So you think you’ve finished training as a teacher? – Think again!

By Dawn Jones  from Science Learning Centre Northwest

No matter which age phase you trained in, or which route you followed, effective teachers are always learning.  Learning from what went well and not so well, informally as well as through formal training opportunities.

You will encounter many changes over the course of your career, including those in classroom practice, technological advancement, curriculum development and the development of scientific knowledge.  An important thing to remember is that there is help and support available to you as you enter your NQT year and beyond.

There is support within your school – the majority of teachers and support staff that you work with will be happy to share ideas and resources with you. You will have a mentor, with whom you can bounce ideas and explore possibilities, as well as helping you reflect on your practice.  Other teachers in your department will also be willing to help if asked.  If your school has NQTs in other departments, this is also a great support network opportunity.

Support externally can include networks, conferences and courses and are usually more formally structured.

Many local networks exist, either set up by groups of teachers or facilitated by bodies such as the Institute of Physics or Science Learning Centres.  Your Local Authority may also offer some opportunities.  Courses and conferences are wide ranging and focus on different aspects of science teaching. There will be times when either your department or school buys in an external provider for a specific focus; these opportunities enable you to work together as a team to implement your learning.

As an NQT, there is an entitlement for time for training; however some schools also cite budgetary constraints when looking at your programme of development.  The Science Learning Centres have bursaries, known as Impact Awards in the regional centres, and Enthuse Awards at the National Centre.  These can contribute to the costs of training; to find out about eligibility, contact the Centre that is running the course that you’re interested in.

Don’t forget, all teachers in you school were once NQTs and know what you’re going through; there are plenty of people willing to help if you ask for it!

Resources and Links:

Courses & Conferences:

The National Network of Science Learning Centres offer a range of courses, supporting subject knowledge, pedagogy, assessment and contemporary science.  Courses both at the National Centre and around the Regions are listed on the website: https://www.sciencelearningcentres.org.uk/courses-and-events .

More specifically the North West is running Making a good first impression: A guide for NQTs in early July or the National centre’s Summer School for Recent and Newly Qualified Teachers (NQTs)

Many courses and conferences are in partnership with other organisations, such as The Association for Science Education, and the learned societies such as The Royal Society of Chemistry. Sign up to the Science Learning Centre portal to receive exciting newsletters and alerts about courses and events in your area.

Networks:

Secondary Physics:  The Stimulating Physics Project is a joint initiative between the Institute of Physics and the Science Learning Centres and aims to inspire physics teachers.  Physics Network Coordinators have national coverage and their sessions are free to attend.  www.stimulatingphysics.org

Secondary NQT’s: The Science Learning Centre North West offers an NQT Network for teachers in their first year in the North West.  These networks will cover a variety of topics drawn from a range of subject knowledge and pedagogical ideas including strategies to enhance teaching and learning, developing ideas in How Science Works, and, assessment and effective practical work. If you’re based outside the North West; why not give your local Centre a call; there may be enough interest to start another network near you.

Triple Science:  Funded by the DfE’s Triple Science Initiative, networks for teachers teaching Triple Science are active in many regions.  A Triple Science online community forum is available for  all teachers supporting Triple Science to share and network. 

Teaching Triple Science

By Marianne Cutler

Triple sciences at GCSE are an increasingly popular option with young people and the number of schools and colleges which are successfully delivering triple sciences continues to rise.

Chemistry Demonstration

I’ve been working with a number of schools and colleges to produce case studies on how they have successfully implemented triple science, exploring some of the barriers and challenges they overcame on the way, and some of the opportunities they capitalised on when putting together their programmes.

The barriers and solutions for each setting were often different according to their circumstances but the barriers could be broadly characterised as:

• a lack of curriculumtime with appropriate pathways and curriculum choices for students
•  a lack of specialist teachers with experience of teaching triple science extension units
•  students lacking aspiration and aptitude, sometimes due to having few good role models or ineffective teaching including a lack of understanding of the role, value and effective delivery of practical work.

Across all the case study schools, there were some common success features, including a clearly articulated vision and model for providing a full and truly differentiated curriculum with defined progression pathways to meet the needs of all learners, and an understanding of the benefits to learners and teachers of triple science as part of the curriculum model. Additionally the case study schools all benefit from strong leadership through the head of science and support from the senior leadership team, in implementing their curriculum model.

Thirdly, all take care to support both their non-specialist and specialist teachers in developing their confidence, expertise and ownership to deliver the triple science units effectively. This has the additional benefit of energising teaching staff and helps improve retention. Fourthly, the case study schools all make considerable efforts to support and guide individual students in their option choices so that those embarking on triple science have the right aptitude as well as ability to succeed, and they understand the career pathways available to them.

