The Nature of the Scientific Enquiry Skills Developed by Children - Term Paper Example

The nature of scientific enquiry Skills and their role in Children’s learning in Science Introduction Any adult who has watched a young child’s behaviour can attest to the fact that their curiosity can play a very important role in their learning of science. It is a common phenomenon to see children picking up stones or rocks, and in some cases digging the soil in search of small creatures like worms (Eshacd and Fried, 2005). These behaviours show that children have a natural tendency to enjoy enquiring about nature, science and other unknown subjects or themes. The behaviour of children shows that they engage their environment, in order to understand the phenomena they experience and see in their world. The process of enquiry allows children to develop basic science skills, including observation, classification, and sorting (Platz, 2004). These basic science processes and scientific concept skills initiate the development of scientific learning skills; these skills begin to develop during early childhood, but the sophistication of their competency as they grow increases their level of enquiry and their ability to learn (Piaget and Inhelder, 2000). This paper will explore the nature of the scientific enquiry skills developed by children, and the role they play in their learning of science. The place of scientific inquiry in the National curriculum of the UK SCORE has explored the role of scientific inquiry in UK’s national curriculum, and has emphasized that the field is an important aspect for the study of science, both in primary and secondary schools (SCORE, 2011, p. 1). In particular, the agency pointed out that that the wider school curriculum for primary schools could benefit a lot from the utilization of scientific inquiry. The areas pointed out as likely to benefit considerably include the teaching of science and the effectiveness of the learning environment as a whole (SCORE, 2011, p. 1). In the case of secondary school, the study by the agency pointed out that the various fields related to science will benefit in many ways. Irrespective of the importance of using scientific inquiry in school settings, SCORE (2011, p. 2) emphasized the importance of exploring the ways in which the field could be conceptualized and embedded into the field of education, for maximum effectiveness. Science inquiry has remained a critical aspect of the UK curriculum since 1989 and despite its evolution over the years; the field has remained vital aspect of education in the UK. Recent developments included the introduction of the “how science works” banner in 2005, to convey the working of scientific knowledge (SCORE, 2011, p. 2). Background scientific enquiry skills in children The learning of science among children is fuelled by the availability of a wide array of the new things that they can explore, the sights they can watch and the people that they meet on a daily basis. Through the exploration of the scientific enquiry skills of children, and harnessing the curiosity seen in them – teachers can turn their experiences into scientific enquiry skills. By emphasizing on the inclination of children to learn scientific concepts and new things, adults can increase the excitement of children about learning, widen their learning and aid them to develop critical thinking strategies and skills. The role of children is very important in developing their scientific enquiry skills, so as to offer them, the tools for learning science, because curiosity about phenomena does not provide children with knowledge (Dyasi, 2000). The role of adults, including teachers and parents is to facilitate the development of answers for the curiosity and the questions of children. The answers received by children come to them after they are offered the climate that enables and facilitates their getting of the necessary answers to their enquiry. In general, scientific enquiry skills refer to the ways of teaching children, by encouraging them to learn through asking questions and exploring ideas. Enquiry offers children a way of learning, and it is the hands-on thinking process involving their problem solving skills, which enables them to discover the different workings of different things (Conezio and French, 2002). Scientific research has shown that the children that learn the ways of inquiring appropriately are more likely to be actively engaged during the learning process. The higher levels of engagement enable them to develop better language skills and to advantage from more positive and educative social interactions (Conezio and French, 2002). The process of enquiry enables children to develop the ‘mental habits’ (Dyasi, 2000) that are transferable and important for other learning experiences, extending beyond science lessons and the science classroom. Scientific enquiry entails focusing on the phenomena, events or objects of interests, and then engaging the skills of observation, experimentation, and analysing, with the intent of understanding them (Dyasi, 2000). Education standards institutions emphasize the fact that enquiry is one of the instructional strategies that can be used by teachers to teach scientific concepts and the field of science; the emphasis is that it is not the only instructional approach for teaching science (Kirschner, Sweller and Clark, 2006). Taking that into account, it is important to emphasize that the skills of enquiry should be central to the scientific programs taken by children. Cultivating scientific enquiry skills The curiosity of children, to learn and explore the phenomena in their surroundings comes naturally, but the skills of enquiry do not. However, in order to transmute the natural tendency into the other, teachers and parents are supposed to support children during their exploration of their natural world (Dyasi, 2000). For example, at the school environment, teachers can encourage the development of scientific enquiry skills of children by doing a number of things. These include building the foundation for the development of enquiry skills; modelling inquiry language and skills for the children, and exposing their students to a variety of learning experiences, so as to foster their learning (Dyasi, 