Category Archives: 2.1 Curriculum

Science Literacy

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Being literate is ‘the ability to read and write’ (Oxford University Press, 2016). Being able to read and write helps us understand daily processes we wouldn’t be able to otherwise. Without being able to read and write we wouldn’t understand travel timetables, signs, how to tell the time, how to shop or even be able to sustain a job! To me, this would suggest that the idea of Scientific Literacy means simply to be able to understand the ideas behind science and how to use these ideas to conduct experiments, alike how we use reading and writing to understand variables of the outside world.

Not only does Scientific Literacy mean having an understanding of science, bscienceut also being able to form questions and conclusions from the evidence found through experiments (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2003). Over all, Scientific Literacy means that children understand the words used in science, the process of experiments, why the experiments are being carried out, can come up with their thoughts about the outcomes, and also why it is important that they know this for everyday life. This directly links to some key principles in the Curriculum for Excellence (Education Scotland, 2016). Teachers must ensure that when they are teaching science their pupils are not simply just learning the terms like they may learn a times-table. In order to be Science Literate the children must understand the depth of what they are learning.

A lack of scientific literacy could mean the development of false scientific conclusions. One of the main examples of this was the MMR vaccine scare. In 1998 an investigation into the three in one vaccine for measles was conducted by, the now discredited, Andrew Wakefield. He came to the conclusion that that vaccine could actually increases a child’s chance of developing autism. This research was released and caused fear to spread to all parents who became hesitant to allow their children to receive the vaccine. It wasn’t until 2004 that an investigation into mmrWakefield’s research took place and it was found to be flawed. The medical records of the children he investigated did not match his research and the paper he published was taken  down.

This is a clear example of how important science literacy is. This spread of false information caused the vaccine rates to drop dramatically and a significant increases in measles, causing many children to suffer unnecessarily. New research found that there was no connection between and vaccine and autism and there are no side effects to the vaccine. However, some parents are still wary of the vaccine and refuse to allow their children to receive it.

The process of fair testing is ensuring there are no deliberate advantages or disadvantages to any variables in an experiment. This ensures that the information gathered is reliable. To guarantee reliability any obvious advantages to any factors are controlled.

An example of this is how high a ball bounces (Prain, 2007). The height of the bounce the ball executes is measured, however the following things are considered:

  • “Will the type of ball affect its bounce?”
  • “Will the surface on which it bounces affect the bounce?”
  • “Will the height from which you drop the ball affect its bounce?” (Prain, 2007)

These three variables are changed and the experiment is carried out more than once. This, therefore, ensures the test is “fair”. By taking into account all these factors and questioning how they will effect the experiment a person is, therefore “science literate” as they are understanding the questioning and issues with the experiment.

 

Prain, V. (2007) How to interpret multi-modal science texts. Available at: http://www.education.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/5303/linking_science_literacy_strat.pdf (Accessed: 27 January 2016).

Education Scotland, (2016). Principles – How is the curriculum organised? –

Learning and teaching. [online] Educationscotland.gov.uk. Available at: http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/learningandteaching/thecurriculum/howisthecurriculumorganised/principles/index.asp [Accessed 28 Jan. 2016].

Oxford University Press, (2016). literate – definition of literate in English from the Oxford dictionary. [online] Oxforddictionaries.com. Available at: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/literate [Accessed 28 Jan. 2016].

OECD, (2003). The PISA 2003 Assessment Framework – Mathematics, Reading, Science and Problem Solving Knowledge and Skills. Paris: OECD

The story behind the MMR scare, Rory Greenslade, 2013. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/apr/25/mmr-scare-analysis

Utmb Health, Wakefield Autism Scandal, David Niesel and Norbert Herzog, 2012. Available at http://www.medicaldiscoverynews.com/shows/237_wakefieldAutism.html

NHS Choices, Ruling on doctor in MMR scare, 2010. Available at: http://www.nhs.uk/news/2010/01January/Pages/MMR-vaccine-autism-scare-doctor.aspx

Oh No! Not Maths!

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Throughout my whole school career, I never had a strong relationship with mathematics. I went through school, moving up and down different maths sets and being taught by a number of different teachers who all caused me to have different attitudes towards the subject. Over the years, my dislike towards the subject steadily increased until it became my least favourite subject! As a result, I would be lying to say I wasn’t a little anxious about the introductory mathematics inputs that we had last week. However, I feel they helped change my attitude towards maths as well as building up my confidence in teaching it later on.

My experience with maths was what triggered my dislike towards the subject. One of the main influencing factors was my teacher, who took me for my standard grades and highers. Unfortuently, I did not find him particularly inspiring. In fact, he told me on a regular basis that I had little chance of succeeding in the subject. This combined with the fact I didn’t particularly enjoy maths meant that I found it difficult to motivate myself and I adopted the attitude of ” I can’t do it” which wasn’t necessarily true! It also didn’t help that my brother was the “maths genius” of the family. Compared to him, I felt inferior and didn’t see the point in even trying to compete with him as it was obvious who would get the better grades!

However, I plan to take my experience and use it to improve my own teaching! Firstly, I now understand how important it is to motivate your children and excite them about maths, even if you don’t feel that way about the subject. I remember in my maths lesson that I was always too nervous to put my hand up or ask for help as I was scared I would feel embarrassed about asking a “stupid question”. So I know how important it is as a teacher, to be friendly and approachable so that the children will not be scared to ask me for help. But most importantly, I know that I need to keep my attitude towards maths positive in order to teach it to my best capability and provide lessons that stimulate the children, hopefully encouraging them to enjoy maths as well.

 

What it Means to be an Enquiring Practitioner

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Being an enquiring practitioner requires much more than being able to learn the skills and methods of enquiry. As a teacher, to be a enquiring practitioner you need to be able to develop your ideas and knowledge of teaching. Be able to question and challenge new ideas which will allow you to continuously develop and learn. An enquiring practitioner is one who can learn from critical research and is constantly adapting their teaching ways. This way they can put these new skills into practice in the classroom and again learn from experience what works well and not so well. It is also important for an enquiring practitioner to be flexible; they must be adaptive and open to change.

Being an enquiring practitioner has benefits and challenges. Firstly, it gives teachers a useful way to monitor their own practice. By constantly challenging themselves and asking critical questions such as: ” What is the purpose of this?”, ” What impact is it having?”, ” Is it beneficial to my teaching?” They can improve the quality of their teaching and this in turn will impact the children’s learning.  It also allows them to continuously develop new strategies and can enhance their self – esteem and professional identity as it enables them to make more professional judgements. Very importantly, it allows them to make crucial changes to the curriculum and provide the best learning environment for the children.

As said, there are still some disadvantages to this practice. A enquiry made at one school may not have the same beneficial effect in a different school. As a result this method is said to be “situationally unique”.  Also, enquiries that are made to just prove practices or find methods that “work best” that have not been explored sufficiently can be said to be superficial.