The Use of Scientific Games in Teaching Science Essay Example for Free

The Use of Scientific Games in Teaching Science Essay The study of science is essential. Science is the study of the world around us. Everything around us concerns science. Without it, it is impossible to get into medicine, engineering, architecture and other fields requiring technical expertise. Every sector recognizes an increasing contribution of the discipline to the progress of the modern world as well as its traditional standing as an element of humanistic and scientific education. Its importance as the key subject is common knowledge. Science has been recognized as a patent means of sharpening our competitive edge. Thus, science holds a dominating place in the curriculum. As mandated in the Philippine Constitution, it is the duty of the schools to develop scientific and technology efficiency among the pupils and the students. Thus, it is necessary to evolve a strong science program in all levels. So, the teaching of science should be effectively earned out so as to satisfy the National Development Goals. Science is a multifaceted subject, limitless in extent and depth, vital for science and technology, and rich in the cultural import. It offers a lot of challenges to an individual. In school, however, some students find the subject dull and difficult. More so, science in general, is even considered by many as uninteresting or boring subject if not difficult or not applicable into their daily lives. The performance of the pupils depends largely on quality of the teaching competencies of their teacher. A competent teacher learns to build effective learning situation and to select teaching methods/strategies to guarantee maximum retention and application of the earning that are achieved. According to Wikipedia, strategy refers to all techniques by which the teachers structure the learning environment so that the students are led to discover what they are supposed to discover. Teachers use a wide variety of techniques to elicit information from the students. In view of this, the teacher must determine effective strategies that would suit to the interest, abilities and needs of the students. The researcher believes that the games could be an effective strategy in teaching science in elementary schools. Statement of the Problem The study aims to find out the effectiveness of using games in teaching selected topics in Science to Grade VI pupils of Matanao Central Elementary School for the incoming School Year 2012-2013. Moreover, it seeks to answer the following research questions: 1.) Is there a significant difference on the pre-test scores of the control group and the experimental group? 2.) Is there a significant difference on the post-test scores of the control group and the experimental group? 3.) Is there a difference between the pre-test and post-test scores of pupils in both control and experimental group? Hypotheses Null Hypothesis 1.) There is no significant difference on the pre-test scores of the control group and the experimental group. 2.) There is no significant difference on the post-test scores of the control group and the experimental group. 3.) There is no significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores of pupils in both control and experimental group. Alternative Hypothesis 1.) There is a significant difference on the pre-test scores of the control group and the experimental group. 2.) There is a significant difference on the post-test scores of the control group and the experimental group. 3.) There is a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores of pupils in both control and experimental group. Significance of the Study This study would like to help elementary grade pupils to develop better understanding of the abstract concepts and ideas in science as they prepare for higher learning in science. The findings of this study may likewise motivate and challenge science teachers in their determination to help majority of the grade VI pupils who experience learning block in science primarily due to less effective in teaching science concepts, with the use of various learning strategies, students may develop a deeper understanding of the concepts and process to science that will consequently lead to higher achievement. Lastly for educators, the useful and relevant information acquired from this study may provide insights on how they can promote higher academic achievement using effective strategy in teaching abstract concepts and ideas in science. Moreover, this study would like to help them achieve their long sought goal of development of effective understanding of the science processes and concepts. Limitations of the Study This research will be limited and will be conducted only at Matanao Central Elementary School for the incoming School Year 2012-2013. The respondents of the study will be the Grade VI pilot class. The instrument which is going to be used will be an achievement test which will serve both as a pre-test and a post-test. This will be used to classify the pupils’ performance and learning outcomes. Different scientific games will be used to motivate and arouse the interests and attention of each pupil. The class will be divided into two groups, namely, the control group and the experimental group. The experimental group will be subjected to scientific games used as motivation in teaching science, while the control group will be exposed to the traditional method. Broadly speaking, the social scientific approach has concerned itself with the question of â€Å"What do games do to students?