Draft

Module 1.8

Teaching of Science
(Upper Primary)
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Teaching of Science (Upper Primary)

1. Learning Objectives

After the completion of this module, the learner is expected to

 have basic understanding of science as a subject and how science should be taught at
upper primary stage.
 have basic understanding ofcurriculum expectations at the upper primary stage for
science.
 know how to transact NCERT science textbook for class VI-VIII.
 design a learning situation to be provided to children for some specific concepts.

2. Introduction

Human beings have always been curious about the environment around them. One kind of
response from the earliest times has been to observe the physical and biological environment
carefully and look for any meaningful patterns and relations, and build conceptual models to
understand the world on the basis of observations and thus arriving at theories, laws and
principles. This human endeavour is science.

Science is a dynamic and expanding body of knowledge, covering new domains of

experiences. In a progressive society, science can play a truly liberating role, helping people
escape from the vicious cycle of poverty, ignorance and superstition. People today are faced
with an increasingly fast-changing world where the most important skills are flexibility,
innovation and creativity. These different imperatives have to be kept in mind in shaping
science education. Good science education is true to the child, true to life and true to the
discipline.

3. Curricular Expectations at the upper primary stage

At the upper primary stage children are getting their first exposure to ‘science’. Science
education at this stage should provide a gradual transition from environmental studies of the
primary stage to elements of science and [Link] concepts to be taught at this
stage should be chosen so as to make sense of everyday [Link] and
experiments should form a part of the learning process.

Science content at the upper primary stage should not be governed by disciplinary approach.
Science at this stage should be taught as an integrated subject and it is not to be regarded as a
diluted version of secondary [Link] child should be engaged in learning the principles of
science through familiar experiences, working with hands to design simple technological
units and models and continuing to learn more about the environment and health, including
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reproductive and sexual health. Scientific concepts are to be arrived at mainly from activities,
experiments and surveys. 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 [Link] components
such as design and fabrication of simple models, practical knowledge about common
mechanical and electrical devices and local specific technologies are to be included in science
[Link] is necessary to recognize that there is a lot of diversity in the nature of
technology that children from different areas of the country deal [Link] same is true for the
state of Tripura. These differences in exposure and interest should be addressed through
specific contextualization of content related to the state.

Apart from simple experiments and hands on experiences, an important pedagogic practices
at this stage is to engage the students (in groups) in meaningful investigations particularly of
the problems they perceive to be significant and important. This may be done through
discussions in the class with the teacher, peer interactions, gathering information from
newspapers, talking to knowledgeable persons in the neighbourhood, collecting data from
easily available sources and carrying out simple investigations in the design of which the
students have a major role to play.

Science curriculum at the upper primary stage is intended to develop

 scientific temper and scientific thinking.

 understanding about the nature of scientific knowledge, i.e.,testable, unified,
parsimonious, amoral, developmental and creative.
 process skills of science which includes observation(s), posing question(s), searching
various resources of learning, planning investigations, hypothesis formulation and
testing, using various tools for collecting, analysing and interpreting data, supporting
explanations with evidences, critically thinking to consider and evaluate alternative
explanations, reflecting on their own thinking.
 appreciation for historical aspects of evolution of science.
 sensitivity towards environmental concerns.
 respect for human dignity and rights, gender equity, values of
 honesty, integrity, cooperation and concern for life.

The curriculum has been organised around the following themes that are cross disciplinary in
nature:

 Food
 Materials
 The world of the Living
 Moving things, people and Ideas
 How things work
 Natural phenomena
 Natural resources
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4. How to use NCERT science textbook

Teaching of Science supported by a large body of research on Science Education–

recommends a pedagogy that is hands-on and inquiry-based. In a hands-on way of learning
science, we start with things that are directly related to the student’s experience, and are
therefore specific. From this we progress to the [Link] has been made in class VI to
VIII science textbooks to include children’s own experiences and build concepts around
them. This is designed to connect science that they study with their every-day life. Many
activities have been suggested to clarify concepts. Some of these activities are so simple that
children can perform them on their own. The requirement of the apparatus required for the
activities is minimal. Activities should form apart of learning process. It is expected that
scientific terms, concepts, theories, laws, etc. are to be arrived through activity. While
performing activity children should be given every opportunity to get involve in doing
activities. It is also expected that activities should help children in developing skills such as
presentation of data in tabular and graphical forms, reasoning and drawing inference from the
given data.
To help teachers evaluate children effectively, a large number of exercises have been given at
the end of each chapter. The teachers are encouraged to frame additional exercises to test
children’s understanding.

Further, to prepare children to assume their role as responsible citizens of tomorrow, attempt
has been made to sensitise them to the issues concerning gender, religion, environment,
health and hygiene, water scarcity and energy conservation.

It is expected that teachers will use locally available material while transacting concepts.
Various resources such as ICT, art education, etc may be judiciously employed to enrich
teaching and learning of science.

