No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the author.
Using Evidence in Practical Science: Children's Thinking
Abstract
Investigates the relationship between evidence, ideas, understanding, reasoning, and exploration during a practical science activity for children aged 8-11. Reports on students' academic achievement on a pendulum activity. (YDS)
... The analysis of pupils' conversation during the inquiry shows evidence that pupils were interacting among themselves by proposing ideas, responding to and making their own suggestions, sharing/challenging/confirming/justifying views, negotiating, seeking opinions/advice, making decisions, and using evidence to come to conclusions. The science thinking of the group of junior primary pupils in the inquiry process was identified as important; for example, Green (2001) stated that one indicator of higher level thinking is the extent to which children are able to use evidence when drawing conclusions. Besides, Uxzynska-Jarmoc's (2005) study of seven-year-old children also found that practical thinking is particularly important in solving real-world problems -problems that are practical, natural and familiar to the child. ...
Amongst more that 8,000 studies across all areas of scientific learning (Duit, 2009), there are several studies related to energy in the area of physics such as Duit and Haeussler (1994) and Finegold and Trumper (1989), who developed a framework for teaching and learning the concepts of energy in physics. There have been several further recent examples of research about the energy concept in physics (Domenech et al., 2007; Liu & McKeough, 2005; Papadouris, Constantinou & Kyratsi, 2008), but very few involving energy and the human body. One exception is the study by Lin and Hu (2003) that investigated students’ understanding of energy flow in the context of food chains, photosynthesis and respiration. Twenty five years ago, Gayford (1986) observed that the concept of energy is rarely covered adequately in biology classes, and consequently students of biology find the concept of energy difficult to comprehend. More recent research is consistent with Gayford’s findings; Lee and Liu (2010) provided evidence from a large sample across 12 schools in several states of the USA that grade eight students who took a physical science course had a significantly higher understanding of energy concepts than those students who took a life or earth science course.
Over the years, primary science education has played the role of equipping learners with the knowledge, skills and attitudes for personal development to face the demands of the contemporary world, and to contribute towards a scientific and technological world (Curriculum Development Council, 2002; National Research Council, 1996; National Research Council, 2000). Now, in the 21st century, learning can no longer be satisfied by mere acquisition of knowledge and skills (Serret, 2006), and the recognition of learning to think is becoming increasingly important for learners in the field of education. In the area of science learning, it has long been agreed that understanding the scientific aspects of the world requires more than just knowledge - there is a need to provide opportunities for children to engage in science through the use of science processes and skills for ideas and explanation of things around them. However, Ogborn, Kress, Martins, and McGillicuddy (1996) cautioned that ideas and explanations are not there to be ‘discovered’ from hands-on activities. They arise from thinking and trying out ideas, and are ‘talked into existence’ with and by the children.
Recently there have been newly launched ocean color satellites which target the coastlines at unprecedented scales. Science
education curricula can benefit from the provision of small low-cost spectroradiometers and curriculum supplemental materials
that can be incorporated in a “hands on” teaching approach to explain and demonstrate remote sensing reflectance principles.
A lesson in which a progressive set of spectral measurements of familiar and unfamiliar objects and natural waters acquired
by students using a small fiberoptic probe and spectroradiometer is presented. This lesson has a dual purpose. The first is
to serve as a teaching supplement to high school science curricula while paralleling the National Science Education Standards
(NSES) for NASA ocean color products, as well as other satellite ocean products such as GLI and MERIS. The second is to focus
on the scientific goals of the graduate-school bound undergraduate student by providing a fundamental understanding of the
principles of passive ocean color remote sensing that will perhaps nurture the interest of some students toward research involving
utilization of NASA’s Earth science data products. We intend to have these spectroradiometers readily available for use by
teachers in the Earth sciences through a publicly available technology library.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.