EDU30011 Discovering Science Essay 1 Sample

EDU30011 Discovering Science

Assignment Brief

You are required to construct an argument to respond to the following statement:

(In Science) students use critical and creative thinking skills, and challenge themselves to ask questions and draw evidence-based conclusions using scientific knowledge and practices. The wider benefits... include enabling students to engage meaningfully with contemporary issues, evaluate different points of view and make informed decisions.

— (Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority, 2022)

We live in a world where science is embedded in all aspects of our lives. As teachers, we have an opportunity to empower students through science education. This is critical, as it encourages them to embrace and participate in the world around them.

Task

The purpose of this assignment is to write a 1500 word essay that explores the role of the generalist primary teacher or science and/or STEM specialist in a primary school. These roles nurture student interest in science, prepare students to be scientifically literate, and influence study and career choices.
You can find more information about the rationale and aims in your learning materials in Weeks 1 and 2, however, all content up until Week 5 will be relevant to this essay.

This is an individual assignment. You should use a variety of relevant existing literature to support your argument—literature should range across scholarly sources,such as peer reviewed academic journals and books. You must use APA referencing in-text and include a reference list (which, is not included in the word count and must start on a separate page) with your final submission.

Structure

Your essay should include the following sections:

Introduction

An introduction that provides a broad overview of the topic. This should contextualise the topic and define the key terms you will address in the essay, as you advocate for science in schools. It will demonstrate an insightful analysis of contemporary science teaching practice and the importance of all students being scientifically literate.

It should also include a thesis statement that outlines how you will respond to the consideration of the quote. The thesis statement is one or two sentences that present your position on this main idea. Generally, an introduction should be no more than 10% of the total word count—in this case, no more than 150 words.

Body

The body of the essay will consist of a series of paragraphs asking you to describe science's relevance in the real world. It will moreover require you to discuss the skills developed through scientific thinking and the importance of learning and teaching the discipline of Science in the Australian Curriculum and/or your state curriculum.

Carefully consider how many issues you are going to cover and how these issues are related to each other before answering the essay question. Make sure you write in the third person and develop a detailed explanation across the essay's body with well -reasoned points. Each paragraph should begin with a topic sentence that introduces that paragraph's main idea or theme. Typically, you would then support this topic sentence with research-based evidence. Try and keep to one topic per paragraph. This section should have approximately 1200 words.

Conclusion

A conclusion is where you will sum up the information provided in the essay and then make one final statement about the importance of science for students at the present time. As with the introduction, your conclusion should not be more than 10% of the overall word count—no more than 150 words.

Your essay must be properly referenced with in-text citations and a reference list using the APA style. The reference list will not be included in the word count.

Solution

Introduction

Science education is a vital element on how the citizens are educated about the modern world making them critical of the current issues and at the same time, knowledgeable about it that they can lend a helping hand. To the same notion, the Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority are of the opinion that science education develops in students key as the critical and creative thinking skills which are essential tools that can be used to participate and make sense of the life critical and contemporary issues and to arrive at decisions that are informed (Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills (ATC21S), 2012). This essay will assess the uses of science for real life situations, the skills awarded through scientific reasoning, and finally the urgent need for scientific education being integrated into the curriculum. The essay intends to emphasize the need to support science which is just as important as the other studies in schools. They should be raised to be scientifically literate individuals who are fully conscious and willing to attempt to solve the environmental problems of the 21st century for MBA assignment expert.

Transformative Impact of Science Education on Critical Thinking

Science is the main foundation stone of cognitive al transformation of individuals and the way they solve problems and respond to the complications of modern world. Science education does so through teaching methods that involve inquiry-based learning, problem-solving activities, and collaborative projects in culmination of the desired goal that will help students gain analytical abilities, reasoning, and the ability to make informed decisions later in life (Computer History Museum, 2018). This discussion demonstrates how holistic learning in science education entails the development and mastery of critical thinking, which is required to solve modern matters and spark intellectual curiosity.

Science Assignment in Addressing Current Challenges

Science education is a tool to improve critical thinking, data analysis, and research skills in students, which they later use to deal with modern global challenges, like climate change, health crises, and technology developments. Through scientific concepts and principles application which can be easily related to modern day issues, students build creativity and the in-depth knowledge about science-society interplay. For example, they interpret data on environmental changes to grasp the significance of the interaction of humans with the ecosystems and gives evidence-based strategies for sustainability in their proposals (Kaur, 2012). They also tackle issues related to healthcare in a similar fashion, such as studying epidemiological data to understand how diseases spread and introduce measures to ameliorate the risks.

Science Contribution for Technology Revolution

Science education also has an innovation and creativity promoting aspect of it that exemplifies the role of scientific research in spurring the technological development. In many cases, using lab equipment and participating in more complex projects expose students to a real-world application of scientific principles and concepts. They put designs together, find solutions to the problems and do trial and error, which is essentially the same as how scientists do their experiments (National Science Teachers Association, 2009). In the course of this process, not only problem-solving skills are developed but also mindset of resilience and adaptability are cultivated, but they are the key players for considering the challenges of the digital age. Besides, fresh technologies untie the students' minds and unleash them to produce ideas in medical technology, robotics and Artificial Intelligence.

Enhancing of the Students' Thinking Skills through Science Education.

The most elemental of science education, critical thinking is actually the backbone of all the learning processes being used. By the application of inquiry-learning based techniques, the students are given a chance to pose questions, throw challenge to other's assumptions and to analyse evidences together with theirs. Experimentation, data analysis and logical conclusion drawing attribute more and more precision, analytical reasoning, and logical thinking skills of students (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2018). Beyond that, scientific inquiry develops intellectual curiosity and autonomous thinking abilities, making students following out the complicated things and coming up with new knowledge. Through the process of practicing what true scientists do, students end up developing a greater admiration and respect for the scientific method and how invaluable it is to humanity.

