「兒童的科學」研究之沿革與其對國小自然科教學之啟示

The Evolution of the Study of “Children’s Science” and Its Implications to the Teaching o Elementary Science

長久以來，科教研究者對「兒童的科學」一辭之涵義以及有關的用語，爭論不休，感覺有必要尋找出界定清晰而被各方所接納的術語，以免各說各話，言人人殊，影響科教研究之準確，而造成溝通上的不方便。本文著重於客觀探討「兒童的科學」研究如何發展，故首先利用文獻考察，將有關兒童對科學的概念或想法，一一加以分析，然後再予以分類說明，藉此了解「兒童的科學」研究之沿革。其次根據建構主義的觀點，嘗試闡明學生的想法或替代概念。學生乃一主動的學習者，努力設法了解其對周遭自然界的現象，從而建構起一套相當穩定的信念，以解釋這些現象。「兒童的科學」或叫 「替代架構」，具有下列特色：只注意明顯的外表變化，思考易受感覺主導，以絕對的性質作解釋，並以簡單的線性因果關係來推理，故其科學概念往往未經分化而不精緻。因替代架構深植學生腦海中，雖經教師多方教學仍然牢不可動搖，國小教師在自然科教學時，必須對學生的想法有深刻的認識，採取有效的教學法，才能改變學生的迷失概念。根據概念改變模式（CCM），特提出下列原則以作為教學設計之參考：一、 教師教學時應從學生看得見，能動手做，且已經知道的事物開始。盡量讓學生彼此討論，從晤談中了解學生心中對所教科學概念的想法。二、 教學時用詞遣字必須十分細心，注意所用的語詞是否為自已真正想要讓學生明白的。\r三、 教導科學概念時，教師必須使其日常生活相互關聯，並且幫助學生使他們能明白，科學概念在各種情境中具有不同而精緻的用法。\r四、 必須再三強調概念的統整，使學生可以把各種相關的概念緊密地聯接起來，方能真正明白整個科學知識的架構。\

It has been a fundamental issue about the use of terminology to describe students’ conceptions in science. The importance of seeking a single， well─defined and commonly─accepted descriptor for such conceptions results from the need for science education community to understand the nature and implications of the terminology in reporting research.This article addresses conceptions of students’ science learning in two ways. In the first section， research on students’ conceptions in science is briefly summarized， and literature which related this research to children’s science is reviewed. The implications of these results for understanding the evolution of the study of children’s science are then analyzed.The second section interprets readily students’ responses from a constructivist point of view. This assumes that students strive to make sense of their experiences， and as a result develop relatively stable patterns of belief. Two notable characteristics of alternative conceptions are that they are often significantly different from， and thus alternative to， generally accepted views of science；and they are surprisingly resistant to change in spite of repeated instruction.It is these characteristics which point to the urgent need to design effective instruction which addresses alternatives explicitly. Based upon the conceptual change model of learning（CCM）， guidelines are provided as follows for designing science teaching：\r（1） The school teachers should begin with what children see， do and know. Discussions of children’s ideas among themselves and with their teachers should be promoted in order to bring out children’s ideas.（2） Teachers should be careful in the language they use， checking if they are understood by the students in the way the intend.（3） When teaching scientific ideas， teachers should relate them with everyday knowledge and students should be helped to see clearly the contextual differentiation of their knowledge.（4） Integrating the concepts should be addressed such that students are able to link the concepts and understand the scientific framework.