2000). Scientific enquiry skills are developed by the facilitators of children’s learning, including teachers and parents. In the process of building the foundation for the development of the enquiry skills of children and also for encouraging the use of the skills, the teacher is supposed to nurture and reinforce the process of skill development among students. These process skills include those of observation, questioning, communication, and cooperative work with others and in teams. One of the approaches that can be used to actualize this aspect of the learning process includes bringing many materials that support and encourage the enquiry of children into the learning environment. Some of the tools that can be brought into the learning environment, so as to encourage the development of enquiry skills include magnifying lenses and bug containers; crayons, poster paper, and digital cameras (Kirschner, Sweller and Clark, 2006). These tools will offer the channels that children need to share and communicate their ideas and findings. In order to cultivate their skills of enquiry, teachers also need to educate children about how and where to source for information. The areas that children can be encouraged to search for information and knowledge include pamphlets, books and pictures, and these should be made accessible to them. More importantly, it is important for teachers, among other socialization agents, to encourage the initiative of children, when deciding the information that they need for a particular subject or inquiry (Dyasi, 2000). In modelling enquiry language and skills, the teacher is supposed to communicate the questions, ideas, and the findings that promote the development of enquiry skills and their use. The process to be used in this case is twofold; including those teachers can communicate their thinking processes during their administration of investigations. Some of the expressions that they can use to trigger the development of inquiry skills and language include – “I wonder why the water puddle appears to become smaller”. Teachers could also extend the thoughts of learners, through restating them, using discussions and by presenting productive questions to them (Dyasi, 2000). Some of the productive questions that teachers can use include “what do you notice about?” or “in what ways are these two things alike?” Such questions are useful in helping their students to focus their attention and to make connection that expand their understanding of the concepts being explored. Exposing students to a variety of learning experiences is another strategy that allows them to practice the formulation and the development of questions and furthering the ideas needed to answer the questions. The development and the widening of scientific enquiry skills can be encouraged through experiences like walking outside the class during the summer season. The view of the skies and the trigger questions asked by the teacher can stimulate the development of questions from students (Eshach and Fried, 2005). Some possible questions include “what materials are contained in clouds?” “Where do animals shelter from rain?” Other in-class experiences that can trigger the development and the intensification of enquiry skills include growing flowers inside the class or bringing a pet to class, so as to stimulate the scientific enquiry of the learners at all times. Taking into account that scientific enquiry skills are developed using exposure to stimulating expenses, it is important to encourage and create an environment that allows for practice, so as to foster the development of the habit of enquiry in their minds. After students develop the mindset for using scientific enquiry skills, they will be more likely to use them in a variety of settings and throughout their life (Kirschner, Sweller and Clark, 2006). The role of scientific enquiry skills in children’s learning science In order to aid the process of learning science among children, it is important to understand their ideas about science and the world around them. There are a variety of factors that influence the conception of children about their natural world and phenomena (Duit and Teagust, 1995). The conceptions of children about the world and science come from their daily experiences, especially those that are helpful, important and valuable to the daily life of the given child. However, it is important to take into account that many of the ideas developed about the world, by children are not scientific in nature, therefore are called alternative conceptions (Duit and Teagust, 1995). There are a variety of sources for the alternative conceptions, and these include language experience, sensory experience, peer groups, cultural background, science instructions and mass media (Duit and Teagust, 1995). The ideas of children about the natural world, also shapes their understanding of scientific themes and concepts. Notably, children tend to look at things from a human-centred or self-cantered point of view (Bell, 1993). Some of the explanations about scientific phenomena that are grounded on this flawed outlook include that the shapes of the moon change after the moon starts to become tired. The thinking of children seems to be dominated by the perception, which offers them a limited focus. One example in this case is that children are more likely to notice changing and not constant situations; that increases the difficulty of recognising patterns, without the help of a more knowledgeable person (Inagaki, 1992). For instance, during the observation of the development of mealworms over time, they will recognise that the shapes of their bodies change from one shape to another, until they reach the adult beetle stage. However, it is difficult for them to notice that their numbers remain the same all-through the duration of observation, which takes weeks. In many cases, children are also able to adopt a new meaning without developing awareness of the differences in meaning. For example, children conceive living and on-living things differently from the ways they are conceived by scientists or adults (Bar and Galili, 1994). This view is evident from the fact that plants are not living things, among some children. Similarly, some children consider