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Chad Creutz, Nicci Howell, Aniya Robinson, and Travis VanVoohris Mr. Harrell English Composition I 27 Nov. 2013

Since the beginning of time, people have been utilizing various methods of teaching. The teaching of science is no exception. From lecturing based on the history of science to the use of multi-media and physical models, there are many effective ways to teach science. Ultimately, each method has its own benefits and uses, several of which we will cover in this paper.

Teaching Using Models A Framework for K-12 Science Education outlines eight essential practices for teaching science (National Research Council). Of these eight, the use of models has been identified as an anchor (Campbell, Neilson, Oh 35). Modeling allows the students to visualize scientific principles which, in turn, leads to a deeper understanding. Models can be defined as selective representations of the natural world used to aid thinking and communication (Falk, Brodsky 63). Models are typically created and used in science in order to display relationships, provide explanation, or even make predictions. In the classroom, models can be used in many different roles. Figure 3 shows four of these roles. Data Synthesis shows patterns and identifies relationships, Representations of Science Ideas represents accepted ideas relevant to phenomena, Substitutes for Natural Phenomena acts as a stand-in of a phenomenon that cannot otherwise be readily studied, and Hypothesis or Claims are representations of how the modeler thinks some aspect of science might work (Falk, Brodsky 63). Each role respectively has its own examples and uses within the classroom. With models having these different roles, there are many different ways in which the use of models can be used for teaching science. One of the uses is in critiquing models. This is where students critique a model before use to determine what is being shown and what may not be shown as models are only partial representations. Another use is to provide evidence and test hypotheses of scientific ideas and phenomena. A final use is to have the students build their own models in order to reach a better understanding of what is being taught. (Falk, Brodsky 63).

(Falk, Brodsky 65).

There are seemingly infinite examples of how models can be used to teach science. Almost every aspect of science can be represented and therefore taught using models. One example of models being used is in teaching forces on rockets. In this, students experimented with various small scale models of rockets to determine and analyze which variables affect the flight of rockets as seen in Figure 4 (Campbell, Neilson, Oh 36). Another example is in teaching about phenomena associated with buoyant forces. This allows students to determine and analyze the variables associated with buoyancy, such as shape and mass, and to be able explain different phenomena as seen in Figure 7(Campbell, Neilson, Oh 36).

(Campbell, Neilson, Oh 39).

(Campbell, Neilson, Oh 41).

The Three Approaches Teaching can be interpreted in many different ways. The effects of teaching can be different for every person depending on how it is taught and who is teaching the material. All over the world we can see different styles that are effective and which are not. However, every teacher has different ways of making the information stick. Some tend to lean more towards the lecture style and some with the interactive and so on. With the subject of science, many different teaching methods can be explored such as different thinking methods or by teaching through story. Science is a very complex subject because there are so many different types of it. Because of this, there are so many different ways it can be taught. Science is a basic subject everyone needs because it shows us how everything in life works together. As Antoniadou states, Science plays an increasingly important role, therefore it is necessary to construct basic scientific knowledge and develop such skills and attitudes that will enable students to effectively face the problems of everyday life and to participate in society as active citizens (69). The effects science holds on someones life is very important because we need it in many areas. Unlike a subject such as math or social studies, science holds many points that are applicable in everything, not just certain areas. Antoniadou explains to us how there are three different types of approaches used in the science teaching method. These are transmission, discovery, and constructivist. The transmission approach is described as, Knowledge is transferred from the teacher to the students (Antoniadou 70). This is one of the oldest approaches and most common. Basically, the teacher teaches the students what they have learned and know. This is then taken by the student and they learn to understand it and interpret it. This method is all about memorization and this is why for