Promotion of Problem-Solving Abilities

Secondly, the science education empowers students to acquire problem-solving skills by introducing them to the actual problems which have to be resolved in an innovative way. Whether it is to design an experimental setup to test hypothesis or engineering a way to mitigate challenges students learn to identify and solve problems in a systematic and methodical manner. This includes data collection, hypothesis formulation and design of experiment protocols consisting of a logical sequence of events that is characteristic of the iterative process during scientific investigation (Godinho, 2013). Furthermore, struggling with and solving demanding issues requires students to build resilience and determination, two important qualities that allow an individual to overcome difficulties as a way to reach their goals, both academically and professionally.

Construction of Communication and Teamwork Skills

On the top of promoting analytical thinking and problem-solving skills science education also improves communication and collaboration skills among students. With the help of the assemblies, discussions and team projects, the students learn to express themselves, to present facts and arguments, and to take part in scientific dialogue. Additionally, teamwork, communication, and mutual respect developed through working with peers would be the hidden mirror of research collaboration in science. when working as a team, students begin to utilize others' different experiences, share responsibilities, and meet their goals together – skills, which is crucial for academic Professional, and the society (Pather et al., 2020). Moreover, science education acts as an engine for building pupils' communication and collaboration skills, skills which cannot be undervalued in the workplace, the higher institutions of learning, and the society. Creating platforms through either presentations, discussions, or projects for science education enables students to make better communication strategies and teamwork abilities.

Effective Communication Strategies

When engaged in science research, students mostly frequently undertake presentations and discussions to successfully express their thoughts, results or conclusions. During these sessions students get to know how to structure their thoughts logically and what techniques they can use to accommodate various audience. Additionally, they discover how to speak smoothly in front of the audience. For instance, they perfect techniques in weighing statements, finding pertinent evidence, and giving compact scope to complex ideas. Besides that, interacting with other students’ and instructors’ feedback enables students to strengthen their presentation proficiency continuously.

Scientific Discourse

Expressing scientifically is one of the main parts that holds science education up: students investigate, discuss, defend and undermine each other’s views and ideas. Students' intellectual abilities and creative thinking potential are unlocked through class debates, arguments, and journals where they are able to break down publications, communicate their conclusions, and initiate scholarly discussions (Godinho, 2013). Through analysing and thinking about a of scientific reasoning, students achieve proficiency in expressing complex ideas, defending their opinions and discussing with their classmates in an intelligent manner.

Collaborative Projects

To elaborate, science projects are an important element in Science education, which encourages the growth of teamwork where students work together and confront challenging issues. Relating to one another, the students can often learn to communicate more efficiently, share duties and make the best use of different skills in achieving set aims. Besides the object skills above, such as the conflict resolution, the consensus-building, and the active listening, these attributes will becoming more and more helpful for effective collaboration in the academic, professional and personal spheres.

Teamwork Abilities

Besides, therefore, collaboration with friends enhance group skills that involve working together to achieve a common goal which is becoming supporters. Working together on assignments results in students learning how to delegate, manage time effectively and coordinate tasks in a teamwork environment. By participating in group projects, students also enhance their abilities to articulate their thoughts (Kaur, 2012). They arrive at the realization of their team members' valuable strengths and would be able to sincerely appreciate the contributions of each team member, which eventually promote a team culture, which honours and supports everyone. Furthermore, interacting with fellow students from diversified cultural backdrop in regards to their educational institution helps students develop critical thinking and the ability to identify complicated problems from multiple angles that improves their ability to approach problems systematically.

Conclusion

The argument given aligns with a statement by the Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority in regards of the significance of studying science. Science education enables students to think of critically and produce an evidence-based reasoning for some of the modern world issues. Finally, it lets them identify other perspectives and to determine an evidence-based decision. Science education benefits extend beyond the part that people learn or achieve to what they become, that is, people who can respond to the complex challenges and make a positive contribution to the society. Therefore, the science education investments are important not only for the self-development but also for the creation of informed, creative and socially responsible citizens able to solve the challenges of the modern world.

References

Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills (ATC21S). (2012). ATC21S. http://www.atc21s.org/

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA]. (2017). A world–class curriculum for the 21st century v.8.4. http://docs.acara.edu.au/resources/Information_Sheet_A_worldclass_curriculum_for_the_21st_century.pdf

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA]. (2018b). Australian Curriculum: F-10 curriculum: The Australian Curriculum: Science v.9. https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10 curriculum/science/?strand=Science+Understanding&strand=Science+as+a+Human+Endeavour&strand=Science+Inquiry+Skills&

capability=ignore&priority=ignore&year=12000&elaborations=true&cd=ACSSU002
Computer History Museum. (2018). The history of the integrated circuit. http://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/digital-logic/12/276

Godinho, S. (2013). Chapter 8 Pedagogy: the agency that connects teaching with learning. In R. Churchill, P. Ferguson, S. Godhino, N. Johnson, A. Keddie, Letts. W., M. Vick. (Eds.), Teaching: Making a difference, (2nd ed., pp. 250-289). John Wiley and Sons.
Kaur, K. (2012). An introduction to the biomechanics of prosthetics. http://www.azorobotics.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=11

National Science Teachers Association. (2009). 21st century skills map. http://www.p21.org/storage/documents/21stcskillsmap_science.pdf

Pather, N., Blyth, P., Chapman, J. A., Dayal, M. R., Flack, N. A., Fogg, Q. A., ... & Lazarus, M. D. (2020). Forced disruption of anatomy education in Australia and New Zealand: An acute response to the Covid‐19 pandemic. Anatomical sciences education, 13(3), 284-300.