We know students learn science concepts better when their learning is embedded in real-world issues. But teachers are currently not well prepared to teach science in this way.
In trials teaching Einsteinian physics in schools, our most astonishing discovery was that children were not astonished: they just took the ideas in their stride.
Teachers are right in selecting age-appropriate scientific models and teaching these in age-appropriate ways – even though the science they present isn’t the whole story.
Physics teachers often pass on misconceptions to their pupils.
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The way science is currently taught in southern African countries ignores the fact that the whole environment is a laboratory for learning.
Teaching students about how ancient civilizations used geometry to build structures like the pyramids in Egypt is part of a new integrated approach to learning science, technology, engineering and math.
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To get more students interested in STEM subjects, teachers must break out of the traditional subject-matter silos and use an approach that helps kids understand how math is used in the real world.
A teacher puts one of the c*hemRoots kits to the test.
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The combination of knowledge and communication, along with a few other fundamental conditions such as liberty and respect , leads to social, cultural and technological development.
By the age of 16, most teenagers have already made up their mind about climate change.
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Players in the climate science game ‘CO2peration’ become a particle of sunlight, and travel on a journey to find out why we have liquid water at Earth’s surface.
Mauritian physics students hard at work during the project’s testing phase.
Mauritius Institute of Education
The affective domain - motivation, interest and values and their inter-relationships - forms an integral component in facilitating learners’ construction of physics knowledge.
The resources kids have at school and home influence their performance in science.
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Good quality education fuels an economy. South Africa needs to increase its supply of science and technology university graduates. But instead it’s lowering the bar, especially when it comes to maths.
Science teaching needs to engage all pupils, whether they’re future scientists or not.
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Science that students learn in context - rather than science as isolated knowledge items - can deliver both scientific literacy and positive learner interest.
Religious teachers can feel uncomfortable explaining the science of evolution to their pupils.
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Many South African teachers don’t accept the theory of evolution. They feel deeply conflicted when they have to teach it to their pupils as part of the life sciences curriculum.
If we don’t change the way we teach science and maths, we might come to regret it.
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With the current demands from industry for STEM graduates, how many are going to give up high paying jobs in industry for the short term sugar-hit of $15,000 and the stress of the classroom?
Children are natural scientists. They learn from their mistakes, then try something new.
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