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What?. Core activities: Investigations, laboratory procedures and techniques, and fieldwork. These ‘hands-on’ activities support the development of practical skills, and help to shape students’ understanding of scientific concepts and phenomena.
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What? • Core activities: Investigations, laboratory procedures and techniques, and fieldwork. These ‘hands-on’ activities support the development of practical skills, and help to shape students’ understanding of scientific concepts and phenomena. • Directly related activities: Teacher demonstrations, experiencing phenomena, designing and planning investigations, analysing results, and data analysis using ICT. These are closely related to the core activities and are either a key component of an investigation, or provide valuable first-hand experiences for students.
Inquiry vs Known Phenomena The emphasis in the lessons observed was on successfully ‘producing the phenomenon’. Little whole-class time was used to discuss the ideas that the activity involved. Millar & Abrahams
Inquiry vs Known Phenomena • ….. getting students to carry out practical work with the intention that they discover something which is already known. This approach was described as "intellectually dishonest” • Rosalind Driver – The Fallacy of Induction
Gatsby • The current norm at GCSE is ‘controlled assessment’, whereby, in science, candidates have to carry out one or two investigations from a small number set by the Awarding Organisation under highly controlled conditions. There is universal agreement among those we consulted that this assessment method is deeply flawed. It makes teachers focus on a narrow range of externally-set practicals as they hone students to do well in what constitutes 25% of their final grade. Students are internally assessed on their planning and analytical abilities (not on their technical skills) by their teachers who, under our high stakes system, are under enormous pressure to give students maximum marks.
Gatsby Recommendations • All GCSE science qualifications should include practical work assessed by a combination of: • A. Questions in the written paper which are designed to assess candidates’ experimental and investigative skills developed through their familiarity with performing, and understanding of, certain experiments identified in the specification (for example, investigating the effect of temperature on enzyme action). • B. Teachers’ assessments of certain technical and scientific skills identified in the specification (for example, using an ammeter to measure the current in a circuit). Evidence of participation in this work should be collected for every student and the headteacher of each school would be expected to certify the authenticity of each teacher’s assessments. Teachers would give each student an overall mark across the full range of skills, thus allowing a deficit in one skill to be compensated for by proficiency in others.
Gatsby – Longer Term…. • The research by Reiss, Abrahams and Sharpe identified a range of different forms of assessment of practical work (across a number of subjects) currently in use: • Report on an investigation – students write their report on an investigation using their own data OR data with which they have been provided. In neither case are their practical skills are observed or assessed directly. • Written examination – students complete a test paper under examination conditions, some questions in which will relate to practicals undertaken during their course. • Viva – students are given an oral examination in which they are asked questions about a project they have undertaken. • Practical examination by means of a report – students conduct a practical and write up their apparatus, methods, results and evaluations. • Practical examination – teacher (or other examiner) observes students undertaking practical work. • Practical examination by means of recording – examiner listens to an audio- or video- recording of a performed task.
Gatsby • The view from the experts we consulted in February was that while assessment was a complex area, it was clear that in science we are talking about a range of different skills which logically require a range of different assessment methods. Those methods with most support were: • A written exam (which would assess parts of scientific enquiry such as planning an investigation, identifying dependent and independent variables, data analysis). • A practical exam OR series of 5-10 practical tasks (which would assess the ability to manipulate apparatus, take accurate readings, and work safely and logically). • A project report (which could assess the ability to apply knowledge, record and communicate findings, work in a group and present results).
Gatsby • There was no support among educationalists for the continued use of investigations as instruments for assessment under controlled conditions. It should also be noted that a minority felt that the problems of assessment in science were insurmountable under our high stakes system and that there were risks in the premature introduction of any new method. • Subsequent discussions with Awarding Organisations established that they do not want to continue with the current model of controlled assessment in GCSE science either. However they are mindful that whatever they do, their ‘product’ needs to be acceptable to schools in terms of costs and complexity. They also argue that any method needs to allow them to ‘differentiate’ among the ability range. With relatively little time to develop and test new methods of assessment, our impression is that the written examination would be their preferred option of assessing practical skills, despite the fact that this would inevitably involve a trade-off with the time and space available to assess core knowledge.
