ABSTRACT
There has been a continual debate in the science education literature for at least the last 100 years over the value of engaging pupils in practical, laboratory-type activities (Jenkins, 1989; Layton, 1973 and 1991). An integral part of this debate is the ongoing controversy over first, the extent to which pupils’ explorations with materials leads to an increase in their understanding of scientific knowledge, and second, how this learning might occur. In this chapter I shall use the term ‘practical work’ to refer to a broad range of educational practices involving these explorations with materials. This range includes both general, instructional approaches and more specific teaching practices. Examples of the former would be the materials-based, instructional approaches in the primary grades (for example, the Elementary Science Study in North America and Nuffield Junior Science in England) or the laboratory-based activities in the secondary grades (Fensham, 1990). An example of the latter is the development of specific instruments to assess pupils’ ‘practical’ knowledge and skills (Champagne and Newell, 1992; Giddings, Hofstein and Lunetta, 1991; and Kulm and Malcolm, 1991). While some have argued that engaging pupils in activities involving materials provides a basis for developing pupils’ understanding of the so-called science ‘process skills’ (Wray, 1987), others have claimed that it provides the context in which pupils are able to construct a better understanding of scientific content (Brook, Driver and Johnston, 1989; Gunstone, 1991; White, 1988). I would submit that much of the substance of the contemporary debate regarding practical work and pupil outcomes can be summarized in terms of two general issues, expressed as questions. These are: (i) What is the nature of the relationship between pupils’ understanding of science and their engagement in practical work? and (ii) Can we develop better or more ‘authentic’ (Wiggins, 1989) methods of assessing pupils’ understanding of science? While I will primarily be addressing the first of these questions in this chapter, the data that I will be using to illuminate some of the issues associated with this question comes from a project designed to address the second question.
