Facilitating science investigations: some suggestions for the teacher

Abstract

Students encounter a number of dificulties when carrying out science investigations. These include activating relevant prior knowledge, planning and design, carrying out the investigation, presenting the findings, interpreting, and making conclusions. This article reports on the common weaknesses associated with students' performance in science investigations, and suggests how teachers can help students to carry out practical investigations. An instructional model for teaching science investigation is proposed, and the performance indicators corresponding to each stage of the investigation is discussed.