MODULE 1

The Concepts Science, Science Teaching and Learning

Content
1.1 Introduction
1.2 The Concept Science
1.3 Use of Science in Daily Life
1.4 The concept Teaching and Learning in Science
1.5 Importance of Scientific Knowledge
1.6 Examples of Uses of Scientific Process

1.1 Introduction
Imagine if there were no trains, cars, hospitals, computers, engineers and doctors! How would the world
look like? Obviously if there could be no such things and such people, the world could be miserable and
awkward. This lecture introduces you to the concept of science and how you can teach it better. It covers
the concept of science, science teaching, and process of science and the application of science in our daily
life.
The inclusion of science in the primary school curriculum provides an extremely efficient vehicle for
teaching the skills of communication and of numeracy in a natural integrated manner. Most important,
however, is the concept that science teaching should be child-centered. The normal life of children to
solve problems is essentially a scientific way of working. School experiences need, therefore, to build on
what children do naturally. Scientific enquiry is valuable because it helps children learn about their
surroundings in a way which is natural and acceptable to them, through practical exploration relying
heavily on sensory experience. Involvement and discovery help the child to communicate. Activity-based
curricula can allow children to gain concrete experience of the world.

Objectives
At the end of the Module, you should be able to:

Explain the importance of science and science teaching and learning;

Develop an understanding of how to effectively teach the concept of science to primary school
pupils;

Identify the use of science in daily life;

Identify the scientific process of investigation.

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1.2 The Concept Science
What does the term ‘science’ really mean? Science refers to a system of acquiring knowledge. This system
uses observation and experimentation to describe and explain natural phenomena. The term ‘science’ also
refers to the organized body of knowledge people have gained using that system. Less formally, the word
science often describes any systematic field of study or the knowledge gained from it.
Science is an efficient means for developing scientific thinking. It is essential to encourage students to
develop scientific modes of explanations and modelling (Acher, et al. 2007) and to develop the science
process skills from the earliest school age. But why do we teach science? Science is taught for very many
reasons some of them include:

Fostering positive attitudes to Science;

Encouraging pupils to develop an appreciation of the contribution of Science and Technology to
society; and

Promoting the holistic development and education of the child through observing, questioning,
investigating, understanding and discussion.
Science education, thus, enhances children’s knowledge and understanding of themselves and the world
in which they live. The development of children’s ideas is central to Science Education. For teachers to
teach science more effectively, language is an integral part of the teaching and learning process and in the
planning and implementation of the curriculum in Science.
Below are examples from TESSA materials, you are advised to study such materials and develop your
own examples from local environment. Materials created should reflect at least two topics taught in
primary school science.

Case Study 1: Plants and Animals Adapting to Survive

Plants and animals adapt to a wide range of conditions on land. This makes a fascinating
topic to study.
You can work out much from pictures or specimens of plants or animals about how or
where they live. Clues are:

• The overall body shape;

• The type of outer covering;

• The proportions of the body parts

• Any unusual structures or arrangements of parts.

We do this by processes of deduction. Activity 1 suggests how you can encourage the development of this
skill by observing small animals that are found around the school. If you have suitable books, you might
extend this work using pictures of other animals or by thinking about humans.
In Case Study 2, a teacher helps his pupils to extend their science thinking based on one pupil’s observation.
Read this before doing the activity with your class.
You might ask your class to think about how plants adapt to your own environment.

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 Case Study 2: Plants in Dry Places
Alias Morindat grew up and teaches in the dry Dodoma region. Every few years, he asks
his multigrade, farm-school class to list different ways local plants are suited to survival
in dry conditions. He is always impressed with just how much knowledge they produce,
recording observations and conclusions in a collective mind map. To assess their work,
they enjoy comparing it with work from a few years back (including that of their older
brothers and sisters).
Here is one example of how this work can encourage pupils to make deductions from
their observations.
One year, a pupil made this observation: ‘Here in Dodoma region, more plants have
thorns or spines than those near Tanga (at the coast).’ What could be deduced from this
observation? Are thorns and spines an important adaptation for dry area plants – and
why?

