Teaching Science

for Elementary
Grades
(Physics, Earth and Space Science)

Prepared by: Alana Angelica Z. Baruc RN, LPT

 Instructional Strategies for Teaching Science

• Effective science instruction capitalizes on questioning, offers opportunities for

students to integrate prior knowledge with new information and skills, and
encourages reflection.

• Encouraging student inquiry in an environment where lab safety practices are

followed results in students developing research skills and thinking processes to be
used in other problem-solving situations.

• In planning and teaching science, it’s important to state science ideas in complete
sentences to clarify exactly what it is we want students to understand, and how
science ideas are different from common student ideas.

• Science ideas can be stated as facts, terminology, descriptions of observations,

explanations of phenomena, concepts, patterns, laws, principles, or theories the
scientific community accepts as established ways to describe natural phenomena
 Instructional Strategies for Teaching Science

• Effective Teaching Strategies can be applied in many ways such as: a) Visualization of
information; b) Student-Led classroom; c) Implementing technology in the classroom; d)
Inquiry-based instruction. Various teaching strategies can be adapted in the classroom
for teaching Physics, Earth and Space Science.

• Intended Learning Outcomes

Encourage and enable students to:
1. develop inquiring minds and curiosity in teaching science.
2. Acquire knowledge, conceptual understanding and skills in their field of
specializations.
3. Integrate varied teaching strategies in teaching science
What is Inquiry-based Learning?
• Inquiry based learning is mainly involving the learner and leading
him to understand.
• Inquiry here implies on the possessing skills and attitude of yours,
which allows you to ask questions about new resolutions and issues
while you are gaining new information
• Dictionary meaning of Inquiry is seeking knowledge, information, or
truth through questioning. All the people carry on with this process
throughout their life, even if you might find it not very much
reflecting.
• The inquiry process is mainly the gathering of data and information
and applying them to senses like smelling, tasting, touching, hearing
and seeing
What is Inquiry-based Learning?
• Inquiry based learning is mainly involving the learner and leading
him to understand.
• Inquiry here implies on the possessing skills and attitude of yours,
which allows you to ask questions about new resolutions and issues
while you are gaining new information
• Dictionary meaning of Inquiry is seeking knowledge, information, or
truth through questioning. All the people carry on with this process
throughout their life, even if you might find it not very much
reflecting.
• The inquiry process is mainly the gathering of data and information
and applying them to senses like smelling, tasting, touching, hearing
and seeing
Four essential elements on which inquiry-based learning depends:

the patterns and

the useful knowledge
meanings should not
1 be deceptive to the 2 about a field should be
structured
beginners

the structured
the knowledge which is
knowledge should be
structured should be
easily retrieved so that
3 applicable, transferable, and 4 new information in that
accessible to a vast range of
particular field could
situations
be gained without
much effort
• The teachers must organize their lesson plans according to the
changing, interrelating, and communicating of knowledge.

Questioning and finding answers is an extremely important factor of

inquiry based learning as it aids you in effectively generating
knowledge.

In the end, inquiry based learning is basically teaching the students to

have a greater understanding of the world they work, communicate,
learn, and live in.
 Inquiry-based Teaching
Inquiry-based teaching is a pedagogical approach that
invites students to explore academic content by
posing, investigating, and answering questions.

Also known as problem-based teaching or simply as

‘inquiry,’ this approach puts students’ questions at the
center of the curriculum, and places just as much
value on the component skills of research as it does on
knowledge and understanding of content.
 Inquiry-based Teaching

The role of the teacher in an inquiry-based classroom

is quite different from that of a teacher in a
conventional classroom.
Instead of providing direct instruction to students,
teachers help students generate their own content-
related questions and guide the investigation that
follows.
 Basic tenets of Inquiry Teaching
1. Inquiry methods require the learners to develop various processes associated
with inquiry.

2. The principals and the teachers must support the concept of inquiry teaching
and learn how
to adapt their own teaching and administrative styles to the concept.

3. The students all ages and levels have a genuine interest in discovering
something new or in
providing solutions or alternatives to unsolved questions or problems.

