Meeting the Needs of the Most Able in Science: Seminar Series


Challenging pupils through scientific explanations (see below)
Saturday 18th October, 2003

Meeting in the science block, Homerton site, University of Cambridge
Faculty of Education
Hills Road, Cambridge.
Starting at 11.00.
Please let me know if you/colleagues intend to come (to help us plan
for refreshments!). Open to all science teachers and others
interested.

Challenging pupils through scientific explanations
Dr. Keith Taber, Faculty of Education

Explanation is central to science, but the nature of explanation and
its relationship to scientific theory is a complex topic.
Understanding what makes an explanation 'scientific' is a key feature
of how 'ideas and evidence' are related. 'Explanation' is a theme
that can be explored at different levels of sophistication, and in a
wide range of 'content' (topic) contexts.

This seminar will consider how pupils can be challenged through a
consideration of the nature and role of explanations in science. The
presentation will report on how top set Y9 pupils at Chesterton
Community College (Cambridge) responded to two lessons on the theme
of scientific explanations. Pupils were set a range of tasks that
were intended to challenge them. These involved suggesting,
sequencing and evaluating explanations. Some examples of the pupil
work will be considered to illustrate the level at which these pupils
were thinking. Teachers will be invited to consider how the ideas
presented could be adopted or developed in their own classrooms.


Advanced notice :
Lent Term 2003-4 Seminar: Saturday 28th February, 2004
Pigs, sheep and scientific futures: activating children through science
Ralph Levinson
School of Maths, Science and Technology
Institute of Education
University of London
Science and technology loom so large on the political agenda they can
no longer be ignored. One only has to read the tabloid headlines to
understand that ivf, Dolly the Sheep, designer babies, MMR and global
warming have become part of our everyday discourse. Developments in
science and technology emerge with ever-increasing rapidity. Some of
these issues are in the science curriculum, others are addressed
through PSHE, citizenship, RE and other subjects and pupils will
bring their own thoughts, opinions and perceptions to the classroom.
These are not easy to deal with because they involve ethical,
political and social ideas as well as science. Addressing
socio-scientific issues influences science teaching pedagogy. In this
session we will
… discuss how pupils can be motivated at different levels to address
these issues within the context of the science curriculum, drawing on
research findings and work already done in this area,
… run workshops for teachers to rehearse approaches for themselves.

--


Dr. Keith S. Taber
http://www.educ.cam.ac.uk/staff/taber.html
University Lecturer in Education
University of Cambridge Faculty of Education
Homerton College site
Hills Road
Cambridge CB2 2PH


to join an electronic discussion list on
learning in science
please visit
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/learning-science-concepts






[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]