MODULE (1) FUNDAMENTALS OF SCIENCE EDUCATION

Unit (1) History and nature of science

a) History and development of science (Ancient, Medieval and Modern Period)

b) Meaning and nature of science

c) Values of science in socio-cultural context.

ASSIGNMENT: Contribution of any two scientists in development of the nation.

a) History and Development of Science (Ancient, Medieval and Modern Period)

Development of Science in Ancient Period

Mesopotamia

Astronomy-

-the motions of the stars, planets, and the moon are left on thousands of clay tablets created by scribes.

-the solar year, the lunar month, the seven-day week.

-arithmetical methods to compute the changing length of daylight in the course of the year and to predict the appearances and disappearances of the Moon and planets and eclipses of the Sun and Moon.

-By 700 BCE, it was already known that solar eclipses could only be possible during new moons and lunar eclipses only during full moons.

-They had also calculated the courses of the planets and plotted the orbits of the sun and the moon.

Egypt

Significant advances in ancient Egypt included astronomy, mathematics and medicine. The Edwin Smith papyrus is one of the first medical documents still extant, and perhaps the earliest document that attempts to describe and analyse the brain: it might be seen as the very beginnings of modern neuroscience.

Ancient Egyptian pharmacology, was largely ineffective. Nevertheless, it applies the following components: examination, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis, to the treatment of disease, which display strong parallels to the basic empirical method of science.

Despite their superstitions, Egyptian priests encouraged the development of many scientific disciplines, especially astronomy and mathematics.

Greeco-Roman

The important legacy of this period included substantial advances in factual knowledge, in anatomy, zoology, botany, mineralogy, geography, mathematics and astronomy.

The astronomer Aristarchus of Samos was the first known person to propose a heliocentric model of the solar system.

Hipparchus (c. 190 – c. 120 BC) produced the first systematic star catalogue.

In medicine, Herophilos (335 - 280 BC) was the first to base his conclusions on dissection of the human body and to describe the nervous system.

Hippocrates (c. 460 BC – c. 370 BC) and his followers were first to describe many diseases and medical conditions.

Galen (129 – c. 200 AD) performed many audacious operations—including brain and eye surgeries— that were not tried again for almost two millennia.

Archimedes, is also known in physics for laying the foundations of hydrostatics and the explanation of the principle of the lever.

Theophrastus wrote some of the earliest descriptions of plants and animals, establishing the first taxonomy and looking at minerals in terms of their properties such as hardness

Pliny the Elder produced what is one of the largest encyclopedia of the natural world in 77 AD.

India

Ancient India was an early leader in metallurgy, as evidenced by the wrought iron Pillar of Delhi.

-in vivo drilling of human teeth, dated to 7000-5500 BCE.

-The first textual mention of astronomical concepts comes from the Vedas—religious literature of India.

-Classical Indian astronomy documented in literature spans the Maurya (Vedanga Jyotisha, c. 5th century BCE) to the Mughal (such as the 16th century Kerala school) periods.

-the Indian alchemist and philosopher Kanada who introduced the concept of 'anu' which he defined as the matter which cannot be subdivided.

Ayurvedic practice was flourishing during the time of Buddha (around 520 BC), and in this period the Ayurvedic practitioners were commonly using Mercuric-sulphur combination based medicines.

Cure for leprosy , Plastic surgery

China and the Far East

-Among the earliest inventions were the abacus, the public toilet, and the "shadow clock".

-the "Four Great Inventions" of China were gunpowder, papermaking, woodblock printing, the compass (known as “south-pointing needle")

Development of Science in Medieval Period

The Medieval period saw major technological advances

A list of some of the inventions from the Middle Ages

Mechanical artillery

Counterweight trebuchet (12th) - Gravity powers these weapons revolutionized medieval siege weapons by use of counterweights allowing it to hurl huge stones very long distances.

Missile weapons Longbow with massed, disciplined archery (13th) - The Longbow was powerful, accurate and contributed to the eventual demise of the medieval knight class.

Steel crossbow (14th, late) - The first handheld mechanical crossbow.

