Science in the New Zealand Curriculum

Achievement objectives

Level 2: Making Sense of the Physical World
Students can investigate and describe their ideas about some everyday ideas of physical phenomena.

Science in the New Zealand Curriculum, page 74
http://www.tki.org.nz/r/science/curriculum/p74_75_e.php

Levels 1 and 2: Developing Scientific Skills and Attitudes
Processing and Interpreting: Students can identify trends and relationships in recorded observations and measurements by suggesting links between these.

Science in the New Zealand Curriculum, page 46
http://www.tki.org.nz/r/science/curriculum/p44_51_e.php

Level 2: Making Sense of the Nature of Science and its Relationship to Technology
Students can use a variety of methods to investigate different ideas about the same object or event.

Science in the New Zealand Curriculum, page 28
http://www.tki.org.nz/r/science/curriculum/p28_29_e.php

The teacher's intended outcomes were for the students to:

• develop their ability to construct new understandings in discussion with others
• explain how we see using scientific ideas.

The intended outcomes were aligned to the following "big ideas":

• Scientists think of theories to explain things, which they share and discuss with others.
• We see when light is reflected off objects and enters the eye.

To begin this study the teacher asked the class to record their understanding of "how we see" on the diagram of the students looking at a tree (see Samuel's "before" view). Then the class completed a variety of activities to develop their understanding of light.
They:

• experienced light activities in a blacked-out room (see Light and Colour, Building Science Concepts, Book 10)
• conducted trials to find better reflectors among a range of everyday materials and investigated how easy it was to see various colours in a darkened "peep-box" (see Light and Colour, page 14)
• developed signs that could be seen in low-light conditions (see level 2 exemplar, Signs for a Dark Night)
• "bounced" light around the classroom with mirrors (see Light and Colour, page 17).

After a class discussion on "how we see" the students recorded their own views. The drawings gave the teacher information on the students' ideas and what to plan and teach next.

To move Samuel towards the next learning step, the teacher could help him focus on:

• explaining how he decided which view is the best (thinking in scientific ways)
• gaining experience of a range of light sources (see Light and Colour, pages 12 and 13), discussing sources and reflectors and, suggesting Samuel include a source of light in his diagram (developing and communicating scientific understanding).

The teacher could:

• sort the class into groups of students with different ideas and ask them to justify and explain their views. The ideas could be recorded and discussion and further investigation encouraged (thinking like a scientist)
• encourage the students to study how the eye responds to bright light and darkness (developing and communicating scientific understanding).

References

Ministry of Education (1993). Science in the New Zealand Curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media.

Ministry of Education (2001). Light and Colour: Our Vision of the World. Building Science Concepts, Book 10. Wellington: Learning Media.

Ministry of Education (2001). Shadows: Effects of the Absence of Light. Building Science Concepts, Book 9. Wellington: Learning Media.

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