Scientific literacy for children Mohamed mosharrafa Mostafa Amin Mostafa saad Keewaan Mourad gharib

Why teach scientific literacy in early childhood? �  Young children are naturally curious and constantly exploring the

world around them �  Classroom science provides the opportunity for children to

extend this natural curiosity and building of theories �  From classroom experiences, children can develop a greater

appreciation and understanding of the natural world �  Provides children with direct experience with materials, events, and

ideas that are important to later learning �  Science exploration in early childhood is science inquiry – exploring

materials/events, asking questions, investigating, recording/representing their work, reflecting on what they have done and what it means – allowing them to create new theories or ideas about how the world works �  These skills, attitudes, and ways of thinking are important to

many areas of learning throughout life

Continuation of previous page �  (Worms, Shadows, and Whirlpools) �  Build self-confidence and confidence in their environment �  Gain necessary firsthand experiences

�  Develop basic concepts �  Increase observation skills �  Receive opportunities to use tools, equipment and familiar materials �  Receive aid in problem solving �  Stimulate their curiosity for exploration and discovery while increasing

basic knowledge �  Develop sensory, physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, and social

attributes �  Develop language through increased vocabulary and an opportunity to

ask and answer questions

What are the characteristics of the high quality science program? �  It builds on children’s prior experiences, backgrounds, and

early theories �  It draws on children’s curiosity and encourages children to

pursue their own questions and develop their own ideas �  It engages children in in-depth exploration of a topic over

time in a carefully prepared environment �  It encourages children to reflect on, represent, and

document their experiences and share and discuss their ideas with others

�  It is embedded in children’s daily work and play and is integrated with other domains

�  It provides access to science experiences for all children �  (Worms, Shadows, and Whirlpools)

What is the teachers role in early childhood science �  They choose a focus for inquiry �  They prepare themselves to teach a topic �  They create a physical environment that

supports inquiry �  They plan a schedule that allows time for

inquiry �  They foster children’s questioning �  They encourage children’s work and deepen

their understanding �  They observe and assess individual children in

the group

What you can do: �  Allow extra time – exploring, becoming comfortable and really taking something in takes

time. �  Look at your attitude towards being outside, nature, science – children will most likely mimic

your feelings. Model caring for the environment – ecologically sound behaviors such as recycling, not letting water run unnecessarily, saving paper scraps for collages...

�  If you’re entering a new environment, make sure children understand the boundaries, rules and expectations for being there.

�  Safety – be observant! �  Watch for what the children are most interested in, expand on this. �  Flexibility is key. �  Go outside often – for many children this is the only experience they will have with the

outdoors and nature, especially if they live in an urban environment. �  You don’t need to know what everything is – children usually do not just want to know the

name of something. Ask a question about what it is doing, what it eats, where it lives, etc. and then do further research with the children when back inside if they want.

�  Encourage curiosity and questions. �  Instill a sense of wonder in the children. “If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of

wonder…he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the natural world we live in.” - Rachel Carson, The Sense of Wonder

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�  How can I incorporate science into my classroom? �    �  The easiest way to incorporate science into the early childhood

classroom is to "find" the science in the activities you are already doing. A lesson about "me" can include making pasta skeletons with the children's pictures as the head. Color mixing, exploring which materials dissolve in water, comparing similarities and difference in objects, and cooking are all science activities.

�    �  Set up a science center.

This does not need to be expensive. Large and small magnifiers, prisms, balance scales, mirrors, magnets, color paddles, and a variety of objects to observe and measure are a great way to start. Models and animal puppets are always a hit. Throw in a few theme-related books, puzzles, and writing materials and you're set. Change the materials on a regular basis to keep things interesting.

�  Teach what you know. If you like animals or plants, start there. Meal worms make great class pets. They are easy to care for and you can observe their life cycle. Plants come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and textures. They can be observed and measured. Lima bean seeds are easy to plant and grow. Don't forget to include "Jack and the Beanstalk" with this activity. Even teachers without a green thumb can provide plant science activities for their students by bringing in flowers and leaves for children to observe and take apart.

