Science

Science provides a verifiable way for us to answer interesting and important questions about the Biological, Chemical, Earth and Space and Physical Sciences and the technological world. Science is a dynamic. It involves collaboration and brings about creative human endeavours emerging from our desire to make sense of our world by investigating the unknown, making predictions, exploring and solving problems. Our Science knowledge is revised, refined and extended as new experiences and discoveries arise.

Science is more than acquiring knowledge, it’s about being able to apply that knowledge, to be able to read and listen and discern what is feasible and reasonable and make informed decisions now and into our adulthood. At Morang South, our goal is to develop science literate adults. At Morang South, we highly value Science, so in our specialist program we work from the children’s prior knowledge whether that be accurate or misconceptions and guide their learning through investigation, discovery and analysis.

Underpinning the teaching methods used in our Science program is inquiry and The 5 E’s. These approaches are question centred and involve building and constructing new ideas on top of old ideas.

The 5 E’s each describe a step in the learning process; Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate and Evaluate.

Engage – This step in the learning process is about students making connections between prior knowledge and experience. Students identify the purpose for present learning and how it connects with past learning. Teachers engage students in motivating activities to focus them on the concept, process or skill that they are about to learn.

Explore – This stage of the learning process involves students actively exploring, observing and investigating the concepts, processes, environment and manipulating materials and ideas.

Explain – Student then have the opportunity to discuss or share their conceptual understanding, new skills or use of processes. Teachers support students explorations and explanations by introducing related Scientific vocabulary and definitions. Teachers provide Scientific explanations for the concepts, skills and ideas that the students have been exploring.

Elaborate – This phase extends understandings and provides practice for skills. Further new experiences allow learners to develop deeper understandings of the main concepts, gather further information and find answers to lingering questions, and to refine their skills.

Evaluate – The final phase of the 5 E’s asks learner to reflect on their understandings and assess where they are in developing new knowledge and skills. Teachers use this step as an opportunity to evaluate how students have progressed in their understanding of key concepts, ideas and skills.