A list of some of the inventions from the Middle Ages

Agriculture

Heavy plough (5th - 8th) - The heavy wheeled plough first appeared in Slavic lands before it came to Northern Italy (the Po Valley). Horse collar (6th - 9th) - The Horse Collar went through multiple evolutions from the 6th to 9th centuries. It allowed more horse pulling power, such as with heavy ploughs. Horseshoes (9th) - Horseshoes let horses adapt to rocky terrain, mountains and carry heavier loads. They may have been known to the Romans and Celts as early as 50 BC.

Architecture and construction

Artesian well (1126) - A thin rod with a hard iron cutting edge is placed in a bore hole and repeatedly struck with a hammer. Underground water pressure forces the water up the hole without pumping. Artesian wells are named for Artois in France, where the first was drilled by Carthusian monks in 1126. Wheelbarrow (1170s) - Useful in construction, mining, and farming.

Blast furnace (1150-1350) - Cast iron first appears in Middle Europe around 1150. The technique was considered to be an independent European development.

Hourglass (1338) - Hourglasses are a medieval innovation first documented in Siena, Italy. Mechanical clocks (13th -14th) - A European innovation, these weight-driven clocks were used primarily in clock towers. Plate armour (14th, late) - Large and complete full plates of armour appear by the end of the 14th century.

Vertical windmills (1180s) - Invented in Europe as the pivot able post mill it was efficient at grinding grain or draining water. The first mention of one is from Yorkshire in England in 1185. Spectacles (1280s) - From Florence, Italy, convex lenses to help far-sighted people. Concave lenses for near-sighted people weren't developed before the 15th century. Spinning wheel (13th) - Brought to Europe probably from India.

Chess (1450) - The earliest predecessors of the game originated in 6th century AD India and spread through Persia and the Muslim world to Europe. The game evolved to its current form in the 15th century Mirrors (1180) - First mention of a mirror was made in 1180 by Alexander Neckham

Oil paint (ca. 1410) - As early as the 13th century by Flemish painter Jan van Eyck around 1410 who introduced a stable oil mixture.

Quarantine (1377) - Initially a 40-day-period, the Quarantine was introduced by the Republic of Ragusa to prevent the spreading of diseases like the Black Death. Venice began quarantines, then the practice spread around in Europe.

Here's a short list of a few of the great minds of the Middle Ages

About 900, Al-Battani improved the precision of the measurement of the precession of the Earth's axis.

Physicist Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen), an 11th-century Muslim is considered the father of modern optics.

Al-Kindi wrote the De Gradibus, where he demonstrated the application of quantification and mathematics to medicine and pharmacology. He used mathematics to measure the strength of drugs and to determine in advance of the most critical days of a patient's illness.

The contribution of great thinkers such as Thomas Aquinas, Grosseteste, Francis Bacon, and William of Ockham to the creation of the Scientific Method cannot be underestimated.

Roger Bacon is one of the great minds behind the formation of the scientific method. He described the method of observation, prediction (hypothesis), and experimentation, also adding that results should be independently verified, documenting his results in fine detail so that others might repeat the experiment.

Jean Buridan challenged Aristotelian physics and developed the idea of impetus, a concept that predated Newtonian physics and inertia.

Thomas Bradwardine investigated physics, and his sophisticated study of kinematics and velocity predated Galileo's work on falling objects.

Oresme proposed a compelling theory about a heliocentric, rather than geocentric, universe, two centuries before Copernicus, and he proposed that light and colour were related, long before Hooke.

India

Biology- Hamsadeva compiled a work in the field of Biology entitled Mrga-paksi-sastra in the thirteenth century. This gives a general, though not always scientific, account of some animals and birds of hunting.

Chemistry - production of paper, gun powder

Development of Science in Modern Period

One thing that happened during the Renaissance that was of great importance was the birth of modern science.

The Scientific Revolution established science as a source for the growth of knowledge.

During the 19th century, the practice of science became professionalized and institutionalized in ways that continued through the 20th century.

Major breakthroughs came in biology, especially in Darwin's theory of evolution, as well as physics (electromagnetism), mathematics (non-Euclidean geometry, group theory) and chemistry (organic chemistry).

