Teaching Mathematics and Science in Schools

The way teachers go about their teaching each day in their classrooms is reflected as teaching style or approach. This approach is better understood when the teachers ar observed while they teach. Some teachers prefer activities for boorren associated with the curriculum, allowing school-age childs to chose their activity and sleep together it by themselves. Some other teachers would want the class to be attentive to them for most of the time. Certain teachers would like students to work in groups. Thus the methods adopted in the teaching- discipline process is broadly reflective of the teachers viewpoint of what is ripening and how it should be brought into children.The process of learning is more successful when children atomic number 18 fully tangled with the subject or topic of their learning. This is all the more important when teaching apprehension. Life sciences involving plants and animals and non-living things are real and fag be felt. Experiencing the reality don e interaction, makes science not only more interesting, only if also easier to understand. Mathematics on the other hand involves a bit more abstract aim.Yet, the symbols, signs and figures associated with mathematics with which children work, are self-created reality. In their effort to learn science and mathematics, children proceed further into the subjects, than just at the surface or base encounter. They analyze and interpret the object of centre and attempt to understand how it works, why its required etc. Thus the child begins to develop reasoning for the facts it sees or understands. It may be the development of a new concept, or altering a previously thought concept, or even rejecting an assumption held till then. The teacherwho wants to interestingly engage children in learning science and mathematics must personally sense excitement in learning so as to share it with the children.The teacher should approach the topic of learning and the query asking children in a balan ced and parallel manner. The teacher must be sensitive to the requirements of the children and help them to see relationships and understand explanations. For teachers to be estimable and confident in their teaching, it is essential that they understand the triple interactions involved in learning. The teacher must be conscious that while the child is interacting with him or her, the child is also simultaneously interacting with the focused subject. The focused subject or subject matter interacts with both the teacher and the child while the teacher also interacts with the querying children and the focused subject.It is important to know the development of a childs understanding and cogency to reason, with their growth. Such an understanding is absolutely necessary in developing usurp contents. For instance in the grades K-4, a child associates a comparison, a description, or a manipulation for all objects, it sees around. Although the child doesnt understand the science of soc ial movement while in this grade activities like pulling, pushing, dropping of objects gives the child an idea of the cause of motion and its control.Similarly sound, heat, light, magnetism, electricity are broadly perceived through learning, note and experimentation. However, the child would not be able to identify elements of temperature, magnetic forces, static electricity etc. In the grades 5 to 8, the concept of energy is developed through investigations into the properties of light,sound, electricity and magnetism. In these grades, there is a considerable shift towards quantitative aspects of subjects. In the 9 12 grades, students are geared up completely to use up with motion, force, energy being beaten(prenominal) with theoretical observations and laboratory investigations (NJSC). Here they understand the reasoning behind the laws of motion and why energy is conserved. They are also competent of dealing with technological designs and its problems, using the concepts and principles learnt.The association of brain functioning and readingal practices is increasingly becoming an important factor in fosterage. Brain-based findings have been closely monitored by specialists involved in education. The findings of cognitive neuroscience look for has considerable bearing on the methodology of education. A new approach connecting brain functioning with education was exclamatory in 1983. Leslie Hart, in his book Human Brain, Human Learning suggested that by ignoring the brain functioning of students, the success of students is not achieved to its fullest potential.The philosophy of the newly developed brain-based education is that the brain is used for everything we do we should therefore know more about it and use it effectively. Contemporary models of brain-based education are multidisciplinary, relying on several disciplines like psychiatry, psychology, cognitive science, sociology etc. Brain plays an important role in the effect of classroom groupings , assessments, physical activity, lunchroom foods etc. Schools can affect students brain in several slipway including through social conditions, stress, nutrition etc. These factors induce brain-basedinfluences by altering cognition, memory and attention.Neuroscientists Gerd Kempermann and Fred Gage discovered that the new neurons in the brain are intensely associated with memory, mood and learning. The process of neurons can be provoked through good nutrition, low stress and proper exercise. The brain has the ability to remap itself due to its neuroplasticity (Jenson, 2008). This process can be influenced through reading, meditation, skill-building, career and technical education, and thinking skills, which contribute to student success.The enormousness of physical education is also emphasized by brain research. cognitive scientists, physiologists, educational psychologists and physical educators have strongly endorsed this view. Today more and more schools of education are inco rporating the knowledge gained from brain research. Harvard Universitys Mind, Brain and Education or MBE program produces postgraduates and doctors who eventually get engaged in interdisciplinary positions, both in research and practice.A report by the National Research Council Committee in September 2006, on the state of K-8 science education, has determined that science instructions offered in schools today are outdated. These are predominantly based on research findings of about three to four decades early. The report offers groundwork for the next reforms and is based on the recent understandings of how children learn, and recommends a narrower and better focus on important areas of science. It seeks to better professionalism among teachers and have each aspect of instruction andlearning, better integrated with each other.The Councils Committee on Science Learning, responsible for science learning in kindergarten to eighth grade had reviewed both, the reforms undertaken in scien ce education in the last decade and the recent understandings of learning and cognitive science. The committee emphasized that young children are capable of intricate thinking and that each student develops an individual understanding of the nature around him. It also stated that the current debate on the importance of teaching content versus teaching process skills, should be put aside and both be replaced by interweaved aspects of science expertise.The committee has suggested that the curriculum, instruction and assessment should be properly integrated with the focus of fewer, central elements in each discipline, rather than surface level study of a wide topic. It points out that the current science education is based on relatively old assumptions. The current science education underestimates childrens ability of complex thinking and is more attributed to difficulty level in children rather than their ability.For instructions to be successful, teachers need to have a sound underst anding of the subject, know how to teach it effectively and also be familiar with the recent research on student learning (AIP, 2006). Proper, effective instructions can clear misunderstandings and bring understanding closer to perfect. The instructions should include student encounters with science in a sequentially designed and strategic way. Students identified as proficient in science must be capable of explaining the scientific perception of the natural world. They need to be capable of introducing andnanalyzing scientific explanations, understand all aspects of scientific knowledge development, and participate in science-based exercises/discussions.The role of philosophy in developing the intellectual skills of children has been widely acknowledged. The induction of philosophy into the high school academician curriculum is gaining momentum, emphasizing not only the importance of the subject among them, but also the capability of the children for philosophical thinking. Dr. Ma tthew Lipman (1991), a philosophy professor at Montclair State College in New Jersey, emphasized that bringing philosophy into schools would only enhance the educational experience of children.The argument here was, philosophy could contribute to critical thinking, which is vital for all other subjects. Empirical evidence also shows that the cognitive and academic skill of children is vastly improved by teaching them reasoning skills early in life, banking on childrens natural inquisitiveness and sense of wonder. Obviously, such development would also contribute to the understanding of science and maths.It is estimated that about half the secondary teachers in the United States quit teaching within five years. Studies on the survival of the fittest and services of secondary science and maths teachers reveal their inhibitions of isolated profession, lack of mentoring and dwindled prospects (KSTF, 2005).It is also important to address these issues, for the success of teaching and lea rning reforms. The new methods of education for schoolchildren, particularly for maths and science should reflect the latest research into childrens ability and brain functioning. Engaging children in philosophical dialogues, also contributes to their ability of sophisticated thinking.REFERENCESAmerican Institute of Physics. (AIP, 2006) NRC Report Finds Much of Current K-8 Science Teaching Outdated. FYI Number 142 December 20, 2006 Electronic Version downloaded on 24th Feb. 2007 from https//www.aip.org/fyi/2006/142.html