Alias asked groups to consider this. Most agreed that it is an advantage to have thorns
because plants in dry places cannot easily replace green parts eaten by animals. One child
observed how people in wetter areas encourage fresh growth by cutting off branches.
Others noted that some plants also combined thorns with bitter tasting or irritating
juices. This stops them being eaten.
They deduced that it must be very important for the survival of xerophytes (organisms
which live, or even thrive, in areas with very little moisture) not to have to replace lost parts.

Activity 1: Mini-Beasts – Life Just Outside the Classroom

This activity requires small clear polythene bags. Give one bag to each group (three/four
pupils). Then ask each group to go outside (with your supervision) and catch one single
different small animal – not something with a poisonous bite or sting – a grasshopper, for
example. Back in class, groups study their mini-beast, which is easily visible and safely
contained with enough air to survive until released.
They record all their observations in the form of a mind map. ‘Where it was found’ and ‘What
it was doing there’ is recorded top right. Its features are carefully recorded bottom right.
Bottom left they list what they already know about the creature and the top left is used for
questions they raise.
In a multigrade class, you might ask older pupils to work with younger pupils to help them
record their observations and questions.
Groups share their observations and questions, and add information from other pupils to their
mind maps. Then they think carefully of something more they can add in another colour for
each observation or question they have written. This helps them deepen their thinking.
(See Resource 1: The seven common characteristics of all living things for examples.)

Resource 1: The Seven Common Characteristics of All Living Things

Resource Type B: Background Information/Subject Knowledge For Teacher
When asked to think of the characteristics of all living things, most young children relate it to themselves and
include things like needing to sleep, needing to keep clean, all die, need air, need to eat, all grow, all can be
hurt or damaged, need friends, etc.

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 Accept and praise all their answers before you explain to them that scientists have come to agreement that the
seven things that all living things have in common are the following:

Nutrition

Reproduction

Growth

Respiration

Sensitivity

Movement

Excretion
We suggest you discuss each characteristic in turn with pupils. It is useful to clarify that the same basic things
happen in plants and in animals but slightly differently. For example, with nutrition, plants manufacture their
own food, whereas animals are dependent on eating plants or other animals. A further example is that more
plants than animals can reproduce both asexually (without mating) as well as sexually (requiring pollination). It
is only some of the more simple animals that can split into two or bud off new offspring; otherwise sperm and
eggs are involved. But with both eggs and seeds, there is an embryo that develops and germinates/hatches or
is born. Let the children’s interest and questions guide the discussion about each characteristic.
A good activity is to try to find evidence of these characteristics. For example, a leaf that shows evidence of
having been eaten by some insect, or the owl pellets of skin, fur and bone found under a tree where an owl
roosts (nutrition). Tracks, trails and ripples in water are evidence of animals moving (movement). Flowers that
follow the sun, like sunflowers, or others that close/open at night, is evidence of plant movement. Then,
clothes that no longer fit, shed skins of insect larvae and tree roots that crack paving are evidence of growth.
Write each characteristic on the chalkboard and let pupils add notes or drawings to explain evidence they have
found.

Primary school is an ideal place to implement an in-depth renovation of science education because
children spontaneously question natural phenomena, have a great ability to learn, can learn language and
science together, are in contact with the real world and are less influenced by media. Thus, the aims of
primary science can be broadly divided into two categories:
1. To stimulate pupils’ curiosity in the world around them;
2. Encourage critical and creative thinking; and
3. To create a foundation for science at secondary school.

1.3 Use of Science in Daily Life

As it has been mentioned in the introduction part of this lecture, science has many uses in our daily life.
As a teacher, you need to facilitate pupils in exploring their natural and physical environments.
During this process, pupils are likely to develop an understanding of materials and activities that use
scientific knowledge and thereby, develop interest and curiosity towards the subject.
Survey items that are used at home and at school. Then make a list of all items; wherein during their
manufacturing, scientific knowledge has been used. Describe the type of scientific knowledge that has been
used.