Nicolaus Copernicus- revived the heliocentric model of the solar system described by Aristarchus of Samos.

Kepler- the first known model of planetary motion which proposed that the planets follow elliptical orbits, with the Sun at one focus of the ellipse.

Galileo- ("Father of Modern Physics") also made use of experiments to validate physical theories, a key element of the scientific method.

Isaac Newton published the Principia Mathematica, detailing two comprehensive and successful physical theories: Newton's laws of motion, which led to classical mechanics; and Newton's Law of Gravitation, which describes the fundamental force of gravity.

Faraday, Ohm, and others- The behaviour of electricity and magnetism.

James Clerk Maxwell - electromagnetism, known as Maxwell's equations.

Max Planck, Albert Einstein,Niels Bohr and others developed quantum mechanics theories to explain various anomalous experimental results, by introducing discrete energy levels.

Albert Einstein- the theory of general relativity,

Georges Lemaître- the Big Bang theory

The atomic bomb ushered in "Big Science" in physics.

Ernest O. Lawrence (1930s) the invention of the cyclotron

Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann (1938) nuclear fission with radiochemical methods

Lise Meitner and Otto Robert Frisch wrote the first theoretical interpretation of the fission process, which was later improved by Niels Bohr and John A. Wheeler.

Further developments took place during World War II, which led to the practical application of radar and the development and use of the atomic bomb.

Sir Chandrashekhara Venkata Raman - Raman effect- "change in the wavelength of light that occurs when a light beam is deflected by molecules”

Bhatnagar-Mathur Magnetic Interference Balance: Invented jointly by Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar and K.N. Mathur in 1928, the so-called 'Bhatnagar-Mathur Magnetic Interference Balance' was a modern instrument used for measuring various magnetic properties.

Indian nuclear physicist Homi J. Bhabha - performed the first calculation to determine the cross section of electron-positron scattering. Electron-positron scattering was later named Bhabha scattering, in honor of his contributions in the field.

Satyendranath Bose - Mathematician and physicist; best known for his collaboration with Albert Einstein in formulating a theory related to the gas like qualities of electromagnetic radiation.

Jagdishchandra Bose -Physicist, biologist and archaeologist who pioneered the investigation of radio and microwave optics.

Chemistry

Robert Boyle publishes The Sceptical Chymist, a treatise on the distinction between chemistry and alchemy. It contains some of the earliest modern ideas of atoms, molecules, and chemical reaction, and marks the beginning of the history of modern chemistry

William Cullen, Joseph Black, Torbern Bergman and Pierre Macquer - the gravimetric experimental practices .

Antoine Lavoisier (Father of Modern Chemistry) - oxygen , the law of conservation of mass.

John Dalton -The theory that all matter is made of atoms, the law of mass relationships.

Dmitri Mendeleev composed his periodic table of elements

Robert Boyle -Boyle's law, an experimentally based description of the behaviour of gases, specifically the relationship between pressure and volume

Joseph Black the concept of latent heat to explain the thermochemistry of phase changes

Alessandro Volta devises the first chemical battery, thereby founding the discipline of electrochemistry

Henry Cavendish discovers hydrogen as a colorless, odourless gas that burns and can form an explosive mixture with air

William Prout classifies biomolecules into their modern groupings: carbohydrates, proteins and lipids

Louis Pasteur discovers that the racemic form of tartaric acid is a mixture of the levorotatory and dextrotatory forms, thus clarifying the nature of optical rotation and advancing the field of stereochemistry

William Ramsay discovers the noble gases, which fill a large and unexpected gap in the periodic table and led to models of chemical bonding

J.J. Thomson discovers the electron using the cathode ray tube

Maria Curie and Pierre Curie isolate radium and polonium from pitchblende

Friedrich Wöhler - The synthesis of urea opened a new research field, organic chemistry, and by the end of the 19th century, scientists were able to synthesize hundreds of organic compounds.

Pauling - the physical modelling of DNA.

Meghnad Saha- Saha ionization equation

Prafulla Chandra Roy synthesized NH4NO2 in its pure form, and became the first scientist to have done so.

