Relying on science kit programs of the 1960s and '70s, many educators have assumed that "hands-on" science actually meant "minds-on" science and that students must first know what scientists know before they can ask questions. Even now, much science instruction teaches students what is commonly accepted by the scientific community as accurate explanations of the universe - with frequent practice in the skills used by scientists: accurate observation, inferring, classifying, and experimenting. The underlying assumption of this approach is that students must gain special skills and a fundamental scientific knowledge prior to their doing science. This should not be the case. Science is something everyone can do if they understand the basic process of science and how it works. Put simply, science asks questions about objects and events observed in nature. It is a human activity in which all humans - both educated and uneducated - throughout recorded time have participated.
Ironically, because science has become so successful professionally and academically in the last 100 years, it has become more difficult for educators to teach. The exploration of the make-up of the universe, the energies at work, and life itself are so complex that it takes much time and study to understand the current research. In addition, it is often difficult to translate what scientists know into language appropriate for elementary students. However, as educators, we sometimes forget that real science is not represented by someone else's ideas that are printed in books or given to teachers to pass on to students. Real science must be experienced by each human being, including students in elementary schools (K-6).
All science starts with questions - questions arising from nature and the curiosity of the question askers. Students must see or do something that makes them curious; they must wonder about something! These instances of curiosity could induce questions such as: How does a bird fly? Why does the sun rise in the east? What makes a shadow? Why are so many plants green? What makes the wind blow? What makes food food? The best source for questions for children are the things that exist and happen around them.
The second ingredient of science is generating possible answers to questions. While most of the answers offered will be logical and based on some previous observation or relationship, there may also be explanations which cannot be described as part of science. Some of these "other" explanations could be artistic, religious, imaginary or emotional.
The third ingredient of science - the one that limits the questions - and especially the explanations offered - is that real science demands that the explanations proposed by humans be tested for accuracy. The test or experiment encourages the inquirer to make thoughtful predictions and provides evidence which will prove or disprove the prediction's accuracy. Other humans then evaluate the evidence provided and determine whether the evidence is strong enough to be accepted and used to illustrate new understandings of the way nature works and to generate new questions. This view of basic science illustrates what it means to think of science as inquiry. Inquiry involves raising questions, posing explanations, testing them for validity, and presenting the evidence to others as consensus is sought regarding nature.
Science as inquiry is one of the eight facets of science as described and
discussed in the "National Science Education Standards 1996." The Standards
claim that students who are involved with inquiry are the ones who:
1. better understand basic science concepts; 2. develop an appreciation of "how we know" the science that we think we know; 3. understand the real nature of science; 4. develop the needed skills to become independent inquirers; 5. can use the skills, abilities, and attitudes associated with science and scientists; (but not those so specialized that they can be observed only in formal research laboratories).
Appropriate science begins with student questions, student attempts at possible answers, student attempts to test all viable explanations offered individually or by a group. When this happens, there is a real world context that permits students to learn. And, this learning is by inquiry - a process used by all professional scientists.
References: National Research Council. (1996). National Science Education Standards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
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