Gatsby • Examples of the skills experts suggested that GCSE science students should have acquired by the end of Key Stage 4, and experiments they should have experienced in order to gain and practice these skills. ……
Wellcome • So where are things going wrong? The research suggests that much of the problem can be traced to English schools’ obsession with assessment and the pressure to produce the highest grades possible. Not only is this pushing practical work to the margins as teachers prepare for written examinations; there are also problems with the practical assessments themselves. Under the present arrangements for GCSE, science teachers carry out ‘controlled assessment’ of pupils’ practical work. Teachers tell us that these are time-consuming and bureaucratic, and the quest for marks makes them focus on training pupils to do as well as possible in these assessments to the exclusion of the kind of exploratory practical work that inspires interest and curiosity
Wellcome • As the English government sets out its plans to reform assessment at GCSE, the tide is turning against teachers carrying out assessment. There is a mistrust of all forms of teacher assessment and teachers themselves have told us about the pressure they feel under to give pupils the highest possible grades. In this climate, exam boards are looking at the option of assessing practical knowledge and skills indirectly, through written questions about practical situations. But these have obvious limitations: while they can assess knowledge of, say, how to wire up an electrical circuit, they cannot assess the technical skill of reading an ammeter with precision, preparing and viewing a microscope slide, or carrying out an accurate titration. We must continually ask if we are assessing what is most appropriate; knowing how to tie your shoelaces is not particularly useful unless you can actually tie the knot.
Wellcome • In the long term, we need a system that is able to trust in teachers’ assessments; there are numerous successful examples worldwide of where teachers assess practical skills in science, such as in China, New Zealand, Singapore and Finland. In a perfect world, pupils would carry out open-ended project work and be assessed on aspects of their performance in it – as is done in the Salters Advanced science courses in the UK, for example, and in New Zealand’s National Certificate of Educational Achievement. This kind of open-ended practical work can stimulate lasting curiosity, and also develops resilience and independence, qualities which employers greatly value. But realistically, the logistical arrangements needed for this kind of work are a major barrier, even for small groups of A level students, let alone large sets of GCSE pupils.
Wellcome • In the medium term, there may well be a place for written assessments of practical scientific knowledge, which test pupils’ ability to plan an investigation and their knowledge of specific techniques. But teachers are sceptical about the use of written questions to assess practical skills, finding that it is possible to train pupils to answer the questions without having done any practical work themselves. So written examinations must be coupled with some form of direct assessment, and here we might learn something from the kind of approaches that are used in China’s unified examination, where pupils carry out a practical test under carefully controlled conditions.
Likely Outcome • Centre marked skills assessment based on the ‘working scientifically’ element of the National Curriculum but it’s significance in the assessment scheme will only be 10%. • Assessment – unknown • Certification - unknown
KS4 Working Scientifically Experimental skills and investigations • use scientific theories, models and explanations to develop hypotheses • plan investigations to make observations and to test hypotheses, including identifying variables as independent, dependent or control, and measure and consider other factors that need to be taken into account when collecting evidence • use knowledge of techniques, apparatus, and materials, during fieldwork and laboratory work, select those that are appropriate to the investigation, and use them appropriately, adapting apparatus and strategy flexibly when problems arise and paying attention to health and safety • make and record observations and measurements using a range of methods; evaluate methods and suggest possible improvements and further investigations • measure and manipulate concentrations
KS4 Working Scientifically Handling information and problem solving • present observations and data using appropriate methods and carry out and represent mathematical and statistical analysis; represent random distribution of results and estimate uncertainty; interpret observations and data, including identifying patterns and trends and use observations, measurements and data to make inferences and draw conclusions • evaluate data critically, showing awareness of potential sources of random variations and systematic errors, and suggest improvements • communicate the scientific rationale for the investigation and the methods used, giving accounts of findings, reasoned explanation of data in relation to hypotheses and reasoned conclusions through written reports and electronic presentations
KS4 Working Scientifically Scientific attitudes • pay attention to objectivity and concern for validity, accuracy, precision and measurement of uncertainty • understand that scientific methods and theories develop as scientists modify earlier explanations to take account of new evidence and ideas, together with the importance of publishing results and peer review • understand the power and limitations of science and potential ethical questions and debates • evaluate risks
KS4 Working Scientifically Measurement • understand and use SI units • IUPAC chemical nomenclature • convert units.
