SEMINAR 1

sciEnce-a process approach    [sapa]

                SAPA was determined in the 1960’s by a project funded by American Association for the Advancement of Science[AAAS]. It utilized 11 basic skills to implement good science.these skills are in effect the underlying components of what is frequently called ‘scientific method of reasoning’.These 11  major processes are; observation,inferring,predicting,measuring,communicating,interpreting data,making operational definitions,formulating questions and hypothesis,experimenting and formulating models.

                        Most of these 11 process skills are used and agreed upon by all science educators as desirable outcomes for learners of science.when students are given opportunities to explore freely the aspects of the world and scientific endeavour such as diversity,change,continuity,interaction,organization,and limitation,then the skills of science can be learned in an easy and exciting manner.these conceptual schemes combined with hands on activities provide the framework for learning in science but even beyond that,they become the platform for critical thoughts and open mindedness

       
  COGNITIVE ACCELERATION THROUGH SCIENCE    EDUCATION[CASE]

    CASE was developed in the 1980’s at King’s college,London,by Michael Shayer,Philip Adey and Carolyn Yates and is based on the cognitive psychology of Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky.It uses a teaching approach which challenges student’s current level of thinking,encourages students to learn through cooperation with their peers,and develop their meta-cognitive skills including the ability to reason,assess arguments and solve problems.

                  

              The educational theory behind CASE will be gone into in more depth in the full CASE training course, but essentially stems from the Piagetian ideas of cognitive levels and the fact that ,with training,students can be moved up to higher cognitive levels.

                   

             Simply cognitive acceleration is an approach to teaching designed to develop student’s thinking ability.The teacher sets up good learning context and intervenes to guide the learners towards the learning goal.A mediator asks probing questions which gradually leading the learners to discover the answer for themselves.The mediator can offer clues which direct the learner , improving chance of successful thinking. Learner which develop abstract thinking directly have the following structure,

        Setting the scene-concrete preparation seems a similar purpose to the ‘bridging’section and links the activity to current knowledge,explains the task and check vocabulary.

        Challenge-challenge must be set just above the current level of secure knowledge-hard enough to be a challenge,but not so hard as to make the learners switch off.In a science lesson this can be taken in the form of demonstration with an unexpected effect.

Group work-The teacher can easily engage her students by group work.

Plenary-once the groups have solutions, the class shares ideas.The teacher does not give the answer but asks a group for a solution,then asks another;if they agree or disagree and why.The discussion continues until there is agreement.Teacher leads the group towards the answer through questioning.

Metacognition-during group work and the plenary,the teacher ask questions that reveal the thinking process,metacognition,which has been shown to be effective in securing knowledge.

Bridging knowledge in isolation from the learner’s secure knowledge is usually lost. The learner needs to bridge new learning to existing experiences.

let’s think through science

          Let us think program are the set of problem solving classroom activities geared to different ages which provide learners with interesting and puzzling challenges.Carefully orchestrated by trained teachers, students tackle the problems collectively,reach their own conclusions and reflect on the thinking process they used.As a result they become more confident.