Development of a Parent's Guide for the Singapore Primary Science Curriculum: Empowering Parents as Facilitators of Their Children's Science Learning outside the Formal Classrooms

Parents can play a vital and active role in facilitating their children's science learning outside the formal classrooms. Parental involvement in their children's science learning process not only could enhance their children's learning motivation and interest in science, it could also help to strengthen the family bond when parents and children learn together. This paper describes the development of a Primary Science Parent's Guide to complement and support the Singapore Primary Science Curriculum (from primary levels 3 to 6). The guide aims to empower the parents of Singapore primary school children as facilitators of their children's science learning to reinforce science concepts and develop their children's science process skills, creative thinking and curiosity outside the formal classrooms. In this paper, the author will provide a brief background to and the rationale for the development of the Parent's Guide. Theoretical perspectives underlying its development, implications and potential issues of parental involvement in their children's science learning process outside the formal science classrooms will also be discussed. (Contains 8 figures.)