MODULE TEACHING SCIENCE IN THE ELEMENTARY GRADES

CHAPTER 4: THE CHALLENGES ENCOUNTERED BY THE TECAHERS IN

TEACHING SCIENCE

Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, the students will be able to:
a.) discuss the challenges on how to teach science in elementary; b.) justify the challenges in teaching s
c.) make way on how to overcome challenges in teaching science in
elementary.

CHALLENGES OF TEACHING
SCIENCE IN PRIMARY SCHOOL

STEM is the key to the future, and the

future is in the hands of our children…
which can put a lot
of pressure on primary
teachers to get their heads
and minds across the S in
STEM. Kirren, a primary
teacher new to science,
captures the experience
perfectly:

“No way, I’m not doing this. So

I’d zip out to uni and get all these very
simple experiments, like with a tin can or
anything that wouldn’t take long to set up
or would get a point, like with atmospheric
pressure across. A balloon in a bottle, stuff like that. And I said to the kids, quite
 MODULE TEACHING SCIENCE IN THE ELEMENTARY GRADES

honestly, I’ve never done these experiments before, so you and I are going to be
learning together, and if it doesn’t work, well does it matter, and they went no. At least
we’ve both learnt something out of it. So, they were quite good.” – Kirren, science-
terrified Primary Teacher –From the Journal of Science Teacher Education, 1999

Thousands of primary science teachers like Kirren are faced with four big challenges:
defining science, their own understanding of science, and their students understanding
of science, and finding the time to make science happen in the classroom.

Challenge 1: Defining Science

Try to define science. Don‘t use Google, the

dictionary, or your favorite curriculum-
referencing website. It‘s not easy— teachers
can have very different conception of what
science is. In a study by Angela Fitzgerald
and Kathy Smith (2016) a group of teachers
were asked ‗What is science? – Here is what
they said:

- Everything and everywhere;

- Understanding our world;
- Forming opinions based on evidence;
- The study of how and why things work;
- The interactions between living things; and
- Inquiring, questioning and investigating the world around us.
- They‘re not wrong – but imagine how different science would be taught
in each of these classrooms.

Many teachers define science using the traditional scientific method:

Ask a question (why do balloons pop?)

 MODULE TEACHING SCIENCE IN THE ELEMENTARY GRADES

Form a hypothesis (because they hold air)

Make a prediction (if I fill a balloon with air, it will pop)

Test or experiment (I‘ve filled a balloon with air and pierced it with a pin)

Analyse (What happened to the balloon?)

This is one way to define how science can work in some fields and contexts, yet it is far
from the only way to define science or model scientific inquiry in the classroom.

CHALLENGE 2: NOT BEING A ‘SCIENCE EXPERT’!

Many primary teachers haven‘t received extra

training in teaching science, leading to low
confidence in teaching, and less effective
science lessons.

Luckily, you don‘t have to be a lab coat

wearing, test-tube twirling scientist to teach it.
By using engaging questions, strong lesson
plans, and frameworks that connect science to
the real world, you can create a thirst for
inquiry, exploration, and a passion for the
scientific method.
 MODULE TEACHING SCIENCE IN THE ELEMENTARY GRADES

CHALLENGE 3: WHAT YOUR LEARNERS ‘KNOW’

In the popular (and unintentionally hilarious)

study entitled, ‗Children‘s Misconceptions in
Primary Science: A Survey of Teachers‗
views‘, young learners suggested that ‗stones
grow‘ and that ‗tall people are older than
shorter people‘. It‘s a simple, beautiful, and
logical naivety that makes young learners a gift
to work with…but may also make teaching
abstract concepts a challenge.

Teaching science relies on understanding what your learners know in other content
areas. For example, students need to be able to read and write well to document their
findings, as well as have a good grounding in mathematics to do analyses.

There are further roadblocks to consider, like:

- clarifying student misconceptions (why stones do not grow)

- proposing abstract concepts (like the forces of ‗push‘ and ‗pull‘)
- ensuring students‘ knowledge in other areas can help them with their
science inquiry

CHALLENGE 4: THERE’S NEVER

ENOUGH TIME

Every educational body demands different

requirements are met in-class – but
outside of the classroom, there‘s
preparation time to consider:

Finding resources: 1 – 3

hours Making lesson plan: 1

hour
 MODULE TEACHING SCIENCE IN THE ELEMENTARY GRADES

Setting up class for science lesson: 30 min

Class Discussion/Teaching: 20 minutes

Students experiment: 45 min-1 hr hour

Packing away lesson: 30 min

Evaluating outcomes: 1 hour

There is a lot of time to get prepared for a lesson that might not go according to play –
just asking our friend Kirren.

Solutions: What primary teachers can do!

