Promoting Scientific Literacy of Elementary School Students through Problem-based Learning

Abstract

Stimulate the interest for hands-on experimentation and science is not difficult when we consider 1st to 5th grade elementary school students. Approximate the interest for experimentation of the scientific explanation of everyday facts is a necessary task in order to develop a critical and knowledgeable citizen of natural phenomena. Using the Problem based Learning (PBL) methodology, 180 students from nine classes from 1st to 5th grade participated in a workshop of four meetings whose subject was water. Create hypotheses, identify the problem, describe, try and summarize the most important observations and conclusions were skills stimulated during the meeting. In the first meeting a playful theater has proposed the water treatment for the animals of a forest. In the second and third meetings, to build a trap for microorganisms (culture medium), to monitor the proliferation of fungi in different places in the school and then, using a microscope, to observe mycelia were actions taken with the wording of a experiments’ report. In the fourth meeting, an observation of blades with fungi, protozoa and bacteria under a microscope raised interest in the subject. Students’ engagement was observed at all times by raising questions and performing the tasks. A scientifically and technologically literate person uses scientific concepts being able to integrate values and making responsible decisions on a daily basis. The person also understands technology applications and decisions involved in these uses.

http://dx.doi.org/10.18226/23185279.v3iss3p86