When the Ofsted Science report came out in 2021, there was a lot of talk about substantive and disciplinary knowledge:
- substantive knowledge (knowledge of the products of science, such as concepts, laws, theories and models): this is referred to as scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding in the national curriculum
- disciplinary knowledge (knowledge of how scientific knowledge is generated and grows): this is specified in the ‘working scientifically’ sections of the national curriculum and it includes knowing how to carry out practical procedures
Ofsted 2021
Disciplinary knowledge is often taught in the context of practical lessons. My issue with this is that there’s so much going on (manipulating equipment; measuring; working in groups; interpreting results etc.) that the disciplinary learning gets lost.
So I’ve been thinking about other ways to teach disciplinary knowledge in science. This post is about using the power of stories.
Stories in Science
For several years, I’ve had the great pleasure of working with Richard Brock of Kings College London on story telling in science. We’ve given talks and carried out research. We love stories in science.
Stories are powerful.
“‘The human mind seems exquisitely tuned to understand and remember stories -so much so that psychologists sometimes refer to stories as “psychologically privileged,” meaning that they are treated differently in memory than other types of material.”
Willingham 2009
Stories are very well suited to explaining how scientific ideas are generated. The history of science is full of great stories which reveal how scientists work; how ideas are generated and tested and also how ideas are challenged and changed.
Below is an example story.
Scurvy: A Fair Test Story
adapted from: https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2021/february/finding-cure-scurvy
Oceanic voyages during the Age of Sail were fraught with danger. Charts were often inaccurate, navigational aids were crude, and dangerous weather could appear at any time. At least as bad, sailors had to deal with the mysterious disease scurvy, which appeared a few months into a voyage before steadily tightening its grip. At first it was mild, with sufferers reporting malaise and sore joints. As time went on, the symptoms became steadily worse. Skin bruised easily, gums bled, teeth and hair fell out, and old wounds reopened. Left untreated, its victims declined steadily into lethargy and death.
Image of the effects of scurvy
It has been estimated the disease killed more than 2 million sailors between the 16th and 18th centuries. On a lengthy voyage, the loss of half the crew was common, although in extreme cases it could be much worse. Vasco da Gama lost 116 of 170 men on his first voyage to India in 1499, almost all to scurvy. In 1744, Commodore George Anson returned from a four-year circumnavigation with only 188 of the 1,854 men he had departed with, most losses because of scurvy. No one knew what to do.
But one young Scotsman rose to the challenge. James Lind, a Royal Navy surgeon, read the accounts of Anson’s voyage with horror and set out to find a cure. He started by surveying the existing literature and noted several clues that pointed toward diet. Seamen had long known that eating green vegetation could ward off scurvy. When Anson’s men started to exhibit the first symptoms of the disease during his passage around Cape Horn, he made his way to the fertile island of Juan Fernández, where his men gorged on a plant called “scurvy grass.” Early explorers in North America noticed that Native Americans, confined to a diet of dried meat during the winter, supplemented it with a tea made from pine needles. Lind also rediscovered the observations of John Woodall, surgeon general of the East India Company a century earlier, who noted that citrus fruit—especially lemons—had a dramatic effect on patients.
Lind carried out what has since been recognized as the first randomized clinical trial, on board the Royal Navy ship Salisbury in 1747. After two months at sea, scurvy began to appear among the crew. When Lind had 12 cases to treat, he divided them into pairs. All the men received the same care, food, and drink, plus one of six possible treatments. The first pair was given cider; the next, elixir vitriol (dilute sulfuric acid); another was given vinegar; the fourth, seawater; the fifth, a paste of plant extracts; and the final, two oranges and a lemon each day. The result of the trial was conclusive: Only the pair given citrus fruit made a rapid, immediate recovery.
James Lind: A Treatise of the Scurvy, 1753 (an adapted extract from Lind’s book)
Of the Prevention of the Scurvy
I will conclude the advice for keeping sailors healthy by showing how to avoid many problems during long sea journeys and how to get rid of the causes of scurvy.
The following are the experiments:
On the 20th of May, 1747, I took twelve sailors with scurvy on board the Salisbury at sea. Their cases were as similar as possible. They all had rotten gums, spots on their skin, and weak knees. They stayed in one place, the sick bay, and ate the same food: water gruel with sugar in the morning; fresh mutton broth often for dinner; sometimes puddings, boiled biscuit with sugar; and for supper, barley, raisins, rice and currants, sago, and wine. Two sailors drank a quart of cider a day. Two others took drops of elixir vitriol three times a day on an empty stomach and used a mouthwash with it. Two others took two spoonfuls of vinegar three times a day on an empty stomach, with their food and mouthwash also containing vinegar. Two of the worst patients drank half a pint of seawater daily. Two others ate two oranges and one lemon every day. They ate these eagerly on an empty stomach. They followed this for six days, as we only had that much fruit. The last two patients took a mixture of garlic, mustard seed, radish, balsam of Peru, and gum myrrh three times a day, drinking barley water with tamarinds, which gently purged them.
The results showed that oranges and lemons had the quickest and most noticeable effects; one sailor was ready for duty after six days. He wasn’t completely cured, but with just a mouthwash, he was healthy before we reached Plymouth on June 16th. The other sailor was also much better and was made a nurse for the other sick sailors.
My experiments showed that oranges and lemons were the best cures for scurvy at sea. Oranges might be better than lemons. Lord Anson’s crew quickly recovered with oranges on the Island of Tinian, and he made sure to stock up on them. One enquiry more might help prove this.
Lind 1753
Disciplinary Science Questions on the Story
- Why did Lind split the 12 sailors into small groups? So that he could test different possible approaches.
- What conditions did Lind keep the same for all 12 sailors? He gave them the same food; kept them in the same place and chose sailors with similar conditions at the start.
- Why did Lind keep the other conditions and diet the same for all of the scurvy sufferers? So that he could be confident that it was only the treatment that caused the differences.
- What did Lind find out? He discovered that oranges and lemons were the best treatment for scurvy.
Classroom Tips for Using Stories in Science
Primary teachers are great at teaching using stories. Use your skills to really get the most from the story. For example:
- teach the more sophisticated vocabulary;
- use loads of partner talk and discussion;
- use your ‘checking for understanding’ techniques to make sure everyone has understood the really important parts;
- teach your pupils how the diagrams contribute to the story;
- use concrete resources – demonstrate the experiment if you can (or in this example, have some of the example ‘treatments’ for your pupils to see – don’t let them drink sea water or acid!!!)
- try to find stories about diverse people – it doesn’t have to be the traditional white male scientists.
Conclusion
Stories let you really explore disciplinary knowledge in a way that experiments often don’t. If you know of any good stories that illustrate:
- fair tests;
- observations over time or
- noticing patterns
please add them to the comments.
Many thanks,
Ben
Reading for Learning 