There are some simple steps you can take to start building solid science learning
in your primary class:

- Begin with a solid lesson plan that engages students from the get-go!
You can read our article on how to build a strong science lesson plan
or just download our free science lesson plan template here!
- Familiarize yourself with the 5E Model of Science – Engage,
Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate – read more about the 5E
Model of Science
- Think about how you can connect your science lessons to the real
world and make learning relevant to your students‘ interests
(remember your NOS)!
- Create a scientific learning environment in the class – we‘ve written
some great tips on how you can encourage learners to get into the
scientific headspace, like making a Wonder Table, getting hands-on,
and surrounding your class with science.
- Get your students and your school a science resource that has it all
– check out STEM scopes Science to see how you can unlock science
in your school!
 MODULE TEACHING SCIENCE IN THE ELEMENTARY GRADES

For more knowledge about challenges in teaching science please check the link provided: https://youtu.be/qrBk9FC4QUk

MULTIPLE CHALLENGES

Recently, a class of future teachers was

asked what they thought their greatest
challenges would be in teaching science.
They came up with a great list. Here it is:

- Preparing students for state exams

while giving students a positive
outlook of science.
- Keeping students on task in the
science classroom. Coming up with
activities that will spark imagination
and fit the curriculum.
- Change in mindset when moving to
a learner-focused teaching method.
Changing nature of science based on what is currently known
- Creating effective rubrics that can be used to assess students in a timely and fair
manner.
- Tailoring class plans, activities, and scientific language for students of different
ages and different skills.
- Increasing pressures on a teacher's ―teaching‖ time, including planning and
assessment time. How to fit science into 40 minute periods?
- Lack of institutional commitment to science. Expense storage and choice of
science materials.

Teaching science has both many challenges and rewards. One of the biggest
challenges teachers face as science teachers is creating lessons that will not only get
 MODULE TEACHING SCIENCE IN THE ELEMENTARY GRADES

students to learn but hold student interest. Students find it easier to stay on task when
they can relate to the topic they are
studying.

This stimulates them to personally

involve themselves directly in the
activity. Teachers will be more
successful in engaging student interest
when they themselves understand the
material and are excited by it. For
many teachers, hands-on learning in
science is completely different from
their own science learning
experiences. Growing up, science may
not have been about ―doing‖ but about the memorization of facts and different
vocabulary words. How can the teacher be excited when science was very boring in
their own education? Our job as teachers is to get students to learn concepts and skills
that they will use throughout their lives, and not just help them memorize facts to pass
one test. The scientific process skills of classifying, observing, measuring,
communicating, inferring, predicting and experimenting are skills that will help students
not only in science class but in all situations they may face in life. We as teachers are
getting students to develop higher order thinking skills- being able to analyze situations
and then infer what to do next.

We have come very far in the teaching community, many teachers have learned that
when students are interested in the topic and are ―doing‖ hands-on activities, they learn
best. Hands-on learning gets students involved and responsible for their own learning.
Teachers should use problem–centered learning that gets students to draw their own
conclusions. In problem-centered learning the teacher acts as the facilitator and may
pose the initial question but the students decide what is the best way to go about
investigating, exploring and hypothesizing. This also helps students to work the way
 MODULE TEACHING SCIENCE IN THE ELEMENTARY GRADES

they learn best. The teacher should scaffold instruction, giving students just the right
amount of support and guidance.

These ideas fit well within a constructivist view of education. Constructivists believe in
learning through exploration. Hands–on activities and active learning replace textbooks
and cookie cutter experiments. Exploration is especially essential in science:
memorizing facts about rocks or plants can seem so distant or unimportant but when
students are creating their own fossils and seeing the difference between a cast (an
imprint of the fossil) and a mold (a replication of the object) they are more likely to
remember and understand the differences between these two types of fossils. When
students observe and record the phases of the moon they are more likely to remember
the phases (the difference between waxing and waning) because of the visual reference
they have. When students create the type of parachute that works best or the type of
―can‖ (come back can) that goes the quickest they will be more likely to remember the
concepts such as the effect that size of the can or parachute or thickness of the rubber
bands have on the speed of the can or the parachute.

Teachers are so lucky to live in this era of technology. We have so many resources at
our finger tips. In order to create lessons/ activities that will capture student interest we
must first base them on the science standards and the scientific process skills, then use
students‘ prior knowledge and experiences to come up with hands-on activities. We
must have students work together and let their interest drive the learning experience.
We must use their questions to lead the experiments. This means looking for or
developing activities that work for your class.

Every year this may change. As teachers it can be slightly scary to sit back and act only
as a facilitator but in the long run students will truly learn skills for life when they have a
part in their learning process. We as teachers must learn to be creative with materials,
lessons and even developing new activities that are appropriate for our students. Lastly,
we must remember we as teachers must show an interest in the concepts we are
teaching. Interest and enjoyment are contagious! Students look up to teachers when
 MODULE TEACHING SCIENCE IN THE ELEMENTARY GRADES

learning new things every day, so teachers need to know the material being taught very
well in order for students to fully be engaged in the learning process.

If the students see that the lesson was well planned then all of them including the
teacher will enjoy learning about science too. Science is everywhere, meaning that
students can learn anytime about science and even ask why this happens and even
create a hypothesis about something that is intriguing them. So let's enjoy this subject
as much as possible and why not, even imagine ourselves as scientists!

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For more knowledge about physics in middle school please check the link provided: https://youtu.be/6UC2P8Ovg_0https://
_Encountered_By_Science_Teachers_During_Teaching_Concepts_Of_Science