Language, Models and Modelling in the Primary Science Classroom

Abstract

The perception that pupils should become scientifically literate and act as authentic scientists has fuelled the rise of science education for primary (5 to 11 years) pupils. The contemporary development of methods for analysing whole class talk between teachers and pupils has shown three main scenarios in the relationships in the control of language and knowledge: informing, questioning and collaborating. The collaborative problem-solving scenario uniquely allows for pupils’ understandings to be voiced and deliberated. In this scenario patterns of persuasion which allow challenging by pupils in dialogic argumentation are possible. It is probable that there are interacting patterns of questioning, explanation and narrative. The model building that is possible in the collaborative scenario allows the pupils to explain their own ephemeral explanatory models in the example of the eclipse using structural, behavioural and mechanism aspects of the phenomenon, representing them in verbal, graphic and gestural forms. To become authentic in the knowledge and use of models and modelling pupils probably need to experience a range of scenarios, including the collaborative.