JST 320 Semester Test

The role of the teacher and types of questions (Cross & Bowden pg. 1-15):

Definitions:

Science:

A way of thinking and gaining knowledge that includes: becoming aware of a

problem, wondering why, proposing ideas and explanations, finding out through
experimentation and observation, and sharing results.

Scientific literacy:

An approach to identify and solve problems based on logic, rather on the

memorization of facts.

Discovery approach:

A teaching strategy that encourages children to find answers and information related
to their interests and questions.

Divergent questions:

An approach to questioning that is open-ended and used to generate several ideas

to solve a problem

Inquiry:

A process of studying and developing knowledge and understanding of scientific

ideas and natural world. We do this by observing, questioning, investigating,
analysing and predicting

Logico-mathematical knowledge:

Knowledge that is gained when the learner creates relationships among materials

Scientific attitudes:

Curiosity Critical reflection Open-mindedness

Respect for evidence Perseverance Sensitivity to the living
and non-living
Willingness to tolerate Creativity and Co-operation with others
uncertainty inventiveness and the environment

1
Pedagogical knowledge:

 Act and discourse of teaching

View of science:

The purpose of science:

 Natural Sciences envisages a teaching and learning milieu which recognizes

that the people of South Africa operate with a variety of learning styles as well
as with culturally-influenced perspectives.

In science meaningful education has to be learning centred and help learners to:

 understand scientific knowledge

 how it is produced,
 the contextual environmental
 global issues that are intertwined

Metacognitive learning:

 Knowing about knowing

 Self-aware About what they know and
 Reflective understand in science and how
they learn
 Pro-active

2
Constructivist approach:

 Based on the idea that pupils construct their own learning

Language literacy/science:

 A basic tenet of primary education that language is central

 Speaking and listening are major vehicles for learning in science, as are the
different forms of writing and drawing
 The development of literacy in science presents a wealth of opportunities for
pupils to strengthen language and language skills in a very meaningful
context

The importance of questions:

 Questions are at the heart of science and of science education

 Questioning skills for teachers include:
o Using questions in all aspects of science (for example: focusing
attention, establishing links, making things explicit; utilising predictions,
seeking explanations and motivating
o Learning to pose questions about the world
o Learning to pose questions that can be investigated scientifically
o Understanding that pupils often misunderstand our questions
o Using the power of questions in your science teaching, including
Elstgeet’s (1985):
 Open and closed questions
 Productive questions
 Attention-focusing questions
 Measuring and counting questions
 Comparison questions
 Action questions
 Problem-posing questions
 Children’s how and why questions

3
Dealing with pupils’ questions:

 One common area of anxiety for non-specialist primary teachers is what they
anticipate will be difficult science questions from pupils
 You should always show that you are pleased that the question has been
asked, perhaps by pausing and offering praise while thinking about the
options for your response
 You might like to use the question to:
o Find out more about what the pupils know – ‘What do you think? Do
any of us have any ideas?’ Explore the topic – ‘Have you seen that
happen? Is this similar to anything else you have seen?’
o Find out more about their understanding – ‘Can you tell me why you
ask that? Do you think there is an answer?’
o Stimulate interest – use the pupils’ own questions to fire their
enthusiasm for science: ‘What a great question, how could we find
out?’ ‘Could we investigate this ourselves?’ ‘Could a book help us?’
o Scaffold learning – for example, assist pupils in making links – ‘Have
you seen this before? What did we learn about this last
term/yesterday?’

Teacher confidence:

 2 essential ingredients for increased confidence to teach:

o Your own knowledge and understanding of science (understanding)
o Your repertoire of ideas for teaching science (teaching)

Pedagogical content knowledge: Lee Schulman (1987)

 This knowledge of the most effective ways to teach a topic was to him the
essential knowledge of a teacher
 For example, pupils’ misconceptions or alternative ideas can mistakenly be
seen as bad, as ideas to be purged as quickly as possible

4
Examples of common errors and misconceptions:

The importance of practical work:

