Science in the New Zealand Curriculum
Achievement objectives
Level 3: Making Sense of the Physical World
Students can investigate and describe their ideas about some commonly experienced physical phenomena to develop their understanding of those phenomena.
Science in the New Zealand Curriculum, page 76
http://www.tki.org.nz/r/science/curriculum/p76_77_e.php
Levels 3 and 4: Developing Scientific Skills and Attitudes
Focusing and Planning: Students can use their science ideas and personal observations, and those of others, to make testable predictions or to identify possible solutions for trialling.
Science in the New Zealand Curriculum, page 44
http://www.tki.org.nz/r/science/curriculum/p44_51_e.php
Level 3: Making Sense of the Nature of Science and its Relationship to Technology
Students can investigate examples of simple technological devices and link these to some scientific ideas.
Science in the New Zealand Curriculum, page 30
http://www.tki.org.nz/r/science/curriculum/p30_31_e.php
The teacher's intended outcomes were for the students to:
- make a working model using the knowledge gained from observation and experimentation
- explain, scientifically, how the model works.
The intended outcomes were aligned to the following "big ideas":
- Scientists use their knowledge and understanding to develop practical systems.
- Scientists seek and use evidence to justify their theories to others.
The teacher planned a class unit on gears, with a focus on how an abstract idea can be made meaningful and interesting through careful planning and implementation. He began by getting the class to brainstorm the uses of gears. They created model gears from cardboard, and tried to explain what happens when different size gears connect and movement occurs.
At home they looked carefully at any machines that used toothed wheels, explored how gears worked on bikes, and made models using Lego gears. Then the students created a toy using gears, and wrote instructions for how to use it. They described how the gears in their toy worked so other students could understand how gears operate to make objects move.
Teacher-student conversation
Laura explains her thinking in this discussion with the teacher:
| Teacher: |
What helped you decide to use gears on this merry-go-round? |
| Laura: |
The gears helped it turn smoothly, and make it easier to turn because the operator only has to turn the handle.
|
| Teacher: |
What are you finding out about gears by making this toy? |
| Laura: |
I've found out that you can interlock them vertically and horizontally so that turning the vertical one, with the rotatable handle, will turn something in a horizontal plane, like the base of a pole. |
To move Laura towards the next learning step the teacher could help her focus on:
- finding out about making work easier by using other devices such as pulleys (investigating in science)
- seeking further information about gears to understand why she thought it would be better if the teeth were more accurately spaced? (developing and communicating scientific understanding).
The teacher could:
- encourage her to use her developing scientific ideas to make predictions that she could investigate in the next unit (investigating in science)
- encourage Laura to share her ideas with others in order to help her clarify and consolidate her understanding (developing and communicating scientific understanding).
Reference
Ministry of Education (1993). Science in the New Zealand Curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media.
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