Before I share my beliefs about teaching science to elementary students, I must make a few statements about my beliefs on education and pedagogical practices. Education is not only a lifelong, integrative process but also a dynamic, active, experiential, and reflective process. From my perspective, education is the key to a successful and happy life, for it can give one some autonomy over one's life. Education, therefore, must be open to all no matter what gender, culture, race, creed, ability level, or socio-economic level.
Science is a way of knowing and doing, the heart of which is inquiry.
Viewing science as inquiry, thus as a process rather than just a product, connotes that it is dynamic, active, and experiential. By doing these, we are opening the doors for students to understand the connectedness of the science disciplines and the symbiotic relationship among all disciplines, and to become independent thinkers, ones who can construct knowledge, who can engage in problem solving and other creative activities, and who can work with others. Hence construction of knowledge is predicated on moving away from direct instruction and an emphasis upon facts to uncoverage, complex thinking, and problem solving, to big ideas or major concepts and processes, to active learning, and to contextual, real-life experiences of interest to the students. Learning cycles provide an excellent way to engage students in guided inquiry. Although all three learning cycle types actively engage students in investigations where the teacher serves as the facilitator, they differ in the levels of thinking required, moving from pre-operational and concrete in which basic process skills are used to abstract, formal level where integrated process skills are also used.