Creative practicals in the new GCSE science curriculum – PowerPoint

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The role of practical work in the new GCSE science specifications has changed. What will this mean for lessons? How will this impact assessment?

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Professional Development

Creative practicals in the new GCSE science curriculum - Webinar

27 Apr 2017

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      string(5808) "Strategiesfor theNewCurriculum14Volume6.3nCreativeTeaching&Learning In 2014, the new National Curriculum for science replaced its ‘How scienceworks’ strand with ‘Working scientifically’. The change in name certainlyreflects a more active approach to this particular aspect of science teaching,with a very clear message: pupils must learn, first-hand, how to think andwork like true scientists.Central to this is the development of scientific attitudes. The global sciencecommunity never stands still; it is continually developing its theories andpractices as new ideas are put forward and new evidence comes to light. Inthe classroom, too, pupils should always be looking for opportunities to refinetheir investigations. The curriculum for Key Stage 3 requires that they be taughtthe value of objectivity, accuracy and precision. It also states that pupils mustlearn how to ensure their experiments—and by extension, their results—arescientifically valid.Worthy aims, certainly. But how can such attitudes be taught?Turn yourstudents intoscientists!The new secondary science curriculum features a renewed emphasis onstudents thinking and working like ‘real’ scientists. But how do we cultivatesuch attitudes? Our science expert, Ed Walsh, considers the key areas.Looking for moreadvice onteachingthe newsecondaryscience curriculum?Sign up for Ed Walsh’supcoming webinar,part of our newTeachersand LeadersSummerSchool.http://teachingtimesbookshop.co.uk/product/cpd-webinars/webinar-creative-practicals-new-gcse-science-curriculum/15Volume6.3nCreativeTeaching&LearningStrategiesfor theNewCurriculumShow, don’t tellThe new programme of study emphasisesthat scientific attitudes should be developedthrough coverage of curriculum content—thatis, students should develop a grasp of whatit means to work scientifically through theirexploration of key concepts and ideas, ratherthan as a discrete component.Objectivity, for example, is difficult to conveyeffectively just by telling pupils it is important.If the experiences they have of investigationsare all based on illustrating what is alreadyknown, they will find it harder to understandwhat it feels like to be led by the evidence.Investigative work should be based, in part,upon students developing ideas in responseto evidence they gather.Of course, it is impossible for any human,even the best scientist, to be truly objective.Individual scientists all have prior knowledge,theoretical beliefs, experiences, culturalbackgrounds, expectations and biases whichwill affect their observations and conclusions.Science tries to overcome this lack of pureobjectivity through the scientific community,which scrutinises scientific work and helpsbalance individual scientists’ leanings. (Moreon exploring this with pupils later).Working safely but independentlyThe ability to evaluate risk forms a brief butcrucial aspect of the working scientifically strand.Students will have previously met the need towork in a safe way; however, the transition tosecondary school science introduces materials,equipment and techniques that may be lessfamiliar and may introduce hazards that are lessapparent. Students need to be introduced tothese and trained effectively.It is important that students work safelybut also that they are increasingly able todecide how to do this. Rather than alwaysbeing dependent upon the teacher issuing andenforcing rules, they should be encouragedto identify hazards and propose safe workingpractices as a response. As they grow older,this might include ideas about concentrationsof chemicals, techniques involving equipmentand methods of disposal.The importance of accuracy andprecisionOne of the ways in which science goes througha step change for many students betweenYear 6 and Year 7 is the increased access toStrategiesfor theNewCurriculum16Volume6.3nCreativeTeaching&Learningcombinations of precision and accuracy usingthe retro arcade game ‘Phoenix’.2Is our evidence valid?The concept of evidence being valid is a centralidea in working scientifically. Students needto develop a sense of whether the evidencethey are gathering is enabling them to answerthe question that is driving their investigation,assuming, of course, that there is such aquestion. With some investigations, thereisn’t an issue over validity, but with others,especially when they are having to use onesituation to represent another, it becomesincreasingly crucial. Investigating energytransfer from burning foodstuffs under a boilingtube of water or using test tubes of hot waterto explore how penguins reduce heat lossby huddling are examples of experiments inwhich considering validity is both importantand insightful.It is also important to introduce and embedthe use of key terms such as ‘repeatability’.To an extent, this will be influenced by thedevelopment of the next generation of GCSEscience courses and the terminology used inthat. However, the word is specifically stated inthe new programme of study, and the question,‘If I were to do this experiment again, wouldI get the same results?’, is an important one.It encourages students to consider the designof their investigation and the following ofapparatus such as more accurate measuringequipment. 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Creative Teaching & Learning

Turn your students into scientists!

