Teaching science around themes at junior secondary level

In response to a new junior secondary science curriculum to be implemented in Hong Kong by 2000, a project entitled "Creative Instructional Design for Effective Learning of Science" is being conducted to develop teaching packages for quality science education. One of the teaching packages developed is around the theme on clean water at Form 1 level. The teaching package includes: impromptu demonstrations to grasp students' attention and arouse their motivation; fun and interesting hands-on experiments to experience purification and treatment of water; making and observing crystals growth; on site study of water conservation and pollution in Hong Kong; discussions of the social, economical, political and technological impacts of science on daily life. In addition to the demonstrations and experiments used in the teaching of science, the use of multimedia and student-centred project are also utilized to enhance the learning effectiveness. This package is an attempt to bridge the gap of a single discipline approach to a real world interdisciplinary situation where science and other disciplines do not always have a clear boundary. This paper will share the experience of using this package in real classroom situation.