Improving Quality of Science Teacher Training in European Cooperation
-
E-learning

The Integrated Science Education Curricula and its Designing Principles in Comprehensive School

• To perceive the integral and systemic nature of the content of science education;
• To analyze different types of science education curricula, to know the qualities, drawbacks and degrees of integrity of the curricula;
• To define the concepts of educational content and educational curriculum and to know their framing principles;
• To have knowledge of conditions ensuring the possibility of successful implementation of science education curriculum.

Natural science is a subject that seeks to set out conditions for schoolchildren to adopt the basis of contemporary natural science knowledge, to cherish a modern culture of scientific thinking and activity and ability to refer to it in practice. It is very important that natural sciences should help learners to formulate a clear concept of natural history based on the latest knowledge of the world strongly emphasizing the character of the correlation between nature and society, civilization and culture. The world is multidimensional, and therefore we must strive to acknowledge it. This is a winning goal of contemporary natural science education. The objectives as concretization of this goal are supposed to be formulated at different levels. According to A.Tõldsepp (2003), the main of natural science education is to prepare young people for a full and satisfying life in the world of the 21st century. The others underline natural science-technological literacy for all and mastery for professionals (Broks, 2002).

Public society approach to natural science education (general needs, general level of culture, traditions in the light of interaction with nature, the need to have society and the young generation of a privileged natural science background, etc.), its optimal conditions of implementation (the standards of natural science education and material, human, etc. resources undertaking their success), the development of the needs and motivation of nature study (in a broad sense) (improving the need to perceive nature throughout all studies in comprehensive school, enhancing cognitive relation with nature, etc.), natural science results: knowledge, abilities, relations (studying natural sciences, etc.) are the crucial components of natural science education.

Natural science and natural science education are closely and specifically interrelated at school. Natural science education can be perceived as the synthesis of the components (Lamanauskas, 2001).

As can be seen from figure 1, natural science education is a specific synthetic, integral, systemic subject.

• humanism (fosters respect for nature and human being, the creation of a healthy and safe environment, etc.);
• democracy (in terms of education methodology, content, etc. both the pupil and the teacher are given the option and a freedom);
• spiral (similar issues are discussed at higher level in higher forms. Training material is broadened and deepened);
• integration (training material is integrally produced (the complete wholeness). Educational content as well as the process and the teacher-pupil activities are sought to be integrated);

• regional studies (based on schoolchildren’s knowledge and visuals acquired investigating terrene, digging, weather phenomena, waters, soil etc., of a region);
• a seasonal principle (objects, phenomena and their alteration of animate and inanimate nature are observed in autumn, winter, spring and summer).

1. Natural research:
   1. The methods of scientific research.
   2. Scientific thinking and creativity.
   3. Natural sciences and society.
2. Animate nature (biology):
   1. Organism.
   2. Organism and environment. Biosphere and human being.
   3. Continuation and variety of life.
   4. Human being.
3. Substances and their alteration (chemistry):
   1. The structure and composition of a substance.
   2. The subordination of the properties of substances considering their composition and structure.
   3. Chemical transformation.
   4. The main substances used in nature, daily life and technologies.
4. Physical phenomena (physics):
   1. Physics as a natural science.
   2. Substance and its structure.
   3. Motion and force.
   4. Energy and physical processes.
   5. Physical transformations.
   6. The Earth and the Universe.

The first component of natural research is integrated into the next three.

The content of natural science education gives a chance to the dynamics and structure of the educational process. However, the adaptation of natural science knowledge system depends on both the teacher (choosing and applying teaching methods and forms, etc.) and the pupil (the methods of learning, motivation, general abilities). The diversity of teaching and learning content, forms and methods, activities are typical of natural science education. All that makes the educational process effective: develop intellectual knowledge and skills, set out conditions for intense pupils’ activities, shape thinking, foster aesthetic feelings, etc.

