Have your cake and eat it too. Or how to get through the specification and teach for understanding and engagement. Pressure to perform (and conform) over the last 20 years has crushed science education. What we’re forced to deliver often bears little resemblance to science, or to education. Little wonder, so many follow the path of least resistance and ignore the problem (or leave the profession).
Actually, all the principles and evidence you need are out there. The hard part is turning them into minute-by-minute classroom decisions that are consistent with your long-term goals. That's why you won't find solutions in publishers' courses nor in many school-developed schemes of work (please prove me wrong!).
Yet great companies like Apple know how to do this. And it's all about design.
My team has spent decades piecing together the elements of a solution from a wide variety of learning fields. In this session, we will pass on our method:
1) build a 5-year big ideas curriculum framework
2) adopt a mastery learning pathway for each concept
3) develop materials that fully align with 1) and 2) (ditch those mediocre worksheets).
Even better, 1) and 2) are free, thanks to support from AQA and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.
Here are some links to our recent work:
AQA KS3 Science Syllabus5-year plan: Blueprint
Complete Mastery year 7