28 Jul 2016

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      string(5680) "This month’s FeaturesCould ‘Thinkspaces’offer a new wayto teach coding inschools?According to a recent statement by Middlesex University, networks such as ‘ThinkSpace’ will be vital in teaching schoolchildren how to code and further develop their skills before attending University. So what is the ThinkSpace initiative? Herewe explain…ThinkSpace is a non-profit start-up founded in Plymouth by schoolboy, JamesAnderson, from Devonport High School for Boys, with the aim of promotingcoding in schools at GCSE level.He and his friends were frustrated with the ICT curriculum, which focuses on using software likeExcel and Powerpoint rather than the technical skills they will need to develop their own apps,games and software – so they began to look at other ideas.Initially they wanted to create a sort of Apple Genius Bar-style technology clinic, wherestudents could get help with their devices. However this evolved into the idea of teaching morestudents how to build their own apps, and this became ‘ThinkSpace’.The idea is simple.  Build physical creative environments in schools where students canlearn to code and build apps. Then create a virtual community – not just within the room butamong other Thinkspaces around the world – where they can share their inspirations, successesand failures.In essence, ThinkSpace aims to get schools to create dedicated zones where students canlearn how to code in an informal, fun environment.http://www.teachingtimes.comThis month’s FeaturesJames said he and his friends had toteach themselves how to build apps andwanted to transfer those skills to others.Since the concept was born, Jameshas recruited a network of ambassadors toreplicate the Thinkspace idea in their ownschools.Organisations already exist, such asCode Club, but they are only in primaryschools, while movements like Code.org aremore like petitions than anything practical.the school needs to sign up to the socialnetwork Thinkspace Social, and they canthen begin inviting students to join in.James said: “We are trying to get rid ofthe stereotypes associated with the wordscode, coding, programmers… and make itcool to create apps. That’s why we are notusing the word code in our name.”The idea is that the Thinkspace would beopen during break and lunch and studentswould be able to drop in and out, as well as‘chill-out, eat lunch, read magazines’. Onepart of the Thinkspace would be focusedon design, while another would be morefocused on development.Supporting the technology is a socialnetwork, built by James, where schools canaccess tutorials, resources, how to videos,educational podcasts, interviews withexperts, and other materials. The hope isthat Thinkspaces could be run by the olderstudents teaching the younger ones.Thinkspace has already attractedthe support of Jimmy Wales, the founderof Wikipedia, Apple co-founder SteveWozniak and Twitter’s Dick Costolo, amongothers. The concept has similarities withGoogle Campus, the seven-floor facilityin East London that offers start-up firms aAlthough Thinkspace isn’t trying tochange the curriculum, it is trying to getschools to create their own Thinkspaces –computer workshops where students are freeto create and collaborate on any softwarethey want.To join the programme, schools don’tnecessarily have to have a high-techdevelopment lab – any space with enoughcomputers for all the students who wantto participate will do. A teacher fromplace to collaborate and get mentoring helpfrom experts, as well as the after-schoolCode Clubs that have been established in anumber of primary schools.Initiatives like these are designedto address the gap in teaching codingbetween primary and secondary education,and college and further education.While there are plenty of universitycourses that teach coding – MiddlesexUniversity, for example, offers a computerscience degree alongside a variety ofrelated courses – there is a lack of syllabiteaching similar skills at A-level and GCSE.Part of the problem is a lack ofeducators who are qualified to teachcoding: or rather, a lack of motivatingfactors for those with the skills andknowledge to enter the world of teaching.Experienced programmers can earnsignificantly higher salaries working forprivate companies than they can teaching http://www.teachingtimes.comhttp://www.mdx.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/computing_it/computer_science_bsc.aspxhttp://www.mdx.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/computing_it/computer_science_bsc.aspxThis month’s Featuresin schools, so there is little reason for themto make the switch. This makes it difficult tointegrate coding into the GCSE syllabusnationwide, leaving it up to voluntaryinitiatives, like Thinkspace and Codeclub toget children programming earlier.However, there is some progress. Arecent Department of Education shake-upof the computing curriculum will removethe necessity of teaching basic officeapplication skills like Word and Excel, andadd in the teaching of programming forchildren as young as five. The curriculum,which is due to come into place fromSeptember 2014, will teach the creationand debugging of simple programs inKey Stage One, and an understandingof computer networks and search in KeyJames Anderson starting out by simply searching online ‘how to build an iPhone app,’ he was enlisted byhis school to build a homework tracker and organisational app for his fellow students. That led him downa path of extra-curricular learning and app development, which helped him reach a level vastly ahead ofhis peers.Without a developer license for"
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Digital Learning

Could ‘Thinkspaces’ offer a new way to teach coding in schools?