Har Gobind Khorana- demonstrating how the nucleotides in nucleic acids control the synthesis of proteins.

John Ray provides first systematic classification of animals

Reaumur's research on digestion and isolation of gastric juices

Von Haller classifies the thyroid, thymus, and spleen as "ductless glands“

Priestly observes that plants release oxygen

Jan Ingenhousz describes carbon cycle, respiration in plants

Edward Jenner: first smallpox vaccination

DeSaussare demonstrates role of water in photosynthesis

Oken suggests primitive form of cell theory

Shirreff begins series of experiments on hybridization of wheat

Prout demonstrates presence of HCl in gastric juice

Robert Brown identifies the nucleus of a cell

Felix Dujardin describes cytoplasm

Pringsheim observes cellular fussion

Virschow's Cellular Pathology

Darwin & Wallace report theory of evolution

Julius Sachs demonstrates role of sunlight in photosynthesis

Casimir Davaine identifies bacillus anthracis as cause of anthrax

Joseph Lister: antiseptic surgery

Louis Pasteur -linked microorganisms with disease, revolutionizing medicine. He also devised one of the most important methods in preventive medicine, when in 1880 he produced a vaccine against rabies. Pasteur invented the process of pasteurization, to help prevent the spread of disease through milk and other foods.

Fol sees union of sperm & ovum in animal

Berthelot demonstrates fixing of nitrogen by bacteria

Henking discovers the "X-chromosome“

Bucher learns that extracts from yeast cells cause fermentation

Benda describes mitochondria

Sutton and Boveri: chromosomal theory of inheritance

Landsteiner announces four "blood types"

Walter Sutton suggests that genes are physical units on chromosomes

Bayliss and Starling demonstrate existence and behavior of hormones

Thomas Hunt Morgan: Gene theory of inherritance

Discovery of vitamin A

Yamagiwa and Ichikawa discover chemical carcinogens

Banting and Best isolate insulin

Alexander Flemming's discovery of penecillin

Kroll and Ruska: first electron microscope

Dr. Christian Bernard: first heart transplant

First totaally successfuful fertilizatioon of humann ovum outsiide human body

(b) Meanning and Naature of Scieence

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Science as a process -In modern use, "science" more often refers to a way of pursuing knowledge, not only the knowledge itself.

Experimentation - It is a process in the sense it helps to explore the truth and involves certain systematic procedures and mental faculties as reasoning, analysis and synthesis.

The process of science is the scientific method. This is the process of constructing an accurate, reliable, repeatable model of the real world, by scientists collectively working towards this goal over time.

Scientific ideas are developed through reasoning.

The process of science is not predetermined.

1. Science is a Process as well as Product

It is a process in the sense it helps to explore the truth and involves certain systematic procedures and mental faculties as reasoning, analysis and synthesis.

It is a product because it results in an organized body of systematic knowledge.

2. Science helps to make descriptions

It answers questions like how , where, when, under what circumstances.

3. Science makes predictions

Extending knowledge to further situation is prediction. It involves the use of generalizations or application of knowledge in new situations.

4. Science is based on observation

Meticulous observation followed by inference drawing is an essential part of science. These observations and their conclusions are objective in nature. Unbiased approach is followed in science.

5. Science is concerned with past, present and future

Science answers questions about the past.eg why could the dinosaurs have become extinct?

It is involved with the present.

eg search for remedies to diseases.

It also dwells in the future.eg what fuels can be used in the future?

6. Scientific ideas are subject to change

It is never a finished product. There is a lot more to be discovered. The quest in science is unending. Scientific laws are tentative and may be changed with further research . Science is an eternal quest for truth.

Science in its nature is dynamic.

Values of science in socio-cultural context.

Science has immense value in an individual’s life and his life in society.

INTELLECTUAL VALUE

MORAL VALUE

AESTHETIC VALUE

CULTURAL VALUE

VOCATIONAL VALUE

UTILITARIAN VALUE

SOCIAL VALUE

SCIENTIFIC TEMPER

TRAINING in SCIENTIFIC METHOD

“It is science alone that can solve the problems of hunger and poverty, of insanitation and illiteracy, of superstition and deadening custom and tradition, of vast resources running to waste, of a rich country inhabited by starving people. . . . Who indeed could afford to ignore science today? At every turn we have to seek its aid.”

