“In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not.”
— Albert Einstein
By Mr Kwok
In Science, one of our favourite quotes is shown above. We always stress to our students that there are gaps between textbook knowledge and real life applications so it pays to get hands-on to have a firm grasp of the subject matter. Therein lies the reason why Science is the most interesting subject – hands-on work in Science engages the learner like no other subject can.
How often do you get to apply the theories you learned at so many different levels – visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, olfactory and even taste (if you are working on Food Science)? Establishing these many connections among various centres in the brain can only enhance long term retention of the subject matter. The act of applying Science in everyday life also motivates the student as his brain subconsciously grasps the importance of learning the subject matter and therefore gets flooded with feel-good neuro-chemical substances.
How do we go about combining practice and theory in Science then? How do we make Science “interesting”? In short, we make use of experiential learning through activities like experimentation, field trips and real world examples and case studies.
1. Scientific Experimentation to Captivate the Learner
As much as we would love to, we do not have a laboratory tucked away in our centre to run experiments. The logistics and regulations of running a laboratory are unimaginably onerous. (I know because I have run one before.) Nevertheless, there are more than enough experiments that can be done in the centre without involving chemical substances, naked flames and technical equipment.
For example, cutting up flowers and observing their parts can easily be done with little mess and a couple of field lenses. Or rigging up a ramp and getting the students to compete their toy cars in a race can demonstrate the topics of forces and energy. Below are a sampling of the experiments we have conducted to spice up our students’ interest in Science.
Science Tuition Class Practical Hands-on: Making a Potato Battery
Project Solar House: Experiential Learning for Our Science Students
Experiential Learning of Acidity in Science through Experimentation
Grand Prix with Toy Cars – Learning Science Through Play
Science Tuition Class Practical Hands-on: Do you need a Potato for a Potato Battery?
2. Fascination with Scientific Field Trips
Though involving hands-on work, experiments are still done in a somewhat controlled environment. The real world is often more complicated and involves interdependent variables not apparent in the lab. Here is where the known unknowns and more probably the unknown unknowns are going to challenge the most well learned theories. Of course, therein lies the beauty of field trips in which the learner interacts with the real world in all its glory and complexity.
Are our students out of touch with nature?
Given the current Covid-19 climate, outdoors activities are as hard to come by as the four-leaf clover. Nevertheless, we do not want the young generation to end up being competent and comfortable only in the virtual world but helpless and ignorant in the real world outside. Read more about this topic in our article published in The Straits Times Forum on 23 Sep 2020. In our field trips, we strictly adhere to Safe Management Measures while keeping the trips safe and educationally enriching for our students.
Due to the logistics and costs of field trips, we typically only run a handful a year. We still stand by the title of this post as field trips as a learning modality is highly appropriate to the subject of Science. Students being students, they invariably enjoy the opportunity to learn outside the classroom. Psychologically, the human brain always craves for new experiences, subconsciously translating those activities into “interesting” ones.
Below are some of our Science field trips.
Yishun Park
Live Turtle & Tortoise Museum
Yishun Pond
3. Real World Examples and Case Studies for Science
Though less engaging compared to experimentation and field trips, real world examples and case studies are also less intensive in terms of logistics, costs and time. This makes them ideal for learning content that do not require the rigour of experimentation and the intensity of field trips.
As mentioned often in our centre’s website, Science is indeed everywhere and it does not take much effort to find a relevant example or case study for almost any topic in Science. Case in point, convection as a means of heat transfer is commonly taught in Physics and Lower Secondary Science. Instead of analysing it on paper using a water heater, why not head out to the shopping mall and figure out why the basement level tend to be colder than the top level?
After all, what is the point of studying science if you cannot apply it to everyday life? Despite the results oriented culture in Singapore’s education system, we sincerely want our students to be able to think beyond the classroom and see scientific theories in practice in the world around us.
Given below are a historical example combining Biology, Chemistry and Ecology in a neighbouring country and a living example demonstrating Biology and Chemistry in the much misunderstood Leech.
Parachuting Cats into the Borneo jungle – a cautionary tale for Science
Learning about Science, Chemistry and Biology from the Fascinating Leech
Final Thoughts on Making Science the Most Interesting Subject
As in any Science hands-on work, discussion and reflection after an activity are critical to the learning process. Therefore, we never fail to conduct a debrief to wrap up each experiment or field trip. Examples and case studies are already self-contained by incorporating questions to get our students to think critically.
Finally, by making Science “interesting” via these learning activities, we actually improve understanding, memory and motivation in studying Science. As mentioned in a previous post – A Checklist of Reasons Why Students Perform Poorly, these are strong factors that work against the student doing well in his studies so their mitigation is a step in the right direction towards better results and hopefully, a better understanding of the world around us.
Click on the links below to learn more about our various Science Tuition Programmes.