Proper Science curriculum resources

Helps my department to move y7 & 8 teaching and learning more towards a style that emphasises wha...

I have already planned out a Y7 & 8 teaching order and so am selecting Mastery topics and inserting parts from them into these topics when groups meet them. At first I have used Diagnostic and re-assessment quizzes as routine elements of reviews of topics. Students notice that they have to pause to consider which of the mulitple choice responses is best and I appreciate the way that feedback grids offer reasons why the best answer is deemed best as well as why the weaker ones are deemed weaker. Other activities (Acquire and Exploration slideshows) are increasingly offered as alternative lesson structures to the ones previously planned, the overall effect being to shift the tone of 'normal' teaching and learning towards one in which working with ideas takes a more prominent role than defining ideas. I am finding that pupils may take longer to get into these slightly more demanding types of task (some pre-thinking is required to appreciate what new response the task is asking for). However, the outcome meets both the need to encounter and understand a basic idea and the more challenging need to give pupils practice in constructing more flexible and useful ways to deploy these ideas.

Detect, Recall and Solve

This book is a useful way to get students to think about problems in an orderly way, using a three-step "Detect, Recall and Solve" system. The benefits of the method may not be immediately obvious to students, who are likely to rush to an answer, but persistence in following the steps should help students as soon as the solutions become less obvious (in the Mixed-Up questions section). There could be a case for adding a fourth step that involves identifying the information given, rather than just detecting the nature of the problem, but this refinement doesn't detract from the basic method. The questions themselves are nicely pitched towards GCSE-type problems rather than easier KS3 content although there is some simplification to make topics more accessible. This is a great resource to have available but be aware that there is less chemistry content than physics and biology.

Balanced and unbalanced forces

An excellent resource which challenges pupils to think for themselves. It promotes learning autonomy and deeper thinking. A pleasure to use.