Not being able to allow students to experiment, test and explore has made teaching science to students a challenge. Science is one subject in which traditional classrooms cannot be simply replicated online. Science teachers will have to push students to explore for themselves and engage them in discussions. When it comes to performing experiments, depending on the age of the student, teachers can provide a video of a hands-on exploration and then the students can ask questions, investigate and use the data sets to understand what they are seeing.
Phenomena-based learning encourages students to learn through wonder and discussion. Use the outdoors and ask the students to observe how leaves blow or how marbles roll down a sidewalk or use any kind of a ball to experiment with friction etc. Young students can be engaged with simple materials available in the house. In a remote learning environment, asynchronous time can be used for investigations and synchronous time for group discussions.
Flipgrid, Idea Sketch, Jamboard, whiteboard.fi are some of the edtech tools that can be used in teaching science remotely.
To sum it up, discussions during the synchronous class is important as this will help students to connect their own ideas and ask questions of others. What you share online should be simple and focus should be on key points so that students can be made to think, reason and discuss. Develop the content and sequence but it is the student who has to be more in control of his learning including management functions.
Source: techlearning