�  . Use your surroundings. Get pine needles from your Christmas tree vendor, dog fur from your local groomer, pick up pine cones, feathers, leaves, etc. whenever you find them. Ask you local pet shop for snakeskin, feathers, and other animal items. Once the word gets out that you collect these things, people will save them for you.

�  Be a good observer. If your students start to do something unusual with an item or use it in a non-standard way, step back and watch. He/she may be making a new discovery and just might teach you a thing or two.

�  Introduce new items and concepts to the group. The children need to understand what things are for, and how to use and take care of them. Let them play. Children must have time to freely explore new things before participating in a structured activity.

�  Answer their questions honestly. If you don't know an answer, find out. Then, tell the children where you found the answer. Even preschoolers understand looking up information in books, on computer programs, and on the Internet.

�  The best way to promote science literacy is to expose your students to a variety of books, from preschool level to adult. Just make sure the adult books have lots of pictures. You will need the information in the adult books to answer the children's questions.

�  A few simple additions to your classroom and curriculum will provide endless opportunities for creative thinking, problem solving, and exploration. You're students will be on their way to becoming "Super Scientists."

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http://www.pbs.org/teachers/earlychildhood/articles/science.html#howto )

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�  How should early childhood science be taught and how is it different from elementary/middle/secondary science?

�  Foster inquiry by building on children’s spontaneous exploration and gradually guide them to become more focused and systematic in their observations and investigations.

�  Give children many and varied opportunities to use inquiry skills, but not isolated from interesting topics and ideas and children’s ongoing play

�  Science for early childhood MUST be experiential, hands-on activities and materials that children can explore. Science should be integrated into other content areas and used in songs, fingerplays, and other daily activities and pointed out in every day life.

Here are some videos about scientific literacy for children � http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=dY9ngWcwrHo �    � http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=evMLs7cT7Y8&feature=related �    � http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=DKZTn7rgZMs �   

Scientific Literacy Has nothing to do with Being “smart” � The word ‘smart’ is often mistaken to be

one dimensional. That dimension being how well a given person does in school or in exams. However, this is far from true, one of the greatest scientists in history, Albert Einstein was a high school dropout. This was not because he was not ‘smart’ but rather that his school’s teaching methods did not match his way of thinking.

Questionnaires about the type of smart � http://www.literacyworks.org/mi/

assessment/findyourstrengths.html

� Video about the types of smart http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iJ5VZzLSjM

Word search about the types of smart

Literacy Vs. Scientific Literacy � One of the most common misconceptions

in the concept of scientific literacy is that people think that literacy is a prerequisite for scientific literacy. This means that if one is not literate, he or she cannot be scientifically literate. This, however, is not the case.

�  Scientific literacy deals with a person’s ability to investigate, appreciate and understand the impact of science in the world, participate in discussions with others, ask questions, collect and interpret data, make decisions, use a range of intelligences and cultures, and then apply these skills to other situations. If someone acquires these skills, even without the ability to read and write, he or she is scientifically literate.

�  I even believe that scientific literacy is more important than literacy. If one can read and write, then he has got the pen and the paper, but he has no clue what to write about, or how to write it. He is just like a bodybuilder who has an extremely muscular body. His body is like no other, but his brains are not necessarily apt. So what is the use of his body if he has no brains to control it, and tell it what to do? Similarly, what is the use of one’s ability to read and write if one cannot think of what to write or how to write it?