 Several research studies of secondary education are quite negative about the
quality of practical work undertaken
 Research into secondary teachers’ understanding of practical work has
identified teacher knowledge as a limiting factor
 We understand practical work to include engagement in which pupils
manipulate materials and experience phenomena in science lessons
 4 sub-categories of practical science activity:
o Learning a practical skill
o Exploring
o Observation of a demonstration
o Investigation
 Wellington (1998) questioned student teachers about the purpose of practical
science in primary classrooms and summarised their responses into three
categories:
o Cognitive arguments – helping them to learn
5
 o Affective arguments – motivating and exciting
o Skills arguments – developing scientific and other transferable skills
 Harlen usefully concludes that practical work is a ‘means to various ends and
not an end in itself’

Assessment, self-assessment and feedback:

Why should school teachers assess learners:

 They must be able to inform themselves, the pupil, the school, and others of
pupils’ achievements
 The teacher needs to know about pupils’ achievements to plan future lessons
and inform others
 Pupils should be engaged with their own learning so that they want feedback
on what they have learned and how they can learn more
 Perhaps the single most powerful tool in lessons is the clear expression of
sharp learning objectives

Example of a learning objective and success criteria:

Establishing and maintaining interest:

 To encourage pupils’ interest in science lessons:

o Identify aspects of science or contexts that link to pupils’ lives or
interests
 Your own apparent interest in the world and science will be highly influential
 Make science lessons interesting with a new material, a new angle or new
teaching methods

6
4 knowledge areas and the four methods (PowerPoint & Learning Guide):

Different methods and approaches for presenting natural science and technology:

 Teachers should be on lookout for opportunities to integrate science and

technology with literature, mathematical thoughts, and classroom projects of
themes and interests of the children.

When is science & technology experienced by learners?:

 Incidental learning:
o These situations are not planned, but an incidental incident may
happen that provides the opportunity to expose the children to science
and technology
 Informal learning:
o Discovery area, through free play activities like water play, sand play
and block play
o Discovery approach:

7
  A teaching strategy that encourages children to find answers
and information related to their interests and questions
 Structured science and technology activities:
o Transmission method:
 Focusing on scientific knowledge to be learnt
 Can involve:
 narration – recounting a succession of events
 explanation – showing the interdependence between
events
 practice – repeatedly using new knowledge and skills
 feedback – providing information to pupils about the
adequacy of their knowledge and skills
o Process skills method:
 The abilities to process new information through concrete
experiences
o Interactive approach:
 Teaching within this framework emphasise the importance of
exploration, and engaging within children’s initial
understandings, encouraging them to assume a high level of
responsibility for their own learning

Inquiry-based learning (Textbook pg. 11-13):

 Describes and investigative approach to learning

 Teachers use a constructivist approach when teaching Science and
Technology to children
 “Active involvement in science” an exemplary of such and see it as a
prerequisite for FP learning
 Inquiry, investigations and problem-solving are critical elements of any
science programme

Advantages of using scientific inquiry:

 Scientific injury helps children to develop the process skills of doing science
 Inquiry helps children to learn independently when they ask questions,
investigate and draw reasonable conclusions

8
Cornerstones of inquiry learning:

 Questioning
 Wondering

The problem-solving nature of natural science and technology (Textbook pg

14-26):

 Problem-solving involves:
o Identifying a problem
o Thinking of ways to solve it
o Trying out solutions
 Related to creative thinking

The capacity to do problem-solving involves:

 Analysing a solution to determine the possible problems

 Brainstorming all types of potential solutions
 Envisioning the steps toward solving the problem
 Anticipating consequences of those solutions

Teacher’s role in facilitating learning in science and technology includes:

 Providing a rich environment for investigation and problem-solving

 Using open-ended materials
 Acting as mediator to scaffold the learning content
 Embracing the diversity in learning styles by incorporating the multiple
intelligences

Children solve problems by:

 Using ideas and skills that they already possess and remixing them in novel
ways
 Insufficient previous knowledge = either non-existent or unimaginative
 This problem can be overcome in 2 ways:
o Choose problems which have solutions that are already within the
children’s range of experience

9
 o Provide the children with a variety of ideas and skills which they may
use to solve the problem in hand

Facilitate a problem-solving climate:

 Children need opportunities to be:

o Curious
o Motivated
o And the option to work in collaboration with others
 Teachers who teach Technology can:
o Facilitate a climate in which learners want to solve problems by valuing
children’s problems
 Learners need to feel psychologically safe, meaning they must know that it is
okay to be wrong
 Learner’s interest in problem-solving will increase teachers to pay attention to
their answers and encourage them to try new ideas

The key to facilitating a problem-solving climate:

 Learn how to listen

 Understand other perspectives
 Recognise problems
 Look for alternative solutions

Creating time to solve problems:

 It enables learners to deepen their understanding and construct more

complex knowledge about the problem
 If teachers strictly control how learners spend time and use space, they may
limit their chances to make decisions and experience with materials
 When children can choose and direct their own play, they invite them to use
their mind and social skills to work out everyday problems

Creating space to solve problems:

 If several children are trying to solve a problem co-operatively it is especially

important to set aside space that allows for social interaction between them

10
Using materials to encourage problem-solving:

 The development of problem-solving skills is associated with the opportunity

to play in a wide variety of materials
 The flexibility of open-ended materials creates more opportunities for learners
to do problem-solving
 An environment rich in materials can foster cause-and-effect or trial-and-error
explorations to help them promote cognitive development

Showing familiarity of how to do problem-solving:

 Teachers can help children learn this process of thinking by talking aloud as
they themselves solve problems
 Questions that will help stimulate creative problem-solving are open-ended,
for example:
o How could this be made to work again?
o What else could you do?
o What might happen if?

Choosing appropriate problems to solve:

 Good, age-appropriate problems

 Use everyday life experiences

Making use of questions:

 Convergent (close-ended) questions:

o Can limit problem-solving in technology
o Only answers “yes” or “no”
 Divergent (open-ended) questions:
o Have no right or wrong answers
o Allow children to take risks and experiment with their ideas

How do you ask good questions:

 Pay attention to the ways you begin your questions

 Ask children the kinds of open-ended questions they often ask adults
 Ask divergent questions in various situations
 Accept everyone’s answers equally

11
Developing children’s self-questioning skills:

They advise teachers to be aware of:

 Asking too much questions

 Asking a questions and answering it yourself
 Asking a difficult question too early
 Asking irrelevant questions
 Asking the same type of questions
 Failing to build on answers

How can a teacher encourage problem solving:

 Rich/supportive environment in which the learner can solve problems using

objects and ideas
 Provide interesting books and pictures that invite them to think creatively

The following useful list of alternative descriptive and more formal words can be
used with learners to encourage inquiry-based learning:

12
13
14
Developing and applying specific skills to solve problems in creative ways:

 The ability to solve a problem is an overarching skill that affects all learning
 Problem-solving is the glue that binds other skills together

To practice technology effectively and solve problems in creative ways, learners

need to acquire the following specific skills:

 Problem-solving skills
 Information-processing skills

Structures 6 simple machines: Textbook pg 61- 68

Simple machines:

 Simple machines are the basic designs for lifting and moving things.
 We use simple machines to make jobs easier.
 All the complex machines used around us are made up of one or more simple
machine concept.

Machines help us do work in several different ways:

 Transferring force from one place to another

 Increasing the amount of force applied
 Changing the direction of the force
 Increasing the speed of the force

15
Different simple machines:

 The wedge:
o A wedge is a simple machine that helps to cut, split or push something
through
o Example: The head of an axe
 The inclined plane:
o Helps us lift things against gravity’s pull
o Example: Slide
 The screw:
o Curved ramp
o It can hold things together or raise and lower things
o Example: Light bulb
 The lever:
o Makes it easier to lift things
o Rod balanced on a fixed point that can help lift a heavy weight with less
effort
o Example: Crowbar
 The pulley:
o Made from grooved wheel with a rope of chain around it
o Turns around a stationary axle
o Example: Tow truck
 The wheel and axle:
o Spinning lever
o A large wheel is connected to a smaller device, called the axle or shaft
o Example: Bicycle

What do we need for effective technology?:

 Different types of materials

 Various effective tools
 A facilitator
 A challenge

16
Inventions: The technology process: (Pg 93 – 102; 134-136)

17
Encouraging critical and creative thinking skills:

 Knowing what children already ‘know’ and have firmly in place will help avoid
unnecessary repetition within learning experiences
 Misconceptions may be revealed, allowing information to be used formatively
by teachers in future planning
 Creative thinking:
o The ability to see a different way of doing something
 Critical thinking:
o The ability to mentally break down a whole problem or ideas into parts