non-living things like clouds to be living, because they move across the sky (Schneps and Sadler, 2003). The use of scientific enquiry skills to teach children science The modern instructional models used and covered by science education are in many cases based on the constructivist model. The constructivist philosophy looks at children as active agents in the process of developing new knowledge (Gunstone, 2000). The instructional approaches of the constructivist approach also emphasize the importance of active learning through the use of hands-on exercises in team-work settings and sense-making discussions. The common belief is that students develop a better understanding of science through the inquiry-driven learning process and environment (Mayer, 2004). Further, due to the limited cognitive processing abilities of younger children, the inquiry-based instructional strategies that are guided by teachers are more effective in teaching children science and to engage them in science lessons (Eshach and Fried, 2005). The adoption of a guided inquiry-based model enables children to integrate new scientific concepts into the existing scientific knowledge of the child. Through the use of the guided inquiry-based approach, young learners are exposed to an environment where they actively participate in the learning exercise, and that strengthens their initiative and motivation about their learning and sourcing for more learning (Kirschner, Sweller and Clark, 2006). When using this strategy of teaching, children are required to work in small teams, and that enhances their team-work and collaboration skills, which enables them to benefit from the understanding of their peers. The science activities incorporated into the daily lives of children allow them to establish connections between the knowledge they posses and the new experiences being learnt (Dyasi, 2000). The sense-making discussions held between the teacher and other socialization agent and the child promotes their awareness of the learning process as well as the concepts developed (Banchi and Bell, 2008). The changes that come from the usage of the approach facilitate the restructuring of the previously held alternative ideas into scientifically supported understanding and knowledge, supported by scientific mental models. During the process of working with children, teachers should emphasize on making the instructional strategies more open, which stimulates children to ask their own questions and to formulate investigations aimed at answering the questions (Banchi & Bell, 2008). Conclusion Watching the behaviour of a child evidences immense curiosity to learn, from their interaction with their environment and their attempts to learn about different phenomena. This inclination to express curiosity for learning is the one that is capitalised by parents and teachers, to develop scientific enquiry skills, which is very important in aiding children to learn science. The process of scientific enquiry and the development of skills enable them to develop the skills of observation, classification and sorting. Cultivating scientific enquiry skills is facilitated through nurturing the development of process skills development, communicate ideas and concepts that promote the development of scientific inquiry skills and expose students to a variety of learning experiences. The development of scientific inquiry skills in children plays a very important role in their learning of science, because it offers them the frameworks for answering their science-related questions. In using scientific inquiry skills to foster the learning of science, it is important for teachers to adopt an instructional approach which is suited for the group being taught. For example, younger children are better taught using teacher guided instruction-based teaching. Reference List Bar, V. and Galili, I., 1994. Stages of children’s views about evaporation. International Journal of Science Education, 16(2), pp. 157-174. Bell, B., 1993. Children’s science, constructivism and learning in science. Victoria: Deakin University. Conezio, K. and French, L., 2002. Science in the preschool classroom: Capitalizing on children’s fascination with the everyday world to foster language and literacy development. Young Children, 57(5), pp. 12–18. Duit, R. and Treagust, D. F., 1995. Students’ conceptions and constructivist teaching approaches. In Fraser, B. J. & Walberg, H. J. (Eds.), Improving science education. (pp. 46-69). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Dyasi, H., 2000. What children gain by learning through inquiry? Foundations, 2, pp. 9–13. Eshach, H. and Fried M. N., 2005. Should science be taught in early childhood? Journal of Science Education and Technology, 14(3), pp. 315-336. Gunstone, R. F., 2000. Constructivism and learning research in science education. In Philips, D. C. (Eds.), Constructivism in education: Opinions and second opinions on controversial issues. (pp. 254-281). Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press. Inagaki, K., 1992. Piagetian and Post-Piagetian conceptions of development and their implications for science education in early childhood. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 7, pp. 115-133. Kirschner, P., Sweller, J. and Clark, R., 2006. Why minimal guidance during instruction does not work: An analysis of the failure of constructivist, discovery, problem-based, experimental and inquiry-based teaching. Educational Psychologist, 40, pp. 75-86. Mayer, R. (2004). Should there be a three-strike rule against pure discovery learning? The case for guided methods of instruction. American Psychologist, 59, pp. 14-19. Piaget, J. and Inhelder, B., 2000. The psychology of childhood. New York, NY: Basic Books. Platz, D. L., 2004. Challenging young children through simple sorting and classifying: a developmental approach. Education, 125(1), pp. 88-96. Schneps, M. H. and Sadler, P. M. (Directors)., 2003). A private universe: Minds of our own [DVD]. Washington, DC: Annenberg/CPB. SCORE. 2011. Scientific Enquiry and its Place in the National Curriculum: Summary of a seminar organized by SCORE. [Online] Score-education. Available at: http://www.score-education.org/media/9498/scientific%20enquiry.pdf [Accessed on: 23 May. 2014]. Read More