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru

ASSIGNMENT: Contribution of any two scientists in development of the nation.

Unit (2) Bases of science Education

(a) Aims and Objectives of teaching science at upper primary, secondary and higher secondary level (NCF 2005).

(b) Approaches. 1. Curriculum Organization – Topical, Concentric. 2. Co-relation of science in the curriculum, Internal and external.

(c) Global Perspectives in science teaching (Meaning and Infusing global perspectives in the science curriculum)

ASSIGNMENT: Compare the objectives of teaching Science in India with the objectives of teaching Science in developed countries (e.g. U.S.A.)

a) Aims and Objectives of teaching science at upper primary, secondary and higher secondary level (NCF 2005).

NCF-2005 states that .good science education is true to the child, true to life and true to science..

In the context of NCF- 2005 .

True to child - means that the science we teach should be understandable to the child and be able to engage the child in meaningful and joyful learning.

True to life - means that the science we teach should relate to the environment of the child, prepare her for the world of work and promote in her concerns for life and preservation of the environment.

True to science - means the science we teach should convey significant aspects of science content at appropriate level and engage the child in learning the processes of acquiring and validating scientific knowledge.

OBJECTIVES at UPPER PRIMARY STAGE

1. At the upper primary stage, the child should be engaged in learning the principles of science through familiar experiences, working with hands to design simple technological units and modules (e.g. designing and making a working model of a windmill to lift weights)

2. The students should continue to learn more about the environment and health, including reproductive and sexual health, through activities and surveys.

3. Scientific concepts are to be arrived at mainly from activities and experiments. Science content at this stage is not to be regarded as a diluted version of secondary school science.

4. Group activities, discussions with peers and teachers, surveys, organisation of data and their display through exhibitions, etc. in schools and the neighbourhood should be important components of pedagogy.

Objectives at Secondary stage

1. The students should be engaged in learning science as a composite discipline.

2. The students should be engaged in working with hands and tools to design more advanced technological modules than at the upper primary stage.

3. The students should be involved in activities and analysis on issues concerning the environment and health, including reproductive and sexual health.

4. The students should be engaged in systematic experimentation as a tool to discover/verify theoretical principles.

5. The students should work on locally significant projects involving science and technology.

OBJECTIVES at HIGHER SECONDARY STAGE

1. At the higher secondary stage, science should be introduced as separate disciplines, with emphasis on experiments/technology and problem solving.

2. The curriculum load should be rationalised to avoid the steep gradient between secondary and higher secondary syllabi.

3. The core topics of a discipline, taking into account recent advances in the field, should be identified carefully and treated with appropriate rigour and depth.

4. (b) Approaches.

1. Curriculum Organization – Topical, Concentric.

Concentric Approach

In this approach the topics will find a place in different classes of different years of a course in a progressive manner. The content will be included from simple to complex as the pupils understand the content according to capabilities that present in chronological and mental ages.

The concentric approach is a way of organizing a curriculum by laying out basic concepts, covering other related material, and then circling back around to the basic concept and filling in more complexity and depth.

Instead of life science, earth science, physics, biology and chemistry being separated and studied in sequence, each year's curriculum revisits the sciences studied earlier.

It's believed that starting with fundamentals that are then regularly revisited, built on, deepened and broadened each time leads to a better understanding of a subject's interconnections.

The organization of curriculum using concentric approach is useful in primary and secondary school levels.

Merits-

1. It proceeds from ‘simple to complex ‘ and ‘whole to part’.

2. Greater opportunity for revision of topic.

3. It takes into consideration mental growth of the pupil.

4. Continuity can be maintained.

Limitations-

1. Repetition is sometimes cumbersome. Some facts

are repeated again and again.

2. The presentation lacks novelty and freshness.

3. Less appealing and fails to arouse interest.

4. Pupil develops a sense of familiarity without

the fullness of knowledge.

