Discovering Science in Primary School Education
Assessment overview
This task is assessing your ability to demonstrate that you meet the criteria for the following learning outcomes:
- Advocate Science as being an important discipline in today’s world.
- Explain how children’s knowledge and understanding of key science principles are supported by the aims and rationale of the relevant National and/or State and Territory Curriculum. This is relevant for Australian education only.
Assessment details
You are required to construct an argument to respond to the following statement:
Science aims to ensure that students develop an interest in science as a means of expanding their curiosity and willingness to explore, ask questions about and speculate on the changing world in which they live. (Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority, 2018 v8.4 )
Consider this—we live in a world where science is embedded in all aspects of our lives. As teachers, we have an opportunity to empower students through science education. This is critical, as it encourages them to embrace and participate in the world around them.
Task
The purpose of this assignment is to write a 1500 word essay that explores the role of the class room primary teacher or science and/or STEM specialist in a primary school. These roles nurture student interest in science, prepare students to be scientifically literate, and influence study and career choices.
Respond to the given quotes, using relevant examples from the Rationale and Aims of the Australian Curriculum Science strand.
Some preferred links/references:
- https://docs.acara.edu.au/resources/Science_-_GC_learning_area.pdf
- https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/science/#:~:text=The%20Australian%20Curriculum%3A%20Science%20aims,world%20in%20which%20they%20live.
- https://undsci.berkeley.edu/lessons/pdfs/what_is_science.pdf
- https://undsci.berkeley.edu/teaching/misconceptions.php
- https://commons.swinburne.edu.au/file/50572978-906c-412b-adc3-5d0288725960/1/99331942116.pdf
- https://westtorrenspartnership.edublogs.org/files/2014/03/Earths_place_in_space_online-1qbk8m5.pdf
- https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13504622.2016.1217398?needAccess=true
Structure
Your essay should include the following sections:
Introduction
An introduction that provides a broad overview of the topic. This should contextualise the topic and define the key terms you will address in the essay, as you advocate for science in schools. It will demonstrate an insightful analysis of contemporary science teaching practice and the importance for all students to be scientifically literate.
It should also include a thesis statement that outlines the way you will respond to the consideration of the two quotes. The thesis statement is one or two sentences that presents your position on this main idea. As a general rule, an introduction should be no more than 10% of the total word count—in this case, no more than 150 words.
Body
The body of the essay will consist of a series of paragraphs and ask you to describe the relevance of science in the real world. It will moreover require you to discuss the skills developed through scientific thinking and the importance of learning and teaching the discipline of Science in the Australian Curriculum and/or your state curriculum.
Carefully consider how many issues you are going to cover and how these issues are related to each other before answering the essay question. Make sure you write in third person only, and that you develop a detailed explanation across the body of the essay with well-reasoned points. Each paragraph should begin with a topic sentence that introduces the main idea or theme of that paragraph. Typically, you would then support this topic sentence with research-based evidence. Try and keep to one topic per paragraph. This section should have approximately 1200 words.
Conclusion
A conclusion is where you will sum up the information provided in the essay and then make one final statement about the importance of science for students at the present time. As with the introduction, your conclusion should not be any more than 10% of the overall word count—no more than 150 words.
Your essay must be properly referenced with in-text citations and a reference list using the APA style. The reference list will not be included in the word count.