4. The objective of inquiry teaching is often a process. In many instances, the

end product of an inquiry activity is relatively unimportant compared to the
processes used to create it.
 Basic tenets of Inquiry Teaching
5. All conclusions must be considered relative or tentative, not final.
The students must learn to modify their conclusions as new data are
discovered.

6. The learners are responsible for planning, conducting, and

evaluating their own effort. It is essential that the teacher plays only a
supportive role, not an active one (that is, the teacher should not do
the work for the students).

7. Inquiry learning complicates and expands the teacher’s work,

owing the many interactions that may emanate from inquiry teaching
and learning.
 Basic Inquiry Processes

Listed below are the basic inquiry processes in order of complexity:

1. Observing 8. Predicting
2. Classifying 9. Making operational definitions
3. Inferring 10. Formulating hypothesis
4. Using numbers 11. Interpreting data
5. Measuring 12. Controlling variables
6. Using space-time relationships 13. Experimenting
7. Communicating
Group
activity
 1
The Power of
Observation
 What is observation?
• Observation is the active acquisition of information from a
primary source.

• In living beings, observation employs the senses.

• In science, observation can also involve the perception and

recording of data via the use of scientific instruments.

• The term may also refer to any data collected during the
scientific activity.

• Observations can be qualitative, that is, only the absence or

present.
 What is observation?
• The scientific method requires observations of natural phenomena to
formulate and test hypotheses.

• It consists of the following steps:

1. Ask a question about a natural phenomenon
2. Make observations of the phenomenon
3. Formulate a hypothesis that tentatively answers the question.
4. Predict logical, observable consequences of the hypothesis that have not yet been
Investigated
5. Test the hypothesis' predictions by an experiment , observational study, field study, or
simulation
6. Draw a conclusion from data gathered in the experiment, or revise the hypothesis or
form a new one and repeat the process
7. Write a descriptive method of observation and the results or conclusions reached
8. Have peers with experience researching the same phenomenon evaluate the results
 Teaching and learning through observation
• Observational learning describes the process of learning by watching others,
retaining the information, and then later replicating the behaviors that were
observed.

• Observational Learning Examples

1. A child watches their parent folding the laundry.
2. A young couple goes on a date to a Chinese restaurant.

Observational learning describes the process of learning through watching others,

retaining the information, and then later replicating the behaviours that were
observed.

Psychologist Albert Bandura is the researcher perhaps most often identified with
learning through observation. He and other researchers have demonstrated that
we are natural.
 Importance of Observation
As Educators, we discover how child observations will impact our own
teaching, curriculum and class routine.

Observations allow Educators to understand what a child is interested

in and how they are currently learning. We ask questions like:

What are they showing interest in learning about?

How do they respond to transitions and the room routine?
How do they respond to certain activities and/or environments?
What is their disposition (style of learning)?
 Importance of Observation

There are also three things to consider why observations

important:

A. The development of facts from observations.

B. The development of concepts from observational facts.
C. Indirect observations.
 Examples
The following are examples of other long-term observation activities that can be
done at various grade levels:

1. Plant seeds and keep track of the growth of plants.

2. Observe changes in butterfly chrysalises from caterpillars to adult butterflies.
3. Raise mealworms to watch the changes in beetles’ life cycle.
4. Observe changes in terraria and aquaria with different ecosystems.
5. Observe changes in weather conditions.
6. Observe changes in the color of leaves in the autumn.
7. Start a mold culture and observe changes over a given length of time.
 Exam # 2
1. What are the benefits of using observation as a strategy in class?
2. How does it help the students develop facts, concepts and scientific
knowledge?

3. Given the learning competencies below, develop a sample lesson plan using
the strategy observation.
Topic: The Surroundings
Grade level: Grade 3
Learning Competencies
a. Describe the things found in the surroundings
b. Relates the importance of surroundings to people and other living things
 Engage
 Explore
 Explain
 Elaborate
 Evaluate
 2
Experimentation
 Experiment
• An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis.

• Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what

outcome occurs when a particular factor is manipulated.