†. Using tools and methods such as surveys and controlled laboratory experiments, researchers have investigated both the positive and negative impact that using games in teaching could have on students learning. Among the possible effects of game play, perhaps the one most commonly raised by media and general public has to do with violence in games. What are the possible effects that playing videogames, in particular those that feature aggressive or violent elements might have on children and youth? Social learning theory (Bandura,1986) suggests that playing aggressive videogames would stimulate aggressive behaviour in players in particular because the player is an active participant (as opposed to passive observer as the case of aggression in film and television). On the other hand, catharsis theory ( Feshback and Singer, 1971) implies that playing aggressive videogames would have the opposite effect by channelling latent aggression resulting in positive effects on players. Numerous reviews of existing literature have been written and there is not a clear picture of the effects of playing violent videogames might have (Griffiths, 1999; Sherry, 2001). As for positive effects, educators and learning scientists sed as motivation have also debated how to leverage the motivation students had for playing games as well as exploring th e medium of videogames for educational and pedagogical purposes. Malone explored the intrinsically motivating qualities that games have and how they might be useful in designing educational games (Malone, 1980; Malone 1981) while Kafai utilized the design of games by schoolchildren as the context for them to learn computer programming concepts and mathematics (Kafai, 1995; Kafai 1996). Similarly, Squire has explored the use of commercial games as means for engaging disenfranchised students in school (Squire,2005). In addition to their motivational factors, Gee and Shaffer have argued that certain qualities present in the medium of videogames provide valuable opportunities for learning (Gee, 2003; Shaffer, 2006). In her book, Life on the Screen, Sherry Turkle explored how people that participated in online multiplayer games such as MUDs used their experiences with the game to explore personal issues of identity (Turkle, 1995). In her book Play Between Worlds, T.L. Taylor recounts her experiences playing the massively multiplayer online game Everquest. In doing so, she seek to understand â€Å"the nuanced border relationship that exists between MMOG players and the worlds they inhabit† (Taylor, 2006). Swiss educator Johannes Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746-1827) agree with the view that a school should be adapted in an atmosphere of general permissive where physical experience, play activities and nature study walk should be part of the learning experiences against the dullness deadening memorization and recitation. German educator and philosopher, Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852) also a naturalist, believes that the teacher must become an active instructor instead a taskmaster and hearer of active recitations. He introduced the school for early childhood education, the kindergarten or child garden that emphasized games, play, songs and crafts. He urged teachers to look back of their childhood days that could help them understand the needs of the child. Other significant studies that relate the games to improved achievement is in the hand of biology (Bleitan, 1989) and in Genetics concepts (Garcia, 1993). Nueva Espana et al (1990) stated that our country depends on Science and Technology. A great number of its problem can be solved by developing its greatest resource: people. Our people must develop skills in Science and Technology. Sufficiency in scientific and technological expertise is a characteristic of countries that have become progressive and rich no matter how small they are. Our country still has a long, long way to become self-sustaining. Knowledge of Science and the efficient use of its principle can help a lot toward making our society self-sufficient in turn making us masters of our own science and technology and not servants of society. (Philippine Graphics, May 19, 1997 p.8). Senator Ernesto Maceda made alarming news about the results of our students performance in mathematics and science competence in the elementary, high school and even college levels that the Philippines is in the bottom ranked 37 out of 39 countries in Asia. He said that we have to respond to the t ruth which tells us with greater sense of urgency to help our students in several dimensions of the educational process: retraining our teachers, lengthening classroom work, improving classroom facilities, reviewing the textbooks now in use and supplementing the resources available in our school libraries. Allan C. Ornstein (Strategies for Effective Teaching, New York: Harper-Collins publishers 1990 p.213) said that â€Å"to understand why and how to use instructional objectives result should be obtained in more effective teaching and testing. The use of instructional objectives helps the teachers focus on what students know at the end of the lesson. Likewise, it helps students know what is expected of them. On the international scene, a number of educational research projects have investigated science teachers’ classroom practices. One of the established projects is the large scale National: The Survey of science and Mathematics Education, conducted in the USA over a number of years to gauge the status of science and mathematics education in the USA. Reports from these studies written by Weiss (1987, 1988, 1994), Weiss, Banilower, McMahon, Kelly Smith (2001) and Weiss, Pasley, Smith, Banilower Heck (2003) have attempted to answer the following questions using data from questionnaires distributed to stratified random samples of teachers from all states in the USA : 1) How well prepared re science and mathematics teachers in terms of both content and pedagogy? 2) What are teachers trying to accomplish in their science and mathematics instruction, and what activities do they use to meet these objectives? 