Today as we go full circle in the K-12 program, we should know some guidelines that may make us be fully equipped and prepared to make this program happen in the way that we perceived it to happen. Some educators have studied some guidelines that teaches us to have a structure that enables us to identify some skills that we need to possess in order to be a better science teacher. As we all know, science is really a hard subject and it may take a lot effort for a student to fully understand this area. It might bring luck and blessing to them if their assigned teacher is really efficient to discuss the topic. The Framework for Philippine Science Teacher Education addresses the major challenges of the national educational system, from the shortage of qualified science teachers and the lack of quality textbooks to the fact that the philosophy of science education at the basic education level (elementary and high school) is not clearly defined and reflected in the teacher curriculum.It lists the qualities of a good science teacher, and emphasizes that in order to increase the number of good science teachers in the country, resources must be made available to them to continue their professional development—resources such as training programs, conferences, and a revised college curriculum for those studying to become science teachers. The work also suggests different rubrics, or tables, for professional knowledge parameters that a science teacher can use to rate her own performance.
Science Framework for Philippine Basic Education lists the important components for a K-12 science curriculum, evolving with each level:
- Inquiry skills: These include asking questions about the world, designing and conducting investigations, using different strategies to obtain information, and communicating results. Students should develop the inquiry skills of properly collecting and organizing data, formulate explanations or models based on their investigations, analyzing and evaluating information, and making decisions based on sound judgment and logical reasoning.
- Scientific attitudes: Students should develop their critical thinking skills, which are developed through “inquiry activities” that students engage in in their attempts to explain the outcomes of their investigations. The development of this skill progresses from level to level. Schools should also encourage students’ creativity and curiosity, and reward perseverance, intellectual honesty, objectivity and independent thinking.
- Content and connections: The aforementioned process skills that students pick up are given meaning by the context of the subject matter under investigation. For science education, the framework covers three content areas—Life Science, Physical Science and Earth and Space Science, and listing the core ideas that students should understand and retain long after they have completed their basic education. The framework uses the term “enduring understandings” to refer to these big ideas, which stay in the student’s mind long after graduation and reside at the heart of the discipline. The framework lists the enduring understandings for each of the content areas.
By: Jeddah P. Valencia | St. Catherine of Siena Academy