�  On the other hand, when somebody is scientifically literate, he or she has the skills that enable him or her to succeed in this life. Only when people are scientifically literate can they have the eagerness to ask a question and investigate in what he or she wishes to know more about. Only then can they not only participate in discussions, debates, arguments and disputes that are prominent in one’s daily life, but also have the tactical approach to acquire information so as to win set arguments. Scientifically literate people can also collect and interpret data to support everything they say, so as to make everything they say backed-up. These people also have the ability to critically analyze every situation, list its pros and cons, and make the right decisions in numerous aspects in their lives. Most importantly, however, what distinguishes scientifically literate people from scientifically illiterate people is their ability to use their acquired skills and knowledge in every aspect of their lives.

�  For example, when one learns Einstein’s theory of relativity, a scientifically literate person would use relativity in every aspect of his life. He would start thinking of something as “relatively” tall or “relatively” short. A scientifically illiterate person would, however, only think of the theory in its context, he would only think of space, planets, light years, etc.

Role of Teachers and Parents �  Parents and teachers have major effects on whether or not children are scientifically literate. Either

consciously or subconsciously, by doing or not doing specific things, they shape the children’s scientific literacy.

�    �    �  Scientific literacy is acquired by children through five phases: �  Engaging: this is where the setting of the activity gives a meaningful context and it reveals students’

ideas and beliefs. �    �  Exploring: which allows children to question and to test their ideas as well as investigate and solve

problems. �    �  Explaining: where children are able to interpret information and construct their own knowledge through

things such as reading. �    �  Elaboration: where children are able to reconstruct and extend their ideas through problems. �    �  Evaluation: which gives children an opportunity to reflect on their newly acquired skills, knowledge, and

understandings. �    �    �    �  By going through these five steps or phases, a child acquires a great amount of scientific literacy, as he

or she is exposed to the world from different perspectives, both theoretically and practically.

Videos about scientific literacy � http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=5gK2EEwzjPQ&feature=related �    �    � http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=dY9ngWcwrHo �   

Here is a questionnaire that measures whether or not someone is scientifically literate �  1. Which of the following is NOT part of the

scientific method? �  a. Careful observation of nature �  b. Building theories to explain what you observe �  c. Testing the predictions of those theories against

observations �  d. They are all part of the scientific method

�  2. The moon has phases because... �  a. It passes into the Earth's shadow every month �  b. Only the side of the moon facing the sun is illuminated �  c. The moon causes tides in the oceans �  d. None of the above �  3. Once you burn gasoline in your car, the energy in that gasoline �  a. Enters the environment as heat �  b. Is lost forever �  c. Has to be replaced by drilling for more oil �  d. None of the above �  4. You touch the inside of a window with a wooden frame on a cold day and find that the glass feels

colder than the wood. This is because �  a. The glass is at a lower temperature �  b. Wood is a poorer heat conductor than glass �  c. Wood generates more heat than glass �  d. None of the above �  5. A lightning bolt results from �  a. Large magnetic fields in thunderclouds �  b. Intense flashes of light in the clouds �  c. The flow of electrical charges between the cloud and the ground �  d. None of the above

�  6. The difference between radio waves (RW) and visible light (VL) is that �  a. RW have electrical fields, VL doesn't �  b. RW have magnetic fields, VL doesn't �  c. VL has a longer wavelength than RW �  d. VL has a shorter wavelength than RW �  7. According to the Theory of Relativity �  a. No massive object can be accelerated past the speed of light �  b. Moving clocks run slower than stationary ones �  c. Moving objects are shortened in the direction of motion �  d. All of the above �  8. New materials are created by scientists through a process of �  a. Changing the properties of atoms �  b. Discovering new kinds of atoms �  c. Putting known atoms together in new ways �  d. None of the above �  9. The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle says that �  a. You can never measure the exact position of an electron �  b. You can never measure the exact velocity of an electron �  c. You cannot simultaneously measure the position and velocity of the electron exactly �  d. You can never measure any property of the electron exactly

