Abstract:

This work focused on water and its importance for the life of every living being. The experimental hypothesis aimed to demonstrate the effectiveness of laboratory, experimental, and direct observation methods in Science teaching. The research was conducted in two fifth-grade Primary School classes: based on the pre-test, one class was selected as the control group and the other as the experimental group. After assessing the students' prior knowledge, the course included various activities designed to engage them actively in the construction of their learning. Furthermore, two questionnaires were administered to the parents of the children and to the school's Science teachers to investigate, respectively, the opinions of the former on Science teaching and the beliefs and practices adopted by the latter in the school context in which they operate. The activities and experiments proposed focused on the theme of water in relation to plants, animals and humans, with a special emphasis on raising awareness of water pollution and waste. In the end, the analysis of the results collected during the course and through the post-test showed that the experimental group achieved significantly better results precisely because of the use of an active teaching approach in which students were able to conduct various experiments and directly observe the phenomena that are usually only explained to them theoretically. Therefore, the initial experimental hypothesis was confirmed.

Keywords:

Biology didactics, pollution, primary school, water.