The enrichment of (planned & enacted) science curriculum through hands-on learning for elementary class (VI)
Date of Award
8-1-2005
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Master of Education (M. Ed.)
Department
Institute for Educational Development, Karachi
Abstract
All aspects of the curriculum must be considered in approaching the support of classroom change, including those aspects that apparently have not been changed. That is, change in any syllabus, materials, assessment, the curriculum in practice (teaching approaches, learning approaches, etc.) must be seen in the context of support being needed by teachers and students, to understand the implications for all of these aspects. Consistent with the needs of the context and demand of holistic change, I conducted a project on the enrichment of the planned and enacted curriculum, with hands-on learning at a community-based school in Karachi, Pakistan. Hands-on learning is a powerful approach to learning of science, as it involves observation, investigation and inquiry. Moreover, POE (prediction, observation, explanation) was used in this project as a teaching strategy. Gunstone and White (1996) say, Prediction Observation-Explanation, which we abbreviate to POE (p. 44).This strategy can help teachers to explore students' prior knowledge. This enables teachers to know students' prior knowledge and build their teaching on students' prior knowledge. On this basis, teachers can also plan to address alternate frameworks of students, if any. Furthermore, the use of low-cost and no-cost material in hands-on was also used, as known that it contributes to change in students' attitude towards learning science, and creating new ideas as well. In this project I specifically worked with two science teachers, teaching the elementary classes (One was teaching in class VI and the other was teaching in class VIII). The main objectives of the project was to develop teachers' awareness about hands-on learning, to develop their skills of preparation and conduction of hands-on learning, and to assist them in developing their skills to incorporate hands-on activities, in their teaching and assessment. The outcomes of the project include the development of teachers' awareness about hands-on activities and skills about preparation and conduction of hands-on learning using POE and low-cost and no-cost materials. They also developed awareness about teaching and assessing hands-on learning in some specific content areas (e.g. physical properties of water, properties of air, sound and light) of science. This is evident in the form of a manual on hands-on learning. Furthermore, teachers' prepared lesson plans, with incorporation of hands Dissertation on learning, use of low-cost and no-cost material, activity template, assessment rubric, teachers' written content (about physical properties of water, properties of air, sound and light) and teaching are evidences of their enhancement in their skills of using hands-on learning, for teaching and learning, and assessment of science are all outputs of the project.
Recommended Citation
Ahmed, S. (2005). The enrichment of (planned & enacted) science curriculum through hands-on learning for elementary class (VI) (Unpublished master's dissertation). Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.