�  10. Chemical reactions �  a. Take place only in test tubes �  b. Are always dangerous �  c. Take place everywhere in nature �  d. Take place only in living things �  11. Which of the following kinds of materials make the best electrical conductor? �  a. Glass �  b. Metal �  c. Wood �  d. They are all good conductors �  12. Carbon dating of old materials is possible because �  a. Carbon is black and absorbs sunlight �  b. Carbon is a common chemical element �  c. Some isotopes of carbon are radioactive �  d. None of the above �  13. The difference between nuclear fusion and nuclear fission is that �  a. Fission is used to generate commercial electricity, fusion is not �  b. Fusion is used to generate commercial electricity, fission is not �  c. Fission is the source of energy in stars, fusion is not �  d. None of the above

�  14. A particle accelerator is a machine designed to �  a. Make experimental cars run faster �  b. Speed up chemical reactions �  c. Explore the basic structure of matter �  d. None of the above �  15. The sun is approximately how old? �  a. Thousands of years �  b. Millions of years �  c. Billions of years �  d. Trillions of years �  16. Which of the following best describes the ages of the solar system, the Milky Way, and the

universe? �  a. The sun is much younger than the universe �  b. The sun and the universe are about the same age �  c. The sun is about the same age as the Milky Way �  d.The sun is younger than the Milky Way �  17. The Earth is approximately how old? �  a. Thousands of years �  b. Millions of years �  c. Billions of years �  d. Trillions of years

�  18. Which of the following is a permanent feature of the Earth's surface? �  a. The Atlantic Ocean �  b. The Rocky Mountains �  c. The Sahara �  d. No geological feature of the Earth's surface is permanent �  19. Most of the fresh water in the world is located in �  a. The eastern United States �  b. Antarctica �  c. The Great Lakes �  d. None of the above �  20. Acid rain is caused primarily by �  a. Natural acids in the atmosphere �  b. Material emitted by refrigerants in air conditioners �  c. Material emitted by industrial smokestacks and automobiles �  d. The destruction of the ozone layer �  21. The most abundant animals in the world are �  a. Mammals �  b. Fish �  c. Insects �  d. Birds

�  22. The interior of cells in the human body �  a. Contains many complex subunits �  b. Is mainly composed of a fluid known as protoplasm �  c. Does not operate by the same rules of chemistry as other parts of the world �  d. None of the above �  23. Which of the following are part of a healthy diet �  a. Fats �  b. Carbohydrates �  c. Proteins �  d. All of the above �  24. DNA �  a. Contains the information that allows cells to run chemical reactions �  b. Makes up most of the material inside a cell �  c. Is almost all composed of genes �  d. None of the above �  25. Stem cells �  a. Are found only in humans �  b. Are only found in the laboratory �  c. Have the ability to produce any kind of tissue in the body �  d. None of the above �  26. The earliest animals we could say are related to modern humans appeared on Earth �  a. Thousands of years ago �  b. Millions of years ago �  c. Billions of years ago �  d. Trillions of years ago

�  Scientific literacy for children in South Korea �    �  South Korean children are considered to be one of the most scientifically literate kids in the world(after

starting elementary school). Why is that? . The reason south Korea is one of the leading countries in this field is because of the teaching model that all elementary schools use to teach the kids, Which is the 6E model. The reason kids in South Korea are so literate is because they use the 6 E’s: Engagement, Exploration, Explanation, Elaboration, evaluation, and expand

�  By using these 6 E’s kids in South Korea have been able to acquire knowledge from an early age and never forget it.

�  Lest explain the 6 E’s a bit more, starting with engagement. �    �  Engagement is when the student is eager to learn, so therefore he/she define questions, issues or problems

that they take in class and relate them to he/she’s world �    �  Exploration is when the student gathers, organize, interpret, and analyze data that relates to what they are

taking in class �    �  Explanation is when the student (based on the information and results they have got) reaches a

conclusion on the issue he/she is studying �    �  Elaboration is when the student summarizes their explanation so its easier for other people to understand �  �  Evaluation is when the teacher and the student both look at the work the student has done and give their

opinions about and look at what the student could do better the next time �    �  Expand is when the student uses these conclusions to solve problems, make decisions, perform tasks,

resolve conflicts, or make meaning of everything that is happening around him. �    �  As u can see the 6E model is mostly based on students being eager to learn. If a student isn’t eager to

learn he wouldn’t do any of the stuff listed above. That is why the 6E model has only worked in certain countries and hasn’t in others. Countries all over the world have to look at South Korea and find out how they motivate the kids at such a young age to work so much,

