Saturday, July 11, 2020

Cutting the curriculum - Science


I'm writing a series of blog posts with the intention of persuading people that the primary curriculum is overloaded with content and needs to be cut. In this post I'm looking at science - specifically a small part of grade 4 science.

The National Standards Curriculum is daunting. (Information taken directly from the curriculum is in blue.) The curriculum emphasizes the importance of developing process skills. Those relevant to this blog post are observing, communicating, predicting, inferring, formulating hypotheses, experimenting.
The curriculum also states “content is easy to forget but process skills remain forever. I would add that content is easy to access – if you want to know something, look it up. So why is so much content packed into the curriculum?
The curriculum also emphasizes the importance of attitudes: curiosity, objectivity, critical mindedness, open mindedness, inventiveness, intellectual honesty, humility and perseverance.
My suggestions for cutting the content of the curriculum are based on the importance of emphasizing skills and attitudes.
The science for grades 4, 5 and 6 is about 200 pages long. 
I’ve taken a small section which, as a biology teacher, I’m familiar with and concerned about. It's the section of the grade 4 curriculum on sense organs.The GSAT curriculum has been rearranged for the NSC, so that the eye and the ear which were originally taught in Grade 6, are now taught in grade 4. This means they are taught before sound and light (which would include lenses), which I don’t think is a rational move. I concentrated on the following:
Focus question 2: How does the structure of sense organs relate to their functions? (8 lessons). 
(Focus question 1 was Why are sense organs important?)

The content is to be taught during 8 lessons, but the curriculum leaves it up to the teacher to write the lesson plans. The lesson numbers given here are mine and not included in the curriculum.

Lesson 1. The Eye 
Look in a mirror at their eyes and/or examine a model/picture (online/ offline), record their observations (colour, parts) and discuss what they see. Make an annotated drawing of one eye to show the external features and their related functions.
Labels include eyelid, eyelashes, white of the eye, iris and pupil. They can suggest functions of the parts. Looking at how the iris constricts in bright light provides a clue to the function of the iris. 

Research and label diagram of the eye provided by the teacher (cornea, iris, pupil, lens, retina and optic nerve ONLY). Using the diagram, show the route that light travels through the eye, and the information then transmitted to the brain.
Sequence this on a flow diagram (cornea à pupil àlens àretina àoptic nerve àbrain). Suggest possible responses of the body after the information is interpreted by the brain.
I would leave most of this out. I think it’s sufficient to tell them at this stage that after light enters the eye it is converted to signals that go to the brain. They will learn more detail in high school. Looking at videos of how the eye works could be an optional enrichment activity.
In groups, examine an eye from another animal e.g. slaughtered cattle/goat/pig and compare the external features with that of the human eye. Discuss and record their observations and share with the class. 


I’ve heard so much about children having to get cow eyes, I was surprised they were given as an example only. I think it would be better to get the children to look at the eyes of pets or farm animals, observe how they differ from human eyes and record their observations in drawings or writing.

Lesson 2 . The Ear
 Using a variety of media (electronic or non-electronic) provided by the teacher (e.g. charts, models, online resources), examine the structure of the human ear then label a given diagram of the major parts (pinna, ear canal, eardrum, middle ear, inner ear and auditory nerves) and state their functions, excluding details of the middle and inner ear. (Students are ONLY required to identify the middle and inner ear; no further details are needed.
What we normally refer to as an ear is the ear pinna. I think that the children need to know at this point is that the ear’s function of converting sound to signals that go to the brain takes place in the inner ear, basically what is outlined here.
Make a simple flow chart showing the route sound travels through the ear, and the information then transmitted to the brain (pinna à ear canal à ear drum à middle ear à the inner ear à auditory nerve à brain).
Take turns to be blindfolded while another student makes a sound from different points, inside or outside the classroom. Identify the type of sound, direction it is coming from, distance away, loudness of sound etc. As a class, discuss outcomes of the activity and suggest what they think the role of the brain was in identifying the different information about the sounds.
Use graphic organisers found in a word processor or presentation software to aid your construction of the flowchart.

Lesson 3 The Nose

Observe and interact with digital/non-digital resources on the human nose (chart, videotapes, model, educational CDs/DVDs/websites, etc.), label a diagram of the major parts (nostril, septum, hairs, nasal cavity).
Describe and record the scents they smell when the teacher opens various containers. In groups, suggest how they were able to smell and differentiate the various scents. Share their ideas with the class. (Teacher should emphasise that the brain interprets the information and makes us identify the odours.)
 Observe multimedia content on how the nose functions, (video clips, educational CDs/DVDs/websites, etc.), make a flow chart showing how the nose helps us to smell (odours in the air à nostril à nasal cavity à brain).
For homework, in preparation for the lesson on the tongue, children can perform this experiment: Get a small piece of onion. Close your eyes, hold your nose and taste the onion with the tip of your tongue. What do you taste?