5 Jun 2014

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      string(5639) "When school leaders talk about their achievements the tone is usually serious, even slightly reverential. In contrast Gwyn ap Harri and Andy Sprakes, founders of XP School Doncaster, introduce their book ‘How We XP’ in an appealingly light-hearted way: ‘Half story, half instruction manual, half call to arms. That equals one and a half. It’s that good.’XP stands for Expeditionary Learning and, like ap Harri and Sprakes’ introduction, it sounds like a lot of fun. Expeditionary is a metaphor for a style of learning that is radically different from the norm in the UK. Here students work together in groups, perhaps with students from other years and instead of absorbing a body of knowledge they develop a curiosity and find ways both to explore a subject and also to produce an original contribution which is of use to others in their community.Expeditionary Learning has been popular in the United States for over 30 years, has been praised by Barack Obama and received funding from the Gates Foundation. But it wasn’t available in the UK until XP School Doncaster opened in 2014.Working with the Edge FoundationTeachingTimes  will  be exploring Expeditionary Learning with The Edge Foundation in a free webinar The Lessons of Covid-19 – Are New Pedagogies Needed? on November 3rd at 4.30pm.XP School Doncaster is one of the featured schools and delegates will learn first-hand what they and High Technology High in San Diego do that makes their learners so special, so independent, mature and ready for the world of work. This webinar is especially topical right now. The skills shortages in the UK and the crisis in education were apparent even before the pandemic. The Edge Foundation has accused the government of trying to address, ‘twenty-first century skills shortages using a curriculum and pedagogy from the late nineteenth century’.Their report Towards a Twenty-First Century Education System goes on to say ‘Their focus on a narrow ‘knowledge-rich’ curriculum is squeezing out the very subjects that would train the engineers and creative professionals that we so badly need.’Starting outside the classroomXP School Doncaster opened in September 2014 in temporary accommodation at Doncaster Rovers Football Club with just 50 Year 7 students and a plan to increase numbers year on year with a cap of 350 learners.Despite being over-subscribed, they have not given in to the temptation to Go Large. Tutor groups, known as ‘crews’, are less than half the size of a typical secondary class with just 12 or 13 students to one adult.‘The Pioneers’ as that first cohort came to be known started their XP school career with a four day Outward Bound residential in Aberdovey where a series of challenges and outdoor pursuits helped the group to bond and develop strong healthy relationships both within the group and with staff.This approach is not just for students either. The recruitment section of their website says: ‘Our Induction is as long as it’s legendary – from June to September. From Outward Bound, to experiencing how our students learn. With character growth and challenging experiences.’ While most schools have five days a year to spend on professional development, XP School Doncaster allocates 15 days and embraces imaginative opportunities, such as sending two members of staff to work alongside coaches at The National Theatre in London for two daysTheir strategy seems to have paid off as their website claims, ‘Staff turnover and absence is low, and we never had to fund cover.’ Covid may change the picture, but it is a claim many schools would be proud to make.Curriculum with a differenceBased on a model forged in the USA, Expeditionary Learning is designed to be project based and bring together elements from different curriculum areas in unusual and inventive ways. It is interactive, creative and breaks down the boundaries between subjects. Students are engaged in two expeditions at any one time – one humanities themed and the other STEAM based. These will take half a term on average, but there are longer projects too which combine both where appropriate.Some might wonder if this is a return to the cross curricular approach beloved of primary schools but in fact all expeditions are mapped to the National Curriculum and GCSE syllabus so that while students experience the curriculum holistically, teachers are absolutely clear exactly which elements of individual subjects are being taught at any time.Sample interdisciplinary projectsChefistry was a Year 7 expedition designed to show students the link between chemistry and cooking. Students studied the ratios involved, types of mixture such as solutions, colloids and suspensions, the Periodic Table, heat transfer and convection currents and the physical and chemical changes at play in cooking.Practical work has varied for different year groups but has featured science experiments at Sheffield Hallam University and visiting food manufacturer King Asia, where they learned about changes in state of matter, cooked a meal in the test kitchen and found out about food manufacturing and distribution.Over the years, students have produced:A film showing how to cook a simple meal with annotations with a narration describing the importance of chemistry and maths in the processAnimations which show what is happening at the particle level in cookingAnimations which help to explain the practical uses of ratio and proportion in cookingAs well as cooking meals, crews have"
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Leadership

Expeditionary Learning could change the face of education in the UK and it starts with XP School in Doncaster

14 Oct 2020