The natural science knowledge and skills gained by pupils in the educational process form the content of teaching natural science. Anyhow, the process of natural science education includes the teacher and children’s activity based on direct and indirect relations. Children are interested in the classes of science when the content of the taught material is comprehensible, attracts attention and imagination, encourages to intensively work and is problematic. A highly effective component of natural science education is the presentation and examining of problems. It can be expressed in three ways: 1) asking questions about the relevant subject; 2) presenting demanding tasks; 3) facing serious problems.

• successful natural science education is a sample of the most important concepts of natural sciences (natural science). They explain the main structure of natural sciences and increases the learner’s natural science perception moving to the higher form;
• successful natural science education is a sample and discernment of the concepts that deepen and broaden general natural science understanding;
• the understanding of concepts plays a leading role at school as well as in everyday life as they create an opportunity for people to better understand each other, predicates about verbal communication (Arends, 1998);
• in order to explain concepts and phenomena, primary school pupils’ thinking peculiarities (ontogenetic aspect) definitely require picturesque specific cases. The most advantageous way to reach an effect is practical children’s activities.

In addition, integrated natural science education is examined in the context of the ideas of constructivism. A basic premise of constructivism is that knowledge is not passively received but developed as students construct their own meanings (Treagust, 1996). Teachers who valued their students existing ideas` and attempted to link learning to them (i.e., using a constructivist premise about learning) were more able to make relevant links and transfer of skills across curriculum areas. They were more likely to involve integration as a framework in their teaching (Waldrip, 2001). According to Bentley and Watts, learning is always an interpretative process involving individuals` constructions of meaning. New constructions are based upon previous experience and prior knowledge (Bentley, Watts, 1994, p.24).

• scientific character;
• unities of the substantial and remedial party of training;
• structural unity;
• conformity of the basic components of the contents to structure of culture of the person;
• socialization;
• practical importance;
• optimum combination of an educational material of regional and global character;
• conformity and necessary sufficiency etc.

• governmental and non-governmental education;
• formal and informal education;
• subject oriented and student oriented teaching;
• algorithmic and non-algorithmic activities;
• objectivity and attractivity.

• process orientation;
• holistic approach;
• learner centredness.

Experience and research have shown that success in curriculum innovation depends upon the active involvement of teachers in curriculum development.

The curriculum of natural science should reflect not only the integration of content, but the process should be seen as well. Integrated courses of natural sciences should agree with systematic courses, and all presented information should be bound together by sensible meaning. The efficiency of the integrated learning is directly dependant on the activities of students. Integrated courses should be well supported by a set of teaching / learning aids such as textbooks, workbooks, visual / demonstration aids, teacher’s books, etc. (Lamanauskas, 2003). Integration also presupposes the increase of the abstract. The younger are the students, the less is their knowledge. Consequently, the degree of integration should be limited in this respect. The integration of content should be combined with differentiation and individualization of teaching, because every child has his / her own ways or models for learning.

• a combination of subjects;
• an emphasis on projects;
• sources that go beyond textbooks;
• relationships among concepts;
• thematic units as organizing principles;
• flexible schedules;
• flexible student groupings.

Future science curricula should recognize the interaction of science, technology, and society and should give students the skills for learning and applying scientific knowledge, an awareness of ethics and values in science, and a future perspective (Robinson, 1982). Science curricula have been criticised for ignoring the relevance of science to the health, wealth, happiness, security and curiosity of humanity and neglecting all accounts of the numerous ways in which science based technologies contribute to society (Sjøberg, 2000).

• although the educational curricula are the basis of integration, they cannot cover the whole education. Moreover, natural sciences are rather complex and the integration of a few stages (levels) only is possible. Thus, scrupulous attention should be paid to the textbooks in the field. A qualitatively prepared and experimentally based textbook improve the schoolchild’s knowledge, develop his/her intelligence. Finally, teaching is one of the main conditions that determine the quality of learners’ knowledge;
• the teacher is a central figure of the educational process. The quality of natural science background acquired by pupils depends on his/her competence;
• teachers’ thinking has to fundamentally change and develop. Learning should predominate over teaching. The process of sciences teaching-learning should be more holistically oriented and directed towards synthesis. The research of natural science education system requires the holistic approach. It is of a complex character and demands an experimental basis (from practice to theory). Training the whole child’s personality is a contemporary educational issue. The solution mainly depends on the educational process in which the usage of the pupil’s experience in imparting knowledge about the world plays an important role. Classified knowledge that helps to perceive the correlation between nature and society becomes the means linking personality and environment, helping to acknowledge reality (changing methods) as well as the basis of the learner’s individual social singleness. The creation of the knowledge system depends on the following crucial points such as the level of information perception, thinking method, the development of a schoolchild’s cognitive activity and individuality, a value-based system of the student and at last curiosity which is a driving force of his/her cognition, thinking and behaviour.

