Science is one of the most important subjects that is taught to students over the course of their entire education. It is unique in its content and the way teachers deliver lessons to students of all ages. Loxley states that “Through the experience of school science, many children acquire an enduring interest in how the world works” (Loxley et al, 2018, pg.4). It provides an opportunity for children to discover the irrefutable rules about the way the world works, an aspect that is not present in any other academic subject taught in schools. Science is arguably the only subject that gives students a detailed insight into the mechanisms and processes that occur in the world around us. Science that is taught using ‘think, talk, do’ methods allows students to explore these features in depth. Another way that science is unique is that it provides younger students with the opportunity to explore how the world works with minimal adult intervention through practical activities in a safe environment. It was also found that “At the primary level, there is no correlation between attitudes to science and science achievement, so primary pupils can enjoy science regardless of their level of achievement” (Harlen and Qualter, 2009, pg.37).
Although science is viewed as a valuable and rewarding subject to teach, it can be very challenging. One problem many teachers may face is that “children’s ideas about the world are developing throughout the primary years whether or not they are taught science” (Harlen and Qualter, 2009, pg.36). If science has not been implemented into learning, “many of the ideas they develop are non-scientific and may obstruct later learning” (Harlen and Qualter, 2009, pg.36). It is common for students to have prerequisite knowledge/viewpoints about certain scientific aspects due to religion or parental influence. Therefore, it is important to address these as viewpoints by using phrases such as “some people believe…” rather than to simply state what the teacher believes themselves. Another problem is that according to Loxley, “children sometimes find science too abstract and separate from their everyday understanding” (Loxley et al, 2018, pg.4). This problem can arise when students are simply told to ‘learn facts’ rather than to interact and explore the world around them for themselves. Teaching using ‘think, talk, do’ strategies is an effective way of countering this issue.
“Thinking, Doing, Talking Science (TDTS) is a programme that aims to make science lessons in primary schools more practical, creative and challenging” (Hanley, Slavin and Elliott, 2015, pg.4). The first aspect of ‘think, talk, do’ is providing children with the opportunity to think scientifically. By giving children the opportunity to think by using TDTS (Thinking, Doing, Talking Science) it helps teachers “to improve pupils’ thinking skills and science attainment by making science lessons more conceptually challenging, more practical and more interactive” (Hanley, Slavin and Elliott, 2015, pg.6). It is important to promote scientific thinking and encourage children to do it independently as it allows them to form their own accurate, knowledgeable opinions about how the world around them works. Scientific thinking is integral to the successful carrying out of scientific enquiry and therefore a key enabler to unlocking children’s scientific understanding.
Teachers can help stimulate scientific thinking through the appropriate use of questioning. If questioning is delivered correctly and the questions asked are “accepted by the class and that the child sees it as a question worth answering and is motivated to seek an answer” (Harlen, 2011, pg.167) they are more likely to develop their scientific understanding, and benefit from improved scientific thinking. A requirement of TDTS, should be to seek to improve the quality of questioning in science lessons as Harlen criticises the ability to questioning in primary science lessons by saying that “questions often fail to do this because they are not appropriately worded” (Harlen, 2011, pg.167). According to Harlen, “questions arise from curiosity” (Harlen, 2011, pg.170) and that improvements in teacher’s questioning skills can improve children’s science understanding and give teachers a better representation of a child’s knowledge boundaries and their methods of thinking. As long as questioning is an integral part of TDTS, children will be encouraged to think scientifically more often and form their own unique opinions. However, this is dependent on the competence of the teacher, if there is no effort towards change from them, little can be done to improve scientific questioning.
A teacher should be able to communicate so effectively with their science class that they promote higher order thinking when focusing upon the “Think” aspect of TDTS. This is in accordance with Bloom’s Taxonomy which “contains six categories of cognitive skills ranging from lower-order skills that require less cognitive processing to higher-order skills that require deeper learning and a greater degree of cognitive processing” (Adams, 2015, pg.152). Encouraging students to think on a level that is of “increasing complexity” (Adams, 2015, pg.153) (appendix 1) and therefore “higher-order thinking” will help improve students scientific understanding and enquiry skills. This can be done through stimulus questioning, by changing questions from “Tell me what this is?” which is knowledge based and a “closed question” (Harlen, 2011, pg.168), to “what else do you think this can be used for?” which is more analysis-based and evaluative and therefore promoting higher-order thinking. This requires teachers to have a more extensive knowledge about the science that they are teaching, as they need to be prepared for when students articulate scientific questions themselves as a result of higher-order thinking. This would be more prominent in higher school years, in comparison to simpler questions being asked in younger years and EYFS. Overall, thinking is the basis in which science learning can take place, it is the critical enabler to further understanding and therefore very important to encourage to students of all ages.
According to educational theorists such as Piaget, “children learn through interacting with the world. Play and exploration start with children’s curiosity and their (maybe unspoken) questions” (Loxley et al, 2018, pg.48). Therefore, highlighting a link between the “Talk” and “Do” aspects of TDTS. Children need to be given time to talk about science before and after practical experiments. If teachers encourage students to discuss what they predict will happen before an experiment, they are promoting higher-order thinking and discussion. It gives students the opportunity to voice their opinions and views which they may not always have the opportunity to do.
