Changing children's views of science and scientists through school-based teaching

Science teaching based on constructivism

For more than two decades the science education academy has focussed on different constructivist approaches to teaching science. The majority of science educators still focus on the individual learner acquiring knowledge or concepts, and advocate a conceptual change approach to teaching science. There is longstanding research that demonstrates the difficulties that primary and early childhood teachers face when teaching science in schools and centres ( Loughran, Mulhall & Berry, 2004; Mulholland & Wallace, 2005; Sadler & Zeidler, 2004; Shallcross, Spink Stephenson & Warwick, 2002 ). Masters (2007:16) calls for a new formula in science teaching: "High quality, passionate teachers are needed to head off a looming crisis for science in Australia. ... The need for science literacy has never been greater... but surveys of students consistently show that they cannot see the relevance of school science to their lives" (p. 16). Constructivism has its limitations and we identify the need for a shift to research from a cultural-historical perspective that challenges the notion of conceptual change (see Lemke, 2001).