Primary science curriculum is important for developing the adults of tomorrow. Children learn about
three areas of scientific knowledge:

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1. Life Processes and Living Things: This includes human health and nutrition; plant nutrition;
classification of animal and plants; the habitats of animal and plants.
2. Materials and their Properties: This includes how materials can be used; how they can change
(burning, freezing, boiling); and how they can be mixed and separated.
3. Physical Processes: Electric circuits; forces; how light and sound travel; and astronomy.
For such a scientific knowledge to be developed, pupils have to be developed in scientific inquiry.

1.3.1 Scientific Inquiry

The areas of scientific knowledge are taught in tandem with the skills of scientific enquiry. Research
suggests that good scientific enquiry should build on children’s existing knowledge, interests and ideas;
link to everyday contexts; and encourage discussion. Below is an example of the type of material that can
be used to stimulate discussion:
1. Two children are discussing about wearing of warm clothes in a coldest environment. One says
when you are inside pull out a coat and place it in a safe place so that you pick it when you come
out. The other child says, “You know my coat is very expensive and I like it. Thus, it is difficult
for me to remain even a second without wearing it”. What is your opinion? Why?
2. Juma and Ali want to push a car. Juma says let us go inside the car and push. Ali says no, we are
supposed to be outside the car when pushing. The car managed to move few steps. What made
the car to move? Describe.
Generally, children naturally enjoy observing and thinking about nature. A child’s world is fresh and new
and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement (Carson, 1984). Because of their innate curiosity, children
eagerly embrace all types of science activities. What makes children particularly ready for science is this
intrinsic motivation which refers to doing an activity for its inherent satisfaction rather than for some
separable consequences. Some may say children just play during these science activities; however,
according to Vygotsky, play is the leading factor for the development of relationships between objects,
meanings and imaginations. This is one of the most important arguments for including science in early
years of schooling. It is seen that aims of science curriculum focus on making students active and skilful,
and teaching them how to learn. Here are some aims related to how to learn science subject: gaining skill
for using tools and equipment and laboratory, gaining skill of creative thinking ability, giving students
critical thinking skill, developing the skills to students on learning how to learn, gaining skill of acquiring
and using information.
Here are activities that teachers are likely to use in order to develop scientific inquiry in pupils.

Web Page 1
Mathematics deals with patterns, so does art, and even in language there are patterns and structures. Thinking
scientifically also involves looking for basic patterns. Think of your hands and feet. They have the same basic
plan. They are joined to a limb by a joint (wrist/ankle), there is a flat part (palm/sole) and there are five
jointed digits (fingers/toes) with hard nails on the upper tip.
Scientists group things by similarities and differences in the basic patterns of their structure or form.
Pupils will enjoy looking for basic patterns in the plants and animals they know and find. One way to find out
what your pupils observe about patterns in plants and animals is by asking them to make models. Talking
about their models will help them make more detailed observations of the living things.
In the case study 3, pupils showed their teacher what they knew about plants by building models. This gave a
starting point for developing their skills of observing and understanding plants. Activity 2 guides you through
a similar exercise that is appropriate for your curriculum.

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 Case Study 3: Models of Plants
At a teacher education session at Korogwe Teacher’s College, teachers worked to plan more practical, hands-
on science lessons that would help them see what children already knew and could do.
They explored the use of model making as a way to assess what children knew about something like the
structure of plants. Then, after comparing each other’s models and observing real plants more carefully, the
pupils could choose to improve their old models, or make new ones to show new learning.
One of the teachers, Frida Mganga, demonstrated how she had used a cardboard box of scrap material (cloth,
cardboard, paper, plastic, old tights, elastic bands, used containers, etc.) as a resource for children to build
models to show what they already knew about plants. She explained how much more detail the children had
taught themselves after comparing each other's work and going out to observe plants more carefully. They
included bark and buds, and finer details like leaf veins, or specific patterns of branch formation. Improving
their models seemed to give the pupils a real reason to sharpen their observation and extend their
understanding of plant structure.

