Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary
-
Jennifer:
No doubt the pupils should not depend on these textbooks, I believe teachers shld play a part in bringing out the interest in the pupils. If you present it as a boring facts loaded subject, how to expect the children to love it? My children are fortunate as I am able to teach them the subject.
All along until now, there are several issues, frustrations that hinder teachers in making Sci more interesting:
1. Not enough time to prepare materials for conducting experiments.
2. Poor time management in lab to conduct experiments to completion, thus eating into other subject's time.
3. Not enough materials for conducting experiments, cos not replenished.
4. Did not have effective class management skills to control kids in lab.
5. Fear of unsuccessful experiments thus cannot explain to kids why.
6. Felt that time is better spent in conducting theory than practical.
7. Not enough knowledge or expertise in subject area.
These are real concerns and that's why many teachers refuse to teach Science. In my former school, my P made a few teachers 'Sci coaches' to help/mentor these teachers and vet science papers. It did help to take away some fears in these teachers and alleviate their concerns.
Every school will probably face similar issues with teaching Science but how each school tackles these issues depends on the HOD. I guess we have to have greater faith in ours and hope that more desirable progress will be made.
Meanwhile, as parents, we continue to uphold our kids and one another in this subject. My dd reads the Young Scientist magazines (old issues from her cousin and some we bought from Popular), Encyclopedias or borrowed Sci books. All these help to keep her interest alive in Science for the time being. She conducts her own experiments at times though I felt she messed up the kitchen quite a bit but I will still let her have her closure to her learning. -
Sorry, I meant to say 'Perfect Match' for Science.
Have given up on the school text since last year...it's so 'diluted'. :?:
Found Science Partner informative and also other guides by Renee Chong and Fairfield Publisher as reference. My son has a keen interest in Science. -
janet_lee88:
Have given up on the school text since last year...it's so 'diluted'. :?:
The truth is Science teachers themselves hardly used the texts. You can use it as a coaster or to swap flies. Over the years, many curriculum textbook authors had tried to improvise on the Science texts but always ended up with the same lame excuse. The Sci text cannot be too profound in order to cater to all or mixed-abilities. Everything had to be simplified for easy understanding but useless in answering exam questions. :roll: -
E3:
The Science text is too simplified...personally I find that it doesn't make sense for the school text to be so easy bcos kids do not get the real feel of the exam. So much vital info is not found inside the textbook and kids in P3 esp can't grasp the knowledge to pass exams.janet_lee88:
Have given up on the school text since last year...it's so 'diluted'. :?:
The truth is Science teachers themselves hardly used the texts. You can use it as a coaster or to swap flies. Over the years, many curriculum textbook authors had tried to improvise on the Science texts but always ended up with the same lame excuse. The Sci text cannot be too profound in order to cater to all or mixed-abilities. Everything had to be simplified for easy understanding but useless in answering exam questions. :roll: -
janet_lee88:
The Science text is too simplified...personally I find that it doesn't make sense for the school text to be so easy bcos kids do not get the real feel of the exam. So much vital info is not found inside the textbook and kids in P3 esp can't grasp the knowledge to pass exams.[/quote]Hi, Janet, actually if we talked about getting the real feel of exams, none of our school texts is providing that.E3:
[quote=\"janet_lee88\"]Have given up on the school text since last year...it's so 'diluted'. :?:
The truth is Science teachers themselves hardly used the texts. You can use it as a coaster or to swap flies. Over the years, many curriculum textbook authors had tried to improvise on the Science texts but always ended up with the same lame excuse. The Sci text cannot be too profound in order to cater to all or mixed-abilities. Everything had to be simplified for easy understanding but useless in answering exam questions. :roll:
It's just that Science can be a very wide topic, thus we find that the text is insufficient to provide the kids with all the necessary information for a particular topic taught.
-
Hi E3,
I do agree with you that our school textbooks are insufficient but at the very least, the Chinese and Maths textbooks are comprehensive enough. As for English, the child has to read a lot to improve his/her vocab. For Science, there are 5 big topics, using Diversity as an example, a lot more research and reading of other reference books needs to be done. Diversity includes Living/Non living things, animals, fungi, plants and material. Got my son to practice and learn to answer questions the ‘scientific way’ last year. -
Recently, my dd borrowed some "Horrible Science" books from the library.
They are pretty fun to read and teach principles well. they can act as good reference material in teaching Science.
I just bought the whole series from UK … so much cheaper than getting them from Popular. -
Trapwithin:
can i have the website? how many books are there in the whole series?Recently, my dd borrowed some \"Horrible Science\" books from the library.
They are pretty fun to read and teach principles well. they can act as good reference material in teaching Science.
I just bought the whole series from UK .. so much cheaper than getting them from Popular. -
php:
Wah php, you very on hor. Yesterday 'caught' you buying books from Popular today want to order from UK :rotflmao:
can i have the website? how many books are there in the whole series?
Ok, I make sure that ds become good friend with your dd so that she can spread good influence to him
-
markfch:
the 'Horrible\" series can be introduced to kids even before Pri 3 to build up interest in science...it is fun to acquire knowledge via the'Horrible' way, it is horribly interesting !!
Wah php, you very on hor. Yesterday 'caught' you buying books from Popular today want to order from UK :rotflmao:php:
can i have the website? how many books are there in the whole series?
Ok, I make sure that ds become good friend with your dd so that she can spread good influence to him
Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better 💗
Register Login
