2007 Press Releases
05.07.2007
Primary school teachers attending a summer school in UCC were recently introduced to a highly successful and innovative way of teaching science to young children with the aid of puppets.
Thanks to sponsorship from GlaxoSmithKline (the pharmaceutical and healthcare company) as part of their science education programme, Mr John Dabell, teacher trainer, writer and project manager with Millgate House Publishing and Consultancy Ltd UK, was invited to UCC to speak at the seminar.
The use of puppets in teaching science to young children is a relatively new concept in science education. Dr Declan Kennedy, Co-ordinator of UCC's Postgraduate Certificate/Diploma in the Teaching of Science in the Primary School, explained the advantages of using puppets in teaching science: "Research carried out in schools in the UK with children in the 7-11 age group clearly shows the beneficial effects of using the puppets. The children can be seen focusing intently on the puppets and maintaining high levels of concentration. The puppets were found to make the children more eager to contribute to the lesson and to promote children's talk about the scientific concept being discussed. The children used more reasoning when they talked in response to the puppets than they did in typical science lessons, they listened more closely to the puppets and gave fuller explanations."
Nunci O'Mahony, part-time lecturer in the Education Department , feels that this project has huge potential and stated that "this positive impact on children's engagement is a valuable outcome of the research on the use of puppets in teaching science. Engagement of young children in science lessons is an essential prerequisite for thinking and talking about scientific ideas and for using higher-order thinking skills".
In a workshop conducted with the teachers attending the summer school, John Dabell demonstrated how the puppets can be used in a variety of ways to explore various scientific concepts with the children. He explained how the children felt more comfortable talking with a puppet and showed classroom video clips of lessons which demonstrated the children speaking more freely to the puppets because the puppets did not have the status of the teacher in the classroom. He also showed how puppets can enhance the impact of stories in science lessons and bring the stories to life. Thanks to the involvement of GlaxoSmithKline, represented at the summer school by Anne Marie O'Donovan, a set of stories consisting of two books and a set of animated CDs for children in the 7-11 age group have been developed to assist primary teachers in teaching science. The characters in the stories are based on two of the puppets, e.g. two of the puppets go shopping and have to decide which foods need to be stored in the fridge.
The summer school was attended by teachers from primary schools in various parts of Munster and was organised by UCC in collaboration with the Cork Education Support Centre, West Cork Education Centre, Education Centre Tralee and the Department of Education and Science. This was the first time that that the Puppets in Science project was presented in Ireland and it is hoped to extend the project to primary schools throughout Ireland.
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