Students at upper primary stage enjoy learning when they are given opportunities to share
their experiences, observations and feelings about their surroundings. Therefore teachers’
understanding of learners’ experiences and existing ideas are very important for designing
teaching –learning situations. Students need to be engaged and focused on the learning tasks
by asking questions, defining a problem and drawing their attention to an interesting event.
Learning is a complex process and it occurs through various exposures and not necessarily
through a single exposure. Teacher may craft an environment that is likely to help students
develop the idea. When learners are encouraged to share and seek out knowledge from
sources other than the textbooks, in their own experiences, in the experiences of their peers
homes and surroundings, they realise that knowledge can be sought out, authenticated and
constructed.

An example strategy on how to transact sound concept from NCERT class VIII science
textbook is given below. This may be treated as one way of transacting the content while a
teacher may have other ways of transacting the same concept.
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 Key concepts:
1. Sound is produced by vibrating objects.

Learning outcomes:
Conducts simple investigation;
relate process and phenomena with causes;
applies learning of scientific concepts in day to day life;
exhibits creativity in making use of available resources

Think of an object that produces sound. You must have had various experiences of sound
produced by people, automobiles, gadgets, etc. in our daily life.

In this process teacher may ask students to

a) share their experiences about sound in their surroundings.

b) make a list of sounds they hear in their surroundings ( of
persons, animals, birds, breeze, rivers ,mobile, school bell,
transports, gadgets, etc.).
c) name some musical instruments they have seen in the music
room of the school or at other places.

Let us try to explore how sound is produced. One way to explain about it is by performing
activity or experiment. Let us perform the following activity.

Activity 1:

To show sound is produced by a vibrating object (The activity is to be performed by

involving student)
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Learning outcome: Conduct simple experiment

Teacher may involve students in arranging materials for performing the

activity. The activity describe below is one among the many activities that a
teacher can perform. Students may be asked to bring objects producing sound
in the classroom

Materials Required: metal plate, steel spoon.

Figure: Sound produced by a vibrating metal plate

 Take a metal plate and place it as shown in the fig 1.

 Now strike the rim of the metal plate with a steel spoon.
 What do you observe? Can you hear any sound?
 Now, strike again the rim of the metal plate again with a steel spoon. As soon
as you strike the rim of the metal plate touch the rim of the metal plate with
your finger. What do you feel?
 Do you feel the vibration on touching the steel plate?
 What can be inferred from the observation?
 Touch the plate after it stops producing sound. Can you feel the vibration
now?

Teacher ask student, which part is vibrating? (Metal Plate) Teacher may help
students conclude that sound is produced due to the vibration of the metal plate.

It may be conclude that sound is produced by vibrating objects.

Learning outcome:Relate process and phenomena with causes

Teacher may ask students to perform the following activities in group and help
them in arriving at the concept by performing Activity 2
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Activity 2:

Teacher facilitates a group activity using two rubber bands, two pencils and pencil boxes.
Teacher moves around all the groups and observes how they are producing sound. She finds
that a group of students is producing vibration in the rubber string by adjusting the pencils at
different length. They are also observing difference in sound produce by changing the length
of the rubber band between the pencils.

Figure: Plucking the rubber band

Teacher ask student, which part is vibrating? (String)

Teacher encourages students to ask questions. It helps her to get familiarized with
students’ ideas about the concept. She also observes how students respond and react to
others opinions and ideas. She looks at all the sound producing objects that students are
bringing. She helps students in identifying different sound producing objects and vibrating
part of the object.

Assessment

Teacher asks students to discuss among themselves and note down the vibrating part of
various musical instruments.

Learning outcome:Concept of identifying and classifying of sound producing objects

[Link]. Musical Vibrating part producing sound

Instruments

1. Veena Stretched string

2. Tabla Stretched membrane
3. Flute Air-column
4. Guitar ---
5. --- ---
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6. --- ----
Teacher asks students to prepare simple musical instrument using locally available
resource.

Learning outcome:
Exhibits creativity in making use of available resources;
Applies learning of scientific concept in day to day life

Thus while using NCERT textbook, the learner is to be provided with opportunities in
pairs/groups/ individually in an inclusive setup and encouraged to—
 explore surroundings, natural processes, phenomena using senses viz. seeing,
touching, tasting, smelling, hearing
 pose questions and find answers through reflection, discussion, designing and
performing appropriate activities, role plays, debates, use of ICT, etc.
 record the observations during the activity, experiments, surveys, field trips, etc.
 analyse recorded data, interpret results and draw inference/ make generalisations and
share findings with peers and adults
 exhibit creativity presenting novel ideas, new designs/patterns, improvisation, etc.
 internalise, acquire and appreciate values such as cooperation, collaboration, honest
reporting, judicious use of resources, etc.

5. Learning Outcomes

The learning outcomes for class VI-VIII science are appended as Annexure-I at the end of the
module.

6. Activities for KRPs/Teachers

a. Make a classroom plan for transacting one or two topics of your interest from NCERT
textbook linking with learning outcomes.

d. Develop an activity in which focus should be on enhancing gender

sensitivity/inclusion/environmental sensitivity/scientific temper integrating it with subject-
specific topic.
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Annexure-I
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