Teaching how science is done (as opposed to just teaching factual information about science) is a great idea in principle, just as making sure that kids have a conceptual understanding of math is a worthy goal. But if these ideas are executed poorly – as with “Investigations” – with direct instruction and factual content being minimized or eliminated entirely, students wind up both frustrated and ill-prepared.
For more on this, see Steven Novella’s account of how science is being mis-taught in his daughter’s school on his blog, Neurologica.
