Abstract
Abstract This article outlines a structured investigative activity for students in lower secondary school. It was developed for the Australian Mathematics and Science Partnership Programme, a government initiative intended to promote the employment of more hands-on investigations in secondary science within Australian schools. The investigation focuses on water purification and is intended to develop conceptual knowledge of this topic and also high-level skills such as experimental design, particularly in relation to identifying and controlling variables. The investigation is outlined in detail and was trialed with practicing science teachers, school students and preservice secondary teachers. All of these groups provided feedback in various forms that indicated the investigation was valuable, relevant, interesting and allowed students to take some responsibility for their own inquiry learning.
Highlights
Background and introductionThis activity is presented in the context of Australian lower secondary science
Government funding was provided through the Office of the Chief Scientist (Australian Mathematics and Science Partnership Programme, AMSPP) to various bodies in 2014 (Ministers for the Department of Education and Training Media Centre., 2014) to develop hands-on investigative activities for lower secondary science in the hope of increasing engagement with science and the number of students proceeding to senior science
The learning sequence relates to water purification and has been designed to be easy to organize and complete and allows students to access progressively increasing levels of inquiry, while providing students with opportunity to develop a range of scientific understandings, skills and generic capabilities
Summary
This activity is presented in the context of Australian lower secondary science. Concerns about the declining numbers of students in Australia progressing beyond compulsory science in upper secondary school have been expressed for some decades, yet those declines are still occurring (Kennedy, Lyons, & Quinn, 2014). Investigations 2–4 required participants to explicitly plan their experiments on paper and discuss this with the facilitator prior to carrying it out, in order to promote students’ skills in this aspect of science inquiry, and to locate, discuss and incorporate any potential areas of improvement, including any safety issues Students write up their investigations in the form of a written scientific report, to incorporate and foster development of generic and scientific literacies. A recommendation we would make based on this experience is to spread out the series of investigations over several lessons (dependent on school context) with negotiated goals for achieving certain steps including dedicated planning time In this workshop, looking at the students’ written and drawn plans was useful in quickly gauging student progress and understanding. They have to learn about variables and things like that...they have to understand what a control is, the independent and the dependent...I think it’s really good to show the control...like depending on what kind of control you need but I think it’s very good to have that there for comparison, like showing that you are comparing to a control
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
