Teachers need to assess children's knowledge and scientific reasoning skills throughout the instruction process. Teachers can gauge preexisting knowledge from the questions that children generate for investigation. This process allows teachers to decide how to help kids realign their conceptions with more scientifically accepted ideas. Similarly, as children are gathering background information and devising their experiments, the teacher is observing their techniques. No matter how the teacher has designed the lesson, knowledge can be assessed when children are asked to communicate what they have learned.
Teachers can see student responses to questions or prompts in the program.
Teachers also can evaluate children who are using presentation software to communicate their understanding. All best practices are meant to support the development of scientific reasoning skills in children, and the use of technology can enhance this process. Finally, best practices should lead to children's understanding of the nature of science as a human enterprise. The practices described in this article help bring this about in several ways. When instruction centers on students and focuses on hands-on experience with scientific phenomena, science class becomes an exciting place.