• Experiments vary greatly in goal and scale, but always rely on repeatable
procedure and logical analysis of the results. There also exists natural
experimental studies
 The teachers can use experiment instead of, or in addition to more,
traditional approaches for the following reasons (SERC 2019):

¤ Experiments can be used to introduce new ideas or to clarify puzzling

aspects of topics with which the students typically struggle.

¤ If the result of an experiment is surprising yet convincing, the students

are in position to build ownership of the new idea and use it to scaffold
learning.

¤ In addition to checking that the conceptual focus of the experiment has

been understood correctly, post experiment assignments can push the
students to describe a follow-up experiment or to extend the concept to
another application.
During experiments:
The students are active in generating data or behavioral observations.

The students analyze data, examples or models

The students answer leading questions posed by the instructor and

compare their answers with those of other students

The students work together in groups to solve problems, devise

strategies, or understand class concepts

The students compare experimental results to classroom theories and

use them to confirm or critique the theories.
 How to Use Experimentation as a Teaching
Strategy?

a. Identify/Select a problem e. Make operational definitions

b. Formulate a hypothesis f. Perform the experiment

c. Test the hypothesis g. Record and interpret data

d. Control variables h. Draw a conclusion

 Activity # 3
• Form a group with 4 students.
• Select a SCIENCE EXPERIMENT that is
applied to teaching grades 3-6 students.
• On a 1 whole sheet of paper, write down
the following information:
 Topic
 Name of experiment
 Purpose of experiment
 Materials
 Procedure
 Activity # 3
(continuation)
• Prepare to perform the
experiment on FRIDAY,
March 22, 2024 and guide
your students on how to
perform the experiment.
 3
Guided
Inductive Inquiry
 Guided inductive inquiry
Guided inductive inquiry (GII) is a learning model to facilitate
students to have a comprehensive understanding of concepts,
develop complex thinking skills, and help internalize the concept
of evidence and substantive concepts within students that they
can use to solve problems, develop competencies, and improve
higher order thinking skills.

Inductive inquiry is a teaching method in which the teachers asks

the students to infer a conclusion, generalization, or pattern
relationships from a set of data or facts.
Two approaches of inductive inquiry:
Inductive inquiry

Guided and unguided inquiry

Inductive inquiry is actually applicable for all levels of instruction. At any level, the
process of observing, making inferences, classifying, formulating hypotheses, and
predicting are all sharpened (or reinforced) by the students’ experiences.
 How to Use Guided Inductive Inquiry as a Teaching Strategy?

Process:

1. The Beagle Inquiry Framework.

2. Start with a question about the goal.
3. Find a piece of content that helps answer that question.
4. Read through that piece of content and summarize it.
5. Ask another question (as we like to call it, a Natural Next
Question) that may lead closer to the goal question.
 Inquiry-Based Teaching: Origins and Method

• Founded on the proven system called ‘Moore’s deductive

method’ of instruction that was pioneered by Robert L. Moore in
Texas in 1911.

He introduced this method while teaching advanced concepts of

Mathematics where the students themselves eventually
systematically arrived at related mathematical problems within
the course
 Ways to achieving inquiry-based learning

1. Confirmation Inquiry: In this type, the involvement of teachers is high, and

such a method helps to reinforce the knowledge that students already have.
2. Structured Inquiry: The student seeks knowledge in an organized or
structured format, with a medium level of involvement or guidance by the
teacher.
3. Guided Inquiry: Here, the teacher presents a research problem to the
student, and the student investigates the same. The instructor involvement is
of a medium level.
4. Open/True Inquiry: In this type, the student will look up a research topic
and research and investigate on his/her own, without any guidance from the
instructor.
 Characteristics of Guided Inductive Inquiry Model
(Orlich et.al., 2007)

1. The learners progress from specific observations to inference or generalizations.

2. The objective is to learn (or reinforce) the process of examining events or objects and
then arriving at an appropriate generalization from the observations.
3. The teacher controls the specifics of the lesson (the events, data, materials or
objects) and thus acts as the class leader.
4. Each student acts to the specifics and attempts to structure a meaningful pattern
based on his/her observations and those of others in the class.
5. The classroom is to be considered a learning laboratory.
6. A fixed number of generalizations will be elicited from the learners.
7. The teacher encourages each student to communicate his or her generalizations to
the class so that others may benefit from them.
 The Role of Questioning Within Guided Inductive Inquiry

