Richard Aplin [e-mail]

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Hampshire Inspection and Advisory Service,
Science Team

• An experiential model for
• professional development

• Richard Aplin richard.aplin_at_hants.gov.uk
• Dave Whittle david.whittle_at_hants.gov.uk
• Frank Fearn frank.fearn_at_hants.gov.uk

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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

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Students attitudes to secondary science

• Jonathon Osborne (SSR March 2008)
• Drop off at KS2-3 transfer

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Crisis of scienceorcrisis of science education?
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Simple definition of science

• A body of knowledge acquired through the
  scientific method
• Finding truths through the gathering and analysis
  of evidence.

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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?

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The experiential model
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Starting with the experience

• Do some proper science

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Why do F1 racing cars
have wide wheels?
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The rising floating candle
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Starting with the experience

• Do some proper science
• Unpick what made it feel like science
• Establish some Non-Negotiables

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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)

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How did it go?

• Feedback against NNs
• Identify blocks (student and teacher)
• Agree foci for action

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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..

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impact
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Aims of the project

1. Create a bank of tried and evaluated teaching
   resources to develop childrens scientific
   problem solving skills
2. Develop as professionals as a result of
   collaboration
3. Improve childrens problem solving skills over
   the course of the project.
4. Increase the motivation of able children

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Students experience of the scientific process

• How would you check your ideas in science
  lessons?
• How would scientists check their ideas?

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How would you check your ideas in science lessons?
How would scientists check their ideas?
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After a year of the project?
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How would you check your ideas in science
lessons? (Before)
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How would scientists check their ideas? (before)
How would scientists check their ideas? (after)
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Summary
Before After

• 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

• 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

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Has it improved the enjoyment and motivation of
students?

• Three words to describe your science lessons

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Three words to describe your science lessons
Project students
Comparator groups
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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

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Next steps

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

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Hampshire science team

• Richard Aplin richard.aplin_at_hants.gov.uk
• Dave Whittle david.whittle_at_hants.gov.uk
• Frank Fearn frank.fearn_at_hants.gov.uk
• Dave Dupont david.dupont_at_hants.gov.uk
• Pauline Patterson pauline.patterson_at_hants.gov.uk
  

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