Science Curriculum for Adolescents Aged Fifteen to Eighteen Years.

Introduction

In the Montessori view, adolescents learn by doing. Learning by doing is a feature of the Montessori Science curriculum. Much of the curriculum is aligned with the occupations of the Montessori adolescent community. Occupations are courses of study that arise out of needs of the adolescent community and local environment. They are projects that provide real, meaningful work that aims at developing a sense of worth in the students because their contributions to the community are real.

The pedagogy used to teach science in the Montessori adolescent community can be described as project-based. Students are engaged in projects related to four science disciplines:

• Earth and space sciences: cosmology, including astronomy; geology and physical geography, including the geology and geography of prehistoric periods

• Biological sciences: biology, including studies in botany, zoology, ecology, physiology, comparative anatomy and health sciences

• Physical sciences: physics and chemistry

• Contemporary sciences: mechanics and engineering, history of science and technology, including genetics

Each project is initiated by a problem that needs a solution. For example, if the class initiates a micro-enterprise based on keeping poultry, the need to learn about the biology and needs of poultry is real. This generates meaningful engagement in the process of scientific inquiry, in which students identify and investigate key questions and gather and collate evidence-based conclusions. While each project might be grounded in one area of the curriculum more than others, opportunities for interdisciplinary studies are also valued. While the main disciplinary focus of a project might be on science and mathematics, students might also engage with knowledge and skills related to language, art, history or geography. As the projects unfold, students have the opportunity to contact scientists working in relevant fields, as a source of expertise and as a model for how to conduct scientific enquiry. 

While working on projects, students are able to explore particular topics in depth. Early in the project students participate in main lessons which outline the key science concepts needed to engage with the project productively. Students then work to develop their knowledge, skill and understanding to the level required to complete the project successfully. While engaged on a project, students are free to explore areas of science, and to develop scientific capabilities that they find relevant and interesting. In addition, because the projects are undertaken in real life settings to meet real life challenges, the students also explore ethical issues relevant to the project. For example, if the students are working on a project that involves keeping poultry, they might apply their knowledge of poultry biology and behaviour to debate and explore issues relating to the relative merits of cage-laid, barn laid, free range and/or organic eggs.

As the project unfolds, students have the opportunity to take on different roles. For example, students whose project involves keeping poultry might take on the roles relating to farming, using video to keep records or bookkeeping. In this way, students learn to cooperate to achieve goals shared with others, to experiment with different occupations and to demonstrate to themselves and others that they are able to contribute to meaningful and real life ventures. In addition, they learn to think about the ethics of science and progress and develop the ability to make informed decisions about issues that relate to the health and well-being of themselves, their community and their environment.

The project-based approach allows students to develop scientific understanding and inquiry skills because, in order to complete each project, students must engage in research and experimentation. The project-based approach also enables students to understand science as human endeavour. For example, students are encouraged to explore the genesis of scientific knowledge and understandings by researching the biographies of great scientists, past and present, as well as the history of scientific concepts and ideas. As the projects unfold, students engage in seminars, debates and discussions about not only scientific knowledge, understandings and skills, but also the cultural and social issues that need to be taken into consideration when decisions and problem-solving involve science.

As part of the Montessori Science Curriculum for adolescents, students take part in field trips to observe and collect data and to become familiar with the ecology of their region. They learn to identify local plants and animals, whether native, feral or domesticated, and study the ecological systems of the region, including relations between organic and inorganic elements. Students also review their knowledge of the systems for organising knowledge in science and make note of how the knowledge, and terms used are being kept current. For example, they consolidate their knowledge of scientific taxonomies and their organising principles, as well as features, such as anatomy and physiology, which determine where organisms are placed in a classification system. Students also use their research skills to track how knowledge about evolution, and systems such as climate and ecology, is changing and expanding, and what this might mean for decision makers and humanity in general.

In summary, the ‘learning by doing’ project-based approach of the Montessori science curriculum is designed to reveal the relations between elements. This idea is elaborated upon by Montessori (1976 [1948] 93–94) in the following way:

To present detached notions is to bring confusion. We need to determine the bonds that exist between them. When the correlation among the notions, by now linked one to the other has been established, the details may be found to tie together among themselves. The mind, then, is satisfied and the desire to go on with research is born. …

Here is the essential principle of education: to teach details is to bring confusion; to establish the relationship between things is to bring knowledge.

