Experiences

What is known and what should be learned during science lessons

Cristina Farzi

Romania

Lower Secondary School

Chemistry, Physics

Teaching in class, Laboratory

Direct

I have noticed that my students do not have any problems in understanding science lessons if I start my lessons with an observation stage, that is, I elicit from them what they know about the new topic and ask them to share their everyday experiences where the new phenomenon is present. These are very concrete things which students are familiar with and which make them comfortable with the new concepts I am going to introduce, even if the new concepts are abstract. My students’ experiences create a sort of bridge between what is known and what should be learned during science lessons. They made the lessons more accessible and easier to understand because they rely on concrete visible things. I can give lots of examples when abstract concepts such as electricity or frictional or gravitational force were first introduced and then explained in this way. The most common experience is the one with the ruler which pupils rub and which can attract scraps of paper or light objects. It is a fantastic and simple experience which highlights and explains the presence of phenomenon pupils have not been aware of.