Video: From Principles to Practice: Planting Flowers in Science
In this video, a Foundation-Year 1 teacher is working with a group of students to plant flowers. The learning area is Science. The lesson follows on from activities to learn about organisms and their needs, namely air, water, food, shelter and sunlight. As a class they have already discussed, made notes about, and jointly constructed texts about the needs of living things. Now they are learning about how humans can help other living things, particularly pollinators, to survive and thrive. (See video How humans can help pollinators.)
This lesson is followed by a shared writing activity that consolidates this learning. (See video Shared Pen.)
Key Takeaways
- Notice how the teacher draws student attention to why they are planting flowers, i.e. the scientific principles behind the activity. This is difficult outside, with students preferring to just get on with it. Nevertheless, the teacher persists because it’s this talk which marks the activity as scientific.
- Notice how the talk shifts from principle, i.e. why they are planting flowers, to process, i.e. how to plant flowers. These are different purposes for pedagogic talk, both important.
- Notice how the teacher intersperses the flower planting talk with questions about living things, and how students draw attention to worms. This moving back and forward from talk to activity is really important for developing meaning.