Elementary Science Education

• Science education aims to develop scientific knowledge, attitude, and understanding of the science and societal interface at the elementary level.

• Science is a systematic body of knowledge with testable explanations and predictions.

• Science is divided into natural sciences (biology, chemistry, physics), social sciences (economics, psychology, sociology), and formal sciences (logic, mathematics, computer science).

• New scientific knowledge is a product of research driven by curiosity and problem-solving.

• Scientific method includes: objective observation, evidence, experiment/observation, reasoning, critical analysis, verification and testing.

• Science improves students' understanding to make personal and societal decisions

• The National Science Teaching Association says that science instruction should focus on scientific methods, explanations, and generalizations, excluding nonscientific elements.

• Scientific knowledge is reliable but subject to change due to inference, creativity, and subjectivity.

• No universal scientific method exists; shared values and perspectives characterize a scientific approach.

• All scientific knowledge combines observations and inferences.

• Science attempts to explain natural phenomena.

• People from every culture contribute to science.

• Scientific knowledge lacks a fixed character and evolves.

• Observations, evidence, and rational arguments form the basis for scientific knowledge.

• Reporting new knowledge should be clear and precise and undergo accurate record-keeping and peer review.

• Science builds in evolutionary and revolutionary ways.

• Social and cultural traditions have a scientific background.

• Science and technology impact each other, and laws and theories serve different roles.

• Aims of science education is to provide broader objectives, encourage curiosity, acquire knowledge, develop skills for scientific inquiry, communicate ideas, think analytically, appreciate the benefits and limitations of science, and understand the interdependence of science with societal factors.

• Objectives of science education is to provide practical knowledge, latest scientific developments, scientific attitude, and values like cooperation, team spirit, and honesty.

• Understand scientific explanations, constructing them and undertaking scientific investigations

• Scientific knowledge is gained through research by reducing human bias and making accurate conclusions.

Deductive Reasoning

• Reasoning from general statements to a specific conclusion
• It starts with a general statement or hypothesis
• Examine possibilities to reach a specific conclusion
• There is a premise, then a second premise, and finally an inference
• Scientific methods test hypotheses and theories through deduction

Syllogism

• A common form of deductive reasoning
• Combines a major and a minor premise to reach a logical conclusion
• If the hypothesis of deductive reasoning is correct, the reasoning is sound
• Premises must be true for the conclusion to be logical

Inductive Reasoning

• Generalizations are made through specific observations
• Drawing conclusions from available information
• Inference goes from specific to general

Types of Inductive Reasoning

• Inductive Generalizations: From a small sample to a generalization of a whole population.
• Causal Inference: Using inductive logic to draw a causal link between a premise and a hypothesis.
• Analogical Induction: Draw a hypothesis by analyzing similar premises and their similarities.
• Predictive Induction: Predicting the future using information from the past

Facts

• A fact is an occurrence in the real world that can be verified through experience.
• Standard reference works are used to check facts.
• Repeatable careful observation or measurement in experiments are used to verify scientific facts
• A scientific fact is an observation or measurement (empirical evidence)., and is an objective and verifiable observation
• Derived from the Latin word 'factum', meaning a thing done or performed.

Types of Facts

• Empirical: Assertions about the world based on direct observational evidence.
• Conceptual: Assertions based on philosophical views

Concepts

• Concepts are abstract ideas or general notions in the mind.

• Concepts are the fundamental building blocks of thoughts and beliefs.

• National Centre for Improving Science Education recommends elementary school design curricula to introduce nine scientific concepts:

• Organization: Manageable by organizing and classifying natural phenomena

• Cause and Effect: Explain how nature works

• Systems: Arranged in an orderly manner according to some plan

• Scale: Refers to quantity, both relative and absolute

• Physical Objects and Observations: Objects can be created and designed to represent things

• Change: The natural world continually changes

• Structure and function: Relationship exists between the way organisms and objects look

• Variation: Organisms and objects have distinctive properties

• Diversity: There are many types of objects and organisms

Scientific Laws

• Based on repeated experiments, observations that describe/predict a range of phenomena
• Developed from, and indirectly or directly based on, empirical evidence
• Scientific laws do not express absolute certainty
• Reduced to a mathematical statement
• Truth is generally confined to a certain set of conditions
• Formulated to predict the outcome of an experiment
• These apply to a physical system under repeated conditions and imply causal relationships

Properties of Scientific Laws

• They are true, at least regarding their validity.
• They are universal and apply everywhere in the universe.
• Typically expressed as a single mathematical equation.
• Nothing in the universe appears to affect them, i.e., they are absolute.
• Scientific laws are stable, i.e., unchanged since first discovered.
• Everything in the universe must comply with the laws.

Scientific Theory

• Observable, repeatable, and have the ability to make falsifiable or testable predictions

• A theory must make falsifiable predictions with consistent accuracy and be supported by independent evidence and consistent with experimental results

• Scientific method, observation, measurement and evaluation are used

• Scientific theories embody scientific knowledge through awareness and understanding

• In science, theories are well-tested explanations, unlike the everyday implication of a guess.

• Evidence is provided for or against a hypothesis through predictions derived from experiments

• Scientist propose explanatory framework that establishes the valid evidence when enough experimental results have been gathered

• Theories do not have to be perfectly accurate to be scientifically useful

• Established theories may undergo continuous modification, and new theories may be needed

• Redefined theory is able to explain more phenomena and have greater predictive power.

• Theory is very accurate if it does not require modification

Definitions of Scientific Theory

• By United States Academy of Sciences: "comprehensive explanation of some aspect of nature that is supported by a vast body of evidence".

• By American Association for the Advancement of Science: "well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world".

• Scientific theories can be explained in simple terms and modified with new findings.

• Scientific theories are testable, make falsifiable predictions, describe the causes of a natural phenomenon, and explain how nature works.

Development of Scientific Attitude

• Learning experiences need planning in a way to inculcate scientific attitudes

• Environment has to be created to facilitate scientific learning

• Analyze problems or different kinds of situations

• Develop Scientific attitudes through curiosity and co-curricular activities

• Practically think and begin reading and studying various scientific literatures long with opportunities

• Tendency of being curious about happenings comes from childhood.

• Encourage nurturing from teachers at every levels by encouraging students to ask questions

• Provide satisfactory responses to their queries and curiosities to them

• Guide against superstitions

• Teachers should provide students with the task of collecting evidences and beliefs based on their self-observations

• Encourage students to explore common superstitions and beliefs practically

• Promote hands-on activities, self-exploration, and investigation

• Arrange educational trips, science exhibitions, and competitions to enhance and develop scientific skills

Science and Societal Interface

• Contributes to ensuring a longer and healthier life;

• monitoring health, providing medical aid to cure diseases;

• provides water for our basic needs and the latest communication technology.

• Generates solutions for everyday life and helps answer the great mysteries of the universe.

• Science provides a way to experiment with possible outcomes of a particular situation

• Small scale models can be built to test the outcomes of an earthquake or tsunami

• Science helps in the discovery of a specific disease agent's genetic mutation

• Life is becoming technologically driven - reducing the mental distance between people

• Innovative products are created through science, improving the quality of life

• Helps to shape our views of the world

• Identify responsible parties and appropriate processes for fostering science-society dialogues in government, industry, universities and scientific organizations

• Innovative products are developed to improve quality of life and living standards

• Science enhances indigenous, local and traditional cultures, medicine and knowledge systems