SCIENCE
ENHANCEMENT PROGRAMME |
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Keith
S. Taber University of Cambridge Introduction The trainee teachers involved in the Cambridge project were asked to think about the teaching of ideas and evidence in science during their work on professional placement, and were invited to apply their understanding of this area of teaching. Five of the trainee teachers made presentations on aspects of their work, sharing their experiences, to audiences of experienced teachers. The materials on the CD-ROM are not presented as exemplars to be followed, but rather they are designed to show how new teachers (with appropriate support from more experienced colleagues in their schools) were able to incorporate teaching about ideas and evidence in science into their classroom work. Experienced teachers, with strengths in teaching about ideas
and evidence, may find little that is new or innovative in these
cases. However, they do demonstrate that: Contributors to the project
Overview of activities Activity P: Teaching Electricity at Y7 Developed by Tom de Trafford, Fearnhill School in Letchworth This project examined how practical work and the use of models and analogies influenced the way pupils construct their own understanding of the concepts that they are studying. He looked at how the use of physical evidence is combined with external ideas to give the pupils the basis to form their own personal models of science.
Developed by Tamsin Lowe, at King Edward VII School, King’s Lynn Tamsin used 2 lessons to teach about models in science, in the context of the topic of the solar system. She used the first lesson to consolidate learning for weaker pupils, and to apply teaching about scientific models to concepts with which most of the pupils were confident. A key aspect of Tamsin’s work was that she made the nature of model and modelling explicit in her teaching:
Developed by Martin Koch, Deacon’s School, Peterborough Martin focussed on tasks designed to develop ‘higher level’ thinking skills, including modified CASE (Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education – Adey & Shayer, 1994) tasks. The topics were related to ‘forces’ – i.e. moments and pressure. His aim was to engage more able pupils in challenging thinking, e.g. by letting them apply previous knowledge in a different context. Two tasks involved the introduction of new topics (moments, pressure), and an investigation based around the practical application of a principle (moments). Instead of presenting the pupils with facts (rote learning), they had to develop their own ideas and find laws. Daily life experience had to be related to the new science concepts, and formulating their findings mathematically provided an extra step of abstraction. Martin was guided by the notions of higher level thinking skills in terms of ‘Bloom's taxonomy’ (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001). A key feature of Martin’s approach was the use of pupil predictions that could then be tested out. The well-known POE (predict-observe-explain) teaching approach is a useful way to get pupils to think about ideas and evidence in science. Asking pupils to make predictions can be a very valuable starting point, especially with less able or younger pupils. Most pupils are able to make predictions that can be tested, even when they are unable to verbalise their thinking (which may often be tacit). This is especially useful when predictions are found to be incorrect, as this often acts as additional motivation to make sense of phenomena. By asking pupils to predict answers before carrying out activities, Martin provided pupils with a personal interest in the evidence to be collected, and a strong impetus to explain any aberrant findings.
Developed by Susan Millins, College Heath Middle School, Mildenhall Susan worked with a Y8 group, and was supported by Alan Roberts (Head of Science). She focused on extension work for a small group of more able pupils in the mixed ability group. Susan set the group a task to identify which fast food outlet were diluting drinks – requiring the pupils to apply the conceptual knowledge they had been taught in an unfamiliar practical context. She aimed to give these pupils more autonomy (something recommended in providing provision for the more able in science) and asked them to design, carry out, and develop, an appropriate practical way of comparing different strengths of drinks using colorimetric analysis (incorporating the use of ICT in the form of a datalogger). This was an activity that Susan felt required pupils to extend their thinking beyond the QCA scheme of work and allowed them to apply and further the knowledge they should already have acquired. This type of investigation is familiar from the assessed practical work undertaken for Sc1. In this case, Susan wanted pupils to have the opportunity to use data logging with the colorimeter, and so directed them to predict how colour would be influenced by dilution:
Developed by Teresa Quail, Jack Hunt School, Peterborough Teresa’s project considered three aspects of the nature of science – empirical work and the use of models and analogies. She considered how teaching strategies (practical work, the use of models and analogies) could help identify and correct pupils’ misconceptions (analogous to the way science develops through the interplay of experimental and theoretical work). In particular, Teresa asked pupils to imagine electrical phenomena
from the perspective on an electron. Asking pupils to transform
material presented in class through creative writing makes them
actively think about the ideas, especially if they are asked to
work key points into their stories. Imaginative writing tasks
also provide a way for the teacher to see how pupils are conceptualising
key ideas, and so diagnose misconceptions. |
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