Activity 3: Collecting Evidence of Life Around Us

Tell your pupils that they will be developing a display to show non-living and
living things around them. Explain that it would not be right to display real
animals and plants. They should not damage or kill anything living. Instead,
rather like detectives, they should hunt for clues and evidence of any living thing
– for example, feathers, droppings, leaves and seeds. Give pupils several days to
bring in things for the display. Now talk about the groupings you will have
(animals, plants and so on), what defines each group and where each item sits in
the display. Pupils could then make labels for the display.
In the next science lesson, choose six things from the display – three living and
three non-livings – and display them on another table.
Gather your pupils round the table and ask them which of the six things are living and how they
know this. By careful questioning and discussion, you should be able to draw up a list of the seven
characteristics of living things. Resource 3: The seven common characteristics of all living things
gives you ideas for this work on the characteristics of plants and animals.

Before this activity, ask your pupils to bring in scrap materials. Collect some yourself. Scrap materials might
include: tin; cardboard; string; tape; straws; plastic bottles; fabric; paper; netting; wire.
Step 1: Divide your class into small groups of three or four pupils. Write the following instructions on the
chalkboard or give each group an instruction card:
Talk about what a plant looks like.
Then make models of the plants from the scrap materials.
Step 2: Organise the scrap materials so that each group has a selection to use.

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 Step 3: Give your pupils time to plan and build their models.
Step 4: Ask each group to come to the front in turn and explain their model to the class.
How the Lesson Went for Frida
The plant models that the pupils made showed that they knew the basic structure of a plant, but they were not
too sure of the details, like bark, side branches and where the leaves are on branches.
She decided to let them look at plants outside and then return to their models and change or add to them. Her
pupils had some knowledge of the terminology but not enough in English or their mother tongue, so they
used a mixture of both. There were some plant parts they did not know the names of in either language.
To help pupils, she developed a lexicon (a small dictionary) to show which words the pupils knew to describe
the parts of plants that they were familiar with:
(You might find it helpful to put up these words round your classroom and encourage the pupils to use them
when talking about their models).
Adapted from: Primary Science Programme – Teaching the Topic Plants

1.4 The Concept Teaching and Learning Science

Have you ever thought why you are teaching science to primary school pupils? One answer can be that
you want pupils to learn some scientific ideas and to enjoy what they are learning. One can say that
teachers are concerned with both the cognitive (or thinking) and the affective (or feeling) impact of their

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lessons on pupils. If this is the case why pupils are still struggling in understanding the ideas they
encounter in science lessons? Then it is important for the teacher to learn how pupils learn science.
According to Bennett (2007), there are four perspectives on the way pupils learn science. They are
discussed below.

1.4.1 Transmission of Knowledge

In this case, teachers are seen as the knowledge owners. Teaching in this aspect is transmitting knowledge
from the knower (teacher) to the pupils who are regarded to have no knowledge about the science being
taught. The view is linked to expository teaching where the teacher stands in-front of the class telling
pupils about scientific ideas. What do you think about this method? As a teacher you might have some
reservations on this perspective. However, transmission teaching has its uses, but also has some
limitations: as telling pupils about scientific ideas is no guarantee that they will receive the message as
transmitted, nor that they will understand it. Moreover, transmission view implies that pupils’ role in the
learning process is largely passive, and that pupils mind has nothing that is ‘tabula rasa’—a blank slate in
which knowledge can be written. It is further acknowledged that pupils very often already have ideas
about some of the things they encounter in their science lessons. What are your ideas about using this
view of teaching? In which case can you use this view when teaching science in primary schools? Such
limitations lead to other views of science teaching.