Process skills:

 Thinking skills that allow children to process information through concrete

experience
 Involves:
o Observing Reasonable guessing
o Classifying Early data collecting and
o Comparing interpreting
o Communicating
o Recording
o Predicting and checking
o Measuring
o Organising
o Inferring
18
Inventions:

 To DISCOVER means to FIND something that was present but was unknown
 INVENTIONS occur when people PUT THINGS TOGETHER in a new way

Inventor’s corner:

 Where they are allowed to take things apart is a valuable resource to get
children interested in technology
 For Newton, technology is the process of inventing or improving things to
satisfy practical needs and solve practical problems

Schmidt suggests some ways to encourage inventing:

 Nurture young inventors by modelling curiosity

 Show a genuine interest in the children’s ideas and inventions

19
Discovery area: PowerPoint & Learning Guide (Pg 9 – 14)

PowerPoint:

Discovery/Investigation area:

 A discovery/investigation area is an area specifically set up by the teacher to

tie in with the weekly theme
 It is usually set up on a low table on which objects, pictures, etc., are
displayed
 The area must be positioned where it will draw the interest and attention of
the children
 The aim is to expand the children's level of understanding and experiences
concerning nature and the world around them

Use the theme: What is inside? Natural items:

 Indicate which items the learners are going to explore in this theme
 Indicate how you are going to use the discovery area to expose the learners
to this theme during a week. Explain briefly what you want the children to do
with the objects

READ THROUGH LEARNING GUIDE PG 9-14

Parent posters: PowerPoint

Using posters to promote parent- teacher communication:

What and why:

 Display the poster in an obvious place (door/notice board)

 Another way to communicate important messages to parents, guardians and
children
 The message is conveyed incidentally (usually when parents/guardians come
to school)
 It should be a friendly reminder
 One poster per class
 Change the poster every week

20
3 Types of messages:

 Notice (or reminder)

 Request (be polite and say please)
 Educational message (to share some beautiful thoughts or wisdom with the
parents)

Types of posters:

 To provide parents with information about the preschool

 To solve a problem
 Make life easier for children
 Involve parents in the curriculum
 Share some beautiful thoughts or wisdom with the parents

Scientific attitudes: PowerPoint

Scientific attitudes:

 Curiosity
 Respect for evidence
 Willingness to tolerate uncertainty
 Critical reflection
 Perseverance
 Creativity and inventiveness
 Open-mindedness
 Sensitivity to living and non-living
 Co-operation with others and the environment

Multiple intelligences: (Textbook pg 32 – 37)

Multiple intelligences:

 Human cognitive competence is better described in terms of sets of abilities,

talents or mental skills, which we call ‘intelligences’
 Intelligence is the essential capacity to solve problems
 Gardner sees intelligence as problem-solving, problem-creating and problem-
finding over a range of situations

21
  Gardner defines intelligence as the capacity to solve problems or make things
that are valued by one’s culture

According to Gardner humans have at least 8 distinct intelligences:

 Visual-Spatial intelligence:
o The ability to perceive the visual world accurately
 Bodily-Kinaesthetic intelligence:
o The ability to use and control one’s hand or body to express meaning
 Musical-Rhythmic intelligence:
o The ability to enjoy and replicate music
 Verbal-Linguistic intelligence:
o About sensitivity to word order and meaning, sounds, rhythms, and
inflections
 Logical-Mathematical intelligence:
o The ability to work with numbers
 Intrapersonal intelligence:
o The ability to understand and work with oneself, to access one’s
feelings
 Interpersonal intelligence:
o The ability to understand and work with others
 Naturalistic intelligence:
o The ability to discriminate among living things and exhibit sensitivity to
one’s natural surroundings

Concepts: PowerPoint:

Skills vs concepts:

 A skill is an activity that can be learned and that can improve with practice; for
example, cutting with scissors, riding a bicycle, or identifying birds.
 A concept is something that cannot be taught directly. It is something that
each and every person comes to understand on his/her own.

