Two Terrific Tools for Teaching Science Successfully
Hopefully you’ve been following our series on science in the classroom. We’ve covered Shattering Common Science Myths, and The Challenge of Teaching Science Correctly. In this guest post (the first ever guest post at my blog!) my sister Lisa will take a look at some helpful approaches to science.
So, you’ve managed to face up to your misconceptions of science. You’ve acknowledged that you need accurate information in order to teach kids correctly.
Good for you!
Now the question is, how can we actually help kids learn about science in a way that doesn’t lead to their own wrong conclusions?
How can we lead them to challenge their misconceptions and move towards an accurate view of the natural world?
I’m so glad you asked! Two of our best tools are language and experiments.
The Language of Science
“The terms are so familiar and frequently invoked that the student has lost all sense of the fact that he or she does not really know what they mean.” – Arnold B. Arons
When studying science, we take the same words that we use in daily life and give them a greatly modified and specific scientific meaning. This new meaning is only vaguely connected to their normal usage. Examples of such words would include force, weight, mass, acceleration, and energy.
Unfortunately, teachers sometimes assume that the students already know the scientific meaning of the term because they know its everyday meaning!
The truth is, the students do not know about the shift in meaning unless we point it out explicitly many times. We must remind them that the words remain the same, but they have taken on a new scientific meaning.
PS Montessori left a comment on a recent post which illustrates this perfectly. He wrote, “I had an experience with third graders who were very confused by the definition of energy. I came to the conclusion that no one had used the term ‘energy’ around them to refer to anything besides the movement of children, i.e., ‘You kids have a lot of energy!’”
This kind of misunderstanding is quite common, and can be difficult to overcome.
I suggest this approach: rather than introducing a new concept with the word or term first, lead students to the idea first – either through experimentation (if possible), explanation, and/or dialogue – and then give it a name.
This follows a wise saying, “Idea first and name afterwards.” The idea is more significant than the name.
Making Sure They Understand
When you do introduce a term, make sure you state the definition clearly and in words the children can understand. Ask them to tell you what it means in their own words. Write it down on a dry erase board or paper so they can see the definition.
Make sure they understand the meaning of the words used in the definition. Ask them to tell you the meaning of the term after some time has elapsed (like later that day, or a week or two later). Keep reviewing terms and definitions so that they take hold.
Choose Experiments Wisely
Sometimes we are tempted to do the most dramatic experiments and demonstrations in the name of fun or getting kids interested in science. But even if we give a truthful explanation for the idea we are illustrating, the students may abandon our words for the sake of their own form of logic if their minds are not ready for it.
Let me use a common gravity experiment as an example.
If you are talking about gravity, you might drop a rock and a feather at the same time to observe the fascinating difference in the way they fall to the ground. Because the feather takes longer to reach the ground, the casual observer (the students and maybe some adults too) might conclude that lighter or smaller objects fall at a slower rate than heavy ones.
It doesn’t matter if you carefully explain that the reason the feather takes longer to reach the ground is because of air resistance. The image of the rock hitting the ground almost instantly while the feather wistfully takes its time will engrave itself in the child’s mind.
[Note - in the original Geography Charts & Experiments, the feather experiment was the first gravity experiment done. And, centripital force was presented before gravity, when really it is much more easily understood after gravity has been discussed - Lori]
Because the air around us doesn’t alter the outcomes of most of our daily experiences, “air resistance” is a complex concept whose explanation is far less powerful than the image of the rock and the feather.
Slow and Steady Wins the Science Race
The best way to approach air resistance is not to approach it at all – that is, not until the fundamental principles of gravity are already ingrained in the students’ minds, and until they are ready to understand the sophisticated concept of air resistance.
Start with experiments that teach the gravity in the simplest way before showing them the more complicated situation. Drop different objects together that are not as affected by air resistance – such as coins, balls, pens, rocks, books, toys – so that they will form the correct conclusion that all objects, regardless of weight and size, fall at the same rate.
Once that concept is well established and you are prepared to study air resistance, then you can bring out the confusing example of the feather and the rock.
At that time, you must thoroughly explore the concept of air resistance – and perhaps do other experiments about air and air resistance. Explain the concept of a vacuum (the absence of air) and tell them that in a vacuum, all objects do fall at the same rate.
Show them a video of an Apollo 15 astronaut dropping a hammer and a feather on the Moon, where there is no air resistance! This kind of visual demonstration will go a long way to insuring that they understand gravity and air resistance correctly.
