Teaching Experimental Sciences
Code: 102089 ECTS Credits: 5| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2500798 Primary Education | OB | 3 | 1 |
Contact
- Name:
- Anna Marbà Tallada
- Email:
- Anna.Marba@uab.cat
Use of Languages
- Principal working language:
- catalan (cat)
- Some groups entirely in English:
- Yes
- Some groups entirely in Catalan:
- Yes
- Some groups entirely in Spanish:
- No
Teachers
- Maria Carolina Pipitone Vela
- Beatriz Ximena Cantero Riveros
Prerequisites
It is advisable to have passed the module "Teaching and Learning about the Natural, Social and Cultural Environment in Primary Education".
Objectives and Contextualisation
This module forms part of the Programme of Primary Teacher Education and is intended to deepen the content knowledge and competencies necessary to teach the module "Environmental Knowledge" in primary schools.
This module puts an emphasis on the scientific ideas that should be discussed with primary school students (what we call “content knowledge of school science”). This module also looks at pedagogical approaches that promote an understanding of science as an activity that integrates inquiry, modelling and communication.
The objectives of the module are:
1) To identify and discuss basic content knowledge of school science - key ideas - that are studied in primary education.
2) To embed pedagogical approaches that promote an understanding of school science as an activity that integrates inquiry, modelling and communication (doing, thinking and talking).
3) To become familiar with, design and evaluate teaching activities that promote students’ development of scientific competencies in primary school.
Competences
- Design and regulate learning spaces in contexts of diversity that take into account gender equality, equity and respect for human rights and observe the values of public education.
- Design, plan and evaluate education and learning processes, both individually and in collaboration with other teachers and professionals at the centre.
- Develop the functions of tutoring and guidance of pupils and their families, attending to the pupils’ own needs. Understand that a teacher’s functions must be perfected and adapted in a lifelong manner to scientific, pedagogical and social changes.
- Foster reading and critical analysis of the texts in different scientific fields and cultural contents in the school curriculum.
- Generate innovative and competitive proposals in research and in professional activity.
- Know and apply information and communication technologies to classrooms.
- Know the curricular areas of Primary Education, the interdisciplinary relation between them, the evaluation criteria and the body of didactic knowledge regarding the respective procedures of education and learning.
- Know the school curriculum for these sciences.
- Maintain a respectful attitude to the natural, social and cultural environment to foster values, behaviours and practices that attend to gender equality, equity and respect for human rights.
- Raising and solving problems related to everyday life.
- Reflect on classroom experiences in order to innovate and improve teaching work. Acquire skills and habits for autonomous and cooperative learning and promote it among pupils.
- Understanding the basic principles and fundamental laws of the experimental sciences (physics, chemistry, biology and geology).
- Value science as a cultural event.
- Work in teams and with teams (in the same field or interdisciplinary).
Learning Outcomes
- Apply knowledge of science education to critically analyse the curriculum and establish interdisciplinary relations with other curricular areas.
- Being able to apply scientific knowledge in order to understand and act on the phenomena in everyday life.
- Being able to develop innovative proposals for the teaching and learning of the scientific content in the area of environmental studies.
- Being able to evaluate teaching units as a way of guiding the processes for improving the quality of teaching.
- Being able to use basic models of the experimental sciences in order to interpret and act on the phenomena in everyday life.
- Being able to use the diversity of cognitive-linguistic skills to reflect on the processes of teaching/learning in the sciences.
- Being capable of developing innovative didactic units for teaching and learning the scientific content in the area of Environmental Studies that incorporate attention to diversity and the interdisciplinary focus of the curriculum.
- Demonstrate a critical ability to use a range of cognitive linguistic skills to reflect on processes in the teaching and learning of science.
- Demonstrate an understanding of science as part of cultural heritage.
- Demonstrate that attitudes regarding human rights as knowledge and tools for coexistence, as well as gender equality, are identified, practiced and defended.
- Demonstrate that attitudes regarding sustainability of the natural environment are identified, practiced and defended.
- Demonstrate the ability to incorporate the above values in the school curriculum.
- Demonstrate the ability to work in teams when designing a curriculum.
- Identifying the purposes, content and structure of the experimental sciences in the environmental studies curriculum in primary education.
- Meaningfully apply ICT resources to educational proposals.
Content
1. Learning and teaching about the Earth and its changes in primary school. What are the key ideas?
What does the official curriculum include? What are the most common students' previous ideas? How to make them evolve?
2. Learning and teaching about materials and their changes in primary school. What are the key ideas?
What does the official curriculum include? What are the most common students' previous ideas? How to make them evolve?
3. Learning and teaching about physical systems in primary school. What are the key ideas? What does the official curriculum include? What are the most common students' previous ideas? How to make them evolve?