some people it could be considered ineffective. Memorizing certain topics and ideas can be one of the most challenging teaching methods because some information just doesnt stick. The second approach Antoniadou talks about is the discovery method. This method is described as, Knowledge is not transferred from the teacher to the student, but discovered by the student with the proper guidance of teacher (Antoniadou 70). This is a popular method because it takes all the role off of the teacher and puts more of a role on the student. It then becomes the students responsibility to take the information theyve been given and make something out of it. Antoniadou also tell us, The aim is not for the student to memorize large amounts of information, but to be able to explain what he has discovered (70). This method falls under the interactive way of teaching because experiments are made and then students must discuss with the teacher or others about their findings of the information. The third and last approach Antoniadou explains is the constructivist method. This method is described as, Knowledge is neither transferred from the teacher to the student, nor discovered by the student, but constructed by the learner. Students construct their own knowledge about scientific phenomena through an interactive process between the initial conceptions they have already created and the educational environment (Antoniadou 71). This method is newer and not used as wide spread which is why it is often overlooked. However, it is not nearly as successful as the other two because it requires the student to already have prior knowledge to science before school or their class even begins.

Teaching Science through Story Now we will look at a much different approach to teaching science. This approach does not have a name but is described as teaching through story. When we think of stories, we think to subjects such as English or history and so on. However, science can also be taught through story as explained by Jessica Horton. Horton explains, Children find comfort in stories. They are familiar, accessible and entertaining. By teaching science through narratives, we can provide that same comfort and access to scientific content to children of all ages (38). This presents a whole new idea to teaching science to children because it brings up the level of comfort that usually does not stand out in teaching. Teaching science through story could be a good idea for many reasons. Horton writes, Science itself could be considered a series of stories compiled together in a logically progressive way. Long before the term science existed, people were attempting to make sense of the natural world. Stories were created to explain natural disasters, death, disease, and other phenomenon that seemed inexplicable to man (38). This brings up the idea that we began with stories and then transferred all the information into science. So, in theory, stories have always been there. A main example Horton uses to explain this approach is through mythical stories. She believes all we do is take mythical stories from ancient times and transfer them into terms of science and how it all works. Another type of story Horton believes works for science are fairy tales. Horton states, The plot of certain fairy tales has occasionally paralleled some of the worlds greatest technological advances. With this in mind, teachers can consider incorporating fairy tales into both their science and social studies discussions (39). Some people may find this confusing because there usually is not a strong comparison between fairy tales and science. However, what

do you think made fairy tales? Behind all of these stories, there is some sort of scientific phenomenon that can be explained or presented. Overall, we are able to see there are many ways to teach science. The methods can vary depending on the teacher, the student, or many other factors. However, no matter what way science is taught, there are always ways to interpret the knowledge based on these different ways. Science could be taught through different thinking methods such as transmission, discovery, and constructivist or could also be taught through story.

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Teaching Scientific Methods: Science in History The history of science has had a serious part in the teachings of science topics or lessons. While utilizing the history of Science in scientific teachings, there has been a more positive influence on students understanding the nature of science such as their interests in science learning (Seker 52). Throughout the history of science there have been countless ways for better instruction however, for some there may be a solution to some of their teaching concerns. History of science has been a somewhat of a complicated tool to master, therefore teachers have tried to figure out methods of teaching that will help students learning different science subjects. It is always helpful to allow their students to connect with the science lessons especially when it includes sciences form the past. One of the many ways that instructors fulfill this goal is by following the Instructional Model for Using History of Science. This method includes the four levels of how an instructor can use him /shes abilities and help students get a better on look understanding of Science (Seker 53). Studies show after the 1970s that Egans Story Form became a constant instructional tool for science educators to use for exploring the history of science education. Egans Story Form was another way of educators helping their students connects with the ideas from the story. When instructors are using this method, they are using it to better the chance of their students comprehending the specific sciences. There has been a debate with parallelism between the students cognitive development and scientific knowledge throughout history. In theory a teachers joy for teaching science is not the same as them using the Story Form, the science teachers have to actually be engaged in the storytelling through a personal level (Seker 52). If one is not prone to using the Story Telling Method, how would one find the right method for them? The UHOS (Using History of Science) is based on several types of contexts