1.4.2 Discovery Learning

Discovery learning involves presenting information to pupils in a form which require them to discover
relationships within the information, and to structure and make sense of the information and
relationships. In discovery learning, pupils are seen as active participant in the learning process. Discovery
learning has changed the tendency of treating pupils as having nothing, and hence, encourages pupils to
actively be involved in their learning process. The discovery learning were developed to challenge the
traditional teacher-as-transmitter-of-knowledge model of teaching and to present science as a way in
which they could conduct their own inquiries into the nature of things. It is this view that places much
emphasis in science practical works organised in such a way that pupils make observations, look for
patterns and come up with possible explanations for the observed patterns.
The challenge to this method is the question of asking pupils to discover things for themselves whereas
both teachers and pupils know the answers as they already exist in the form of current acceptable
scientific theories. This questions the nature of understanding pupils develop to be left to their own
devices. Then one might ask as to what extent do pupils discover scientifically accepted explanations of
the phenomena they experience? The difficulty does arise when pupils make errors in their practical work
in determining patterns. It may be that discovery learning is criticised on the basis of the misleading view
of science it presents. Discovery view often called inductivist view, suggests that scientists work by
collecting unbiased data free of any ideas they might have themselves, and then arrive at explanations for
what they have observed. But as a teacher how much do you agree on unbiased data? In natural
condition, it might be difficult to agree that one can collect data without being influenced by what one
already knows. The clear reason is that for one to collect data, it must have some thing that compels to
select cases for studying. Try to remember when you did a project or planned a project for someone else
to do. You might find that one must have a purpose for any activity conducted in real life.

1.4.3 Developmental View of Learning

Have you heard about developmental psychology? This view emanates from that. It looks at how
children’s abilities to obtain, process and use information (their cognitive abilities) develop as they mature.
The single most influential theory describing this is the Piaget’s work. You will learn this more in
psychology. In this lecture, we focus on learning processes as described by Piaget. Two key learning
processes are described by Piaget’s work:
1. Assimilation: Interpreting new learning experiences within the existing frameworks.
2. Accommodation: Modifying existing thinking to take account of new learning experiences.

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In this case, new knowledge is created after modifying the existing knowledge. Thus, the modified
knowledge on addition results to multiplication. That is at first one knows addition. Later on the concept
of addition is extended to multiplication.

1.4.4 Constructivism
The notion that learning is influenced by prior experiences and ideas (developmental learning) has led to
the constructivism view in science teaching. Essentially a constructivism view of learning holds that
people construct their own meaning from what they experience, rather than acquiring knowledge from
other sources. Characteristics of Constructivism view of learning include:

Learning outcome depends not on the learning environment but also on the knowledge of the
learner.

Learning involves the constructing of meaning. The question is how many meanings we expect in
the context of diverse learners and how do teachers mediate to get one and only one meaning in
a large class size. It might result back to transmission if not well managed. However, meanings
constructed by students from what they see or hear may or may not be those intended.

The construction of meaning is a continuous and active process.

Meanings, once constructed, are evaluated and can be accepted or rejected

There are patterns in the type of meanings students construct due to shared experiences with the
physical world and through natural languages.
One might say that constructivism view of learning science takes into account prior knowledge or ideas
pupils have about physical world, either from their observation or from everyday language usage,
acknowledges that learning will involve developing, modifying and even rejecting existing ideas, and
accepts that understanding is something learner construct for themselves.
Consider the following activities and explain the view of teaching and learning science they present.
Finally create activities from any part of syllabus that reflect similar views of teaching and learning science
and assess the usefulness of this type of teaching in our primary schools.

Webpage Page 2
An ecosystem is the pattern of life and interaction between the living things in a specific type of place. This
could be a pond, a stream, a hedge, a tree, a forest, a cliff-face or even a field. It could be as small as life under
a rotting log or as vast as life in an inland lake.
Thinking about ecosystems doesn’t have to be complicated for you and your pupils. It is sufficient if pupils
spend time observing and investigating different ecosystems. They should get a general idea of ‘what eats
what’, relative numbers of different species and raise some questions about how different animals interact
with each other. It is important to give pupils time to think of the questions they want to ask; often short
discussion in small groups will lead to more focused questions.
Case Study 4 shows how one teacher introduced her pupils to a local ecosystem – a pond. Activity 4 shows
how to start long-term observations of your local ecosystems.

