Science Online navigation
-
- Science in the NZ Curriculum
- Science capabilities for citizenship
- Nature of science
- Teaching science
- Teaching resources
- Science at work in the world
- Newsletters
Gather & Interpret data
Use evidence
Critique evidence
Interpret representations
Understanding about science
Material world
Physical world
Planet Earth and beyondYou are here:
- Home »
- Science capabilities for citizenship »
- Five science capabilities »
- Engage with science »
- The Shell Collector
The Shell Collector 
Level : 2,3,4
Author: Peter Spratt. Connected 1, 2005 , pages 8–11.
This resource illustrates how a Connected article could provide a model for students to engage with science in the context of a real life issue.
Curriculum Aims and AOs
The Nature of Science strand
| Aim | Achievement objectives relevant to this resource |
|---|---|
| Investigating in science Carry out science investigations using a variety of approaches: classifying and identifying, pattern seeking, exploring, investigating models, fair testing, making things, or developing systems. | L1 & 2: Extend their experiences and personal explanations of the world through exploration, play, asking questions, and discussing simple models. |
| L3 & 4: Build on prior experiences, working together to share and examine their own and others' knowledge. Ask questions, find evidence, explore simple models, and carry out appropriate investigations to develop simple explanations. |
|
| Communicating in science Develop knowledge of the vocabulary, numeric and symbol systems, and conventions of science and use this knowledge to communicate about their own and others ideas. | L1 & 2: Build their language and develop their understandings of the many ways the natural world can be represented. |
| L3 & 4: Begin to use a range of scientific symbols, conventions and vocabulary. Engage with a range of science texts and begin to question the purposes for which these texts are constructed. |
|
| Participating and contributing Bring a scientific perspective to decisions and actions as appropriate
| L1 & 2: Explore and act on issues and questions that link their science learning to their daily living. |
| L3 & 4: Use their growing science knowledge when considering issues of concern to them. Explore various aspects of an issue and make decisions about possible actions. |
Living World
| Aim | Achievement objectives relevant to this resource |
|---|---|
| Ecology Understand how living things interact with each other and with the non-living environment.
| L1 & 2: Recognise that living things are suited to their environment. |
| L3 &4: Explain how living things are suited to their particular habitat, and how they respond to environmental change, both natural and human-induced. |
Learning focus
Students investigate an issue of interest to them to provide evidence that informs decision-making.
Learning activity
The article is about a student’s science investigation and discusses how she went about asking and investigating her question.
Adapting the resource
The article could be used for identifying the sorts of questions that students need to think about when investigating an issue.
Ask students the questions relevant to the article (in the left hand column of the table below), then get them to generalise the sorts of questions that they need to think about when they are carrying out their own investigations into an issue.
| Questions relevant to The shell collector | Generalised questions | Capabilities needed (for teacher reference) |
|---|---|---|
| Being ready What did Rebecca notice? What did she think about what she noticed? What was her question? What did she already know? | What have I seen/noticed? What is my hypothesis? What does what I noticed make me think about? What question do I want to investigate? What do I already know about my topic? |
|
| Being willing Why do you think Rebecca was interested in doing this investigation? | Why do I want to do this investigation? How will I use what I find out to take action? What is the best way to organise my data to show patterns and relationships? Who will be interested in the results? How will I present the results to convince others? |
|
| Being able How did Rebecca set about investigating her question? What data did she collect? What did she find out? Could there be other explanations from her data? What was Rebecca's next question? | What is the best method to investigate my question? What do I think the data means? Could there be other explanations? |
|
What’s important here?
Investigating real life issues that are of personal interest to students gives them the opportunity to practise playing the "game of science". The dispositional aspects are highlighted by the use of the headings "ready", " willing" and" able".
Scientifically literate citizens need to think about how they investigate specific questions, how the data collected builds on or challenges existing understandings, how to share their findings with others, and how what they find out informs next actions. They also need to recognise which questions can be answered by science.
Supporting students to become scientifically literate, i.e., to participate as critical, informed, and responsible citizens in a society in which science plays a significant role is the purpose of science in NZC.
What are we looking for?
Can students:
- identify the elements of a science investigation?
- identify the points of decision making within an investigation?
- show an awareness of when and what should be critiqued during an investigation into an issue?
Opportunities to learn at different curriculum levels
For suggestions about adapting tasks in ways that allow students to show progress in engaging with science see Progressions .
Exploring further
This approach could be used to scaffold students working on science fair projects or inquiries.
Other resources for this capability
- Staying Alive (L2) Connected 2, 2012
- Yucky bugs (L1, 2, 3 & 4) Video from DOC website
- Hukanui Enviroschool (L2, 3 & 4) Connected 3, 2002
- Rocky shore food web (L3 & 4) Assessment Resource Banks
- Rapid response to the Rena (L3 & 4) Science Learning Hub
- Tidal Communities: Interdependence and the Effects of Change (L3 & 4) Building Science Concepts, Book 22
- Science Fairs (L3 & 4) No specific resource
- Solving the dog death mystery (L5) Science Learning Hub
- The Gene Seekers (L5) Applications, 2001
- What’s my carbon footprint? (L5) Genesis Energy resource
- Biomagnets (L5 & 6) NCEA Level 1 assessment exemplars
Key words
Connected, investigations