Inquiry and Experimentation
Asking and pursuing questions are keys to learning in an academic disciplines. There are multiple ways that students can ask and pursue questions in the science class. One way is to explore scientific phenomena in a classroom laboratory, or around the school. Classroom investigation and experimentation can build essentia scientific skills such as observing, measuring, replicating experiments, manipulating equipment, and collecting and reporting data. Students may sometimes choose what phenomenon to study, eg., for a science fair project. More often, they conduct investigations and experiments that are selected and guided by the teacher.
Students can also examine the questions pursued by scientists in their investigations of natural phenomena and processes as reported or shown in textbooks, papers, videos, the internet, and other media. These sources are valuable because they efficiently organize and highlight the key concepts and supporting evidence that characterize the most important work in science. Such study can then be supported in the classroom by demonstrations, experiments, or simulations that deliberately manage features of a natural object or process. Whatever the instructional approach, science instruction should include both concrete and manipulable materials and explanatory diagrams and textbooks.
Scientific inquiry and experimentation should not be taught or tested as separate, stand-alone skills. Rather, opportunities for inquiry and experimentation should arise within a well-planned curricu1um in the domains of science. They should be assessed through examples drawn from the life, physical, and earth and space science standards so that it is clear to students that in science, what is known does not stand separate from how it is known.
In the earliest grades, scientific investigations can center on student questions, observations, and communication about what they observe. For exampJe, students might plant a bean seed fol1owing simple directions written on a chart. Then they would write down what happens over time in their own words.
In the later elementary years, students can plan and carry out investigations as a class, in small groups, or independently, often over a period of several class lessons. The teacher should first model the process of selecting a question that can be answered, formulating a hypothesis, planning the steps of an experiment, and determining the most objective way to test the hypothesis. Students should begin to incorporate the mathematical skins of measuring and graphing to communicate their findings.
In the middle school years, teacher guidance remains important but allows for more variations in student approach. Students at this level are ready to formalize their understandng of what an experiment requires by controlling variables to ensure a fair test. Their work becomes more quantitative, and they learn the importance of carrying out several neasurements to minimize sources of error. Because students at this level use a greater range or tools and equipment. they must learn safe laboratory practices. At the conclusion of their investigations, students at the middle school level can be expected to prepare formal reports of their questions, procedures, and conclusions.
In high school, students develop greater independence in designing and carrying out experiments, most often working alone or in small groups. They come up with questions and hypotheses that build on what they have learned from secondary sources. They learn to critique and defend their findings, and to revise their explanations of phenomena as new findings emerge. Their facility with using a variety of physical and conceptual model increases. Students in the final two years of high school can be encouraged to carry out extended independent experiments that explore a scientific hypothesis in depth, sometimes with the assistance of a scientific mentor from outside the school setting.
Grades PreK-2
Grades 3-5
Grades 6-8
High School
An effective program in science and technology/engineering addresses students' prior knowledge and misconceptions.
Students are innately curious about the world and wonder how things work. They may make spontaneous, perceptive observations about natural objects and processes, and can often be found taking things apart and reassembling them. In many cases, they have developed mental models about how the world works. However, these mental models may be inaccurate even though they may make sense to the students, and the inaccuracies work against learning.
Research into misconceptions demonstrates that children can hold onto misconceptions even while reproducing what they have been taught are the "correct answers." For example, young children may repeat that the earth is round, as they have been told, while continuing to believe that the earth is flat, which is what they can see for themselves. They find a variety of ingenious ways of reconciling their knowledge, e. g., by concluding that we live on a flat plate inside the round globe.
Teachers must be skilled at uncovering inaccuracies in students' prior knowledge and observations, and in devising experiences that will challenge inaccurate beliefs and redirect student learning along more productive routes. The students' natural curiosity provides one entry point for learning experiences designed to remove students' misconceptions in science and technology/engineering.
GUIDING PRINCIPLE V
Investigation, experimentation, and problem solving are central to science and technology/engineering education.
Investigations introduce students to the nature of original research, increase students' understanding of scientific and technological concepts, promote skill development, and provide entry points for all learners. Teachers should establish the learning goals and context for an experiment, guide student activities, and help students focus on important ideas and concepts.
Puzzlement and uncertainty are common features in experimentation. Students need time to examine their ideas as they learn how to apply them to explaining a natural phenomenon or solving a design problem. Opportunities for students to reflect on their own ideas, collect evidence, make inferences and predictions, and discuss their findings are all crucial to growth in understanding.
Implementation of an effective science and technology/engineering program requires collaboration with experts, appropriate materials, support from parents and community, ongoing professional development, and quantitative and qualitative assessment.
Implementation of an effective science and technology/engineering curriculum aligned with these learning standards at every grade level is a multiyear process. The district coordinator should be involved in articulating, coordinating, and piloting a district-wide (PreK-12) science and technology/engineering curriculum. Districts may choose to pilot and systematically evaluate several different programs in multiple classrooms. Following the choice of a program, implementation may proceed one grade at a time or by introduction of a limited number of units at several grade levels each year.
School districts should select engaging, challenging, and accurate curriculum materials that are based on research on how children learn science and on how to overcome student misconceptions. To aid their selection, districts may want to consult the Guidebook to Examine School Curricula in the TIMSS Toolkit.
Implementation also requires extensive professional development. Teachers must have the content knowledge and the pedagogical expertise to use the materials in a way that enhances student learning. A well-planned program for professional development should provide for both content learning and content-based pedagogical training. Each area of science study should be taught by teachers who are certified in that area. Because of the nature of the technology/engineering environment, it is strongly recommended that it be taught in the middle and high school by teachers who are certified in technology education, and who are therefore very familiar with the safe use of tools and machines. Science and technology/engineering coordinators for the elementary grades could help to ensure that teachers in elementary schools are supported in their efforts to help students learn science and technology/engineering.
Introduction of a new science and technology/engineering program can be more effective when families and community members are brought into the selection and planning process. Parents who have a chance to examine and work with the materials in the context of a Family Science Night, Technology/Engineering Fair, or other occasion will better understand and support their children's learning. In addition, local members of the science and engineering community may be able to lend their own expertise to assist with the implementation of a new curriculum. Teachers and administrators should invite scientists engineers, higher education faculty, representatives of local businesses, and museum personnel to help evaluate the planned curriculum and enrich it with community connections.
GUIDING PRINCIPLE IV
GUIDING PRINCIPLE X