Case Study 3: Models of Plants

At a teacher education session at Korogwe Teacher’s College, teachers worked to plan more practical, hands-
on science lessons that would help them see what children already knew and could do.
They explored the use of model making as a way to assess what children knew about something like the
structure of plants. Then, after comparing each other’s models and observing real plants more carefully, the
pupils could choose to improve their old models, or make new ones to show new learning.

9
One of the teachers, Frida Mganga, demonstrated how she had used a cardboard box of scrap material (cloth,
cardboard, paper, plastic, old tights, elastic bands, used containers, etc.) as a resource for children to build
models to show what they already knew about plants. She explained how much more detail the children had
taught themselves after comparing each other's work and going out to observe plants more carefully. They
included bark and buds, and finer details like leaf veins, or specific patterns of branch formation. Improving
their models seemed to give the pupils a real reason to sharpen their observation and extend their
understanding of plant structure.

Case Study 3: Models of Plants

At a teacher education session at Korogwe Teacher’s College, teachers worked to plan more practical, hands-
on science lessons that would help them see what children already knew and could do.
They explored the use of model making as a way to assess what children knew about something like the
structure of plants. Then, after comparing each other’s models and observing real plants more carefully, the
pupils could choose to improve their old models, or make new ones to show new learning.

Talk to your class about the idea of an ecosystem. Brainstorm a list of probable
ecosystems near the school (see Resource 5: Likely Local Ecosystems).

Divide your class into groups and let each one select an ecosystem to adopt and study
for the rest of the year. If there is only one suitable ecosystem near your classroom,
everyone can study it. Organise pupils to take turns to record the observations.
Encourage them to ask questions about the animals that live there and how they might
interact with each other. What types of living things (populations) would they expect to
find and in what numbers? What eats what? How might numbers change during the
year? Record these questions and predictions for future reference.

• Later, make time to visit the sites with pupils, to check their predictions. This becomes
an ongoing group project. Make time every few weeks for visits and reports of new
information. In this way, the pupils’ knowledge and understanding will grow over time
in a relaxed and informal way.

• Groups could keep a scrapbook or journal to record their growing understanding of the
way things happen in their ecosystem.

• As the project progresses, think about your pupils’ involvement – are they motivated by
this activity? Do they enjoy this way of learning?

Resource 4: Food Chain

Resource Type D: Example of pupils’ work

Species Approximate Feed on Eaten by Eggs or Activity Value

number ?
Ants whole colony ant lion many different nuisance
eggs and workers
larvae soldiers clear dead
and queen
pupae things

Scorpion only one millipedes Baboon live sting is

crickets young poisonous
beetles 10
Resource 5: Likely Local Ecosystems
Resource Type C: Teacher resource for planning or adapting to use with pupils
Probable ecosystems you and your pupils might like to consider include the following:

Life under a small rock or fallen tree trunk;

A nearby tree;

A living fence;

The classroom itself (corner, cupboard, etc.);

The local river or lake;

A nearby forest;

A dry barren hillside;

The household woodpile (watch out for snakes);

A clump of bushes;

The beach;

A compost pit.
Record what pupils expect to find in their ecosystem in a table, example below:
Under a Rock

Write pupils’ suggestions lightly in pencil to be rubbed out when the answers are filled in.

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1.5 Importance of Scientific Knowledge
Imagine if there was no scientific knowledge, what might have happened? With science we can move,
diagnose diseases, discover things, communicate more efficiently and effectively; move from one place to
another and improve our ways of understanding phenomena.

Explain how you could teach importance of scientific knowledge to the students.

Scientific knowledge is a knowledge one obtains through the use of scientific inquiry. Thus, the
importance of scientific knowledge can be to make people develop scientific inquiry, understand scientific
terms so that they can participate in debates involving scientific concepts, make use of scientific
knowledge in their daily life and be more innovative. It is such knowledge that makes difference between
the developed and developing nations. In the case of Tanzania, scientific knowledge needs to be
developed more. The one to develop this is you as a teacher and the students you are teaching.
Before starting teaching any new topic try to find out the importance of that knowledge to the real life of
the learner and use this knowledge to develop further your lesson.