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provided by history of science. For some time the way of teaching is needed to strengthen students abilities when learning science. There needs to be some type of organized structural process for instructors to teach different sciences, especially those of the historic nature. For this purpose the Instructional Model for Using History of Science, composes of steps that helps organize and connect better with historical knowledge. It is based on the teachers competencies in using instructional techniques proposed with each level. In the model it breaks up into three main levels. The levels consist of; Conceptual, Epistemological, and Sociocultural. Each level deals with a certain part of science and how that science coexists with society, or in this case, the learners. The first level of the model, which is Conceptual: deals with a certain parallelism between the student cognitive process and the development of scientific knowledge that is used to explain positive influences on student learning. So, in this level the conceptual part deals with students having a positive outlook on science by using the cognitive processes. The next level of the model would be the Epistemological: this level has a great concern in the area of understanding the ways of science, so when students need help with understanding the nature of science they would pay attention to this level. During the Epistemological level it has two special sublevels, the Method and Methodology. In the Method sublevel the focus is for the teachers to facilitate the students. This goes as far as going back over previous scientific methods; (Experiments, observation, modeling etc.) following the origin of discovery. For example, Galileo was one of the greatest experimenters that ever lived, he put together the inclined plane experiment which in his case was simple and like the classroom these experiments can be used in science lessons (Seker 54). Using the other sublevel Methodology, the instructor or teachers are expected to use inquiry based instruction technique to start with questions on the

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importance of methodology for conducting scientific research. One way of explaining this method in more depth was by the example from Volta. Volta, who had an instrumentalist perspective more so than a theorist one, was able to do both. By him being this way, this was his inspiration for repeating experiments. Regarding this sublevel, students are supposed to be informed as to why Volta put so much emphasis on experiments, and of the co-existence of different perspectives on the same scientific case (subject) (Seker 54). The last and final level of the model is the Sociocultural level. Throughout this level it focuses on the understanding of the relationship between science and society. These contexts had been provided scientific knowledge for the purpose of arranging them with distinction with the content of discovery and justification (Seker 54-5). Even though there are multiple ways for instructors to teach the history some theories, or even way of teachings have been proven to be non-beneficial. According to Raffaele The relationship between science and science & society and consequent civilizing by science is centered on the possibility that the society effetely developed a fundamental organization in capacity to absorb science and produce technologies (i.e., water and electrical supply, transportation systems etc.) of course and technically that lacked in the past. Based on this mere thought, the question is based on whether science has developed simply on the behalf of the needs of society or is it just the opposite? Multiple scientists including Alex Korye believed in the theory of stressing out the relationship between science activa. Later on Koryes scientific theories has been updated or revised (Pisano 4). In many ways scientists forget that they must be approachable or able to teach the correct way when they are among those who have problems with comprehending the science topics.

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According to Raffaele, I think that a larger cooperation among scientists from different disciplines involved in the study of history and epistemology of science, science education, nature of science, science and society, philosophy and epistemology of mind and cognitive modelling in education research would be appreciated (Pisano 5). Throughout his theories and beliefs Raffaele, has come up with multiple ways and suggestions that could help. It is said that to make up new or develop paradigms and strategies of teaching and learning that strongly connects with more modernized technology and intelligent systems. When there are instructors involved with these types of scientific teachings it increasingly works out better when there is an exchange of teaching methods and experience with this knowledge so that more or less both sides are expressing their point of view; sometimes this can help minimize problems because one solution for the teacher and student can be reached. A lot of times mathematics comes in to a constant use (Pisano 4). In this case of method choosing, the overall objective would produce an integrated approach to problems of connection education with the contemporary knowledge from the mentioned area. The methods could consist of developing the new paradigms and strategies of teaching/learning especially connected with modern technologies and intelligent systems. Listing new pedagogies and didactic for science teaching/learning based in a multi-disciplinary approach. Exchange experience and knowledge; whether its between experimental science, mathematics and arith-metical interpretations, these will show up at any given time during scientific method reasoning (Pisano 5-6). Since the human race has been established all ancient cultures have developed a mathematical reasoning. If, in the analysis of the whole work of a scientist, the historian of

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science reveals some unclearness or internal inconsistencies or a lack of coherence between the methods used by this scientist in different works of his and if all these questions cannot be explained either with technical problems then then it is necessary to think of the general structure of the society in that period (Pisano 9).