3) To what extent do teachers support reform notions embodied in the National Research Council’s National Education Standards and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics’ Principles and Standards for School Mathematics ? And 4) What are the barriers to effective and equitable science and mathematics education? It is worth noting that no classroom observations were conducted in these studies and all data sources were based on teachers’ self-reports. Analysis of the trends between 1993 and 2000 in the above studies showed that science teachers’ classroom practices have seen some changes. These changes include the reduction in the amount of time spent on reading about science during class and doing textbook/worksheet problems. Approximately 50% of teachers at all grade levels reported in 2000 that their students completed textbook/worksheet problems in the most recent lesson, representing a small decrease from 1993. Moreover, while there was some increase in the use of hands-on activities at the Grade 1-4 level (from 41% to 50% of classes), the percentage of classes in which hands-on and laboratory activities took place have remained stable and amounted to approximately two thirds of the classes. There does not seem to be a change in the percentage of classes in which computers were used: teachers reported that 10% or fewer science lessons included students using computers in 1993 and 2000. However, many more teachers reported using other instructional technologies such as CD-ROMs in 2000 than in 1993. Another international project that has investigated science and mathematics teachers classroom practices in science and mathematics is the TIMSS 1999 video study, the science result of which were released in 2006 ( Roth, Druker, Garnier, Lemmens, Chen,Kawanaka, Okamoto, Rasmussen, Trubacova, Warvi, Gonzales, Stigler, Gallimore,2006). This study examined patterns of science and mathematics teaching practices in 439 videotapes of eighth grade science lessons in five countries: Australia, the Czech Republic, Japan, the Netherlands, and the United States. Results of the study showed that there were variations across the five countries in the organization of science lessons, development of science content for students, and student involvement in doing science. For example, the study results showed that students in Czech Republic were required to master challenging and theoretical science content and that classes were mostly focused on talking about science in whole class settings. In Japan, the focus was on presenting science in conceptually coherent ways while stressing the identification of patterns, making connections among ideas, and the interplay between evidence and ideas in an inquiry-oriented approach to teaching. Australian students were mostly involved in making connections between ideas, evidence, and real-life situations using inquiry approaches to teaching similar to those used in Japan. Students in the Netherlands were held accountable for independent learning of science content with emphasis on homework and independent seatwork. Finally, in the United States, students experienced variety in instructional approaches, organizational structures, content, and activities with less emphasis on developing coherent science ideas and content. The focus of the activities was on engaging and motivating students rather than on developing challenging content knowledge. As evident from the above, there is important research on classroom practices being conducted worldwide; research that has the potential to provide useful recommendations for improving science teaching and learning. In the Philippines, a related study on the use of games as learning in mathematics was conducted by Aragon (1991). She discovered the greater attention of students to the lesson and there is interest where enhanced. She also found the strategy as a very effective motivational learning material that makes recreational and learning objectives easily attainable. Letting the study of grade V, Aragon agreed that the games are useful in assisting the learning process by providing opportunity to see familiar materials in new setting; that makes them excellent motivation tools in acquiring new skills that breaks the classroom routine in a pleasant way, making uninterested students become a part of the chase in permanent learning. Aragon also found that games enables students to appreciate the value of sportsmanship, fair play, how to follow rules, team work, cooperation, respect for authorities and selflessness, sharing of skills for the success of the group. Salandahan G.G. (1985), The Teaching of Science, Quezon City Phoenix Publishing House. Many science educators recognize the positive outcomes of inquiry teaching despite the limited experimental evidence as to its effectiveness in leading children to acquire a deeper understanding of science knowledge, encouraging children to learn by such a method insures the attainment of one of the most s ignificant outcomes of science developing a scientific mind as well as desirable social values. Cognitive Development and Achievement in Science Through Traditional and Inquiry Approaches Of Teaching General Chemistry by Rosalinda T. Agton (1991). Most of the students in today’s colleges and universities have to be exposed to a method of teaching which is best described as exposition, or the formal, or the commonly called traditional method in which the teacher tells the students what they are expected to know. The assumption is made by curriculum planners that if the student are to learn the concepts from the content, they have to rely on printed materials. Traditional procedures in the classroom are those that used to present in a logical sequence, facts, principle, and data needed thoroughly to expose the students to concepts. The other various classroom procedures that could be used in the traditional method are oral explanation sessions, demonstrations, motion picture and film strips, textbooks, supervised studies or boardworks.