Science Literacy in Primary Schools and Pre-Schools (Classics in Science Education)
Edition: 1 edition
Publisher: Springer
Published: October 5, 2006
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 174
ISBN-13: 9781402046414
Subjects: Pre-school & kindergarten; Primary / junior schools; Teaching of a specific subject; Education; Education / Teaching; Professional Development; Education / Teaching Methods & Materials / General; Elementary; Preschool & Kindergarten; Teaching Methods & Materials - Science & Technology; Science; Study and teaching (Elementary); Study and teaching (Preschool)
Description: When it comes to science, many of today's children experience narrow and impoverished learning opportunities, which, as professor Judah Schwartz writes in the preface to this book, lead ulitmately to a mere caricature of science. One source of the problem is the wrong—terribly wrong—belief that science is an inappropriate subject for early elementary education and certainly for kindergarten education. As a curative to this prevalent and unfortunate situation, this well-written and thought-provoking book presents the state-of-the-art in science education for kindergarten and primary schools. It begins with a thorough theoretical discussion on why it is incumbent on the science educator to teach science already at first stages of childhood. It goes on to analyze and synthesize a broad range of educational approaches and themes such as: inquiry-based teaching; learning through authentic problems; scaffolding; situated learning; learning through projects; non-verbal knowledge; and informal learning. The book also presents fresh novel strategies to science teaching such as learning science through designing, building, evaluating and redesigning simple artifacts; and Inquiry Events. Numerous examples illustrating how the theories presented may be brought into practice are provided.