Hampshire Inspection and Advisory Service, Science Team

1. Hampshire Inspection and Advisory Service, Science Team Richard Aplin richard.aplin@hants.gov.uk Dave Whittle david.whittle@hants.gov.uk Frank Fearn frank.fearn@hants.gov.uk An experiential model for professional development

2. In a nutshell • We are not teaching students the right things • They are not enjoying it anyway • Not sure boards and SNS have the right models to rectify the problem • We think we have a different approach that may help

3. Students attitudes to secondary science • Jonathon Osborne (SSR March 2008) • Drop off at KS2-3 transfer

4. Crisis of scienceorcrisis of science education?

5. Simple definition of science • A body of knowledge acquired through the ‘scientific method’ • Finding truths through the gathering and analysis of evidence.

6. Two issues with teaching how to be scientific • Do we have effective models for teaching how to be scientific? • The discrete skills models • Do teachers have sufficient experience of doing science themselves?

7. The experiential model

8. Starting with the experience • Do some proper science

9. Why do F1 racing cars have wide wheels?

10. The rising floating candle

13. Starting with the experience • Do some proper science • Unpick what made it feel like science • Establish some ‘Non-Negotiables’

15. Starting with the experience • Do some proper science • Unpick what made it feel like science • Establish some ‘Non-Negotiables’ • “Go away and give students opportunities to do what you just did” (i.e. plan lessons around the NNs)

16. How did it go? • Feedback against NNs • Identify blocks (student and teacher) • Agree foci for action

17. Less appropriate prompts • How would you improve your investigation? • Draw a line of best fit • Write a method for your experiment • And what you should have found out is……..

18. impact

19. Aims of the project: • Create a bank of tried and evaluated teaching resources to develop children’s scientific problem solving skills • Develop as professionals as a result of collaboration • Improve children’s problem solving skills over the course of the project. • Increase the motivation of able children

20. Students experience of the scientific process • How would you check your ideas in science lessons? • How would scientists check their ideas?

21. 80% 60% 40% 20% Test Test Other Other Ask teacher Ask teacher Check with others Check with others Internet / books Internet / books How would you check your ideas in science lessons? How would scientists check their ideas?

22. After a year of the project?

23. How would you check your ideas in science lessons? (After) 80% 60% 40% 20% Test Test Other Other Ask teacher Ask teacher Check with others Check with others Internet / books Internet / books How would you check your ideas in science lessons? (Before)

24. 80% 60% 40% 20% Test Test Other Other Ask teacher Ask teacher Check with others Check with others Internet / books Internet / books How would scientists check their ideas? (before) How would scientists check their ideas? (after)

25. Before After Summary • 36% checked their ideas by testing • 26% asked teacher • 25% checked their ideas by checking with others • Over 70% thought scientists checked their ideas by testing • Only 10% thought scientists checked their ideas with others • 20% checked their ideas by testing • 46% asked teacher • 20% checked their ideas by checking with others • Over 70% thought scientists checked their ideas by testing • Only 7% thought scientists checked their ideas with others

26. Has it improved the enjoyment and motivation of students? • Three words to describe your science lessons

27. Three words to describe your science lessons Project students Comparator groups

28. Summary • Starting from the experience has encouraged teachers to give students more independence in their scientific thinking. • The student experience better matches their notion of what scientists do • Students are more positive about their science lessons • The ‘product’ acted as a driver but is not the valuable outcome

29. Next steps • Making problem solving integral to the development of students scientific ideas • Extending the use of the experiential model.

30. Hampshire science team Richard Aplin richard.aplin@hants.gov.uk Dave Whittle david.whittle@hants.gov.uk Frank Fearn frank.fearn@hants.gov.uk Dave Dupont: david.dupont@hants.gov.uk Pauline Patterson: pauline.patterson@hants.gov.uk