Question Stems: Dynamic Subjects

∙ What is happening? ∙ Where have you seen something

∙ What has happened? like this to happen?
∙ What do you think will happen now? ∙ How can you make this happen?
∙ How did this happen? ∙ How does this compare with what
∙ What caused this to happen? you saw or did?
∙ What took place before this ∙ How can you do this more easily?
happened? ∙ How can you do this more quickly?
 The Role of Questioning Within Guided Inductive Inquiry

Question Stems: Static Subjects

∙ What kind of object is it? ∙ How can you do with it?

∙ What is it called? ∙ How did it get its name?
∙ Where is it found? ∙ What can you do with it?
∙ What does it took like? ∙ What is it made of?
∙ Have you ever seen anything like it? ∙ How was it made?
Where? When? ∙ What is its purpose?
∙ How is it like other things? ∙ How does it work or operate?
∙ How can you recognize or identify it? ∙ What other names does it have?
∙ How did it get its name? ∙ How is it different from other things?
 4
Cooperative
Learning
 Characteristics of Guided Inductive Inquiry Model
(Orlich et.al., 2007)

Cooperative learning
is the process of breaking a classroom of students into small groups
so they can discover a new concept together and help each other learn.

sometimes called small-group learning, is an instructional strategy

in which small groups of students work together on a common task
 Five basic elements that allow successful small-group learning
(David Johnson and Roger Johnson, 1999)

a. Positive interdependence: Students feel responsible for their own and the
group's effort.
b. Face-to-face interaction: Students encourage and support one another; the
environment encourages discussion and eye contact.
c. Individual and group accountability: Each student is responsible for doing their
part; the group is accountable for meeting its goal.
d. Group behaviors: Group members gain direct instruction in the interpersonal,
social, and collaborative skills needed to work with others occurs.
e. Group processing: Group members analyze their own and the group's ability to
work together.
 Five basic elements that allow successful small-group learning
(David Johnson and Roger Johnson, 1999)

Cooperative learning changes students' and teachers' roles in classrooms. The

ownership of teaching and learning is shared by groups of students, and is no
longer the sole responsibility of the teacher.

Cooperative learning helps students engage in thoughtful discourse and examine

different perspectives, and it has been proven to increase students' self-esteem,
motivation, and empathy.

Some challenges of using cooperative learning include releasing the control of

learning, managing noise levels, resolving conflicts, and assessing student
learning.
• Cooperative Learning is an instructional method in which
students work in small groups to accomplish a common
learning goal under the guidance of the teacher.

Cooperative learning strategies offer students the possibility

to learn by applying knowledge in an environment more
similar to the one they will encounter in their future work life
• Cooperative Learning is an instructional method in which
students work in small groups to accomplish a common
learning goal under the guidance of the teacher.

Cooperative learning strategies offer students the possibility

to learn by applying knowledge in an environment more
similar to the one they will encounter in their future work life
PIES Principle
Positive Interdependence
- a gain for one is a benefit for the other.

- Pair and group members experience themselves as a team and are

on the same side working toward the same goal.

- To ensure positive interdependence while working with cooperative

learning, two requisites must be met: students should feel on the
same side and the task should require working together.
PIES Principle
Individual Accountability

- students work together as a team to create and to learn, but

ultimately every individual student is responsible for his or her
own performance.

- it is exactly to fulfill both positive interdependence and individual

accountability that in every cooperative learning strategy students are
given both time to think/work alone and to interact with peers.

- In this way students’ autonomy and cooperation are improved.

PIES Principle
Equal Participation

- Cooperative learning strategies instead make sure every

student in each team or pair is equally contributing to the final
achievement.

- They are actually designed to make students interact and to

have everyone at every step of the activity fulfil a specific task.
PIES Principle
Simultaneous Interaction
Cooperative learning strategies on the contrary are designed to
produce simultaneous interaction, so to engage as many students as
possible simultaneously.

