand why I spoke as I did and why it is important to think about my process of thinking. We  may say the following:

"I should design an experiment to see if I am right."
" Did you notice how I make a prediction that I could test in an experiment?"

Modeling your thinking can help our pupils see how and why the talk of science is used in certain situations.

Scientists use their vocavulary and organisation when they talk about their work and it is called " discourse"( Gee 2004). Pupils need to learn this discourse when they present their evidence, argue the fine points of their work, evaluate their own and other work and refine their ideas for further study.

The Language Of Science
Science includes things other than just verbal language. It includes tactile, graphic and visual means of designing studies, carrying them out and communicating the results to others. Also, many common words such as work done,  food have different meanings in the real world of pupils but have precise meanings in Science. We need to teach pupils their way of communicating when they study Science. They must learn new terminology and clarify old terms in scientific ways. When we talk of scientific things, we talk about them in the way the discipline works. We should not avoid scientific terminology but try to connect it whenever possible to common metaphors and language. We should use pictures and stories. Words such as compare, evaluate, infer and observe are words that ask for thought and action on the part of pupils. We should role model and often ask questions using these words to get pupil to solve problems.


The role of the teacher is to help the pupils to identify the problem or problems and then design ways to find out answers to the questions they have raised. In the stories, we can include "distractors" also known as common misconceptions or alternative conceptions.

One of the stories is about a girl, Vashti noticed that sometimes the big puddles dry up faster than the little ones and wondered why that would happen. One day, she was at a baskeball court after the rain. She observed 2 puddles of water of different sizes.  She smiled and challenged Juana, " I 'll bet you this big puddle will be gone when we come home this afternoon, and this little one over here won't.

We can use the stories to start exploring, extending the story and engaging in inquiry.

Using Authentic Examples For Higher Order Thinking Skills

There are many authentic examples in Newspaper that we can use it to engage our pupils with higher order thinking skills when teaching Science. Science is really every where!

Last year, I found this picture in Straits Time, June 8, 2011 which is so relevant to the topic on Heat. This year, I showed the pupils the 2 pictures.

I asked the pupils why  the open air sculptures are covered with tarpaulin on a hot day. Pupils were able to tell me that metals are good conductors of heat and thus may scald the children if they sit on it.

More details on this piece of news can be found http://www.publicart.sg/?q=node/375 .

I also showed my pupils this picture.

You can get the picture and more information from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/worldnews/4360255/Heatwave-in-Melbourne-plays-havoc-with-the-Australian-Open.html .

Similarly, I asked the reasoning question " Why do you think the tracks still buckle when there are gaps between the tracks?".

Last year, I went to San Francisco. I managed to get a picture like this.

It was raining very heavily and it was really cold outside. The warm water vapour in my hotel room lost  heat on the cold window and condensed. My colleague, Kha Ghee wrote this.

A few years ago, I was on holidays with my sister in Japan. When  I came out from my shower, this is exactly what I saw on the mirror in the hotel. I did not think of taking picture at that time but luckily I can find it from the internet.

When I looked at the mirror, I saw myself clearly framed up in a picture. It was really beautiful! I was so amazed and impressed. I immediately touched the dry part of the mirror. Yes, it was warm which is why water droplets could not be formed on that part of the mirror. Whenever I teach condensation, I will share with my pupils the story of this magical mirror  and they are always very captivated!

Foldables - 3 D Interactive graphic organizers

I realise my pupils taking Foundation Science and my weak P4 pupils has short term memory and they cannot retain facts. Don't mention about getting them to solve application questions.

In my first remedial for both classes, I tried summarising what they have learnt. After that, I asked them to recite what I just taught. I was very surprised they could not recall the facts that solid has definite shape, liquid has no definite volume etc and the P5 confused with all the four processes such as evaporation, condensation, freezing and melting. The lessons were a flop.

In my second lesson, I introduced foldables, the use of 3 D graphic organizers, to get them to cut, paste draw and write to synthesize what they have learnt. I went to buy some coloured construction paper, glue and markers. I understand we have to provide all the resources.

They love this novelty and told me to extend my remedial. When I asked them to pass me the foldables to show to my colleagues, they were not willing and told me it is very precious and they would like to keep it since they have spent so much time doing it. I was pleasantly surprised when a P5 parent came to tell that the use of foldables has helped her girl to remember the facts better.

I must say it is really time consuming but it is worth the time spent because when I assessed them at the end of the lesson, they were able to recall the facts which is much better than the first lesson of teacher talk. One foldable takes about 45 mins to construct which means they learn only 1 concept. I need to highlight that this strategy is suitable for low ability pupils and you can only use it when the class size is small like 10- 12 pupils so that you can give them the attention they need.

This strategy works well for our pupils as most of them are kinesthetic, visual and tactile learners. And our brains can remember the facts when the brains are used to synthesize and organize the information.

Here are some samples from the kids.

Properties of solid, liquid and gases - Done by P4 pupils

4 Processes o water - Done by P5 pupils

3 states of water - Done by P5 pupils

If you are interested, do visit http://www.dinah.com/.

I got the idea from this book, Big Book of Science written by Dinah Zike.