Topical Approach:

Topical arrangement means that a topic should be finished entirely at one stage. It takes the topic as a unit. Topical arrangement requires that easy and difficult portions of a topic should be dealt with at one stage only which is psychological.

In topical approach all relevant material is covered in linear fashion and concepts are not revisited.

In this system the topic which is dealt with earlier receives no attention later and so there is every likelihood of its being forgotten

They are introduced with a view to make the teaching of the topic complete and thorough. Hence topical method demands that a topic once taken should be finished entirely.

This is not much useful for lower classes.

Merits-

1. Integrated knowledge is imparted to the pupils.

2. In-depth , thorough knowledge of the topic.

3. Pupil’s interest and motivation is sustained.

4. Correlation of subjects.

5. This approach can be adopted according to the age, ability of the students.

Limitations-

The main defect in the topical method is that it introduces in the curriculum a largeness of irrelevant material for which the pupil finds no time and no immediate need or the use of which cannot be appreciated by the pupil at that stage.

. 2. Co-relation of science in the curriculum, Internal and external.

Correlation

Internal External

Within the subject other subjects- geo,his,

Physics

Chemistry

Biology

c) Global Perspectives in science teaching (Meaning and Infusing global perspectives in the science curriculum)

DEVELOPMENTAL EDUCATION

PUTTING GLOBAL DIMENTION IN THE CURRICULUM

↓↓

Developmental education is an approach to the curriculum, which promotes equity and social justice, both locally and globally and enables pupils to develop skills and attitudes and values needed for a sustainable future.

It is a process of challenging negative assumptions about other countries and people and promoting positive attitude to diversity and differences.

Meaning-

An attitude that develops a sense of shared humanity towards the overall goal of world harmony.

Awareness that we live in an interdependent world and that we cannot ignore the problems faced by mankind.

It involves taking a broader and more critical view of experiences, learning and knowledge and includes seeking to understand the links between our own lives and those of people throughout the world.

Through issues like pollution, global warming, depletion of natural resources, energy crisis, extinction of some species Science can highlight the aspect of global perspective in more natural way to learners.

Global Perspectives aim at:

Encouraging empathy and mutual understanding by exposing students to different worldviews.

Developing skills and attitudes among students to bring about effective change leading to more just and peaceful world.

Preparing students to live in the world of increasing interdependence.

Developing students’ ability to think critically and have independence of mind in order to undertake whatever constructive action is appropriate.

Infusing GP in the science curriculum

I. Incorporating a range of key concepts as appropriate

• citizenship

• social justice

• interdependence

• sustainable development

• human rights

• values and perceptions

• diversity

• conflict resolution

II. Incorporating a range of perspectives from different countries/communities:

• Feel for ‘real world problems’

• Increasing students’ sensitivity to local needs and problems and putting them in the global concerns, constraints and opportunities. Examples of solutions arrived at in different contexts.

• Eg. Nile Purification Project successfully carried out in Egypt can be related to Ganga Purification Project.

III. Including action for change

• Small actions to bring about change.

• Personal → local →→ global

• Strategies used for sensitization: games, role-play, stories, scientific inquiries or simple activities.

IV. Developing sustainable practices

•

• --- encourage those practices that are enduring

•

• --- incorporate into the curriculum

•

• ---focus on exposing the students to socio-cultural realities of life, bringing in a new dimension of social relevance.

STEPS TO INTRODUCE GP THROUGH THE SCIENCE CURRICULUM: (with example)

• Identify two to three key concepts

• Locate plug points in the science curriculum

• Collect data/ information (both local and global)

• Design participatory methods/approaches

• Use appropriate strategies to further sensitize students to the issue

• Decide on small action- student initiative.

Unit (3) Classroom processes

a) Maxims of Teaching Science

• Known to Unknown,

• Whole to Part,

• Empirical to Rational,

• Simple to complex,

• Concrete to abstract,

• particular to General

b) Trends in teaching of science

• Concept Mapping,

• Problem based learning,

• Constructivism (7E approach)

c) Use of technology in teaching of science-

• Virtual lab and simulation

ASSIGNMENT: Preparation and execution of lesson plan with any one of the following.

