How True

I just flipped through a 38 years old science book (Nuffield Secondary Science 6 - Movement) and is very impressed by some of the advices written in the book. In fact whatever is said about the so called 'new' approaches in the modern day science syllabus nowaday is not new at all. At least 38 years ago experts have given us plenty of similar advices and guides to effective teaching of science which are still very relevant today. So, after all these years, you still find the same problems concerning the teaching of science and the same guideline recycled as 'new' approaches.

There is certainly no lack of good guidelines to effective teaching of the science subjects but the problem is whether or not teachers adhere to these guidelines. I will quote some of the guidelines from this book relating to the topic of movement.

• The traditional approach to the topic of movement has been through Newton's laws of motion. However, when difficult concepts are involved, there can be no justification for insisting upon the grasping the Newton's laws without referring to the fundamental ideas of motion.
• These fundamental ideas are more likely to stimulate the pupil's imagination and hence their interest in the subject.
• These fundamental ideas can further help students to interpret their own observations of the living world and the world of man-made things.
• Transportation which constitutes a fundamental idea of motion is a good introduction to the topic of movement because motor car plays a large part in the lives of the pupils.
• If a treatment of movement were seen only as a study of certain biological and physical principles, it will fail to introduce the pupils to valuable aesthetic experiences.
• Movement so often contains elements of beauty; flash of light on moving water, the movement of balanced muscles which permits the smooth and efficient motion of the arm or leg, the grace of the athlete, the skill of a professional footballer and the delight of the ballet dancer's pirouette: these can be linked by the teacher with the science the pupil is learning.