Mc Cormack & Yager's Taxonomy of Science Education

 Mc Cormack & Yager's Taxonomy of Science Education

Dr. Alan J Mc Cormack and Dr. Robert Eugene Yager developed a new Taxonomy for teaching Science in 1989. This new taxonomy was developed for improving Science education. Taxonomy of Science education was designed to help students become scientifically and technologically literate.There are eight important aspects in Science content. They are

l Concepts

l Processes

l Treating science as inquiry

l Focussing on science and technology

l Understanding the major branches of science such as life sciences, physical science, earth and space science

l Viewing science as a way of solving personal and social problems

l Considering the history of science

l Nature of science

Teachers and students should concentrate on these eight aspects during science learning. Mc Cormack's and Yager's Taxonomy helps in including all these aspects for achieving real learning.Mc Cormack's and Yager's Taxonomy consists of six domains.

1. Knowing and understanding - Conceptual/ knowledge domain

2. Exploring and discovering- Process domain

3. Imaging and creating - Creativity domain

4. Feeling and Valuing - Attitudinal Domain

5. Using and Applying - Application Domain

6. Nature of Science- World View Domain

1. Knowledge domain (knowledge and understanding): A student of science should be familiar with scientific principles and scientific information available. Through the study of science, one gets a clear idea of natural phenomena, linkages between them, and their explanations. The following are included in this domain: Facts, Concepts, Laws, Principles, Hypotheses and theories used by scientists, Science and social problems. 

Concepts under these areas can be developed through observations and experiments, explaining, discussion, debate and reference, which are the different methods in the scientific enquiry. For example, a teacher shows a test tube containing a red liquid. She asks the students too predict what will happen when the liquid is heated. The students predict that it will boil. The teacher heats the liquid and it turns to solid. The students' prediction is based on their assumption that liquid will boil when heated. The liquid in the test tube was coloured egg white.

The learner has to understand the meaning of scientific information. He should understand new ideas by relating with previously learned content.The knowledge acquired in this manner gets integrated in his conceptual domain. This is possible only when the learner gets concrete or real-life experiences. The science teacher has to provide concrete and life-related activities to attain this conceptual domain. When the student has acquired this domain, he is capable of performing the following behaviours or skills:

l Explains

l Summarizes

l Differentiates

l Compares

l Predicts

l Relates or find relationships between ideas

l Classifies

l Discuss etc

2. Process Domain (Explaining and Discovering): This domain focuses on knowing how scientists develop new knowledge and learning on one's own.  This domain helps to internalize the method of science and to develop an interest in conducting scientific inquiries. A process is a chain of activities to reach a specific aim or to get a desired result. Process skills are part of the activities to collect new concepts and evidences and to reach valid inferences through an analysis of the same. Some processes and skills are:

l Observing and describing, 

l Classifying and organizing,

l  Measuring and charting

l Communicating and understanding,

l  Infering and predicting,

l  Hypothesising and controlling variables,

l Interpreting data

l Experimenting.

Science teacher has to concentrate on activities that give training in using the process skills. Process skills are acquired only when we do science or engage  in discovering information.

3. Creativity Domain (Imaging and Creating): Science education is often considered as a process to help students collect scientific information alone. This approach totally disregards creative thinking and imagination.  Creativity is an integral part of scientific method. Creativity means producing something new which involves intelligence and innovation.The student should be helped to move along unexplored directions. Important skills under this domain are mentioned below:

l Visualising - producing mental images  

l Combining objects and ideas in new ways

l Predicting alternate or unusual uses for objects

l Solving problems and puzzles

l Fantasying

l Pretending

l Dreaming

l Designing devices and machines

l Producing unusual ideas

l Lateral thinking - is the method of solving problems using concepts and thoughts which are different from the usual ones.

4. Attitudinal Domain (Feeling and Valuing): An important aim of science education is changes in scientific attitude and values. If there is no change in view of life and responses to social and personal problems and view points, in spite of internalizing concepts and process skills, we cannot say that science education has fulfilled the aims. This domain include two types of attitude: Attitude towards science and Scientific attitude. Important components of this domain are:

l Developing positive attitudes towards science in general, science in school

l  Developing positive attitude towards one- self

l Exploring human emotions

l Developing sensitivity to and respect tor the feelings of other people

l Expressing personal feelings in a constructive way

l Making decisions about personal values

l Making decisions about social and environmental issues

These skills cannot be developed through direct exposition but can be developed and internalized through activities organized by teachers aimed at providing interactions with the society, especially fellow students and teachers.

5. Application Domain (Using and Applying): Concepts, processes and values that the students has developed are meaningless when they have no practical value. Similarly, theoretical principles and concepts detached from technological aspects may not have any relevance in real life. Learning science becomes meaningful only when students apply concepts and process skills to solve real life problems and social problems. Life can be enhanced if we experience and understand science. This is the largest domain because all people use science in life. Important components under this domain are:

l Seeing instances of scientific concepts in everyday life experiences

l Applying learned science concepts and skills in everyday problems.

l Understanding scientific and technological principles involved in household technological devices

l Using scientific processes in solving problems that occur in everyday life

l Making decisions related to personal health, nutrition, and lifestyle based on knowledge of science rather than on emotions

l Understanding and evaluating mass media reports on scientific developments.

l Integrating science with other subjects.

6. World View Domain: (Nature of Science): Students should understand the dynamic nature of science, the history of concepts and theories, hardships faced by scientists, advantages and disadvantages of Science and the awareness of limitations of science. All these aspects should be given importance in science classrooms.