Students need to develop understanding that science explanations are:
Science as explanation has been neglected by many teachers, who have instead focused on the sharing of science facts in the belief that students cannot produce their own explanations for what they observe, and link these to ideas from their science.
Bereiter and Scardamalia (2008) confirm that even year 1 children can produce a whole range of “theories” in response to an observation or problem.
As human beings we have always tried to explain the world we live in, and we will continue to do so. In the same way, students begin to explain their observations and suggest links to ideas they already have about the world.
Teachers need to find out students’ ideas and help to reframe them within a scientific context.
The challenge for teachers is how to develop students’ ability to ask critical questions that can be explored through observation and measurement, and for which explanations can be suggested that can be backed by scientific evidence.
The matrix developed for science as explanation can provide a useful tool for teachers to begin this process.
The key NoS elements that are internationally accepted as important for children to understand are:
… scientific knowledge is tentative, empirical, theory-laden; partly the product of human inference, imagination, and creativity; and socially and culturally embedded.
(Lederman, Abd-El-Khalick, Bell, & Schwartz, 2002, page 499)
In The New Zealand Curriculum most of these elements are found within the achievement objectives for the nature of science strand:
“understanding about science”, “investigating in science”, and “communicating in science”.
Students need learning experiences that will build their ability to:
Teachers should always explain why a particular investigation or experiment is being carried out.
Here are some questions that students could use to evaluate their explanations.
Through answering these questions, students will begin to understand that the discovery of new techniques and new information may change scientific knowledge over time – an important element of nature of science for students to accept.
At level 6, students need to be able to explain how assumptions and inferences lead to the explanations they make for their investigations, and that their explanations are tentative and subjective, being based on their current understanding of science concepts. This could involve being able to explain why scientists debate their ideas using current scientific understandings to develop explanations for evidence from their investigations.
At level 7, students should be able to use evidence from a range of sources to summarise their key explanation(s) for a scientific idea or investigation, and explain how and why the scientific idea may change over time. This understanding needs to include the importance of peer review and debate.
At level 8, students should be able to discuss their understanding of a theory, using evidence from a range of sources (including investigations) and demonstrating how inferences and the tentative nature of evidence have changed this theory over time.
Science Learning Hub resources:
Bereiter, C., and Scardamalia, M. (2008). “Teaching how science really works.” Education Canada, 49(1), pp. 14–17.
Lederman, N., Abd-El-Khalick, F., Bell, R. and Schwartz, R. (2002). “Views of nature of science questionnaire: Toward valid and meaningful assessment of learners' conceptions of nature of science.” Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 39(6), pp. 497–521.
Last updated November 24, 2023