4. Learning and teaching about the living beings in primary school. What are the key ideas? What does the official curriculum include? What are the most common students' previous ideas? How to make them evolve?
5. Transversal issues: Attitudes towards science, gender and science, filed trips, interdisciplinariety
Methodology
Our teaching approach and assessment procedures may be altered if public health authorities impose new restrictions on public gatherings for COVID-19
Whole group sessions:
Teacher presentations about basic content knowledge. These sessions are offered to the whole group and allow for discussion of the main contents promoting students' active participation. These sessions include activities that can be performed individually, in pairs or in small groups of students, and then, the results of their reflections and discussions are shared with the rest of the group. Virtual methodology.
Seminars:
Work spaces in small groups (1/3 out of the whole group) supervised by the teacher. These sessions are aimed at embedding the contents studied in whole group sessions. These sessions also include a compulsory field trip.
Tutorials:
Tutorials to address queries and questions about the topics studied during the course in order to prepare for the written exam or the assignments to be submitted. Exam review.
Students' work:
Students' elaboration of papers, seminar reports, and tasks related to the whole group sessions. Students' search for information and materials, study and preparation for exams, readings.
Due to the pandemic situation, at the beginning of September the lists of seminars A and B will be published on the Campus Virtual (in alphabetical order). Only changes that are exchanged between students will be accepted and must be maintained throughout the course. The changes must be communicated to the teaching staff responsible before the course starts:
Grup 21- Anna Marbà Tallada
Grup 31 & 41- Carolina Pipitone Vela
Group 71 - Victor López Simón
Before the course start, a vote will be proposed to decide whether the seminars will be rotating or not (that is, if the A will always at 16 or not).
The 1st class schedules are:
Group 31: Monday, September 14, 8h Seminar A and 10.45 Seminar B in the laboratories. Lab coat required
Group 71: Monday, September 14 at 16h Seminar A and 18.45 Seminar B in the laboratories. Lab coat required
Group 21: Thursday, September 17, 8h Seminar A and 10.45 Seminar B in the laboratories. Lab coat required
Group 41: Thursday, September 17 at 4:00 p.m. Seminar A and 6:45 p.m. Seminar B in the laboratories. Lab coat required
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Seminars | 15.5 | 0.62 | |
| Whole group sessions | 22.5 | 0.9 | |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Tutorials | 25 | 1 | |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Students' work | 62 | 2.48 |
Assessment
To calculate the average mark of this subject, three grades will be considered:
- average grade of individual tasks (compulsory delivery)
- average grade of group tasks (compulsory delivery)
- exam grade (minimum of 5).
To be allowed to sit the exam, students who have failed some of the (individual or group) tasks must ask for a tutorial to discuss them.
In case of failing the exam, it will be possible to sit a make-up exam on the date and time established by the professor. To be allowed to sit the make-up exam, students must have sat the first exam and must have submitted all the requested tasks (individual and group) and have attended the tutorial to discuss the tasks that have been failed. In case of passing this second exam, the maximum total grade of this subject is 5.
All the assessment tasks carried out throughout the course must be submitted before the deadline established in the subject program by the professor.
The grades on each paper and the exam will be available 1 month after their submission at most.
The attendance to the outdoor visit is compulsory. Students must attend a minimum of 80% of seminars. Otherwise, the grade will be considered as "not taken".
In case of failing the final exam or average final grade, the final mark will be 4.5 (if the average grade is equal or higher than this grade) or the average grade itself (if it is lower than inferior 4.5).
To pass this subject, students must show a good general communicative competence, both oral and writing, and should master the working languages included in the teaching guide. Therefore, in all (individual and group) tasks, linguistic accuracy, appropriate writing and presentation formal aspects will be taken into consideration.
Students should be able to express themselves fluently and accurately and show a high degree of understanding of academic texts. Any task can be handed back (without any assessment) or failed if the professor considers that it does not fulfil these requirements.
Take into consideration that, in the case of the Catalan language, in 1st and 2nd grade students are required to have a linguistic competence equivalent to Level 1 for Pre-school and Primary Education Teachers; and from 3rd grade on students must have proved a linguistic competence equivalent to Level 2 for Pre-school and Primary Education Teachers (more information on these levels at http://www.uab.cat/web/els-estudis/-competencia-linguistica-1345698914384.html)
In accordance with UAB regulations, plagiarism or copy of any individual or group paper will be punished with a grade of 0 on that paper, losing any possibility of remedial task. During the elaboration of a paper or the individual exam in class, if the professor considers that a student is trying to copy or s/he discovers any kind of non-authorised document or device, the students will get a grade of 0, without any chance to take a make-up exam.
For further general details, the so-called General assessment criteria and guidelines of the School of Educational Sciences.
EVALUATION DATES
Exam
Group 21 & 41 - December the 17th (10 AM & 4 PM respectively).