If you are considering offering triple science, take a look at the case studies which cover some different curriculum and timetabling models including collaborative approaches by a range of schools and other organisations working together. The case studies are on the National STEM library website:

http://www.nationalstemcentre.org.uk/elibrary/resource/5609/triple-science-case-study-curriculum-model-and-timetabling

http://www.nationalstemcentre.org.uk/elibrary/resource/5606/triple-science-case-study-curriculum-models

http://www.nationalstemcentre.org.uk/elibrary/resource/5612/triple-science-case-study-collaborative-approaches

The case studies also cover student selection, the role of leadership and appropriate CPD in preparing for implementation, and the role of high quality practical work in increasing attainment.

http://www.nationalstemcentre.org.uk/elibrary/resource/5608/triple-science-case-study-cpd-and-effective-guidance

http://www.nationalstemcentre.org.uk/elibrary/resource/5610/triple-science-case-study-leadership-and-cpd

http://www.nationalstemcentre.org.uk/elibrary/resource/5607/triple-science-case-study-leadership-and-review

http://www.nationalstemcentre.org.uk/elibrary/resource/5611/triple-science-case-study-student-selection-and-valuing-practical-work

Additionally, I found these video clips useful;  featuring Headteachers, senior leaders and heads of science plus students talking about the benefits of triple science, the challenges, and different implementation models.  They can be found as a Triple Science video playlist on the Science Learning Centres YouTube channel.

The network of Science Learning Centres run a range of triple science continuing professional development courses across all regions.

If you would like further advice developing your triple science offer, or would like to share your own triple science case study, please contact me at mariannecutler@ase.org.uk or open up the conversation here on the comments section, as I am sure your queries and thoughts will interest many others.

How fresh are your fruits? – A gas measurement exercise

By Richard Needham

This is a simple exercise involving measuring gases, which reveals some surprising secrets. It can give rise to interesting discussions around what we mean as scientists by the term ‘living’.

You can do this activity at any level in school – the data you collect could be used:

• Key Stage 1 – as a way of classifying fruits

• Key Stage 2 – what we mean by living and non-living

• Key Stage 3 – measuring respiration rates

• Key Stage 4 – planning investigations and photosynthesis

• Post-16 – investigating the effect of variables on biochemical reactions

I collected the data shown here at home in the kitchen one wet Sunday, so no special facilities are needed. I used a plastic box with two holes in the lid – one for a carbon dioxide sensor and one for an oxygen sensor. Mrs N kindly provided a couple of unripe avocado pears, which just fitted inside the box. I was surprised at how much carbon dioxide they released within a few minutes.

Measuring the respiration of an avocado

The graph below shows just how quickly the atmosphere inside the box changes. Note the gradients of the lines are difficult to compare as oxygen is measured as a percentage, whilst carbon dioxide is measured in parts per million.

Changes to oxygen gas (%) and carbon dioxide gas (ppm) over 60 minutes with single avocado

So are avocados unique? No they are not, as all the fruits I tested absorbed oxygen and gave out carbon dioxide. Some are far more active than others. For example my bananas absorbed oxygen three times faster than avocados. Grapes were slowest, again a result that surprised me as they have a huge surface area, and thin skins. When I measured gas exchange in grapes there was hardly any change shown after ten minutes. In the chart below, the data point for grapes is partially hidden by ‘apples’.

Gas exhange comparisons in fruits

Equipment used

1. Vernier bio chamber, with gaseous oxygen and carbon dioxide sensors attached to a laptop via a Labquest mini USB interface.

1. Vernier Logger Pro software for data collection and initial analysis, and then used Google docs to produce the comparative graph of results.

You should get similar results with any oxygen and carbon dioxide sensors providing they measure gaseous concentrations rather than dissolved gas. A sandwich box or ice cream container could be used in place of a proprietary bio chamber.

Questions and opinions that arose in discussions with colleagues

• Surely fruits are dead once they are picked from the tree?

Several colleagues assumed that once picked, a fruit becomes ‘dead’. Thinking about the ripening processes that continue this cannot be the case. However, some people assumed that the gas exchange shown in the data was a consequence of microorganisms and rotting processes.

•  But a mushroom is not a fruit.

To a biologist a mushroom cannot be a fruit as it is not a plant and does not possess the organs required for fruit development. Sometimes mushrooms are described as fruiting bodies (of basidiomycete fungi) and so I have no hesitation in justifying their inclusion in this investigation. Interestingly the data point for the mushrooms lies well below the line expected if these results are to be explained by aerobic respiration alone.

•  Why don’t green ones produce oxygen?

I initially thought that green fruits would be photosynthesizing, and produce very different results to those shown here. There is no way to tell if photosynthesis did influence the results, unless some further work is carried out, such as repeating at different light intensities.

•  How did you make it a fair test?

Good question. I am against the notion that scientific investigations always need to be fair tests. I did use similar masses of fruit in each case (about 420g) but did not attempt to control the effects of surface area.

•  Why would you want to do this?

I enjoy finding out things that are not readily explained by the science we teach in school. It challenges me to think deeper about what I am teaching, and leads to better understanding through discussion with others. Using sensors is one way of uncovering new information, and often turns up results that are unexpected.

And of course: Well how do you explain the results?

I will leave that question for you to answer.

Some useful links to help with your answers or planning

SAPS – Respiration and photosynthesis made easy

STEM elibrary- photosynthesis

Comments

I would be interested to hear your explanations for these results.

I would also like to know if these results are repeatable.

Also, do you have any examples of other ways that sensors can turn up unexpected results?