22
7 General concepts:

 Conservation
o Makes the world a better place
 Diversity
o Investigate the variety of things of which the world consists
 Place
o Explore society and homes
 Cause and Effect
o Consider our behaviour and attitude
 Adaptation
o Discover how living specimens adapt to their surroundings
 Interdependency
o Discover that all things are dependent on each other
 Change:
o To help children develop the willingness and ability to investigate and
understand:
o that change is a constant process
o that there are many different kinds of change
o that change can be intentional or unintentional
o that both planned and unplanned change can have the same effect
o that change can be made in many different ways, include putting things
together or taking things apart
o that change can be cyclical
o that tools can be used to change objects and materials
o that raw materials from the earth can be changed into everyday objects
that we need and like to have
o that people, technology, ideas, designs and materials change over time
o that change is happening all around us

23
Scientific Concepts: Textbook pg 38-47

Concepts

Concept vs. Knowledge:

 A concept helps in comprehension, while knowledge is something one must

know.
Bredekamp's Perspective (2011):

 Natural curiosity in young children doesn't automatically lead to learning

science concepts and processes.
Importance of Intentional Teaching:

 Children require intentional teachers who plan and execute a coherent science
curriculum for understanding concepts and acquiring skills.
Avoiding Chance in Science Learning:

 Science learning is too crucial to be left to chance.

Role of Intentional Teachers:

 Intentional teachers promote science learning by organizing the environment

thoughtfully, providing focused learning experiences, and integrating science
into children's everyday routines.
Skill vs Concept

A skill is a learnable activity that can be honed through practice, like mastering scissor
cutting, bicycle riding, or bird identification.

On the other hand, a concept is an understanding that individuals arrive at

independently, often not directly taught. In science, a fundamental concept might be
discerning between living and non-living entities. This understanding matures
gradually, gaining strength only after extensive experience, ultimately solidifying
through personal encounters (Barron, 1996: 7).

A skill is a learnable activity that improves with practice. A concept is an understanding

that individuals develop on their own, not directly taught, and often matures over time
through personal experience.

24
Seven general concepts are used to organise information into sensible units to
facilitate the learning and understanding processes:

1. Conservation:
The careful preservation and protection of something.
2. Cause and Effect (consequence):
Cause and effect involves examining our actions and attitudes. A cause is an
event or action that triggers another event, while an effect is the outcome or
result of that initial action or event.
3. Place:
The study of society and residences, focusing on the location of things. It
encourages reflecting about your role in the world and the influence you exert
on your surroundings, encompassing your residence, workplace, and the global
community at large.
4. Adaptation:
The understanding how living organisms adjust to their environments. It's a
transformative process that enables species to better fit their surroundings.
Adaptation is crucial for survival, providing protection and enabling life in distinct
habitats, often achieved through mechanisms like camouflage.
5. Relationships and interdependence:
Discovering that all things depend on each other i.e. are interdependent and to
foster the idea of relationships being rooted in depending on one another.
6. Diversity and Individuality:
Investigating the variety of things in the world, thinking about how things are
similar and how they differ.
7. Change:
Learning about the cycles of change.
Knowledge criteria for change:
i. Recognizing that change is a continual process.
ii. Acknowledging the various types of change.
iii. Understanding that change can be deliberate or accidental.
iv. Realizing that both planned and unplanned changes can yield similar
outcomes.
v. Appreciating that there are diverse methods to bring about change,
such as assembling or disassembling objects.
vi. Grasping that change can occur in cycles.
vii. Understanding the role of tools in altering objects and materials.
viii. Knowing that raw materials from the earth can be transformed into
everyday items.

25
 ix. Acknowledging that both people and technology undergo change
over time.
x. Recognizing that ideas, designs, and materials evolve over time.
xi. Being aware that change is a constant presence in our surroundings.
EXERCISE ON PAGE 40/41

Practical examples using the seven general concepts (from textbook):

1. CONSERVATION
Filter water from a stream. See how much dirt is left behind.

Design and make a poster or advertisement to encourage people to conserve water

(or write a poem, song, story, or puppet show about it)

2. CAUSE AND EFFECT

Take hard soil and pour water over it. What happens? Do it with soft flowing water and
with force flowing water. Cut two identical flowers with long stems. Put one in a glass
with water and the other in an empty glass. Check out the differences in an hour, two
hours, and a whole day.

