Development of a parent’s guide for the Singapore primary science curriculum: Empowering parents as facilitators of their children’s science learning outside the formal classrooms

So, what kinds of tasks and activities could parents conduct at home and in other informal contexts to engage their children to learn science more effectively and meaningfully? Eight activities (specially designed with different learning rationale and objectives) are selected from the Parent’s Guide (Primary 3 & 4 and Primary 5 & 6) and presented below to serve as examples to demonstrate how parents can make use of the inquiry-based leading questions and possible answers or responses to play the role of effective facilitators of science inquiry to their children at home and in other informal contexts.

Stimulate Children’s Curiosity and Interest in Science

Science is in our everyday lives, and the basis for inquiry-based science learning is in fact learning-by-doing. Therefore, it is important that parents learn how to stimulate their children’s curiosity and interest in science by seizing opportunities to ‘talk’ and ‘do’ science with children. Many of the children’s familiar objects such as their toys, stationery, foods, or even electrical appliances or utensils in the kitchen can be used to design simple science tasks for children to explore how things work in their immediate environments. If parents are able to inject some fun and excitement such as by incorporating a magic trick or a simple game or even a demonstration using children’s toys into the science activities, it will arouse the curiosity and interest of children towards the learning of science concepts even more (e.g., Gottfried, Fleming & Gottfried, 1998).

Example 1: Use of familiar objects of children (e.g., toys) to stimulate children’s curiosity and interest in science

Figure 1. Taken from I-Science Parent’s Guide Primary 5 & 6. Theme: Systems, Chapter 1: Systems in Living things, Activity 2: Can a system work if one part of it is missing? (Page 32-33) [Source: Lee, A. N. (2009)]

Example 2: Help children learn science through games and tricks

Figure 2. Taken from I-Science Parent’s Guide Primary 5 & 6. Theme: Interactions, Chapter 1: Forces, Activity 3: Is force at work here? (Page 57-58) [Source: Lee, A. N. (2009)]

Infuse Science Thinking and Interest Through Meaningful Parent-child Conversations

Research has found that parent-child conversations when characterised by depth, richness, and variety, can allow learning to occur in contexts of great meaning to the child (e.g., Hall & Schaverien, 2001; Tizard & Hughes, 2002). As conversations are often triggered by the everyday events of life, parents can seize opportunities in daily life to talk about scientific and technological ideas with their children to nurture their child’s interest in science and technology (Hall & Schaverien, 2001). In fact, opportunities for cognitive change often emerge spontaneously and frequently in parent-child interactions in informal settings, such as when parents and children engage in meaningful explanatory conversations during dinner table conversations, cooking projects, and other activities outside the school (e.g., Callanan & Jipson, 2001; Callanan & Oakes, 1992; Gleason & Schauble, 2000; Shrager & Callanan, 1991; Snow & Kurland, 1996). As such, an advantage of the parents’ role in their children’s science learning in informal contexts is that they could facilitate the extension of science discourse beyond the formal classroom settings. If parents could initiate such learning opportunities for their children in parent-child daily conversations (e.g., Martin, 2004), they can help their children develop scientific concepts and make meaningful learning connections beyond their formal classrooms.

Example 3: Engage in meaningful parent-child conversations

Figure 3. Taken from I-Science Parent’s Guide Primary 5 & 6. Theme: Cycles, Chapter 3: Sexual Reproduction in Humans, Activity 1: Do I look more like my dad or my mum? (Page 23) [Source: Lee, A. N. (2009)]

Provide Outdoor Experiential Experiences or Visits to Educational Learning Places

Experiential learning experiences cannot be directly provided by classroom textbooks and are seldom aptly provided by science lessons in the formal classrooms. However, these concrete experiences are important for enhancing children’s scientific thinking, curiosity and interest in science. To make learning more meaningful for children, parents could provide opportunities to allow their children to make connections between outdoor experiential learning experiences and classroom content (e.g., Bamberger & Tal, 2007; Hofstein & Rosenfeld, 1996; Rennie, Feher, Dierking, & Falk, 2003). Also, it has been reported that when parents act as learning partners or collaborators to their children by participating actively in informal learning activities together with them, the meaningful parent-child interactions could help to nurture responsible behaviours in children towards the society (e.g., Ostlund et al., 1985; Whiting & Whiting, 1975). Thus, if parents can seize teachable moments during outdoor learning opportunities to cultivate positive science attitudes and values (e.g., curiosity, perseverance, and care for the environment), they not only can make a difference in their children’s science learning but also in their children’s character development.

