Are we teaching students how to be great at doing science or at memorizing science? Of course, we all want students to be good at doing science. This why we do labs, find engaging activities, and have students practice important science skills. This is why we take students on field trips. But, is there a skill we need to start with first? Or a skill we need to focus on? What are the science skills students struggle with? Having the answers to these questions at the beginning of the school year can help teachers direct their instructional time more efficiently.

I looked at the results of the REAL Science Challenge Contest Series to see if I could find the trouble spots. That is, those science skills students struggle with. The contests in the REAL Science Challenge Contest Series do not have content questions that require memorization or regurgitation of science facts. They are contests that require data analysis, interpretation, and reasoning. Thus, the problems students struggle with on these contests closely match the science skills they struggle with too. In the end, we found 3 science skills a lot of students struggle with. We discuss those skills in the post below. Handouts – in the form of solutions to our sample questions – are available for download at the end of this post.

3 Science Skills Students Struggle With

(1) Hypothesis writing

Writing or identifying a testable hypothesis remains one of the top science skills students struggle with. Although a testable hypothesis is often (but not just) a simple “If,  then” statement, I suspect students struggle not with the structure but with the content. Specifically, students often struggle with identifying independent and dependent variables too. Consider the following 2 questions from REAL Science Challenge Vol 2 Contest 4:

Sample Question 1:

Correct answer: D (selected 23% of the time); Other: C (31%), A (26%
taken from REAL Science Challenge Vol 2 Contest 4

Sample Question 2:

Correct Answer: C (selected 23% of the time); Other answers: A (21%), D (18%), B (15%) , E (14%)
Taken from REAL Science Challenge Vol 2 Contest 4

To view solutions, download our resource at the end of this post.

(2) Inferencing and Unit Analysis

Another common struggle for students is inferencing. Inferencing is the act of process of reaching a conclusion about something from known evidence or facts. Inferencing doesn’t just mean coming up with a conclusion at the end of a lab or activity. It can also mean predicting what future results should be based on current known facts or evidence. Also, students struggle with units and identifying and understanding the units for a specific concept. I often like to remind students that numbers need to have units to make sense. If we say a distance measurement is 5, this can mean a lot of different things (ex. Are we talking about 5 metres or 5 light years?). Refer to the 2 questions below taken from the REAL Science Challenge Contest Series.

Sample Question 3:

Correct Answer: A (selected 24% of the time); Other answers: E (39%), D (16%), B (12%), C (5%)
Taken from REAL Science Challenge Vol 2 Contest 4

Sample Question 4:

Correct Answer: B (selected 28% of the time); Other answers: A (50%)
Taken from REAL Science Challenge Vol 2 Contest 4

To view solutions, download our resource at the end of this post.

(3) Scientific Reasoning (ie. Connecting to Prior Knowledge)

How many times has a student finished a lab, gotten a result, but have no idea what the result means or how it fits in with prior knowledge? Students struggle with connecting new evidence to prior knowledge. If students struggle with this, then students will also struggle with applying prior knowledge in different contexts and situations. For example, the following 2 REAL Science Challenge Contest Series questions – taken from a passage where students are required to compare and contrast 3 different hypotheses – show how students can struggle with connecting prior knowledge to new evidence for a given phenomena.

Sample Question 5:

Correct Answer: E (selected 28% of the time); Other answers: C (39%), B (13%)
Taken from REAL Science Challenge Vol 2 Contest 4

Sample Question 6:

Correct Answer: A (selected 31% of the time); Other answers: D (24%), B (14%), C (14%), E (11%)
Taken from REAL Science Challenge Vol 2 Contest 4

Wrap Up

Teaching science skills is really what we are teaching as science teachers. Students can always google the information or content they need to complete a list of homework questions. However, science skills cannot be googled. And, it is what we want students to remember at the end of their schooling. Thus, wouldn’t it be nice to know where students struggle with first? Wouldn’t it be nice to know where we need to start? Click on the link below to download the resources to this post (ie. the REAL Science Challenge Contest from which the sample questions came from, the sample questions, the answers, and the solutions). Please let your colleagues know about us too!

Until next time, keep it REAL.

Resources

Handout(s): 42 – Solutions to Science Skills Sample Questions

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