• a constructive approach to teaching is admissible to pupils’ parents;
• the curriculum is rather convenient if managed; teachers accept it more willingly than integrated teaching;
• individual scientific subjects impart specific knowledge and abilities to schoolchildren. Bright pupils that have high motivation in terms of natural sciences gratefully acquire it;
• learners’ knowledge is more thorough as professional teachers work and face a higher quality, outstanding schoolchildren’s achievements;

• a pupil’s workday is broken into many fragments (for example, 7-8 classes) that usually do not correlate (or weakly correlate);
• teachers’ time planning and learners’ demands disagree;
• the content of training does not reflect reality outside school as it is full of facts, most frequently uninteresting for children and hardly understandable.

• teachers need to change the time of the presentation of curricula rather than the curricula themselves;
• partial reconstructions are not complex, and therefore often acceptable to teachers;
• this is the way to implement the internal integration of content.

• subjects correlate in passing;
• the presented concepts of phenomena are separated, do not correlate notionally, etc. (for example, “Photosynthesis”, “Breathing”, “Combustion”, etc.);
• schoolchildren themselves have to establish the correlation between a reason and a result among unlike phenomena and cognitive fields.

The curriculum of supplementary (parallel) subjects. A characteristic feature of the curriculum is that relative natural sciences are combined into a single class or even an individual module (course). The degree of integration increases. On the other hand, the subjects of a different format correlate as much as they can explain or supplement each other. Lithuanian comprehensive secondary school applies such modules under the circumstances of profile teaching.

• the material of the curricula can be easily linked;
• the course of such a format is understood by the participants of the educational process with no effort;
• the administration of the planning process itself is simple, pupils are given opportunities of choice.

• learners are made to reconsider a traditional approach to their knowledge and studies;
• the school syllabus of the educational process is changed, the methods of payment alter, the control of the educational process becomes more complex, etc.
• in general, the approaches to the introduction of the supplementary subjects vary. The supporters of extracurricular activities state that this kind of activities cannot be devoted to scientific education.

• versatile pupils’ epistemological experience is encouraged;
• natural science courses are better scheduled;
• a timetable of classes alterates according to the opportunities and situation of a school;
• perfect conditions to apply other forms of teaching, for example, designed teaching (projects are launched and carried out) are imposed. For instance, such curricula are extremely effective when preparing long-term projects.

• such an activity requires many efforts and changes, high teachers’ competence;
• schoolchildren’s parents often hardly accept that a curriculum of interdisciplinary education is valuable. They frequently want to see a result “here and now”;
• the curriculum requires much time and endeavour to work with a school community. School executive must be able to effectively organize, administer the educational process and to constantly encourage teachers to such activities.

• the day of an integrated activity is natural;
• learners’ concernment is quite high;
• time planning and pupils’ needs are in chime.

• teachers have to work a lot, they have to be experienced professionals and possess the skills of cooperation;
• a class activity and work in groups are complex to be administered (when a few forms or students’ groups participate in the process in particular);
• frequent deviations from the didactic attitudes and educational objectives of the main curriculum in general.

• the curriculum is properly integrated;
• to reveal pupils’ self-sufficiency excellent conditions are set out;
• the main idea of the educational process is a schoolchild’s life at school or in other educational institution.

• the curriculum requires close cooperation and reciprocal understanding between children’s parents and school;
• qualitative mastering of the whole educational curriculum is hardly ensured;
• this is a boarding school that suits to a certain group of schoolchildren.