Group 31 & 71 - December the 14th (10 AM & 4 PM respectively).
Re-takin exam: February 4th 12h all groups
Assessment task
Individual task related to chemical content.
Individual task related to biology content.
Group task related to geologicalcontent and transnatura trip (Núria).
All these activities must be delivered one week after the ending of the block content.
You can't retake these tasks.
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group reports, design or evaluation of teaching activities and other tasks | 25% | 0 | 0 | 15, 14, 3, 7, 5, 6 |
| Individual tasks related to the whole group sessions, seminars and field trips. | 25% | 0 | 0 | 15, 1, 8, 12, 13, 9, 11, 10, 14, 2, 4, 3, 7, 5, 6 |
| Written exam about content knowledge | 50% | 0 | 0 | 1, 8, 12, 9, 14, 2, 4, 5, 6 |
Bibliography
Arcà, M. (1990). Enseñar Ciencias. ¿Cómo empezar? Reflexiones para una educación científica de base. Barcelona: Paidós.*
Driver, R. et al. (1989). Ideas científicas de la infancia y la adolescencia. Madrid. Morata.*
Giordan, A. (1988). Los orígenes del saber: de las concepciones personales a los conceptos científicos. Sevilla: Díada Editores.
Giordan, A. (2001). El meu cos, la primera maravella del món. Barcelona: la Campana.
Harlen, W.; Qualter, A. (2009). The teaching of science in primary schools. 5th Edition. London: David Fulton Publishers.
Izquierdo, M.; Aliberas, J. (2004) Pensar, actuar i parlar a la classe de ciències. Bellaterra: Servei de Publicacions UAB.
Izquierdo, M (ccord) (2011). Química a Infantil i Primària. Ed Graó*
Jorba, J.; Sanmartí, N. (1994) Enseñar, aprender y evaluar: un proceso de regulación continua. Madrid: Centro de Investigación y Documentación Educativa.
Márquez, C., Prat, A. (coord.) (2010). Competència científica i lectora a Secundària. L'ús de textos a les classes de ciències. Barcelona: Dossiers Rosa Sensant, 70.*
Martí, J. (2012). Aprendre ciències a l'educació primària. Barcelona: Graó.
NGSS Lead States (2013).Next Generation Science Standards: For states, by states. Washingotn, DC: The National Academy Press.
Pujol, R.M. (2001). Les ciències, més que mai, poden ser una eina per formar ciutadans i ciutadanes. Perspectiva escolar, 257, 2-8.*
Pujol, R.M. (2003). Didáctica de les Ciencias en la educación primaria. Madrid: Síntesis*
Ramiro, E. (2010). La Maleta de la ciència: 60 experiments d'aireiaigua i centenars de
recursos per a tothom. Barcelona: Graó.
Sanmartí, N. (2007). 10ideas clave. Evaluar para aprender. Barcelona: Graó*
Skamp, K. (2012). Teaching primary science constructively. 4th Edition. Cengage Learning.*
Official documents
Currículum de l’àrea del medi natural, social i cultural. DECRET 119/2015, de 23 de juny, d'ordenació dels ensenyaments de l'educació primària.
http://portaldogc.gencat.cat/utilsEADOP/PDF/6900/1431926.pdf
Annex I. Competències bàsiques .Currículum educació primària - Decret 142/2007 DOGC
Journals of Research and Innovation in Teaching and Learning in Science
Alambique. http://alambique.grao.com
Enseñanza de las ciencias. Revista de Investigación y Experiencias Didácticas.
http://www.raco.cat/index.php/ensenanza
Ciències: Revista del Professorat de Ciències d'Infantil, Primària i Secundària.
http://crecim.uab.cat/revista_ciencies/
Journals of Research and Innovation in Teaching and Learning in general (including experimental science)
Aula de Innovación Educativa. http://aula.grao.com/
Perspectiva Escolar. http://www.rosasensat.org/perspectiva/
Infancia y Aprendizaje. http://www.fia.es/online/framehomepage.php?sos=win
Webs of interest
CDEC (Centre de Documentació i Experimentació en Ciències). http://srvcnpbs.xtec.cat/cdec/
Primary Science Project (1995). Nuffield Foundation. http://www.nationalstemcentre.org.uk/elibrary/collection/448/nuffield-primary-science
Seeds of Science, Roots of Reading Project. University of California, Berkeley.
http://www.scienceandliteracy.org/
Aplicatiu de Recobriment Curricular (educational materials). http://apliense.xtec.cat/arc/cercador
Habitat Guides for environmental education. http://80.33.141.76/habitat/
Leer.es. http://www.leer.es
Kimeia Group. grupkimeia.blogspot.com.es
Other
Concept maps of content knowledge in learning progression (from Science Continuum P10, Victoria, Australia).
*written by women