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Teaching Scientific Process Skills Ever since that first science class you had back in elementary school there is a process that you follow, no matter what you are doing. This includes things such as: making predictions, interpreting data, forming a hypothesis, conducting experiments, and so on. When you learned these processes, did the teacher specifically teach them to you, or was it just picked up on its own throughout the lesson? The article Inculcation of Science Process Skills in a Science Classroom is based off of a test done on two different science teachers in their classes. Neither of the teachers tried to teach the skills specifically in their lesson. Teacher A stated, It is embedded in the curriculum, so we do not have to teach it explicitly, we just do what the curriculum suggested (Rauf, et al. 49). Both teachers agreed that the processes would be picked up by the students naturally. However, as the graph shows, it was not effective. Table 1: Shows frequency and percentage of skills inculcated in class. Skill Observation Classification Measurement and use of number Making Inference Making Prediction Communications Using time and space Interpreting Data Defining Operationally Controlling Variables Forming Hypothesis Experimenting Total School 1 4(13.79%) 2(6.90%) 2(6.90%) 2(6.90%) 2(6.90%) 13(44.83%) 0(0.00%) 1(3.44%) 0(0.00%) 0(0.00%) 0(0.00%) 3(10.34%) 29(100%) School 2 5(9.43%) 1(1.89%) 2(3.77%) 3(5.67%) 1(1.89%) 13(24.53%) 0(0.00%) 5(9.43%) 0(0.00%) 5(9.43%) 6(11.32%) 12(22.64%) 53(100%) (Rauf, et al. 50)

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Teacher A managed to inculcate 8 of the 12 processes, but in very small amounts. She fails to inculcate several important skills from the process. Teacher B does a little better by inculcating 10 out of the 12, and she does so 53 times compared to teacher As 29. However, this is still lower than is needed. Now, keep in mind that this is without the teachers specifically trying to inculcate the SPS into their lesson plans. Table 2: Shows frequency and percentage inculcated when in lesson plan. Skill Observation Classification Measurement and use of number Making Inference Making Prediction Communications Interpreting Data Defining Operationally Controlling Variables Forming Hypothesis Experimenting Total School 1 10(12.20%) 3(3.66%) 6(7.32%) 7(8.54%) 2(2.44%) 18(21.95%) 7(8.54%) 2(2.44%) 9(10.98%) 1(1.22%) 17(20.73%) 82(100%) School 2 13(13.54%) 1(1.04%) 16(16.67%) 5(5.21%) 1(1.04%) 15(15.63%) 11(11.46%) 0(0.00%) 12(12.12.50%) 3(3.13%) 19(19.79%) 96(100%) (Rauf, et al. 53) Clearly, as the graph shows, when the teachers planned their lessons to cover the SPS curriculum it increased the frequency and the number of skills covered. The skills were not hard for the teachers to put into their lessons. They added communication by discussing certain experiments, and this led to the students making inferences and predictions, other important skills. So, by purposely teaching one skill, they inculcated many others at the same time.

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The teachers claimed that the skills would eventually be learned after twelve years of schooling, but the results clearly show that certain skills can be missed (Rauf, et al. 53). It is important for teachers to include the SPS curriculum in their lessons. Without doing this it will leave weak spots on certain key skills for the students. Adding SPS to the lesson does not change the way the teacher has to teach, but it does benefit the students.

