What would YOU include in the science curriculum if you had to draw one up?

[Samuel1988]

Morning all,

 

I was just curious to know if you were in charge of drawing up the science curriculum for schools, what would you put in?

 

Your suggestions may be related to what would get children hooked on science or what would be useful in this ever changing world we live in for example.

 

Thanks for taking the time to get back to me & I look forward to reading your suggestions.

 

Samuel

[Marshalscienceguy]

Well first off using a lot of experiments helps children get interested. In my earth science class we did a lot of hands on experiments and I really enjoyed that and it made me feel very involved in the work. I would say if you want the kids to learn and get involved make them apply the knowledge. Book learning is boring and useless. Simply giving them a book and saying "Read this book and fill out this paper" is not going to make the material stick and its going to bore the children. Make them watch videos, make them apply the material they learned and explain to them why it works that way.

 

Give tests and do experiments but don't give a ton of homework. I would also say drill them on the elemental table since that is important to learn in chemistry. Also I think maybe ask all the students to build an experiment and explain the why they believe it will work, what made them believe it would , and the conclusion, than ask them all to discuss it. Also try talking about current experiments, news, and ethics and ask children to debate on it, hands on learning and these type of things when added to curriculum always seemed to be enjoyed by students. I only did debate in Health(8th grade) and US HISTORY(12th grade) but all the students seemed to love when we did debates. Also maybe critiquing literature. Such as make them read poems and English and make them explain what the author meant and make them write a story that should convey a similar message. Like maybe what was Edgar allen poe thinking when he wrote "The raven" that could count as psychology as well as teaching writing skills.

 

I also remember having to grow plants in earth science which I think would be another interesting experiment for biology. Than you can also have them write a persuasive essay trying to convince you of a stance which you will assign. This will teach them how to pursuide and audience give them better presentation skills which you need for everything in life especially if you are trying to explain your theory and ideas to people. Maybe even spend a day going over what each chemical is and make them go home and list everything you can find this element in and what its used for. Also this is a bit early but maybe teach them the difference between a bad and a good argument. Like not pulling out the strawman. Oh and mock trial is another one you can try.

 

DO NOT DO mandatory group projects ever. The idea might sound good on paper but often One kid will end up doing everyone's work or there is one kid is always left alone since they don't have friends in the class and some kids just work better alone. Even if you assign the children to partners often not all the teams are compatible. Also in US history they use to make us watch the news and talk about it in class. I always enjoyed that and it keeps the children well informed.

Edited April 5, 2014 by Marshalscienceguy