Example 4: Take a walk at the nearby parks or gardens

Figure 4. Taken from I-Science Parent’s Guide Primary 3 & 4. Theme: Diversity, Chapter 1: Living and Non-living Things, Activity 1: Are they living or non-living things? (Page 2) [Source: Lee, A. N. (2008)]

It has been noted that one of the primary reasons for families to visit educational learning places is for recreational experiences where parents and children can experience and learn together (e.g., Ostlund et al., 1985). Research has also found that learning experiences offered by educational learning places can constitute a dynamic, personally meaningful engagement with structured ‘discovery learning’ for children (e.g., Bruner, 1961; Callanan & Jipson, 2001; Rennie et al., 2003). Generally, children enjoy broader and deeper experiences when they visit educational learning places with parents (e.g., Dierking & Falk, 1994; Schauble & Bartlett, 1997; Crowley & Callanan, 1998). As such, besides the home, parents can bring their children to outdoor parks and gardens, farms or other educational learning places (e.g., zoos, farms, wetlands or botanic gardens) to enhance their children’s exposures to different types of animals and plants in various habitats which they seldom encounter in their immediate surroundings.

Example 5: Excursions to educational learning places (e.g., zoo, science museum, botanic gardens)

Figure 5. Taken from I-Science Parent’s Guide Primary 3 & 4. Theme: Cycles, Chapter 1: The Cycle of Life, Activity 4: What are their life cycles? (Page 40) [Source: Lee, A. N. (2008)]

Leverage on Information Technology (IT) and Internet Resources for Science Learning

As more and more families nowadays own personal computers and other IT gadgets as an everyday lifestyle, parents could easily leverage on the internet or online educational resources to guide their children’s learning at home (e.g., Plowman, McPake & Stephen, 2008). For instance, parents can make use of relevant video clips, animated demonstrations and other interactive visual aids to enhance children’s understanding of more complex science concepts and experiments. As noted by some researchers, technology frequently offers kinds of pedagogic structures and support (e.g., Scrimshaw, 1993; Sefton-Green, 2003) which parents can leverage on to provide meaningful science learning for their children. Thus, the use of IT tools and online educational resources can serve as ‘scaffolds’ (Vygotsky, 1978) to support children’s understanding of abstract science concepts and also provide interactive learning experiences to enhance children’s learning motivation (e.g., de Jong & van Joolingen, 1998). Studies have also found that when parents pursue inquiries together with their children by providing them with learning resources, conversing with them, and investigating collaboratively with them with the aid of informational technology, children’s learning deepens (Hall & Schaverien, 2001).

Example 6: Leverage on IT and internet resources to enhance science learning

Figure 6. Taken from I-Science Parent’s Guide Primary 3 & 4. Theme: Cycles, Chapter 1: The Cycle of Life, Activity 5: How many stages are there in their life cycles? (Page 41) [Source: Lee, A. N. (2008)]

Promote Interdisciplinary Learning and Creativity in Children

Informal learning environments are inherently multidisciplinary, and thus support authentic learning to take place. Unlike teaching and learning in the formal classroom by which subject matter or disciplines are usually compartmentalised into fragmented teaching units which often diminishes holistic understanding of the issues explored (e.g., Foss & Pinchback, 1998), learning in informal contexts does not need to be restricted to only certain topics or specific subject discipline. As such, informal contexts can provide parents with the additional advantage and opportunities, which teachers in schools seldom have, to encourage children to go beyond specific topics and subject areas to think in a more interdisciplinary manner when solving real life problems. As noted by White (1985), real world problems seldom fit neatly into the confines of a single discipline. The integration of topics and subject matter content thus provides greater relevancy and authenticity in learning and understanding for the learner (e.g., Foss & Pinchback, 1998; White, 1985).

Therefore, some of the activities in the Parent’s Guide have been purposely designed to provide opportunities for children to engage in interdisciplinary learning to encourage them to integrate knowledge and skills learnt from other science topics or subject areas (e.g. language arts, role-play, IT) into their problem-solving process. For example, parents can promote creative thinking and problem-solving skills in their children by providing opportunities for children to apply or integrate multiple science concepts in creating scientific toys or simple devices. Parents could also provide learning tasks for children to integrate science learning with language arts (e.g., creating a poem or writing a story) or with music and role-play. The incorporation of interdisciplinary learning into children’s informal science learning process can thus provide children with the opportunities to apply their higher-order thinking skills and creativity as a form of integrated processes during their scientific investigations.

Example 7: Promote higher-order thinking and creativity through scientific toy-making

Figure 7. Taken from I-Science Parent’s Guide Primary 5 & 6. Theme: Energy, Chapter 2: Energy Forms and Uses, Activity 4: How do I make a toy which can convert energy? (Page 101) [Source: Lee, A. N. (2009)]

Example 8: Foster creativity through interdisciplinary learning

Figure 8. Taken from I-Science Parent’s Guide Primary 5 & 6. Theme: Interactions, Chapter 1: Forces, Activity 2: Making magnetic puppets for a puppet (Page 55-56) [Source: Lee, A. N. (2009)]

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