About This Course

Scientists and philosophers have often wondered about the nature of science? What makes scientific knowledge so robust? What are the processes involved in acquiring and validating scientific knowledge? What does it mean to 'think scientifically'? Can we teach children to be curious and think scientifically?

Teachers’ understanding about the nature of science influences their teaching practices. Teachers’ understanding about the nature of science influences their teaching practices. Learning the processes involved in scientific knowledge is equally important, if not more, as learning scientific facts. Therefore it is important to shift teachers' focus from transmitting facts to engaging students in the process of scientific enquiry. This can be achieved by exposing teachers to history and philosophy of scienceThis course is meant for the teachers who may want to acquire a state of art knowledge in the field of science education.

The following four questions will be discussed in this course:.

• Why teach science?
• What do we want to teach when teaching science?
• How do students learn science?
• How to teach science?

Course Objectives:

At the end of this course teachers will be able to

• Think broadly about science and science education.
• Understand the guiding principles of science education.
• Analyse the pedagogic practices and educational material.
• Modify their teaching practices and analyze and curate pedagogic teaching-learning material (such as textbooks and digital resources) and appropriate for their own context.

Unit Names

• Unit 1: Aims of Science Education
• Unit 2: Nature of Science
• Unit 3: Fostering Scientific Thinking in Learners
• Unit 4: Science Education in Practice