Lower secondary science integrative activities: Fostering scientific practices in Singapore [Models: Atomic models]
A learning journey in problem-based learning in a physics classroom
Most educational theorists now promote activity in context and authentic activities to engender more meaningful forms of learning. Problem-based learning (PBL) is one of such pedagogy whereby students work in groups to solve "real world" problems. However, when these practices from the real world are introduced into classrooms, school teachers could encounter many challenges, such as curricula and individual constraints. In this ethnographie study, we describe what happened when a high school physics teacher adopted PBL in his classroom in an attempt to move toward inquiry-based instruction. Using cultural-historical activity theory, we compared his instruetional activities with a referent PBL model derived from literature, so as to surface the tensions and contradictions in the activity system as he introduced new practices into his classroom. We found that the challenges he faced arose from disparities between the motives driving everyday practices and schooling, which we attribute to differences between academics and the lived-realities of practitioners. We suggest that researchers work collaboratively with teachers towards an equilibrium point. This joint reflective practice could potentially enable authentic pedagogy such as PBL to be implemented meaningfully and realistically in an Asian society that has long placed a premium on academic achievement.
Harnessing popular media for science learning and critical literacy
The theoretical framework that informs this study is drawn from the New London Group’s (1996) multiliteracies, which was developed with the goal of preparing students for the diverse nature of literacies in a globalised world. Based on the multiliteracies framework of situated practice, overt instruction, critical framing and transformed practice, a curricular intervention was designed to get students to select and examine an out-of-school media artifact related to physics.
Lower secondary science integrative activities: Fostering scientific practices in Singapore [Diversity: Clean water challenge]
Lower secondary science integrative activities: Fostering scientific practices in Singapore [Interactions: Microplastics]
Hands-on and minds-on learning of science using a microbial fuel cell
Inquiry science has always been a focus of our research as science educators although over the years, we have slowly expanded our initial understanding of “inquiry as means” towards better appreciating “inquiry as ends.” Our confidence in and respect of this more comprehensive view manifested itself in my [LYJ] teaching when I mounted an undergraduate course based on Ready, Set, SCIENCE! (RSS) (Michaels, Shouse, &
Schweingruber, 2008). Summarizing an earlier reference called Taking Science to School (TSTS), these two books spoke about the erroneous fixation on content mastery in much of science education though this is still a favoured priority everywhere. While some degree of memorization of science facts and concepts is inevitable, science as a robust way of knowing the natural world is badly compromised if learning is left as these levels. As well, simply having more hands-on laboratory activities or practical work in the hope of mimicking the work of scientists does not serve the aims of inculcating student interest or higher -order thinking in science: Students might be able to manage procedural scientific knowledge, manipulate physical objects during practical work or be able to control some variables but utterly disappoint with respect to creating, revising or applying abstract scientific ideas, models, or theories.
In all likelihood, any form of inquiry pedagogy can achieve most of the desired endpoints in science education (i.e. the cognitive, epistemic & social) in the hands of a skilful teacher although Design-based Inquiry (DBI) appears most apposite given our adoption of the Microbial fuel Cell (MFC) engineering model. Basically, DBI involves the iterative and problem-solving journey of researching, designing, building, and improvement of objects that pulls along knowledge and application of science—constructing a "successful” artifact is the overarching goal of that activity with just-in-time learning of science as both its condition and byproduct. Its benefits are none other than the entire gamut of doing and learning science authentically and it should come as no surprise to hear that engineering/technological design shares a positive inter-dependence with the development of scientific literacy. Engineering design is the analog of scientific inquiry but whether it be in science or design, success and deep learning is often found, paradoxically, through productive failure—in both disciplines “knowing what is wrong matters as much as knowing what is right”.
The MFC, our vehicle for student inquiry, has been used since 2005 in NIE to teach principles of biochemistry among in-service teachers. In essence, the MFC is a class of fuelcells that employ various microbes and membranes to generate electricity and it shows potential in areas such as the self-powered treatment of wastewater. The biochemical workings of the MFC are not completely known to science thereby offering opportunities to learn science content, process skills, Nature of Science, and other important skills. With this setup that is unfamiliar to most teachers and students, a wide range of scientific variables can be tested to increase the current that can be obtained—the main goal of the inquiry design challenge for students.