Fogarty has described ten levels of curricula integration (1991).

• integrated curriculum helps students apply skills;
• an integrated knowledge base leads to faster retrieval of information;
• multiple perspectives lead to a more integrated knowledge base;
• integrated curriculum encourages depth and breadth in learning;
• integrated curriculum promotes positive attitudes in students;
• integrated curriculum provides for more quality time for curriculum exploration.

School science curriculum reform is a global phenomenon, with change in the form and/or content of science courses often being allied to the specification of standards, goals or levels of attainment that students should achieve at particular stages of their schooling (Jenkins, 2000).

1. Motivate the statement that an assessment of science content clearly shows it has integral and systemic nature.
2. One of the components of the content of science education is creating optimal conditions for learning sciences. Refer to the circumstances ensuring the possibility of successful implementation of science education curriculum?
3. Define and compare the concepts ‘content’ and ‘curricula’. Fill in the table to reach sufficient clarity:
   
   

   The basic principles of science education	The basic principles of science education curriculum

   
   
4. Identify and describe the already known types of science education curricula and put them in sequence starting from the lowest level (1) to completed integrity (6):
   
   

   Curriculum title	Curriculum specificities
   1.
   2.
   3.
   4.
   5.
   6.

   
   
5. What are the possible reasons for science curriculum reformations in many countries in Europe at secondary level?

A week of integrated education Forest is organized at school X. When integrating natural sciences with other educational subjects, knowledge of sciences is introduced and educational content is related to the questions considering school environment and students’ living place, customs and traditions. The learners are encouraged to show their interest in surroundings, a wish for inquisitiveness is stimulated and a positive children’s attitude towards nature and science education is adopted. Following a weekly plan of integrated education prepared by teacher A, the first day of the week involves the classes on the mother tongue, world study and music and discusses the topics dealing with the national lifestyle, forest birds, voices of birds, spelling of future tense verbs and folk songs about birds (listening and singing). The second day of the week includes the classes on the mother tongue, world study, music and a trip to the forest. The learners have to analyse an extract from a literature piece about forest, to get acquainted with the book Forest Fairy-tales by a national writer, to describe forest, to observe forest changes in spring, to collect material about nature and to prepare for coming creative work. The activities of the following week days are arranged in a similar way. Such arrangement of work at school evidently helps with acquiring a new knowledge as well as assists in broadening world outlook and forming acceptable behaviour in nature. Applying this educational form works for close relations between students’ cognitive and practical activities.

1. Establish the form of the currently designed curriculum and reason your position.
2. What are the difficulties a teacher can face when implementing the above introduced curriculum?

Training (educational) content is defined by the curricula. They can vary and perform different functions. The science curriculum need to be based on such important didactic principles as humanism, democracy, spiral, integration. Worldwide experience of science education is long and diverse. Detailed implementation of the ideas started only in the second half of the 20th century. School science curriculum reform is a global phenomenon, with change in the form and/or content of science courses often being allied to the specification of standards, goals or levels of attainment that students should achieve at particular stages of their schooling (Jenkins, 2000). Science education curricula can differ in format and purpose. They are distributed into the science education curricula of a particular country and specific integrated educational curricula of sciences. The curricula devoted to natural science development in a particular country differ from the specific curricula dedicated to teach integrated natural sciences. The assessment of science curricula of various countries reveals an essential consistent pattern – the majority of them are much the same. Therefore, the debate on these curricula discloses that they are not suitable for all sociums and ethnic-cultural regions and certainly for educational situations.

The modern curriculum must focus on various activities which enable students to get to know more about their environment. The new curricula should be interesting for students. The main point of integrated science curricula is that natural science is now studied as a whole.

Bencze, T., & Hodson, D. (1999). Changing practice by changing practice: Toward more authentic science and science curriculum development. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 36, 521-540.

Beane, J. A. (1997). Curriculum Integration: Designing the core of democratic education. New York: Teacher’s College Press.

Bonnstetter, R. J. & Yager R. E. (1999). On Research: Building a Constructivitist Approach to Reform. Science Scope, 15 (1). National Science Teachers Association, Washington, D.C.