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Teaching Using Multimedia/ICT There are many ways for teachers to teach students. Some popular mediums are things like text books, television programs, specimens, pictures, computers and also the environment itself (Osman, Vebrianto 191). But what type gives the students the best opportunity to learn? In the experiment in this article, they determine whether the environment, multimedia, or conventional method is best to teach biology. What makes the use of multimedia so effective compared to other mediums? The use of interactive multimedia in learning creates a more student centered learning environment. Students are also entertained and relaxed when using ICT resulting in a better understanding of what they are learning and enhances students science process skills (Osman, Vebrianto 191-2). Multimedia allows a student to look at charts, graphs, 3-d models, videos, and experiments all on a computer. Normally, a student would only have a few of these mediums available, but ICT allows all of them. Also, students are comfortable using multimedia, since it is something they see every day. Thus, it will keep the students interest, and keep involvement. The experiment was set you in three different groups; ICT, environment, and conventional. The conventional method is the control group for the experiment. Each group of students took the same pre-test. The graph shows the results for each group.

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Table 1: Shows pre-test scores of SPS test. Groups N Mean Score Standard Deviation 8.64 8.98 10.46

Multimedia / ICT Environment Conventional

32 32 32

56.15 60.10 58.85

(Osman, Vebrianto. 197) Notice that the scores are all relatively close, with environment being the highest, and ICT being the lowest. Now take a look at the post test scores for each group. Table 2: Post-test SPS scores Group N Mean Score Standard Deviation 5.00 6.04 6.16

Multimedia / ICT Environment Conventional

32 32 32

81.36 79.79 74.17

(Osman, Vebrianto 198) As you can see the ICT is the highest score, then environment, and then conventional. The ICT group also had the biggest increase in score success.

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Table 3: Shows amount of increase from pre-test to post-test

Group Multimedia/ICT Environment Conventional

Score Difference 25.21% 19.69% 15.32%

(Osman, Vebrianto 198) As you can see, the ICT went up by twenty five percent which is higher than the other methods. Using multimedia opens up a lot of different types of methods compared to the other types of methods. The environment was the next best method. This is because getting in the real environment that you are learning about gives the students real hands on experience. The conventional method showed the lowest results. This study shows that the use of ICT, in this case, is more productive.

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Conclusion While there are many different ways to teach science, there is no best answer. Using models is an effective way to clarify otherwise difficult to understand material. Using the Instructional Model for Using Histories of Science provides a connection between historical sciences and student learning. Using multi-media allows a teacher to use several mediums to give students the best opportunity to learn. It is ultimately up to the teacher to determine which method to use based on the curriculum being taught and what works best for them.

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Works Cited Antoniadou, Panagiota, and Skoumios, Michael. Primary Teachers Conceptions About Science Teaching and Learning. International Journal of Science in Society 4.1. (2013): 69-82. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. Campbell, Todd, Neilson, Drew, and Oh, Phil Seok. Developing + Using Models in Physics. Science Teacher 80.6 (2013): 35-41. Web. 14 Nov. 2013. Falk, Andrew, and Brodsky, Lauren. Incorporating Models Into Science Teaching to Meet the Next Generation Science Standards. Science Scope 37.1 (2013): 61-9. Web. 14 Nov. 2013. Horton, Jessica. Teaching Science through Story. The Journal of the Australian Science Teachers Association 59.3. (2013): 38-41. Web. 10 Nov. 2013. National Research Council (NRC). A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Cross Cutting Concepts, and Core Ideas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2012. Print. Osman, Kamisah, and Rian Vebrianto. "Fostering Science Process Skills and Improving Achievement Through The Use Of Multiple Media." Journal of Baltic Science Education 12.2 (2013): 191-204. Web. 14 Nov. 2013. Pisano, Raffaele. "Science, Society And Civilization In the History of Science." Problems of Education In the 21st Century (2013): 4-10. Web. 12 Nov. 2013.

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Rauf, Rose Amnah Abd, et al. "Inculcation of Science Process Skills in a Science Classroom." Asian Social Science 9.8 (2013): 47-57. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. Seker, Hayati. "The Instructional Model for Using History of Science." Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice (2012): 1152-8. Web. 12 Nov. 2013.