Vygotksy also viewed given children the opportunity to talk as important. He recognised “that the use of spoken language helps us to interpret language, to explain and describe our ideas to one another, and in doing so, to learn from and with one another” (Loxley et al, 2018, pg. 48). Teachers can plan opportunities for talk into their lessons by implementing think-pair-share activities. “The think-pair-share strategy is a strategy designed to provide students to think a given topic by enabling them to formulate individual ideas and share these ideas with another student” (AH Usman, 2015, pg. 39). This activity will not only promote scientific thinking, but also scientific discussion amongst the class. It supports Vygotsky’s theory that spoken language can help us learn from one another. AH Usman found that implementing think-pair-share strategies in an educational environment caused “a significant improvement performed by the students” (AH Usman, 2015, pg. 43).
According to Loxley, “Talk is the medium through which we consider the world and establish a scientific view of it” (Loxley et al, 2018, pg.48). Teachers should actively seek to incorporate ‘talk’ based activities into their science teaching as part of TDTS. This can include exploratory talk which is described as “educationally effective talk because it enables children to share their thinking and helps groups to do better than each child could have done alone” (Loxley et al, 2018, pg.49). This can help aid science learning as it allows children to hear perspectives from their peers and therefore enrich their understanding of a specific context. However, this may be challenging for teachers as a structured discussion may be difficult to arrange in younger years or with an unsettled class. It is important to establish “ground rules” (Loxley et al, 2018, pg.49) before a discussion can begin.
Teachers can also adopt dialogic teaching methods which “leads to effective classroom discussions and, ultimately, to deeper learning” (Loxley et al, 2018, pg.51). Which arguably, is more effective than exploratory talk alone, as “the ideas are moved in a purposeful direction by the teacher’s intervention” (Loxley et al, 2018, pg.51). This would work better when seeking to implement TDTS in younger years where discussion and debate is more dependent on the teacher’s interaction with the class.
It was found that “pupils doing TDTS were more likely to look forward to practicals and think they were fun” (Hanley, Slavin and Elliot, 2015, pg. 20). The importance of practical activities and experiments in science lies behind the idea that “constructing scientific knowledge through enquiry methods has proved to be a compelling and enduring vision of how children best learn science” (Loxley et al, 2018, pg. 15). Although it must be noted that practical activity may not be universally beneficial to all students. This is because each student learns in a different way, they may learn better by reading a textbook or hearing a teacher explain a concept to them rather than they explore the concept for themselves.
The “Do” aspect of TDTS is applicable to all age groups learning science. It is arguably most effective in EYFS and younger school years where enquiry-based learning has a greater impact on the development of a child. Loxley states that “For younger children, science learning is mainly to do with gaining first-hand experience of the world” (Loxley et al, 2018, pg.15). Giving children the opportunity to actually ‘Do” science allows them to discover things for themselves and develop deeper aspects of scientific enquiry once their initial enquiries have been addressed.
Murphy and Beggs found that children “when asked what they liked best about science, almost all children replied ‘doing experiments. The reasons given included that doing experiments was fun, that they found out things and that they were learning whilst enjoying themselves” (Murphy and Beggs, 2003, pg.113). Teachers should actively seek to incorporate experiments into the TDTS sessions as it not only provides students with a way of making science enjoyable, it also allows them to develop enquiry learning methods and the results found from experiments can be used to fuel scientific discussion after the activity. However, although enquiry-based learning is effective, teacher’s intervention still needs to occur in order to maintain a safe environment and to guide the learning in the correct direction. This is because most students when faced with a practical activity will be to play around with it, which may not always be the intention of the activity. It is important to find a balance between giving children freedom of finding things out themselves and making sure the learning is useful.
To conclude this reflection on TDTS, it must be remembered that each aspect of this teaching method is reliant on the others. Thinking cannot be done without talking first to encourage children to come up with ideas, doing cannot be completed without talking etc. However, TDTS lessons allow teachers to be more creative with their planning and create more memorable science lessons that children will remember long into their futures, if the teaching is done correctly. The emphasis on enquiry-based learning sets this teaching method apart from others and focuses more on the child being at the centre of learning, rather than being a passive participant in a stereotypical lesson. Based on personal experience, I do not have fond memories of science lessons in primary school, meaning my expectations of science when moving into secondary school were low, and I also did not enjoy it. However, I believe that if the science teaching in primary schools can be improved by using TDTS, we will see more adept scientists going into secondary schools and achieving better grades in the future.
References:
Adams NE (2015) “Bloom’s Taxonomy of Cognitive Learning Objectives,” Journal of the Medical Library Association: JMLA, 103(3), pp. 152–3.
Hanley, P., Slavin, R. and Elliott, L. (2015). Thinking, Doing, Talking Science – Evaluation report and Executive summary. [ebook] Available at: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/public/files/Projects/Evaluation_Reports/Oxford_Science.pdf [Accessed 14 Feb. 2019].
Harlen, W. and Qualter, A. (2009) The Teaching of Science in Primary Schools. 5th edn. Routledge: Milton.
Harlen, W. (2011). ASE guide to primary science education. Hatfield: Association for Science Education, pp.167 – 173
Loxley, P., Dawes, L., Nicholls, L. and Dore, B. (2018). Teaching Primary Science – Promoting Enjoyment and Developing Understanding. 3rd ed. Routledge.
Murphy, C. and Beggs, J. (2003). Children’s perceptions of school science. [ebook] pp.109 – 116. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Colette_Murphy2/publication/228599396_Children’s_perceptions_of_school_science/links/0deec536a10672b01c000000/Childrens-perceptions-of-school-science.pdf [Accessed 17 Feb. 2019].
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