A topic in 'Teaching science'
Many scientific ideas are highly abstract and complex – including many that may be selected for inclusion in school science courses. For this reason it is fair to say that many scientific theories and models are not so much included ('as is') in the curriculum as represented.
(Read about the science curriculum)
Representing science in curricular models
In developing curriculum, complex and abstract scientific ideas are represented in curricular models that offer learners the essence of those ideas at a suitable level of complexity to be grasped as meaningful. Topics such as the theory of natural selection, the nature of chemical bonding in metals, or the formation of heavier elements in stellar nucleosynthesis – to offer just a few examples – are not suitable for teaching in school at the level of current scientific knowledge, but can be taught through appropriate simplifications that are accessible to learners whilst offering an authentic basis for later progression in understanding. (Taber, 2017: 27)
A curricular model is a simplification or presentation of some scientific idea that is designed to be suitable for teaching to students of a certain age or level of study. Designing curricular models is a challenge – they need to be simplified enough to be accessible to novice learners, but should be authentic accounts that offer a fair gist (what has been termed 'intellectually honest' accounts) of the technical idea and suitable for progression to more sophisticated accounts for those who go on to study the topic at higher levels.
There will often then be potential disagreements (perhaps among scientists, teacher, curriculum developers) about what is an appropriate representation, curriculum model, of some scientific idea.
For example the Institute of Physics has done considerable work supporting the teaching of physics in schools and was involved in developing a curricular model of 'energy' – which led to quite a lot of discussion among teachers (on the Physics Teachers Notes and Comments email list, for example).
(Read about 'Exploring the Curriculum Model for Teaching about the Nature of Science')
Curriculum models and teaching models
Teachers develop or adopt their own preferred models for teaching scientific ideas. These may be tools to help make the curricula models accessible (such as teaching analogies), or may even be further simplifications if they feel the curriculum specification is too difficult for a class.
Sometimes the wording of curriculum specifications may be vague enough for teachers to adopt teaching models that they understand to reflect the curriculum even if they are not what was intended. One example of a teaching model which is problematic, but may seen to be suggested by some curriculum and examination specifications and textbook treatments is the idea that ionic bonding is (or at least is due to) electron transfer between atoms.
(Read about the 'molecular framework' for ionic bonding)
Work cited:
- Taber, K. S. (2017). Reflecting the nature of science in science education. In K. S. Taber & B. Akpan (Eds.), Science Education: An International Course Companion (pp. 23-37). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. [Download the author’s manuscript version of the chapter.]