We can apply the same principles to every science concept and experiment we do:
- Put the idea ahead of the word
- Use words correctly
- Define words clearly
- Choose appropriate science experiments
- Introduce concepts in the correct order
- Wait until one concept is thoroughly understood before moving on to the next one
With this approach, we can ensure that children get the most out of science!
Note from Lori: Lisa’s post was pretty long, so I have broken it into two parts. I’ll post part two next week. The information was so good, I didn’t want to take anything out!
Hi Lori~
I am really enjoying this series! I love science & want my children to love it as well & learn it in the proper way. I like the ideas presented in this article & even though I don’t home school my children, these are great ideas for reinforcing what they learn in school (and a great tool for checking to make sure they are learning correctly the first time!)
I just realized this week that for some reason your blog was not updating on my blog, so I have missed several months of posts…I have a lot of catching up to do!!
Great point, Melanie! This is definitely a series for parents (homeschooling and non) and teachers alike. We all have situations where we need to explain the physical world to kids and the more we know about using correct information, the better.
I’ve just added a science category to my blog – I can’t believe I didn’t have one before! Hopefully many people take advantage of this series especially as they plan for the next school year.
Thanks for stopping by!
Thanks for quoting me; I feel special! This post has reminded me to include “proper material language” (the pink tower is made of cubes, not blocks) into my assistant’s training. In Primary, this is more for sensorial, which has an extension into science eventually! I’m looking forward to the next installment.
Great reminder – the terminology we use is important in every area, not just science. And of course, many materials are precursors to science or science concepts.
Thanks for all your comments – they really add value to the posts.
How do you explain energy? I find this very hard to do. I looked on that site and didn’t see the entry. Any hints? I’m just a parent trying to explain energy from the sun and how we can turn that into power. Or how dair cows produce milk, but the farmers are taking their manure and turning it into methane for energy for our houses. And she looks at me and asks, “What’s energy?” My answer so far: “stuff that makes our stuff work.”
LOL. I really just say, “I’ll have to get back to you on that one.”
This is a great question! I’ve asked my sister to come by and give you an answer. I’m interested to hear what she’ll say!
Hi Lynn! Actually, your current definition – “stuff that makes our stuff work” – is on the right track! Unfortunately, energy is an abstract idea that does not have a very simple definition. The most basic is this: energy is the ability to do work. This begs the question, “What is work?” There are many kinds of work, and these are the most basic ones: work means moving something, lifting something, warming something up, or lighting something. So, for example, if an object has the ability to warm something up, it has energy. (Hot water can warm up a mug, so we know that the hot water has energy.) You have the ability to lift a pencil from the floor to a table, so that means you have energy! A battery contains chemical energy, which can be used to light up a flash light.
Energy can either be stored (like in a stretched rubber band) or moving (the rubber band flying across the room). Also, energy can be transformed from one kind to another, as in the cow manure being made into methane which can make the lights in our house turn on. A more simple example might be that a light bulb gets hot when it has been on for a while – the electrical energy that was in the wire at your house was transformed into both light and heat. Lastly, energy cannot be created or destroyed – the amount of energy always stays the same in any system, it is just transformed from one kind to another to another. That is a law of the universe!
I would stay away, though, from making it seem like energy is a thing – an object – and using the word “stuff” might lead a child to that conclusion. Energy is the ability to do work, and I admit that it is strange to think of an ability as being stored or transformed, but that’s how it is with energy. I would focus on examples that are simple to begin with, such as the hot water warming up the mug. The hot water doesn’t have any special “thing” in it, it has an ability – an ability to make something else hot, too.
Check out this great website that has tons of information about energy: Energy Quest. Click on “The Story of Energy”.
I hope this helps! Thanks for the great question!
Thank you, Lisa! That is very helpful. I will always remember that energy is “the ability to do work”. Which means, in a way, that when we say “You kids have a lot of energy”, we’re not using it incorrectly, but the meaning isn’t completely clear.
I just heard a great quote about energy and had to share it! Richard Feynman was a Nobel-prize-winning physicist who made great contributions to quantum mechanics and even helped develop the atomic bomb. His books “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!” and “What Do You Care What Other People Think?” are interesting and entertaining, even if you don’t like physics! (Although you might end up liking it after reading them.)
Anyway, he is often quoted as saying, “It is important to realize that in physics today, we have no knowledge of what energy is.”
So there you have it! Energy is so abstract that physicists don’t even know what it is! They can describe it, explain what it does and how it works, they can quantify and label it. But they have yet to figure out what it actually is. The more we understand, the more we realize that we don’t understand.
You’re the one who introduced me to Richard Feynman! Love that guy. I love that he was always willing to admit when scientists didn’t have all the answers. Thanks for sharing that quote!