1.5.1 Examples of Uses of Scientific Process

You as a teacher have been introduced to the scientific processes. It is important that you try the process
yourself before going to teach in the classroom. Let us recollect once more one simple scientific
procedure. It is necessary first to have a problem to find a solution. It is from the problem, that one can
guess the answer (Hypothesis). Later on one has to plan and do what to do in order to solve the problem
(Procedure). After planning what to do, during doing you are supposed to be keen to see, smell, hear, or
measure the changes occurring in the cause of doing (Observation). Be careful to know the properties and
dangers in using your senses to determine changes. Some of the processes are dangerous, and thus, you
cannot test using some of your sense organs. Finally you have to make a conclusion based on your
observation and test your hypothesis whether it is correct or it needs some amendments. After you have
tested ten, you are likely to have an answer on the problem posed.
It is important to know that observation skills need training. The next example shows how you can train
your pupils to do observation.

Activity 5: Observation
Problem: Is there any difference among pupils in observing the same objects?
Material: Have at least 16 objects, a tray, a cloth to cover a tray and a watch.
Procedure: Have someone place the 16 objects on a tray. Cover the tray. Uncover the tray
and allow a group of pupils to observe for 10 seconds, one of the class members keep time for
observation. After observation go back to your seat and list as many objects you observed as
you can.
Questions: (1) How many objects were in the tray? (2) How many could you remember? (3)
How did that compare to the class average? (4) Which objects were remembered by most of
the class members? (5) Can you suggest any reasons why those objects were remembered? (6)
How well do your observations compare to those of others?

Such simple activities in the science teaching are likely to give students skills in observation. From the
example above, one can come up with answers such as; objects that are not familiar to students were
relatively less remembered as compared to objects that are common to them. I think now you know that
observation is basic in science and that when you observe something, you note facts about it. In short,
observations are facts. For example, you look at the box, you note that it has a blue colour. This
statement is an observation. Some of the things are of different sizes and different shapes, thus, there are
special instruments used for observing accurately. These tools enable you to take measurement, make

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records and sometimes make calculations. Some of these tools that aid observation include: ruler,
thermometer, microscope and a clock.
After observation, a scientist makes a scientific guess (hypothesis). Hypothesis is not enough to answer
the problem; one has to design an experiment that is likely to test the scientific guess. An experiment is a
procedure or operation that is designed to answer a question. It helps to prove or disprove a hypothesis.
It is an experiment that leads to conclusions, a judgement or answer to a problem based on interpreting
observations. You should know that scientists do not make conclusions basing on only one experiment.

Summary
In this lecture, you have been introduced to the concepts of science, science teaching and science
learning. One important thing to remember is that science teaching can be taught to all pupils regardless
of age and gender. You have also been introduced to the importance of observation in science and that
one can say that where there is no observation, there can be no science. Thus, we need to train our pupils
to observation skills. The lecture has been set out to make you become more competent in knowledge
and skills about how to go about teaching science.

Exercise
1. Define the term ‘science’ in your own words.
2. Why science is taught in your school?
3. Explain the ways you use to motivate pupils in learning science in your classroom.
4. What is observation?
5. How can you develop observation skills to your pupils? Design a lesson to train your pupils
observation skills.

References
1. Acher, A., Arca, M. & Sanmarti, N. (2007), Modeling as a Teaching Learning Process for
Understanding Materials: A Case Study in Primary Education, Science Education, 91, 398-418.
2. Anderson, R.D. (2002), Reforming Science Teaching: What Research says about Inquiry, Journal
of Science Teacher Education, 13(1): 1-12.
3. Bennett, J (2007), Teaching and Learning Science: A Guide to Recent Research and its
Application, London: Continuum.
4. Bennett, J. (2003), Teaching and Learning Science, A guide to Recent Research and its
Application. London: Continuum.
5. National Research Council (NRC). (2001), Educating Teachers of Science, Mathematics, and Technology:
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