Cooperative learning, reducing students’ disengagement and

favoring the natural need of students for social interaction instead
of contrasting it, helps also minimize classroom management
issues.

cooperative learning strategies often offer students a break from the

lesson, giving them also the possibility to move around in class.
Implementing Cooperative Learning

a. Assign the students in groups. It makes the students more alert to the
instructions to be given to them.
b. Explain clearly the outcomes that the students are to achieve and provide
clear directions about the academic tasks that each group will undertake.
c. Explain how the learning of individual students will be assessed.
d. Remind the students of your expectations from them and of the
cooperative goal structure (the reward for learning).
e. Provide the students with resources if necessary.
Implementing Cooperative Learning

f. Remind the students how long they have for the cooperative learning and
get them started.
g. Move around, visit each group to provide assistance, and monitor activities
and learning of the students to make notes of matters that will need to be dealt
with once the group activities have finished.
h. Bring the lesson to a logical conclusion.
i. Evaluate the students achievement and help them assess how will they
collaborated with one another.
 Sample
Strategies
Think-Pair-Share
The teacher asks a question to the whole
class, as he or she would do at the
beginning or at some point of the lesson.

Think-Pair-Share can also be used to

have students reflect on a topic, even
when no right interpretation is needed,
and, being the simplest and most famous
cooperative learning strategy, can be the
first one to be implemented.
Circle the sage
The teacher asks a question in class, and
then asks every student who can answer
it to stand up.

All the other students can now choose a

classmate and listen to the explanation.

Peer tutoring has proven to be very

effective for both sides: high achievers,
who are already familiar with content, get
the chance to prove it and learn valuable
communication skills at the same time.
Timed-Pair-Share
After having given a topic and some time to
think about it, the teacher asks students to
pair up and states how long they will share-
one or two minutes are a good start.

In pairs, partner A shares and partner B

listens. To rapidly check if the person who is
talking is the one supposed to, partners can
hold a pen while sharing. At the end, partners
B provide positive responses, like “I enjoyed
listening to you because…” or “Your most
interesting idea was…” and partner switch
roles.
Agree-Disagree Line-ups
The teacher announces a statement, such as, “I
feel my opinion matters in this class” “Taxes
should be raised” etc.

The strongest ‘agree’ student stands at one end

of the line while the strongest ‘disagree’ stands
at the other. The remaining students stand
between, closer to one end or the other.

Through Timed-Pair-Share, students listen

carefully to those with a similar point of view
(those standing next to them in the line) or the
teachers folds the line so they listen to and
understand a point of view different from their
own.
 5
Research
 Research
Research is defined as careful consideration of study regarding a
particular concern or problem using scientific methods.

According to the American sociologist Earl Robert Babbie, “research is

a systematic inquiry to describe, explain, predict, and control the
observed phenomenon. It involves inductive and deductive methods.”

Educational research helps illuminate what has been shown to be

effective so teachers can use the best methods of instruction in their
own classes. Research can be broken down into two categories: brain
science and teachers.
 Brain Science vs. Teacher
Brain Science Teacher
Brain science, also known as cognitive Master teachers are a great source of
science, is the area of research that educational research.
looks into the brain, sometimes literally,
to help us understand how it works. The depth of their experience in the
classroom provides researchers with
The information gleaned from cognitive valuable information about how
research steers instructional methods students act and react to instructional
methods and content.

This is why research is embedded

into initial teacher education
 Benefits of using research in teaching:

1. help you find solutions to particular problems arising in your

classroom or school
2. underpin professional learning of knowledge, skills and
understanding.
3. connect you with sources of information and networks of professional
support
4. clarify purposes, processes and priorities when introducing change –
for example, to curriculum, pedagogy or assessment
5. improve understanding of your professional and policy context,
organizationally, locally and nationally, enabling you to teach and lead
more strategically and effectively.
 Benefits of using research in teaching:

6. develop your agency, influence, self-efficacy and voice within your own
school and more widely within the profession.

7. can enable the learners to develop a deeper level of understanding of

the subject in comparison with using teaching strategies such as direct
instruction or discussion. It encourages them to strive for more than
superficial learning.

8. can teach the learners on how to make use of the sources of

information that are available in their local community.