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Asia-Pacific
Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 7, Issue 2, Article 3 (Dec.,
2006) David D. KUMAR and Kimberly SCAROLA Nanotechnology and Closed Captioned videos: Improving opportunities for teaching science to ESL students
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Teaching Science Anchored in Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology contains a wealth of motivating and challenging information to help students actively engage in learning science. If carefully applied through videos, nanotechnology can provide a macro-context suitable for active construction of knowledge by learners (Kumar, 2006a). The rationale behind video-based macro-contexts follows: they provide a meaningful learning context deliberately embedded with data to enable the learner to immerse in an information rich audio-visual environment, revisit the same information from multiple perspectives, and work towards success (Sherwood, Kinzer, Hasselbring, Bransford, Williams, and Goin, 1987: Kumar and Sherwood, 1997). On the other hand, how to revise the science curriculum in such a manner that all students are presented with engaging lessons on contemporary developments in science and technology through videos, and are motivated to learn science remains a challenge. Particularly, in English speaking countries, fully integrating English as a Second Language (ESL) students in science education remains a growing problem. Often ESL students fall behind in science lessons. In this context, how to teach contemporary science containing developments such as nanotechnology to ESL students is a critical question, and further discussion will argue for using Closed Captioned Videos as a solution.
Copyright (C) 2006 HKIEd APFSLT. Volume 7, Issue 2, Article 3 (Dec., 2006). All Rights Reserved.