The Aims of the Montessori Science Curriculum for Adolescents from Twelve to Sixteen years

The aims of the Montessori mathematics curriculum for adolescents aged from twelve to sixteen years include the following:

Science inquiry skills

• to work with scientific data (primary and secondary), including gathering, recording, storing, collating, interpreting, and repeating investigations

• to represent findings in a variety of forms, including graphs, tables and diagrams

• to seek elaboration and justification of data and ideas and reflect on alternative interpretation

• to use principles that will validate and demonstrate personal understanding of science

• to work collaboratively to undertake lab or field science around reality based activities

• to follow scientific procedures to observe, hypothesise, predict and test in an area of scientific investigation of their own choice.

• to identify potential hazard and design an appropriate investigation to observe, collect data and research

Earth and space sciences

• to create maps and drawings of land-based data (topographical maps).

• to collect data on the geologic and mineral content of the local soil and through chemical analysis, composition studies and testing, explain the historical development of various materials

Biological sciences

• to explore and represent patterns and cycles in the natural world

• to create and read biological scale drawings

• to Investigate the role of organisms within a variety of ecosystems

• to Investigate the local flora and fauna that make up the natural local habitat

• to compare and contrast various ecosystems and their associated functions in the succession of habitats

• to collect data and track the variability and changes in behaviour of local and domesticated animals.

Physical sciences

• to investigate physics in the total environment: the Universe, the earth, the forces that shape the earth, the structure of matter, the transformation of energy, the motion of things, the forces of nature

• to select and utilise various mechanical devices while testing the models and patterns of certain scientific laws e.g. conservation of energy

Contemporary sciences

• to design and use apparatus tools appropriate to occupational challenges

• to maintain small common electrical and mechanical systems, identifying and eliminating possible causes of malfunctions

• to compare and contrast the design, functionality and structural integrity of self-designed structures and make appropriate recommendations for improvement

Knowledge, skills and understanding

Typically, individuals will:

.01 The motion of objects can be described and predicted using the laws of physics

.02 Investigate Newton’s laws of motion

,03 Quantitively analyse the relationship between force, mass and acceleration of objects

.04 Build knowledge of the mechanical and sub-atomic properties of machines that allow them to work

.05 Discuss the ethical implications of energy use

.06 Explore the functioning of mechanical tools

.07 Explore the function of combustion engines

Knowledge, skills and understanding

Typically, individuals will:

.01 Nature and development of science:

• explain how scientific knowledge is validated and refined, including the role of publication and peer review.

• investigate how advances in technologies enable advances in science, and how science has contributed to developments in technologies and engineering.

 .02 Use and influence of science:

• analyse the key factors that contribute to science knowledge and practices being adopted more broadly by society.

• examine how the values and needs of society influence the focus of scientific research.

Synthesis and integration of scientific knowledge can also be achieved through the research and study of topics such as those in the following list:

• Science in society, including researching the life and work of an Australian scientist, and science-related industries and professions

• Physics of machines, including everyday machines such as bicycles and wheelbarrows

• Sustainable technologies, including photovoltaic cells, water use and conservation, grey water use and solar model cars

• Organic farming, including worm farms, propagation, irrigation systems and companion planting

A cluster of curriculum areas converge in the study of science. Embedded in scientific enquiry are numeracy skills. In order to undertake scientific investigations, students need to be able to measure data, organise the results meaningfully and interpret and analyse the data using their knowledge about statistics and probability.

In order to record their investigations and express their understanding of science, students must be proficient in all areas of literacy. Students need to deliver spoken presentations and prepare reports. Students also need to participate in seminars, debates and discussions about scientific issues and related cultural, social and ethical issues. These discussions also draw on the Moral Education area of the curriculum.

The history of science is another aspect of the project-based ‘learning by doing’ approach to the study of science. Main lessons and key lessons in some projects include stories about scientists, their discoveries, insights and their contributions to the scientific body of knowledge and our understanding of how the world works. These lives are described in the Montessori context as Great Lives, and include scientists of the past (e.g. Galileo, Darwin, Mendel, Curie) and more contemporary scientists (e.g. Watson and Crick, Marshall and Warren).