Contents
The Smarter Future
Briefing vWhat is science and scientific thinking? The scientific way
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vThink Scientifically and improve the world 5 vTips For Raising a Scientific Thinker Making History vMarie Curie Physicist and Scientist
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Education vOur Children Are Curious Feeding their curiosity in class
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Fun Facts vDid You Know vGames and Experiments
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What Is Science and Scientific Thinking?
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Science is the study of the world around us. It is learning facts about the world we live in, this could be confused with scientific thinking which is the process of thinking such as asking questions (skepticism) and finding out new things about our world. Children from birth are naturally like that. From birth, children usually put things in their mouth, pick up things from the floor, this is considered their way of discovering new objects. This
habit could be either developed or stopped by the parents as they are over worried about the children. We should be encouraged to let these children discover things in the way they do that as to help in their cognitive development. If children were stopped from thinking and discovering at a young age, they will not gain this skill later in life. Children should be involved actively in the learning process of the science.
The person’s ability to learn and think is developed from the person’s early years. The child learns from everything surrounding him, and benefits from every action they take, this is why encouraging scientific thinking from the child’s early years is very important. Whether it is from the school the child attends or the caretakers, and people that are part of his daily life. Science is what makes us existing and the proof of everything around us. Why these things are there and how they happened are questions answered by thinking scientifically.
We live in a world that is considered very high technology and this technology is based on advances in sciences, in order for people to be familiar with the kind of life they will be having, they need to be taught and adapted to this kind of environment from early childhood. Skepticism should be encouraged to children, asking questions helps a lot in gaining a lot of information and learning about the world we live in.
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There are 2 main groups that play this role in the child’s early years. Parents are the main source of support and
encouragement as the children are usually home for the first few years of their life before they go to school. In these few years the child picks up the basics of learning and gaining the information from all around us. Some parents that are over protective of their children do not give them the chance to discover and explore, when it is much better to set the infant free, let him do whatever he wants and play with the objects in front of him so that he develops the ability to find out about these objects and how they work. This skill if not encouraged from early years it will never be. As the child starts going to school his main source of learning become the school and the teachers so therefore a method of learning should be applied in schools in order to enhance the child’s learning and thinking ability.
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Think scientifically and improve the world Why do people look the way that they do? Why do they look like their relatives? Even in the better part of the last century, these questions were mostly unanswered. Today, the opposite is true, and the public is well informed of the information regarding this topic due to the determined work of two scientists. Scientific thinking has been an effective method of explaining human existence. The two scientists responsible for discovering DNA, Jim Watson and Francis Crick, claimed to “have discovered the secret of life�. The reason for this statement is that after years of research, Watson and Crick determined that DNA was the agent responsible for transferring genetic information across generations. Watson and Crick hungered for this information, because they were thinking scientifically about how human existence is perpetuated throughout the ages. Thus, teaching future generations to be scientific thinkers will encourage the continuation of human advancement. It will also encourage the drive for discovery and learning. All of these factors will ensure that there will still be those who are willing to discover and innovate, like Watson and Crick, and fewer who would sit idly by and do nothing for humanity.
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Our Children Are Curious: Feeding their curiosity in class
Since science is the 21st century revolution, our children need to be ready to grow up in a worlds shaped and lead by science. The demands of our century stress on an individual to take up, use and understand the applications of science. We can ensure our children’s readiness by imbedding in them from childhood the bases of scientific literacy and scientific thinking. The question now is, how can we most effectively through teaching engage these children as students with these concepts and understandings for the development of their scientific literacy? Young children tend to ask many questions everyday at home and in school. This shows there sense of curiosity about the world
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around them and their eagerness to explore it. According to statistics, on average, less than 10% of instructional time is spent of teaching science in the early grades, which is the science instructions used by the teachers tend to inhibit inquiry, exploration and reflection on behalf of the student. In class, children should be engaged more in actively learning science. During teacher-guided activities and readings children should be motivated to make predictions, record observations in their science notebooks, and discuss their findings. These activities will help develop a sense of scientific analysis in the children’s thought as they grow up.
Teach Scientifically!
Steps to a successful way of teaching: • Inquiry: Since the way to thinking scientifically could be started through inquiry here are some steps that will lead to develop and make use of children’s inquiry successfully in class: 1. Pre-inquiry activities: children are encouraged through whole-class activities to brainstorm and discuss to activate knowledge that they already have on the subject in question, these activities also work to introduce the purpose of the investigation, and to provide children with a framework for investigation 2. Inquiry activities: Children can work in small groups on activities associated with scientific investigation. They are encouraged to ask questions or make predictions, to discuss how the planned investigation will provide relevant data, to collect and record data, and to draw conclusions from the data. Children continue to read science books that are related to the topic of investigation through the theme during the inquiry activities. 3. Post-inquiry activities: Children discuss there results amongst class and the teacher and share what they have learnt. • Teacher reading strategy is another way to develop a child’s scientific literacy.
To read more about the benefits for your child: http://www.4shared.com/file/diglURi1/How_do_these_activities_benefi.html
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Bibliography
Project, Scientific Literacy. Teach Science Literacy Kindergarten ChildrenInquiry Based Science-Teacher Guided Science-Purdue Scientific Literacy. Web. 15 Nov. 2010.<http://www.purduescientificliteracyproject.org/>.
• Wi l s o n , R u t h . " p r o m o t i n g t e h d e v e l o p m e n t o f s c i e n t i f i c thinking." the professional resource for teachers and p a r e n t s n . p a g . We b . 2 9 N o v 2 0 1 0 . • C o u n c i l f o r E x c e p t i o n a l C h i l d r e n , . " I m p r o v i n g Yo u r Child's Thinking Skills." Family Education n. pag. We b . 1 D e c 2 0 1 0 . • "Enhancing Critical-Thinking Skills in Children: Tips for P a r e n t s . " D u k e T I P 6 . 4 ( 2 0 0 6 ) : n . p a g . We b . 4 D e c 2010. < h t t p : / / w w w. d u k e g i f t e d l e t t e r. c o m / m o v a b l e t y p e / m t tb.cgi/260> •
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