Lesson 4 The Tongue
Discuss what children discovered about the onion. Have a discussion about taste – children’s likes and dislikes. What happens to your sense of taste when you have a cold? Is some of what you taste really smell?    Get children’s ideas about what tastes are specific to the tongue.
In groups, search a variety of sources (online/offline) for information on the human tongue. Construct a simple model of the human tongue showing the taste centres (salt, sour, sweet and bitter). Make a flow chart showing how the tongue helps us to taste (substances in food à taste buds à information sent to the brain). Share models and flow charts with the class. As a class, discuss how different tastes are identified (the brain interprets the information from the different taste buds and makes us identify the flavours). 
The tongue

There are some scientists who question the existence of taste centres.
Children should design an experiment to find out if there really are taste centres and where they are located on the tongue. Children may get different results for this experiment because people differ in their abilities to discern flavours.
Instead of constructing a model, children could cut out a tongue shape from a piece of pink paper, label the taste centres on it, and paste it into their books.

Lesson 5: The Skin
In groups, use a magnifying glass to examine their skin at different points of their body, example: the back and palm of their hand; the upper and lower surfaces of the forearm etc. Then, describe and record their observations (skin tone, hairs, sweat pores, creases and folds etc.). Compare the appearance of the skin at the different points of the body examined. Suggest reasons for the differences and their ideas with the class.
In groups, use a variety online/offline of sources (e.g. videotapes, model, computer software, charts, books) to gather basic information on the external structure and functions of the human skin.
Please note – the curriculum does not require students to look at a diagram of a section through the skin, (which is commonly found in 4th grade text books. Leave that for high school.)
I think it would be good to have a discussion about skin colour. Black pigmentation protects the skin from the sun. White skin gets badly burned in tropical sun. Skin makes vitamin D in sunlight. In temperate climates, where there’s not as much sun in the winter, white skin allows more sun to penetrate and make vitamin D. People with dark skin are likely to be deficient in vitamin D. Bleaching damages the skin and doesn’t help it to make vitamin D.

Lesson 6: Sense organs in the skin
 Identify and record the five stimuli to which the skin responds (pain, pressure, heat, cold and touch). Make a flow chart showing how the skin helps us to feel (stimuli à skin sensors à nerves àbrain).
I would review all the sense organs at this point and relate to Focus Question 1 – why they are important. Discuss how the brain uses input from all the sense organs to make us aware of our environment.  
The following activities can be given for homework.
 Predict what will happen if they insert one hand into a container of cold water, and at the same time the other hand in warm water, then place both hands simultaneously into another container of water at room temperature. Carry out the investigation and record their observations. Compare their predictions and observations. Suggest simple explanations for their observations. Share and discuss their findings and ideas.

Taste samples of fruits, e.g., sweet orange, then sugar, then sour orange/grapefruit, rinsing their mouths with water after each sampling. Record and suggest simple explanations for their observations. Share and discuss their ideas.

Lesson 7: How sense organs can deceive us
Carry out optical illusion activities (e.g. roll a sheet of letter size paper to form a tube with diameter of about 2 cm. Hold the tube with your left hand and look through the tube with the left eye. Place the right hand against the tube with the palm facing the right eye. Move the right hand slowly back and forth alongside the tube while viewing simultaneously through both eyes). Discuss and give possible reasons for their observations.  That’s a good one!
Look at other optical illusions.

What do you see?
Discuss and record ways in which their hearing can deceive them, e.g. reflected sound (echoes) may mislead our ears regarding the origin of a sound. Create a song/poem/drawing/dance etc. to convey how people’s hearing can deceive them.

Review the ways in which their senses can mislead them. Discuss the limitations of the senses. In groups, compose a story on how someone’s senses deceived them. Use story making or presentation software to design and produce the story which should include at least pictures, narration/sound and text. Share stories with class.

Lesson 8: Instruments used to extend the senses.
Do research using a variety of sources (online/offline) or interview a resource person, on how instruments are used to extend the senses, example: detect smoke and odours, view distant objects, view objects at night, detect subtle temperature changes, hear faint sounds, detect vibrations, etc. Make models of the instruments and use these in reporting to class on how the instruments work.


I hope I have demonstrated here that the content prescribed cannot be completed in the time frame given, and that much of it can be deferred to high school.

In case you are concerned that an important aspect of sense organs was omitted,
Focus question 3 is How can I care for and protect my sense organs?