• Concept mapping,

• Problem based learning.

• Use of technology

• Constructivism.

• Unit (4) Methods of teaching science (Procedure, Advantages and Limitations)

• Lecture cum demonstration method

• Inductive –Deductive method

• Project method

• Problem solving method

• Laboratory method

• ASSIGNMENT:

• Setting of the apparatus for any one experiment in the laboratory and demonstrating the same.

• Choosing and execution of any one project and preparing its report.

a) Maxims of Teaching Science

Meaning, Explain with examples

Maxims of teaching are pearls of wisdom, which teacher should follow for making teaching-learning process interesting and for facilitating learning.

• Known to Unknown,

• Whole to Part,

• Empirical to Rational,

• Simple to complex,

• Concrete to abstract,

• particular to General

Trends in teaching of science

Concept Mapping, Problem based learning, Constructivism (7E approach)

Meaning

Steps

Characteristics

Advantages and disadvantages

Concept mapping

Definition of a Concept Map

• A concept map is a type of graphic organizer used to help students organize and represent knowledge of a subject. Concept maps begin with a main idea (or concept) and then branch out to show how that main idea can be broken down into specific topics.

• Concept mapping is a diagram showing hierarchy and relationship among concepts .

• Concept mapping is a graphical tool for organising and representing knowledge.

Steps of Concept mapping

1. Brainstorming phase

2. Organising phase

3. Layout phase

4. Linking phase

5. Finalizing concept map

Advantages

• Child centered

• Helping students brainstorm and generate new ideas

• Encouraging students to discover new concepts

• Helping students integrate new concepts with older concepts

• Help identify incorrect ideas and concepts

Problem Based Learning

Meaning

This principle of learning can be summed up by the old Chines proverb: Hear and forget....see and remember.....do and understand.

• Problem based learning is an instructional, learner centered approach that empowers learners to conduct research, integrate theory and practice, and apply knowledge and skills to develop a viable solution to a defined problem. (J.R Savery, 2006, p12)

• Problem-based learning (PBL) is a student-centered pedagogy in which students learn about a subject through the experience of solving an open-ended problem. Students learn both thinking strategies and domain knowledge.

Steps in PBL

1. Presentation of the Problem:

2. Action plan for working on the problem

3. Independent study Independent study

4. Working together on the problem Working together on the problem

5. Discussion of Solution Discussion of Solution

6. Review of PBL process Review of PBL process

Advantages:

• Active process

• The way we make decisions anyway

• Increases tolerance of uncertainty

• Stimulates self-learning

• Trainee-directed/trainer-monitored

• Increases motivation

• Encourages "experience" / "intuition“

• Effective collaboration skills

CONSTRUCTIVISM

Meaning

• Constructivism can be described as a theory that deals with the way people create meaning of the world through a series of individual constructs. (Wikipedia)

• It signifies that teaching involves giving opportunities for learners to explore and discover.

• Learners construct their own meaning and generate insights

c) Use of

Virtual l

Meaning

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ulation

• The Virtual Laboratory is an interactive environment for creating and conducting simulated experiments: a playground for experimentation. It consists of domain-dependent simulation programs, experimental units called objects that encompass data files, tools that operate on these objects.

• The Virtual Laboratory is an interactive environment for creating and conducting simulated experiments: a playground for experimentation. ”. (The Virtual Laboratory Environment @ Algorithmic Botany retrieved 11:48, 30 June 2006 (MEST) )

Objectives of the Virtual Labs:

• To provide remote-access to Labs in various disciplines of Science and Engineering. These Virtual Labs would cater to students at the undergraduate level, post graduate level as well as to research scholars.

• To enthuse students to conduct experiments by arousing their curiosity. This would help them in learning basic and advanced concepts through remote experimentation. To enthuse students to conduct experiments by arousing their curiosity. This would help them in learning basic and advanced concepts through remote experimentation.

• To provide a complete Learning Management System around the Virtual Labs where the students can avail the various tools for learning, including additional web-resources, video-lectures, animated demonstrations and self evaluation.

