Science is everywhere around us and learning science is important due to its relevance in students' daily lives. Science aims to ensure that students develop an interest in science as a means of expanding their curiosity and willingness to explore, ask questions and speculate about the changing world around us. Science is taught to children of all ages; however, we focus on science during the primary school years as a single subject. This focuses on children's development of scientific thinking that they will use for the rest of their lives. This essay will highlight the following information. Firstly, the information will cover the Australian Curriculum, this will provide a clear understanding of the expectations of the teaching required and the purpose of the Australian Curriculum. The information will then go into understanding how science is relevant to the real world and what skills are developed through scientific thinking. Finally, the information will highlight the 21st century skills that are being developed and how these skills impact everyday life. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The Australian Curriculum highlights what teachers are required to teach for that year level and sets out criteria for assessing the student's development and understanding of science. The focus of the Australian curriculum is for students to gain an interest in science as it will broaden their curiosity and willingness to explore and ask questions is crucial to understanding the nature of living things and their place in the cosmos. This increases the student's understanding of the nature of scientific inquiry and the ability to use a range of investigation methods, the ability to solve problems and make informed, evidence-based decisions taking into account ethical and social implications. Science also helps build an understanding of historical and cultural contributions, an understanding of the diversity of science-related careers, a solid knowledge base of biological, chemical, physical, earth and space sciences (ACARA, 2018, v.8.4 ). Science has six key ideas which are representations of key aspects, these are integrated into the description of each year level and guide teachers to implement into their pedagogy, these key aspects include; form and function, stability and change, systems, matter and energy, scale, measurement and models, order and organization (ACARA, 2018, v.8.4, p5). Science relates to real work in ways that everyone doesn't realize, even working life will use these skills and industries like medicine, education, beauty, engineering, hospitality. All of these workplaces involve mathematical thinking, critical thinking and reflection, literacy, reading skills and communication skills. Science gave us plastic, in 1900 it was the first time plastic was produced by a chemist and since then chemistry has developed a wide range of plastics suitable for all types of work, this helps employees to play their role. Science has also changed and influenced how and what we eat. Science has influenced how we grow and what we use to grow plants. In the 1940s, biologists began developing high-yielding varieties of corn, wheat, and rice. As chemists have worked to make discoveries that can help plants, these science-based technologies have triggered amazing changes in agriculture,they played a huge role in choosing the food available to feed the labor and simultaneously transformed the economic constraints for the agricultural industry. If it were not for science we would not have modern medicine and currently we need medicine because we are faced with a pandemic, COVID-19. At the end of 1700 the first vaccination worked, scientists and doctors established the theory that many diseases are caused by germs. The first antibiotic was discovered in the 1920s and cured smallpox, this treatment was successful for deadly infections. Medicine is valued around the world and science is why some people live today (Understanding science, 2013). The Australian Curriculum focuses on a number of objectives and will be discussed throughout the essay. Science provides an empirical way to answer interesting and important questions about the biological, physical and technological world. The knowledge it produces has proven to be a reliable basis for action in our personal, social and economic lives. Science is a dynamic, collaborative, and creative human endeavor that arises from our desire to make sense of our world by exploring the unknown, investigating universal mysteries, making predictions, and solving problems. Science aims to understand a large number of observations in terms of a much smaller number of general principles. Scientific knowledge is contestable and is revised, refined, and extended as new evidence emerges. The skills that develop through scientific thinking develop over time and develop when the student is engaged and enthusiastic about the subject, this teaching begins in the early years. Once students have attended primary and secondary school, students gain the knowledge and skills to assist them in the workplace. Science is about cognitive skills and in early childhood educators focus heavily on this as a developmental milestone and this prepares children for school. Primary school science teachers focus on developing their children's passion and encourage them to become more likely to learn about science that supports development. When we think about scientific thinking we talk about literacy, numeracy, competence in information and communication technologies, critical and creative thinking, ethical behavior, personal and social competence and intercultural understanding. By the age of four, a child comes to understand mental representation such as the human mind, how things grow, and how to stay healthy (Teachers College Columbia University, Dukun, 2010). The twenty-first century includes skills that humans will use in their lives. in everyday life, these skills are acquired by interacting and learning in all STEM subjects, science, technology, engineering and mathematics. All forms of learning are now introducing new ways and forms to extend to STEM disciplines, even in early childhood educators/teachers are encouraging children to explore new avenues through scientific skills. For example, learning about the life cycle of plants, learning and understanding how plants grow and these plants can provide food for living things. This is a 21st century skill as children are learning and developing a skill to keep the cycle of life continuing, continuing to feed people. Another skill is to engage children/students in using technology to help them in our daily lives, such as distance education, workplace, facetime to communicate with colleagues and co-workers, develop an understanding of skills and of research practices, asking interrogative questions, being creative, skills.
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