3. PLACE
Walk all over the school area and locate the places where water can be found. Write
them down or make drawings.

Paint/paste/draw a picture of life under the sea (fish, sea plants, etc.).

4. ADAPTATION
Look at the development of tadpoles and frogs to see how they are adapted to live in
water. Cut a succulent open, do the same with any other ordinary plant. Compare the
storage of water in the plants

5. RELATIONSHIPS AND INTERDEPENDENCY

Take two identical plants but only water one of the two plants. Compare the two plants
for two weeks and watch how long it takes before the plant that does not get water,
dies. Bring a few seeds to school. Place them between wet cotton wool or on a cloth
in two saucers. Wet the one saucer regularly and leave the other one dry. What
happened?

26
 6. DIVERSITY AND INDIVIDUALITY
Auditory activity: Listen to different water sounds. Identify them according to the
sounds: a running tap, a boiling kettle, a waterfall, the sea, rain, etc.

Make a list of all the animals that live inside/next to/near or on fresh water or the sea.
You can also draw them or cut and paste magazine pictures.

7. CHANGE
Put two identical containers with the same amount of water outside, one in the sun
and one in the shade. Compare the containers at the end of the day. Filter some dirty
water and watch how it changes.

The same concepts can be used to generate ideas for technology activities.

Main knowledge areas in science and technology:

In the field of Science and Technology, there are four key knowledge areas:

1. Life Sciences: This involves studying living organisms, encompassing life

processes, health, and interactions between people, plants, and animals.
2. Physical Sciences: This pertains to the examination of non-living materials,
including physics, chemistry, geology, and astronomy.
3. Energy and Change: This area delves into how energy is transferred within
physical and biological systems, as well as the implications of human energy
needs and consumption.
4. Planet Earth and Beyond: This concentrates on the Earth's structure, its
dynamic changes over time, understanding weather patterns, and situating
Earth within the broader context of the universe.
It's crucial to grasp the organization of the primary content areas and to adeptly choose
relevant knowledge from all four of these domains when crafting learning activities.
The following page outlines these four main content knowledge areas for reference.

27
Thinking maps: PowerPoint:

 Circle map: Defining and brainstorming

 Tree map: Classifying
 Bubble map: Describing
 Double bubble map: Comparing and contrasting
 Flow map: Sequencing
 Multi-flow map: Cause and effect
 Brace map: Part-whole relationship
 Bridge map: Seeing analogies

28
Outings Textbook pg 145-146

Field trips and visitors:

Field trips and visitors are effective ways to expose children to everyday technology.

Here are a few possibilities:

 Simple machines can be observed in action during field trips, such as a visit to
the school kitchen.
 Examples of simple machines include hand trucks (lever principle) and kitchen
equipment like can openers (gears, crank, screw).
 Repair workers can showcase various tools and equipment that utilize basic
mechanical principles.
 A teacher or parent can demonstrate the use of simple machines like screws or
levers by jacking up a car.
 Children should have opportunities to observe the repair and maintenance of
classroom and playground equipment.
After preparatory activities, children will be ready and enthusiastic to actively engage
in technology-related tasks.

Rethinking Learning through Play Chapter 11 (CONCEPTS ONLY)

Digital content:

Interactive learning and teaching resources stored in a digital format on the internet

Digital play:

Refers to young children becoming users of various technologies

Digital data:

Information that is transmitted digitally

Digital documentation:

Recording and analysing children’s engagement and learning using digital tools

Imaginative technologies:

Technologies that no longer work. They are often marketed specifically for children

Sedentary behaviour:

Sitting or lying down, awake but relatively inactive

29
Rethinking Learning through Play Chapter 12 (CONCEPTS ONLY)

STEM:

Acronym for science, technology, engineering and mathematics

Embodied cognition:

The theory that many features of thinking, language and knowledge are related to
bodily experiences

Inquiry and design-based education:

A way to teach STEM through activities that stimulate children to investigate the
material world

Scenario play:

Is using a logical series of events and actions from a daily life situation or a
profession that makes sense to the child and that can be stimulated in their fantasy
and role play

***READ THROUGH THE SELF-STUDY WORK***

30