Brooks, J. G. & Brooks, M. G. (1993). The case for constructivist classrooms. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Darling-Hammond, L. & Snyder, J. (1992). Curriculum studies and the tradition of inquiry: The scientific tradition. pp 41-78. In Jackson, P. (Ed.) Handbook of Research on Curriculum. New York: MacMillan.

Drake, S. M. (1998). Creating Integrated Curriculum. Thousand Oaks: Corwin.

Driver, R., Oldham, V. (1986). A Constructivist Approach to Curriculum Development in Science. Studies in Science Education, Vol. 13, p. 105-122.

Fensham, P.J. (1997). Continuity and discontinuity in curriculum policy and practice: case studies of science in four countries. In.: K.Calhoun, R. Panwar and S. Shrum (eds), Proceedings of 8th Symposium of IOSTE, Vol. 2, Policy, pp. 32-36, Edmonton.

Lamanauskas V. (2003). Natural Science Education in Comprehensive School. Siauliai: Siauliai University Press, p. 514.

Ledoux M., McHenry N. (2004). A Constructivist Approach in the Interdisciplinary Instruction of Science and Language Arts Methods. Teaching Education, Vol. 15, No. 4, p. 385-399.

Popov, O. (2008). Considering Liberal and Humanistic Values in Science Education Curriculum. Problems of Education in the 21st Century (Current Research on ICT and Science Education), Vol. 3, p. 40-47.

Arends R. J. (1998). Mokomės mokyti.Vilnius, p. 337-357.

Bentley D., Watts M. (1994). Primary science and technology. Practical alternatives. Buckingham*Philadelphia: Open University Press.

Broks A. (2002). Congratulations. Wishing happy birthday to the Journal of Baltic Science Education. Journal of Baltic Science Education, No.1, p.5.

Fogarty, R. (1991). The Mindful School: How to Integrate the Curricula. Palatine, IL: Skylight Publishing, Inc.

Jenkins, E. (2000). “Science for all”: time for a paradigm shift? In.: R.Millar, J.Leach, J.Osborne (eds), Improving Science Education. Buckingham, OUP, p. 207-226.

Lake, K. (1994). Integrated Curriculum. School Improvement Research Series. Available on the Internet at: http://www.nwrel.org/scpd/sirs/8/c016.html (10.08.2008).

Lamanauskas V. (2001). Gamtamokslinis ugdymas pirmo kurso studentų požiūriu. Pedagogika, T.54. p. 93-101.

Lamanauskas V. (2003). Natural Science Education in Comprehensive School. Siauliai: Siauliai University Press, p. 514.

Lamanauskas V. (2003). Natural Science Education in Lithuanian Secondary School: Some Relevant Issues. Journal of Baltic Science Education, No.1, p. 44-55.

Lipson, M., Valencia, S., Wixson, K., Peters, C. (1993). Integration and Thematic Teaching: Integration to Improve Teaching and Learning. Language Arts, 70/4, p. 252-264.

Sjøberg, S. (2000). Science and Scientists: The SAS-study Cross-cultural evidence and perspectives on pupils’ interests, experiences and perceptions - Background, Development and Selected Results – Acta Didactica no.1. University of Oslo. Revised and enlarged version, 2002. Available in http://folk.uio.no/sveinsj/

Robinson J.T. (1982). Designing Science Curricula for Future Citizens. Educational Leadership, Vol. 39, No. 8, p. 593-595.

Tõldsepp A., Toots V. (2003). Research and development work from the perspective of compiling balanced curricula for science education. Journal of Baltic Science Education, No.1, p. 5-11.

Treagust D., Gräber W. (2001). Teaching chemical equilibrium in Australian and German senior high schools. In. H.Behrendt, H.Dahncke, R.Duit et al. (eds). Research in Science Education – Past, Present, and Future. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, p.143-148.

Waldrip B. (2001). Primary Teachers` Views About Integrating Science and Literacy. Australian Primary and Junior Science Journal, Vol.17, Issue 1.