• To share costly equipment and resources, which are otherwise available to limited number of users due to constraints on time and geographical distances

Uses

• Virtual laboratories can be used to overcome health and safety concerns, time or location constraints, or ethical and legislative issues

• Likewise, web-centric or computer-centric learning is best delivered using virtual laboratory tools.

• VL provide active, enquiry-based learning rather than passive learning.

• Enhance learning experiences by enabling experimental manipulations at the click of a mouse.

• VL receive instant online feedback

• Virtual laboratory tools enable students to focus on the underlying scientific concepts.

• Enabling active engagement in construction of knowledge

• Making available real-world situations

• Providing representations in multiple modalities

• Drilling students on basic concepts to reach mastery

• Facilitating collaborative activity among students

• Seeing interconnections among concepts

Simulation

• Meaning

• ‘Simulation means to imitate conditions of (situation etc.) with a model, for convenience of training’ as defined in the concise oxford dictionary of current English.

• ‘Simulation is the use of a model to conduct experiments which convey an understanding of the behaviour of the system modeled.’ (Gogg and Mott,1993)

Uses of simulation

• Simulations can help students translate among multiple representations.

• Simulations contain physical systems represented in many different ways in two or three-dimensions: pictures, graphs, words, equations, diagrams, data tables, contour maps, etc. The students can make sense of the concepts by seeing the connection between the representations and how one variable affects another.

• Simulations can help students build mental models of physical, chemical or biological systems.

• Simulations allow students to visualize concepts that appear on textbooks or hear from their teachers in lectures. By using the simulation they can see a concrete situation that helps them build a mental model.

• Simulations can help students understand equations as physical relationships among measurements.

• Simulations are great tools to help students recognize how equations relate observations and measurements. Using a simulation where the students are able to vary parameters and see the effect of these variations, the role of equations is powerfully enriched.

• Simulations can serve as a vehicle for collaboration.

• Students working in groups can use a simulation to explain and describe their understandings to each other.

• Simulations can allow students to investigate phenomena that would not be possible to experience in a classroom or laboratory.

• Simulations can give students engaging, hands-on, active learning experiences.

• Simulations give students control when exploring scientific concepts and phenomena.

Unit (4) Methods of teaching science

(Procedure, Advantages and Limitations)

a) Lecture cum demonstration method

b) Inductive –Deductive method

c) Project method

d) Problem solving method

e) Laboratory method

ASSIGNMENT:

• Setting of the apparatus for any one experiment in the laboratory and demonstrating the same.

• Choosing and execution of any one project and preparing its report.

References

• http://vlab.co.in/http://vlab.co.in/

• https://www.google.co.in/search?q=virtual+lab+download&revid=1757162973&sa=X&ved=0CFUQ1QIoAGoVChMIlo2mva3mxgIVkgWOCh0zdgxD&biw=1600&bih=767#https://www.google.co.in/search?q=virtual+lab+download&revid=1757162973&sa=X&ved=0CFUQ1QIoAGoVChMIlo2mva3mxgIVkgWOCh0zdgxD&biw=1600&bih=767#

• https://sites.google.com/site/virtuallabsadvantages/https://sites.google.com/site/virtuallabsadvantages/

• http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Virtual_laboratory

• http://www.mii.lt/informatics_in_education/pdf/INFE044.pdf

• http://www.tojet.net/articles/v13i4/13418.pdf

• file:///D:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Administrator.HOME/My%20Documents/Downloads/EDICT-2010-1103.pdf

• https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/sites/default/files/resources/The%20pedagogical%20benefits%20and%20pitfalls%20of%20virtual%20tools%20for%20teaching%20and%20learning%20laboratory%20practices%20in%20the%20Biological%20Sciences.pdf

• http://www.thelabsimexperience.com/2011/01/difference-between-virtual-labs-and.html

• http://www.stevens-tech.edu/jnickerson/ACMComputingSurveys2006MaNickerson.pdf

• http://plpnetwork.com/2011/04/01/science-simulations-a-real-way-to-learn/

• http://learningandteaching.vu.edu.au/our_approach/approaches_to_learning/problem_based_learning