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�  Why are African countries not scientifically literate? �    �  If u have a look at the list of the top scientifically literate countries in the world you will find

that African countries occupy most of the places at the end of the list. As a fellow African I find this very disturbing because I want my country and the region I live in to be one of the best in the world. After looking at it a bit more the main reason African countries are so scientifically illiterate is because they are poor. Some argue and point to the fact that the reason they are poor is because they are scientifically illiterate, but I don’t agree with this statement.

�  The problems African countries have are well documented and are known all over the world.

�  Having said that, there are other reasons to why African countries are so scientifically illiterate such as laziness. African people are really lazy, that affects their scientific literacy because the kids when they are young would rather sit home or play than focus on their studies and follow the 6E model program that has proven to be really successful in Europe and Asia.

�  The other reason why African countries are so scientifically illiterate is their lack of attitude or ambition. African people would like to sit safe and depend on other people to fix problems and they never think about the future they just take it one day at a time and that really hinders everything because it means no one is thing of anything new or no one is thinking of a way to solve all of the problems.

�  The conclusion I have reached is that African countries are scientifically illiterate because they’re poor and their poor because they have the wrong mentality.

�  Africa’s biggest problem is the way they think and until they change their mentality they will never improve

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Here are some games kids will enjoy that will help them become scientifically literate

�  Its hard to imagine a world without literacy magazines for children. There have been short stories and folk-tales for children since the dawn of time where people created stories for their children; however children magazines are a late literature which helps children become more literate, if you are interested in reading more of these magazines, here is some of the top magazines for you to read.

�  Ranger Rick: is one of the oldest nature �  related magazines which is published by �  National Wildlife Federation in 1967 which is for �  children around the ages of 7 and up. The magazine publishes one

issue every month and have gained a lot of popularity among children through its riddles, games, activities and information’s on how to become more actively involved in the environment.

�  For more information on this magazine follow the link. http://www.nwf.org/Kids/Ranger-Rick.aspx

�  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsIPlO40dFI ( a video about Ranger Rick)

�  the following is one of the games in the magazine where you are supposed to follow the words

� To play this game, go to this website http://www.nwf.org/games/buzzoff.aspx

�  Cricket magazine: is an illustrated children �  magazine for ages of 9 till 14 which was founded �  by in 1973 by Marianne Carus. The magazine �  publishes nine times every year and each issue �  is 48 pages. The magazine is divided into a number of other small

magazines and each magazine has its own character which tells stories puzzles and games. Babybug for children from 6 months old to 3 years, ladybug for children from 3 to 6, spider for children from 3 to 6 and finally, Cricket from 9 to 14. The magazines published original poems, stories and folktales through these insect characters who also define difficult words and draw attention to unusual facts.

�  For more information http://www.cricketmagkids.com/ �  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyO5feFe7IU is a video about

one of the major characters in the magazine, the ladybug. �  Here is one of the slides from magazine, where you are supposed to

put the slides together

�  National Geographic kids: this is another children magazine �  which is published by an organization called National �  Geographic Society in 1975. This magazine has been �  translated into 18 more languages around the world. �  The magazine is for children from 6 years old to fourteen, �  and it teaches young kids a lot about nature games, puzzles �  and interesting articles. �    �  For more information visit their website �  http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/ �    �  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pukiQnrQY5U �    �  Here is one of quizzes from the magazine. �    �  Which is the tallest mountain on earth �    �  a)Mount Everest �  b)Mount Washington �  c)Mount Whitney �  d)Mount St.Helens