How can science and technology activities be made engaging and relevant in primary education?

How can science and technology activities be made engaging and relevant in primary education?

First things first, what is science? And what is technology? Science involves acquiring knowledge through observation and experimentation where technology applies scientific knowledge in a number of practical ways (Donaldson,2015)

Science collects data through a systematic process called a scientific method, where the technology is applied to science to create different devices that can solve different problems and solve different tasks. Technology is viewed as the application of science and it’s very difficult to separate them both (Study,2003). Using technology within science can be very beneficial to both the teachers and the children as they will both be learning new things with the experiments that they undertake and the knowledge that they are gaining in the process (Study,2003). There can be many reasons why using technology within the classroom can bring potential issues. Using technology during science lessons, can lead to major distractions during the lessons where students are focusing more on the piece of technology that they are using rather than the experiments that they may be undertaking or lesson that is being taught. One of the main forms of technology that is used in primary schools today would be iPads, schools have a certain amount of funding to invest in these, which are used not just in science but throughout the majority of the primary school lessons. Even though technology like iPads come in handy today, nobody knows what’s going to happen in years to come, will we still have advanced technology? Will technology still be used in education? Lots of these questions are currently un answerable because no one has the information. I found this quote which I found interesting... ‘’The science of today is the technology of tomorrow’’ (Edward Teller, 2011). From my personal opinion think that technology is only going to get better and that they will continue using technology in education but nobody knows if it will take over the role of teachers. Science is both a body of knowledge and a process for finding new knowledge sometime to replace the old knowledge (Quora,2017).

Another thing that is commonly used in the primary education sector within science and technology is the STEM framework. STEM learning is one of the biggest providers of education and careers support in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. These will be the demand of the future and this will create new knowledge (Stem, No date). Scientific knowledge allows us to build new technologies, which often allow us to make new observations about the world, which, in turn, allow us to build even more scientific knowledge, which then inspires another technology (Understanding science, 2008)

For teachers to prepare students effectively for the 21^st century involving STEM, many schools are believed to use the interdisciplinary approach from core knowledge curriculum for them to be able to create a spark and a wide interest in children as early as pre-school. STEM is mostly used every day with an emphasis on the core academic areas and the non-academic life skills.

Science and technology and the decline of teachers.

Schools need qualified teachers in science and technology. The large decline in recruitment has already hit the teaching profession this early. Teachers that are well qualified and enthusiastic create the key to any improvement of science and technology in schools and this leads to the further development of knowledge, interests and attitudes of ordinary students when they leave school. The science and technology teachers also play a key role in the employment of people to the science and technology sector. The long-term effects of a lack of good science and technology teachers could be very damaging, although the effects are not so immediately observable as the lack of qualified people Within the industry. The science and technology teachers need a broad basis for their activities. A solid foundation in the academic discipline is important, but not enough. They need broader perspectives and skills on order to cope with challenges that they may face. S&T teachers do not only need a foundation in S&T, they also need to have perspectives on S&T in a historical and social context. This may mean that they need to undertake more teacher training in the science and technology area (Sjoberg,2001).

According to Donaldson and his new curriculum, he believes that technology will be able to enhance science. Donaldson also talks about how ‘’Science and technology can improve the quality of life through new developments and advances in emerging technologies’’ (Donaldson, 2015)

During one of our AOLE sessions we took a trip to Techniquest, where we were able to have a look at the ways science is used when working with children. They showed us experiments that would be used when children would attend the workshop. In Techniquest, they have lots of different science experiments throughout the building and we were able to see how children interacted with each one. It was very interesting to see how they used and worked with them. On the Techniquest website it shows how they support the Literacy and Numeracy Frame work. At Techniquest they also run different programmes for the foundation phase, key stage 2 and so on. On their website it states that ‘’all foundation phase programmes cover the seven areas of learning, providing a balance between presenter-directed learning and child initiated activities’’ (Techniquest,2018) Techniquest is a very good place for children at a young age and for them to learn more about what science is and how it works. From attending the workshop at Techniquest I have learnt some new valuable information and I enjoyed my time while there.

I hope you have all enjoyed reading science and technology and I hope it has made you want to know more about it and how it’s going to change in the future.

Talk to you all soon education bloggers.

References

Quora.com. (2017). Science is constantly changing and evolving. Why do we teach it as a bunch of old settled facts? - Quora. [online] Available at: https://www.quora.com/Science-is-constantly-changing-and-evolving-Why-do-we-teach-it-as-a-bunch-of-old-settled-facts [Accessed 28^th March. 2018].

tem.org.uk. (2018). About us | STEM. [online] Available at: https://www.stem.org.uk/about-us [Accessed 28^th March 2018].

Undsci.berkeley.edu. (2018). Science and technology on fast forward. [online] Available at: https://undsci.berkeley.edu/article/whathassciencedone_03 [Accessed 28^th March 2018].

Gov.wales. (2018). [online] Available at: http://gov.wales/docs/dcells/publications/180131-science-en.pdf [Accessed 28^th March 2018].

Techniquest. (2018). Foundation Phase/Key Stage 1 • Education • Techniquest. [online] Available at: https://www.techniquest.org/education/schools/foundation-phase-key-stage-1/ [Accessed 28^th March 2018].

Study.com. (2003). How Science & Technology Are Related - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com. [online] Available at: https://study.com/academy/lesson/how-science-technology-are-related.html [Accessed 28^th March 2018].