Curriculum + Assessment

The context of my assignment UoW will focus on Australian curriculum year 1 science and understanding.

The aim of the Australian science curriculum is to provide students with a solid foundation in science knowledge, understanding, skills and values on which further learning and life can be built (ACARA, 2009).From this I understand Science is all about studying, finding out, and making sense of the "hows", "whats", and "whys" of the world that we live in.

 For young children, science mixes well with their natural sense of curiosity. Young children learn through their senses - smelling, tasting, touching, hearing and seeing.

Science uses all of these senses and it is also fun. Science can help children learn how the rocks are made, why do ships float, how the light from the sun helps flowers grow, how water becomes ice, and about other things in their environments.

 More Than Discovering Science has an even more important role for children than just showing them what and how things happen. Science teaches children how to learn. It uses thinking (cognitive) skills, and promotes creativity.

According to fleer and Hardy (2001) suggest that science can be characterized as a:

● body of knowledge

● set of values

● way of knowing the world

● humanising experience

● social institution

● social construction.

The decisions I have made for my unit plan is :-

Learning area : science

Class: year 1

Learning objects :

Science understanding

Light and sound are produced by a range of sources and can be sensed (ACSSU020)

Science as a human endeavor

People use science in their daily lives, including when caring for their environment and living things (ACSHE022)

Assessment

Formative and summative

I believe, every class consists of diverse group of students and each student’s characteristics are classified into cognitive, effective and psychomotor intellectual development (Dawson, 2012). Group task is one way of helping students to enhance their learning in a diverse classroom. Rubin (2008) states, frequent use of group work advocated as the best practice for teaching diverse learning groups.

Self reflection and evaluation

Peer evaluation when the students present their presentation to the class (the students will be assessing how well they present (fluency and creativity used) with teacher’s guidance. (The teacher should brief students on how to assess and clear instructions must be provided before presentation).

For more information about curriculum and assessment click below websites :-

http://www.ncca.ie/en/Curriculum_and_assessment/

http://www.acara.edu.au/default.asp

Reference

Dawson, M. (2012). Assessment principles [PowerPoint Slide]. Retrieved on 27^thJuly,2012,from http://usqstudydesk.usq.edu.au/m2/mod/resource/view.php?id=31211

Rubin, B. C., (2008). Everyday Antiracism. Retrieved on the 27 th August from http://www.tolerance.org/tdsi/asset/grouping-detracked-classrooms

Fleer, M., & Hardy, T. (2001). Science for children: Developing a personal approach.

Frenchs Forest: Prentice Hall.

ACARA. (2009). Shape of the Australian curriculum: Science. Retrieved July 9, 2010, from

http://www.acara.edu.au/verve/_resources/Australian_Curriculum_-_Science.pdf.